<p>It is a common misconception that there are actual objects or chunks of data that are Bitcoin and that your wallet receives. That is actually not the case; your Bitcoin are just values attached to outputs created by previous transactions. Most of these outputs (and the type that your Ledger is designed for) require that the spending transaction contain a signature which signs the spending transaction and corresponds to a public key that was specified in the output that is being spent. That public key has a corresponding private key which your wallet knows about.</p>

<p>When you back up your 24 word mnemonic, what you are actually doing is backing up a number encoded as a string. That number is then later used to generate the private keys for your wallet. The generation method is deterministic, which means that given the same number, your wallet will always generate the exact same private keys. So when you restore your wallet from the 24 word mnemonic, what you are really doing is giving it the number that your previous wallet used to generate the private keys so that the new wallet generates the same private keys. This allows you to then spend the Bitcoin you already have since those transaction outputs can just be retrieved from the blockchain.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-05T08:38:58.277Z
So if you add a new wallet to your ledger, do you get a new set of words?
Darren
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-05T15:37:29.840Z
No. It uses the same mnemonic and seed and just derives private keys using different derivation paths. They use the BIP 44 standard.
Ava Chow
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-06T06:01:31.617Z
2017-08-06T06:01:31.617Z
Ava Chow
<p>The answers given by the previous authors seem complete, the only thing we'd like to add is that the same result of a backup will occur not only with ledger wallets but also with light wallets. We've recently written <a href="https://steemit.com/wallet/@guardawallets/what-s-up-with-your-backup-5-universal-safety-tips" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an article,</a> describing how it happens with Guarda.
Shortly, one can not only restore his wallet, using a backup / the 24 words but also unite 2 wallets in one, for example. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-18T15:21:03.033Z
2018-09-18T15:21:03.033Z
Guarda Wallets
<p>Using words to back up wallets is a process described in <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP 39</a>.</p>

<p>Basically, the mnemonic is converted into a <strong>seed</strong>. This seed is then used as the seed to a Heirarchical Deterministic (HD) wallet, as laid out in <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP 32</a>. The seed is used to generate a Master Extended Private Key, from which all other private keys can be generated. The child key generation follows the standard of <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP 44</a> so it is compatible with other wallets too.</p>

<p>Thus, by backing up your mnemonic words, any time you enter them in a wallet, it can recreate the seed, then the master private key, then all your other keys, so your wallet is back.</p>

<p>References:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://support.ledgerwallet.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-to-restore-my-backup-without-a-ledger-wallet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://support.ledgerwallet.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-to-restore-my-backup-without-a-ledger-wallet</a></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-05T23:05:10.363Z
2017-08-05T23:05:10.363Z
meshcollider
<p><strong>Scenario</strong>   </p>

<p>Say you have configured a ledger wallet with 10 BTC and 10 ETH. You then lose this said wallet but you have the 24 unique words. You buy another ledger wallet enter the 24 words and BAM, your wallet is back.</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong><br>
My question is where did the backup come from ? And how is it encrypted.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<wallet><backup><encryption><ledger-hardware-wallet>
How do Ledger Backups get stored?
Rstack
# How do Ledger Backups get stored?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-05)

**Scenario**

Say you have configured a ledger wallet with 10 BTC and 10 ETH. You then lose this said wallet but you have the 24 unique words. You buy another ledger wallet enter the 24 words and BAM, your wallet is back.

**Question**  
My question is where did the backup come from ? And how is it encrypted.

Thanks!

**Tags:** wallet, backup, encryption, ledger-hardware-wallet


---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-08-05. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

Using words to back up username_3 is a process described in [BIP 39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki).

Basically, the mnemonic is converted into a **seed**. This seed is then used as the seed to a Heirarchical Deterministic (HD) wallet, as laid out in [BIP 32](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki). The seed is used to generate a Master Extended Private Key, from which all other private keys can be generated. The child key generation follows the standard of [BIP 44](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0044.mediawiki) so it is compatible with other username_3 too.

Thus, by backing up your mnemonic words, any time you enter them in a wallet, it can recreate the seed, then the master private key, then all your other keys, so your wallet is back.

References:

* <http://support.ledgerwallet.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-to-restore-my-backup-without-a-ledger-wallet>


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-08-06. Score: 3

It is a common misconception that there are actual objects or chunks of data that are Bitcoin and that your wallet receives. That is actually not the case; your Bitcoin are just values attached to outputs created by previous transactions. Most of these outputs (and the type that your Ledger is designed for) require that the spending transaction contain a signature which signs the spending transaction and corresponds to a public key that was specified in the output that is being spent. That public key has a corresponding private key which your wallet knows about.

When you back up your 24 word mnemonic, what you are actually doing is backing up a number encoded as a string. That number is then later used to generate the private keys for your wallet. The generation method is deterministic, which means that given the same number, your wallet will always generate the exact same private keys. So when you restore your wallet from the 24 word mnemonic, what you are really doing is giving it the number that your previous wallet used to generate the private keys so that the new wallet generates the same private keys. This allows you to then spend the Bitcoin you already have since those transaction outputs can just be retrieved from the blockchain.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: So if you add a new wallet to your ledger, do you get a new set of words?  
> **username_1**: No. It uses the same mnemonic and seed and just derives private keys using different derivation paths. They use the BIP 44 standard.  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-09-18. Score: 1

The answers given by the previous authors seem complete, the only thing we'd like to add is that the same result of a backup will occur not only with ledger username_3 but also with light username_3. We've recently written [an article,](https://steemit.com/wallet/@username_3/what-s-up-with-your-backup-5-universal-safety-tips) describing how it happens with username_3.
Shortly, one can not only restore his wallet, using a backup / the 24 words but also unite 2 username_3 in one, for example.


---

