GlossaryIntermediate
Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet
A wallet that generates many key pairs from a single seed, following a standard derivation structure.
A hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallet generates an entire tree of key pairs from a single starting seed, following a standardized derivation structure, so every address it ever produces can be recreated from that one seed backup.
This is why a single seed phrase is generally sufficient to back up and restore an entire modern wallet, including many separate addresses, rather than needing to back up each private key individually. See Kaavon's "Derivation Path" glossary definition for the specific standardized formula this generation process actually follows, and "Seed Phrase" for the backup this entire structure stems from.
Examples
- Most modern crypto wallets are HD wallets, generating many addresses from one seed phrase.
- Restoring an HD wallet from its seed phrase recreates its entire structure of addresses.