What does each level of a derivation path mean?

A standard path is m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index. Purpose selects the address scheme (44, 49, 84, 86), coin_type is the SLIP-0044 coin ID (0 for Bitcoin, 60 for Ethereum), account groups funds, change is 0 for receiving and 1 for internal change addresses, and address_index increments per address.

What is a hardened level and why the apostrophe?

An apostrophe (or 'h') marks a hardened derivation, where the child key is derived using the parent private key so the child public key cannot be computed from the parent public key alone. The first three levels (purpose, coin_type, account) are hardened for security; change and index are not, so a wallet can derive receive addresses from an extended public key.

What is the difference between BIP44, 49, 84, and 86?

They select the address format via the purpose field. BIP44 (purpose 44) is legacy P2PKH addresses, BIP49 (49) is P2WPKH nested in P2SH (addresses starting with 3), BIP84 (84) is native SegWit bech32 (bc1q), and BIP86 (86) is Taproot bech32m (bc1p). The rest of the path structure is identical.

Why does my Ethereum path use coin type 60?

Coin types follow the SLIP-0044 registry. Bitcoin is 0, Bitcoin testnet is 1, Litecoin is 2, Dogecoin is 3, and Ethereum is 60. Ethereum wallets typically use m/44'/60'/0'/0/index, with all accounts on a single change branch since Ethereum has no change-address concept.

Is it safe to share a derivation path?

Yes. A derivation path is just a routing structure, not a secret. It reveals nothing about your private keys or balances on its own. Your seed phrase and private keys are the secrets; never enter those here or anywhere online. This tool only parses path strings.

BIP44/49/84 Derivation Path Explainer

Hierarchical-deterministic (HD) wallets organise every address under a tree described by a derivation path. This tool decodes a path into its five meaningful levels with the correct BIP semantics, or builds a properly formatted path from menu choices, covering the four common address schemes.

How it works

A full BIP44-style path has five levels below the master key m:

m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index
    44/49/84/86   SLIP-0044   0,1,2…    0=recv   0,1,2…
                              hardened   1=change

The decoder splits on /, reads the leading m, and for each segment detects a trailing ' or h as a hardened marker, then maps the first three by position to purpose, coin type, and account. Purpose values map to address formats: 44 → legacy, 49 → P2SH-SegWit, 84 → native SegWit, 86 → Taproot.

Notes and example

The path m/84'/0'/0'/0/5 is the sixth (index 5) native-SegWit receive address of the first account of Bitcoin — a bc1q… address. Switch the purpose to 86' and the same position becomes a Taproot bc1p… address. For Ethereum, m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 is the first account’s first address. A derivation path is a public routing structure, not a secret — never enter a seed phrase or private key into any online tool.