Seed Phrase Imported but the Wallet Is Empty? Derivation Paths and TON Versions Explained

If you imported the right recovery phrase and the wallet shows a different address or a zero balance, your funds are almost certainly still on-chain at the old address. As of October 2026, the usual cause is that the new wallet derives a different account from the same phrase: another account index or derivation path on EVM and Solana, or another wallet contract version (v3R2, v4R2 or W5) on TON. Find your old address on a block explorer, then change the account, path or version option in the wallet until its first address matches, and never paste your phrase into a "path finder" website to do it.

Why does the right seed phrase open an empty wallet?

A recovery phrase generates a master seed, not a single address, and each wallet decides which accounts to derive from it. For the concept, see what an HD wallet is.

A derivation path is the route a wallet follows from the master seed to one account. Most wallets use the BIP-44 layout m / purpose' / coin_type' / account' / change / address_index, where the apostrophe marks hardened derivation. The coin type picks the chain: 60 for Ether, 501 for Solana and 607 for TON, per the SLIP-0044 registry. Three differences can make a correct phrase show another address: a different account index, a different path layout (mostly Solana), or a different wallet contract version or key method (TON).

The balance lives on the blockchain, not in the app, so a zero in a new app does not mean the funds moved.

Before you try anything: never paste your phrase into a website

Do not type your recovery phrase into any website, "derivation path finder", "seed converter", "wallet recovery checker", balance scanner or chat with a "support agent". Whoever receives it can drain every chain it controls. Only official wallet apps you already trust should ever see it.

• Compare public addresses instead; they are safe to share and look up.
• Treat any message asking for your phrase as a scam. See spotting crypto phishing and avoiding fake wallet apps.

EVM (Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, BNB Chain): symptom, cause, fix

On EVM chains the first address usually matches across wallets, so the problem is normally later accounts, networks or tokens. The commonly used path is m/44'/60'/0'/0/n, where n is the account number; MetaMask's HD keyring defaults to the prefix m/44'/60'/0'/0, and Trust Wallet Core lists m/44'/60'/0'/0/0. Some wallets, hardware-wallet apps among them, number accounts at a different path level, so check the old wallet's documentation.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
First address matches, other accounts missing	Later accounts are not shown until you add them again.	Use "Add account" repeatedly, in order, until the old address appears.
Every address is different	The old wallet used another path layout. Phantom, for example, documents an alternate EVM path, m/44'/60'/1'/0/n.	Restore in the original app, or use the new wallet's path or account options and check that vendor's docs.
Address matches, balance is 0	One EVM address works on every EVM network, so the funds may be on another network, or the token is not added.	Switch network or add the token. See balance not showing.

Decision rule: if the first address matches, the phrase is right and the first account's path is right. If the funds were in a later account, keep adding accounts in order, and if those never match, the old wallet may number accounts differently, so check its documentation. If the address you are looking for matches but the balance is 0, look at networks and tokens, not paths.

Solana: why do Phantom, Trust Wallet and others show different addresses?

Solana has no single derivation standard that every wallet follows, so two wallets can derive different addresses from one phrase. These are the commonly used paths as documented by each vendor.

Path	Who documents it	Note
m/44'/501'/n'/0'	Phantom (default "bip44Change"); Trust Wallet Core (alternative "solana", n = 0)	Phantom's default.
m/44'/501'/n'	Phantom (alternate "bip44")	Trust Wallet Core lists m/44'/501'/0' as its default.
m/501'/n'/0/0	Phantom (deprecated)	Legacy path.

Decision rule: if your EVM address matches but your Solana address does not, the Solana path differs, not the phrase. The help center of MyTonWallet (now help.mywallet.io, as My Wallet) warns that it imports the Phantom format, so a Trust Wallet phrase may give a different Solana address there.

• Solana empty, EVM fine: switch the derivation path option at import, if your wallet offers one. Solflare lets you choose one path per phrase at import and uses it for wallets created later.
• Two Solana accounts appeared: you may have added an extra one. In a December 2022 Brave community case, the original was created on import and the user then added a second.

EVM and Solana also use different curves (secp256k1 and ed25519), so one phrase gives unrelated-looking addresses on each chain. That is normal; see crypto address formats explained.

TON: why does my address change between v3R2, v4R2 and W5?

A TON address depends on two layers, the key and the wallet contract, and a mismatch in either gives a new address.

Layer 1, the key. TON-native wallets use a mnemonic of BIP-39 words but derive the key with TON's own method: PBKDF2 with HMAC-SHA512 and the salt "TON default seed", per docs.ton.org, which notes that some TON apps use a different method. Multi-chain wallets can instead derive a TON key from a standard BIP-39 phrase over a path; the Trust Wallet Core registry lists m/44'/607'/0'. A phrase from one kind of wallet can therefore be rejected by, or give a different key in, the other kind.

Layer 2, the contract. A TON wallet is a smart contract whose address is a hash of its code and initial state. The same key under v3R2, v4R2 or W5 (V5R1) gives different addresses, and the wallet_id changes it too: V4R2 uses 698983191 and V5 uses 2147483409 on mainnet. docs.ton.org advises: "For new deployments, prefer V5. Use V3R2 or V4R2 only for legacy compatibility or specific constraints." V5 adds gasless transfers (fees in tokens such as USDt instead of GRAM (formerly Toncoin), through off-chain infrastructure) and up to 255 messages at a time.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Empty after import	The wallet defaulted to W5, but the funds sit at your v4R2 or v3R2 address.	Switch or add the other version in settings, if offered, or check each address on Tonviewer.
Address starts with UQ, not EQ	Same account, other display format (non-bounceable versus bounceable).	Nothing; both forms are exactly one address.
Phrase rejected or different key	TON-native versus multi-chain phrase.	Restore in the app that created it.

How do I find the right path or version safely, step by step?

You need one known-good public address from before the move: from the old wallet, an exchange withdrawal history, a receipt or an email.

1. Check the phrase and word order offline (no websites, no screenshots)
2. Find your old public address from the old app, exchange withdrawal history or receipts
3. Look up that address on a block explorer (Etherscan or the matching EVM network's explorer, Solscan or Tonviewer) to confirm where the funds are; see how to read a block explorer
4. Compare the first address the new wallet shows with the old one
5. Add accounts in order (account 1, 2, 3...) until the old address appears
6. Switch the derivation path option (Solana) or wallet version (TON) in settings, one at a time
7. Check the network and token list once the address matches
8. If nothing matches, restore in the original wallet app and read its derivation docs

Compare the whole address each time, not just its start and end, because address-poisoning lookalikes typically copy the first and last characters. As a rule of thumb borrowed from BIP-44's address gap limit (20 unused addresses in a row), stop scanning after about 20 empty accounts in a row.

Still empty? Rule out these before you assume the worst

• Wrong network or missing token: see balance not showing.
• Unsupported network: the old wallet supported a network the new one does not; see sent crypto to the wrong network.
• A BIP-39 passphrase: the optional "25th word" makes the same words open a different wallet, per BIP-39. If you used one, the plain phrase opens an empty wallet.
• A different phrase: you may have had more than one wallet.
• Outgoing transfers you did not make: the funds were taken, not hidden. Read what to do in the first hour after a hack.
• Lost phrase: see what you can recover without the phrase.

How WATS Wallet relates to this

WATS Wallet (by Alltoscan LLC) is non-custodial: you create and hold your own recovery phrase in the Chrome extension and the iOS and Android app, and the wallet supports EVM networks, Solana and TON. The same check applies whenever you move a phrase between any two wallets: compare the first address on each chain against a block explorer and read both wallets' documentation for their paths and TON version.

WATS never holds your phrase or keys, so no one at WATS can look up, recover or "convert" it, and anyone asking for it is a scammer. On EVM networks, fees are paid in ATS instead of native gas, through an ERC-4337 paymaster, from one ATS balance on BSC (see the ATS fee); TON fees are paid in ATS too, while Solana pays its own fee in SOL. The optional WATS NFC Metal Card holds no keys, so it is not a backup of your phrase.