LibraryPrivacy2014Design paperCorpus record
Multi-Account Hierarchy for Deterministic Wallets
BIP 44. Marek Palatinus and Pavol Rusnak.
A path is purpose, coin type, account, change, and index. Accounts are separated so one seed can hold many identities without mixing their change.
A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.
When a restore shows a zero balance, the path is the first question, not the seed.
- Evidence
- Primary paper
- Re-measured
- No
- Assumptions
- 3
- Records linked
- 7
Code
Source, repository, and what is actually hosted
- BIP 44https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki
- bitcoin/bipsRepository taken from the source URL. 97 other studies in this library cite the same repository. This is not an audit.
- Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
- Add to a reading list
01 Claim ledger
What the paper is allowed to say
Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.
Claim 01 · Paper model
The defect
BIP 32 gives a tree and no convention. Two wallets restoring the same seed will not find the same coins unless they agree on the path.
Claim 02 · Paper model
The rule
A path is purpose, coin type, account, change, and index. Accounts are separated so one seed can hold many identities without mixing their change.
Claim 03 · Paper model
How it is put together
The purpose field marks the scheme. Coin type separates Bitcoin from other chains. Change addresses and receiving addresses are different branches.
Claim 04 · Paper model
Where the claim stops
A wallet that uses a different purpose will not see BIP 44 coins.
02 Three cuts
Observation, model, falsifier
A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.
01 The defect
02 The rule
Observation
What the study says
A path is purpose, coin type, account, change, and index. Accounts are separated so one seed can hold many identities without mixing their change.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which purpose and coin type?
03 How it is put together
Observation
What the study says
The purpose field marks the scheme. Coin type separates Bitcoin from other chains. Change addresses and receiving addresses are different branches.
Falsifier
What would retire it
Which purpose and coin type?
04 Where the claim stops
03 Sequence
One action, as an operating tape
- 01Derive m / 44' / coin' / account' / change / index.
- 02Scan the external chain for payments.
- 03Give change on the internal chain.
- 04Which purpose and coin type?
04 Load-bearing
The argument, and where a pitch drops it
Why it is still on the desk
The cut
When a restore shows a zero balance, the path is the first question, not the seed.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
A later client, parameter or reward formula is a different object from this paragraph.
After the text
The cut
BIP 84 and BIP 86 are later purposes for native segwit and taproot. They exist because 44 was the convention that made them necessary.
Why it carries weight
If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.
Where it is dropped
The standard does not create privacy between accounts if they are later combined.
05 Register
What has to be true
06 Divergence
What happened after the paper
BIP 84 and BIP 86 are later purposes for native segwit and taproot. They exist because 44 was the convention that made them necessary.
A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.
07 Pre-mortem
What to check before you use the idea
- 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.
08 Anatomy
The paper, in the order a builder needs
The problem it names
BIP 32 gives a tree and no convention. Two wallets restoring the same seed will not find the same coins unless they agree on the path.
What the design proposes
- The purpose field marks the scheme.
- Coin type separates Bitcoin from other chains.
- Change addresses and receiving addresses are different branches.
How the mechanism is specified
- Derive m / 44' / coin' / account' / change / index.
- Scan the external chain for payments.
- Give change on the internal chain.
What this page does not treat as proven
Why the desk still reads it
When a restore shows a zero balance, the path is the first question, not the seed.
09 Lexicon
Terms, opened into the record
- Purpose
- The first hardened field, marking which scheme this branch is.
- Account
- A hardened index that separates identities under one seed.
10 Repository
Every linked record on this page
Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.