BIP-32 — BIP-32 is the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal that defines hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets — a tree of keys derived from a single master seed, so a wallet can generate unlimited addresses without storing each one.
Given a master seed, BIP-32 derives child keys via HMAC-SHA512 over the parent key and an index. The result is a deterministic tree: from one seed you can recreate every key.
BIP-44 standardises the path layout: m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index. Coin types are registered (0' = BTC, 60' = ETH, 501' = SOL, etc.), which lets the same seed manage every supported chain.
BIP-32 + BIP-44 paths are the standard for deriving per-coin private keys from a BIP-39 seed. Kronos's key-management architecture is being finalized ahead of public launch — see /security for current technical details on derivation, storage, and access.
They reduce backup complexity (one seed instead of many keys), enable unlimited address generation, and support cross-chain wallets.