BIP-84
Also: native segwit path
wallets · intermediate
The derivation-path standard for native SegWit addresses — purpose 84', producing modern bech32 addresses like bc1q…
BIP-84 is the same five-level structure as [BIP-44](/glossary/bip44), with the purpose level changed to 84'. The path is m / 84' / 0' / account' / change / index. Public keys at the leaves are encoded as P2WPKH — pay-to-witness-public-key-hash — and serialized as bech32 addresses starting with bc1q.
Native SegWit (BIP-141, BIP-173) moved signatures out of the transaction body into a separate "witness" structure, fixing transaction malleability and reducing on-chain footprint. BIP-84 is the wallet-side companion that gives those addresses a standard place in the derivation tree.
Most modern Bitcoin wallets default to BIP-84 for the receive flow. The bech32 encoding has better error detection than Base58, lowercase-only display, and consistent length — properties that pair well with QR codes and voice handoff. Reference: [github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0084.mediawiki](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0084.mediawiki).