<p>The base system is described in <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP32</a> and <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki" rel="nofollow noreferrer">BIP39</a>.</p>

<p>Essentially, the conversion goes the other way around. We don't convert a list of addresses to a seed. A seed is converted to a list of addresses.</p>

<p>BIP32 described how hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets work.</p>

<p>BIP39 describers how these can be encoded into mnemonic phrases, or seed words.</p>

<p>There's an excellent open source tool by <a href="https://iancoleman.io/bip39/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ian Coleman - BIP39</a> that lets you play around with the various derivation and entropy options. You should, however, be wary of entering any seeds containing funds or using it to generate secure seeds, as always. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-13T21:25:54.823Z
2018-06-13T21:25:54.823Z
Raghav Sood
<p>Apologies for the noobie question.
I was wondering how a range of wallet addresses (eg. BTC address 33ELbMhwHw5AaKHU4u3MzVSFvvK7aa7HZL) is algorithmically converted into seeds (eg. 12 words). Any help?</p>

<p>I tried to google around but I only find articles related to ledgers, wallet recovery and so on.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<bitcoin-core><address-generation><seed>
How are 21 words seeds generated
Gabe
# How are 21 words seeds generated

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-13)

Apologies for the noobie question.
I was wondering how a range of wallet addresses (eg. BTC address 33ELbMhwHw5AaKHU4u3MzVSFvvK7aa7HZL) is algorithmically converted into seeds (eg. 12 words). Any help?

I tried to google around but I only find articles related to ledgers, wallet recovery and so on.

Thanks

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, address-generation, seed


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-06-13. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

The base system is described in [BIP32](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki) and [BIP39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki).

Essentially, the conversion goes the other way around. We don't convert a list of addresses to a seed. A seed is converted to a list of addresses.

BIP32 described how hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets work.

BIP39 describers how these can be encoded into mnemonic phrases, or seed words.

There's an excellent open source tool by [Ian Coleman - BIP39](https://iancoleman.io/bip39/) that lets you play around with the various derivation and entropy options. You should, however, be wary of entering any seeds containing funds or using it to generate secure seeds, as always.


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