Polkadot Standards Proposal (PSP) to define Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) key derivation paths

[joepetrowski]

@NukeManDan

https://github.com/satoshilabs/slips/blob/57f96e37a4a4afba71f2b9f67b85be19610b0dfb/slip-0044.md defines Kusama and Polkadot derivation paths, that AFAIK have never been used in wallets.

They are used by Ledger.

@NukeManDan

Our SS58 registry is effectively SLIP44 for Polkdot AFAIK, but also I am not sure it’s really understood how to use and why it’s needed to have the same keys map to different accounts by end users very well, including me

It’s not, because SLIP44 defines derivation paths and SS58 defines prefixes (which do not have any effect on the account, only the display format).

@NukeManDan

With all wallets defining how to handle derivation path defaults ad-hoc, I doubt any strong interoperability would be possible. IMHO compatibility/portability for our wallets with the same secret recovery information by default would be a a big win for everyone. For example ledger cannot interoperate with other wallets

This is because of BIP39 seed derivation, and not derivation paths, as the Wiki link you included explains.