<p>Sequential has the advantage of being able to recover without scanning for 2^32 keys.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-12T02:12:37.237Z
2014-03-12T02:12:37.237Z
Pieter Wuille
<p>BIP32 doesn't have any guidance on how to choose the i value for child keys.</p>

<p>Is there any benefit to using a random value for i ?  </p>

<p>Other than documenting and saving the value of I for various purposes such as auditing and child keys, is there any reason that it should be sequential, or why it shouldn't be a large random number ?</p>

<wallet><cryptography><bip32-hd-wallets>
Should I use a large random value for i in BIP 32 instead of sequential?
makerofthings7
# Should I use a large random value for i in BIP 32 instead of sequential?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-03-12)

BIP32 doesn't have any guidance on how to choose the i value for child keys.

Is there any benefit to using a random value for i ?

Other than documenting and saving the value of I for various purposes such as auditing and child keys, is there any reason that it should be sequential, or why it shouldn't be a large random number ?

**Tags:** wallet, cryptography, bip32-hd-wallets


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-03-12. Score: 2

Sequential has the advantage of being able to recover without scanning for 2^32 keys.


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