Your BitBox wallet may contain many accounts, yet you only ever created one backup.
This is not a coincidence — it is a core design of modern hardware wallets.
The BitBox02 uses a Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) wallet, meaning every account and address is mathematically derived from a single master secret: your recovery words.
Understanding this concept helps explain:
- Why new accounts don’t require new backups
- Why some accounts appear “missing” after restore
- Why accounts always appear in a specific order
The foundation: your single wallet backup
When you set up your BitBox02, you created a list of recovery words.
These recovery words are the root of your entire wallet.
From this single secret, the device deterministically generates:
- all accounts
- all addresses
- all future accounts you will ever create
Whoever controls your recovery words controls every account — past and future.
Never store them digitally and never share them.
One backup secures all accounts
Because every account comes from the same mathematical root, the wallet does not store accounts individually.
Instead, the BitBoxApp simply derives them again whenever needed.
This means:
- Adding a new account does not create new secrets
- No additional backup is required
- Restoring the wallet restores all accounts automatically
Your backup does not contain balances — it contains the ability to regenerate them.
What “Hierarchical Deterministic” means
HD wallets work like a tree structure.
- The recovery words are the root
- Accounts are branches
- Addresses are leaves
Two important properties exist:
Hierarchical
Accounts exist in a numbered order: Account 1, Account 2, Account 3, etc.
Deterministic
The same recovery words will always recreate the exact same accounts in the exact same order — on any compatible wallet.
Why unused accounts stay hidden
After restoring a wallet, you might not immediately see every account.
This is expected behavior.
Wallet software only shows accounts that were previously used.
Unused accounts still exist but remain hidden until manually added.
This prevents scanning millions of possible accounts and keeps recovery fast and private.
Hidden accounts are not lost — they are simply undiscovered.
How automatic account discovery works
When restoring a wallet, the BitBoxApp checks accounts in numerical order to find which ones were previously used.
The process is deterministic — it does not search randomly and it does not scan forever.
Discovery within the first accounts
The first six accounts can exist even if they were never used.
Because of this, the wallet must always check this full range.
Example:
| Account | History | Automatically restored |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Used | Yes |
| 2 | Used | Yes |
| 3 | Never used | Hidden |
| 4 | Used | Yes |
| 5 | Never used | Hidden |
| 6 | Never used | Hidden |
Even if account 3 was unused, account 4 is still discovered automatically.
Unused accounts inside this range do not stop discovery.
Discovery after the sixth account
After account 6, BitBox enforces a rule:
A new account can only exist if the previous account has transaction history.
This means:
- Account 7 cannot exist unless account 6 was used
- Account 8 cannot exist unless account 7 was used
- And so on
Because of this guarantee, the wallet can safely stop searching once it reaches an unused account beyond the sixth.
Example:
| Account | History | Automatically restored |
| 1–6 | Various | Checked completely |
| 7 | Used | Yes |
| 8 | Never used | Hidden |
| 9 | Impossible to exist | Not searched |
The wallet stops here because account 9 cannot exist without activity in account 8.
Why scanning stops
- The BitBox02 does not search infinitely for accounts
- The account-creation rule ensures that beyond account six, unused accounts prove that no further accounts exist
- This keeps wallet recovery fast, private, and resistant to abuse
Why accounts always appear in order
Accounts are mathematically derived from your recovery words in a fixed sequence.
They cannot appear randomly, and they cannot be skipped.
If a later account exists, all required previous accounts must also exist according to the rules above.
This is why the wallet can reliably reconstruct your account structure during recovery.
Important takeaway
Hidden accounts are not missing accounts.
They are simply accounts that either:
- never had activity, or
- cannot exist due to the account-creation rule
Your funds are always located in the same deterministic positions derived from your recovery words.
Why using multiple accounts helps privacy
Each account generates its own address set.
Using different accounts for different purposes makes blockchain analysis significantly harder.
Examples:
- Savings account
- Spending account
- Exchange interaction account
Separating them prevents easy balance tracking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my backup store my coins?
No. Your coins exist on the blockchain.
Your recovery words store the keys that allow the wallet to find and control them again.
Why do all my accounts come back after restoring?
All accounts are mathematically derived from the same recovery words.
When restoring, the wallet regenerates them in the exact same order every time.
Why are some accounts hidden after restoring?
The wallet automatically shows accounts that had activity.
Unused accounts still exist, but remain hidden until you add them manually.
Why does the wallet not search forever for accounts?
Because after the fifth account, a new account can only exist if the previous one was used.
So if the wallet reaches an unused account beyond that point, it can safely stop searching — no further accounts can exist.
This makes recovery fast and prevents abuse.
Can an account exist “out of order”?
No. Accounts are created sequentially.
If account 7 exists, account 6 must have existed and been used before.
The wallet structure cannot skip numbers.
Why was account 4 restored even though account 3 was unused?
The first accounts are always checked completely.
Unused accounts within this initial range do not stop discovery.
The stopping rule only applies after the account-creation restriction becomes active.
If I create a new account today, was it already in my backup?
Yes. All future accounts are predetermined by your recovery words.
Creating an account only reveals the next position in the wallet structure.
Can I restore my wallet on another compatible wallet?
Yes. Any wallet following the same standard can derive the same accounts from the same recovery words.
What happens if I lose the device but keep the recovery words?
Nothing is lost.
You can restore your entire wallet — including all accounts — on a new device.