Bitcoin Improvement Proposals
BIPs
HD wallets, mnemonic seeds, and Bitcoin URI schemes are BIPs — the index is the authoritative catalog.
What It Is
Bitcoin community process for protocol changes, standards, and informational documents. BIP-32/39/44 wallet derivation, BIP-141 SegWit, etc.
Taxonomy
By BIP number · README index · Status (Draft/Proposed/Final/Rejected)
Top-Level Categories
Master Catalog
Sub-Indexes & Guides
The Bitcoin community's open process for proposing protocol changes, standards, and informational documents. BIPs cover everything from consensus rules to wallet derivation paths and payment URIs.
View all bodies →Curated specs from BIPs
Every modern cryptocurrency wallet (Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet) uses BIP-32 for key derivation. The foundation of the seed phrase model.
Seed phrases are the primary backup mechanism for all HD wallets. BIP-39 defines the 12/24 word format, wordlist, and checksum — everything about the backup experience.
Derivation paths determine which addresses you get from a seed phrase on each chain. BIP-44 paths (m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 for ETH) explain why the same seed gives different addresses on different wallets.