# Substrate Wallet Guide

**URL:** <https://forum.autonomys.xyz/t/substrate-wallet-guide/4535>\
**Category:** Guides and FAQs\
**Created:** [November 1, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.autonomys.xyz/t/substrate-wallet-guide/4535 "2024-11-01T15:51:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jim-Autonomys](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.autonomys.xyz/jim-autonomys/32/2922_2.png) [@Jim-Autonomys](https://forum.autonomys.xyz/u/Jim-Autonomys)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.autonomys.xyz/t/substrate-wallet-guide/4535/1 "2024-11-01T15:51:31Z")

</div>

# Understanding Substrate Wallets and Address Conventions

Substrate is a blockchain development framework created by Parity Technologies that allows developers to build custom blockchains. It’s the foundation upon which Polkadot and many other blockchains are built. Substrate provides a modular architecture where developers can choose and customize various components, including the account and address system.

Substrate just happens to be the framework that the Subspace Protocol and therefore the Autonomys Network is built on.

## TL;DR

The Autonomys Network uses the SS58 address format. That means that a single seed phrase deriving an account can be represented in a number for formats. For example, this seed phrase:

```markdown
burden elite evidence shiver unit spring churn primary brush fuel indoor magnet

```

Gives us a default Substrate address of: `5DRdk5tocyroWWast4A5APtpV1xabrCb5GQ1G84TZUtTW3HE`

Which looks like this on Gemini (custom prefix 2254): `st7d7pacGKeK2G8ZTkDoZNaNtDdM3YYgr6XsjYg2kMQDZLERq`

And looks like this on mainnet and testnets (custom prefix 6094): `sucS1hTjK61Rvc1dRLCzv36NFuuVTNJ8eveBhmvgGJE8sZDpf`

But all represent the same account.

Note that the farmer software accepts the `--reward-address` in either `st` or `su` format with the rewards being sent to the single account both formats represent.

If you want to know more about how this works, please read on!

## What is an SS58 Address Format?

SS58 is a modified version of Base58-Check encoding specifically designed for Substrate-based chains. Key characteristics include:

- It’s derived from Bitcoin’s Base58-Check encoding but with important modifications
- Addresses always begin with a network-specific prefix
- Uses blake2b-512 hashing instead of double-SHA256 for checksum calculation
- Includes built-in type recognition through the prefix system

The basic structure of an SS58 address is:

```markdown
prefix (1-2 bytes) | payload (public key) | checksum (2-8 bytes)

```

## Why can a Substrate Account be Represented in Different Formats?

A Substrate account can be represented in multiple formats because the underlying public key remains constant while the encoding format changes. The same account can be represented as:

1. **Raw Public Key (32 bytes)**

2. **SS58 Address**

3. **Generic Substrate Address**

The ability to represent accounts in different formats serves several purposes:

- Network identification
- Error detection
- Cross-chain compatibility
- Human readability

## What is an SS58 Custom Prefix?

An SS58 custom prefix is a unique identifier assigned to different Substrate-based networks. It serves several important purposes:

1. **Network Identification**

2. **Prefix Ranges:**

3. **Security Benefits:**

### Example of the Same Account on Different Networks:

```auto
Polkadot: 12MvtR9sUm8Gx3bPqhD5JYiyLdxEJ9kj9m8VRR3p7ZuygPHC
Kusama: DwFQQEgFLsjGAQKeky84MFpdcEpQX1mXeEkenLR3H6xF9PH
Generic: 5DRdk5tocyroWWast4A5APtpV1xabrCb5GQ1G84TZUtTW3HE

```

All these addresses represent the same underlying public key but are formatted differently based on their network prefix.

The tool at [ss58.org](http://ss58.org) allows you to play with this behaviour to get comfortable with it.

 ![Substrate Address Example](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/subspace/original/2X/a/a35c13c8cbec5b93fd21018b7e6f008025faf0dd.png)