Ethereum purpose allocation and path scheme for deterministic wallets

[Arachnid]

This EIP defines a logical hierarchy for deterministic wallets based on BIP32 and the purpose scheme defined in BIP43.

This EIP is a particular application of BIP43.

[danfinlay]

Given the already confused nature of wallet derivation paths in Ethereum, we anticipate this will cause relatively little additional disruption

This sentence does not exactly instill me with a sense of tranquility, it more reminds me how many very difficult UX problems we still have to solve.

That said, I agree, we've already "bought in" to this confusing paradigm, and isolating accounts per-purpose is a standard evolution that we've been looking forward to for a long time.

These changes are modest, and I think easily agreeable to any client developers currently supporting the BIP39 standards.

[Arachnid]

My discussions on the Bitcoin mailing list have resulted in this PR: bitcoin/bips#523

Short version: Ethereum would be m/43'/60'/<eip number>'/.... If there's no objections, I'll update this EIP and #601.

[iam-peekay]

@Arachnid what is the difference between #600 and #601?

[MicahZoltu]

@iam-peekay #600 defines a framework upon which to extend BIP32 derivation paths in a way that is more-or-less compatible with BIP43 derivation paths. #601 is the first (and so far only) proposed implementation that leverages that new framework.

This is akin to BIP32 that defines how derivation paths work (we still use that), BIP43 which defines how people spec derivation paths (similar to EIP600) and BIP 44 which is an application of BIP43 (just as EIP601 is an application of EIP600).

[iam-peekay]

@MicahZoltu thank you! that's helpful.

Just so I completely understand, I'm currently architecting the key management for an application I'm building, and I'm looking at following the spec defined in #602. But I assume for now I'll have to either stick with NPM modules ethereumjs-wallet/hdkey and bip39 to handle seed phrases and HD keys or write my own eip602 NPM module to handle seed phrases and HD keys?

Sorry if it's a noob question!

[MicahZoltu]

I believe all 3 of these specs are BIP32 compatible and I think they are all BIP43 compatible. If you can find a library that speaks those then these should work. That being said, I don't think anyone has written a JS library specifically against this proposal (or the other two) yet.

[iam-peekay]

Thanks @MicahZoltu. Agreed.
Appreciate the clarification!

[Arachnid]

This is a courtesy notice to let you know that the format for EIPs has been modified slightly. If you want your draft merged, you will need to make some small changes to how your EIP is formatted:

• Frontmatter is now contained between lines with only a triple dash ('---')
• Headers in the frontmatter are now lowercase.

If your PR is editing an existing EIP rather than creating a new one, this has already been done for you, and you need only rebase your PR.

In addition, a continuous build has been setup, which will check your PR against the rules for EIP formatting automatically once you update your PR. This build ensures all required headers are present, as well as performing a number of other checks.

Please rebase your PR against the latest master, and edit your PR to use the above format for frontmatter. For convenience, here's a sample header you can copy and adapt:

---
eip: <num>
title: <title>
author: <author>
type: [Standards Track|Informational|Meta]
category: [Core|Networking|Interface|ERC] (for type: Standards Track only)
status: Draft
created: <date>
---

[MicahZoltu]

@Arachnid I propose we move this to Last Call (after you clean it up per your above comment). Discussion has died down on it and I think there is value in actually getting this finalized.

[MicahZoltu]

Needs discussion link. I recommend Ethereum Magicians.

[MicahZoltu]

GitHub handle is MicahZoltu

[joeykrug]

Why hasn't this been merged for discussion?

[MicahZoltu]

Because I can't convince @Arachnid to add a discussion-url. :P

[nicksavers]

There is no EIP 84

[nicksavers]

Where is the reference to SLIP-44?