Your recovery phrase and smart-account address
Your recovery phrase restores a signer. That signer can authorize your Tuyo smart account while it remains authorized in the account’s current configuration. The signer and the wallet that holds your funds have different addresses.
Get help from a coding agent
We strongly recommend using a coding agent to help inspect your account, prepare the code and simulate the transfer. Give it this guide and your public account details. Keep your recovery phrase out of the conversation and enter it privately on your device. Review the recipient, amount and fees yourself before signing; agents can make mistakes.
You are responsible for independent recovery
Self-custody gives you control of your funds, including the ability to lose them permanently. An incorrect address, contract call or exposed recovery phrase can cause irreversible loss. You use external tools at your own risk. Tuyo is not responsible for losses caused by your independent recovery actions and cannot undo blockchain transactions.
Quick text guide
- To restore access in the Tuyo app, follow Import your wallet with a recovery phrase.
- If another wallet shows a different address, compare the signer address and smart-account address explained below. An empty signer balance does not mean your funds are missing.
- To access the smart account outside Tuyo, use software that supports its existing ZeroDev Kernel configuration and verifies your signer's authority on the chosen network.
- For a missing deposit, share the public destination address, network, token and transaction hash with support. Keep your recovery phrase private.
Two addresses, one account you control
| Signer | Smart account | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Signs instructions to authorize actions | Holds assets and executes authorized actions |
| Where its address comes from | Derived from your recovery phrase | Calculated from the smart account's original configuration |
| Private key | The phrase derives the signer's private key | The contract has no separate private key to export |
| What a traditional wallet import shows | Usually this address | Requires compatible smart-account software |
Think of the signer as the key and the smart account as the account it unlocks. Importing the key into another wallet does not automatically add the smart account to that wallet's balance view.
Why does MetaMask show a different address?
Importing the phrase into MetaMask restores the signer. Your funds can remain at your Tuyo smart-account address, so the signer's balance may be empty.
To move those funds with MetaMask as the signer, a compatible application or script must:
- Connect to your existing Tuyo smart account on the correct network.
- Verify its account version, validator and your current signing authority.
- Prepare the requested transfer from the smart account, including gas and transaction submission.
- Simulate the transfer and show its recipient, amount, network and fees before you approve it.
MetaMask supplies the signature; the compatible software handles the smart-account transaction. ZeroDev supports MetaMask-style providers as signers, but importing the phrase alone is not a complete recovery procedure.
A direct transaction may be enough
For the Kernel 3.2 ECDSA-root configuration we checked, the authorized signer can call the smart account's execute function directly. This uses a normal network transaction, with ETH for gas held at the signer address. A bundler is not required for that route. Other configurations may require a different route.
See Transfer assets from a Kernel smart account for the method and tools verified on Base. The exact call must still be simulated against your account before execution.
Can I access my account without Tuyo?
Independent access is possible when your signer is authorized and the required contracts and transaction infrastructure are available on the network. Tuyo uses ZeroDev Kernel smart accounts; the version and configuration must be checked for your particular account.
The direct owner-call route has been verified on Base for the configuration described in the technical guide.
An account may have changed signers or configuration since it was created. Reproducing its original address alone does not prove current signing authority.
What if I sent funds on an unsupported network?
A network being unsupported in the app does not, by itself, establish whether the funds can be recovered.
The checks are specific to that network: did the transfer succeed, is the smart account deployed there, and are the required contracts and authorized transaction route available? An undeployed account may require deployment with the exact original configuration before funds can be moved.
For deployment checks and networks missing Kernel contracts, see If the account is not deployed on the network.
Send support:
- the public destination address;
- the network name;
- the token and amount;
- the transaction hash.
These details allow investigation without your recovery phrase. Recovery cannot be confirmed from a visible on-chain balance alone.
An empty wallet address may not mean an empty account
Your funds may be held in a separate collateral account or an Earn position. Trace token transfers and check those contracts before concluding that funds are missing. A transfer to your collateral contract is not necessarily a withdrawal to someone else.
The collateral implementation reviewed for this guide has two release routes. The smart account must be the recorded depositor:
- Normal release: requires the depositor and a valid counterparty signature.
- Independent ejection: the depositor starts ejection, waits the contract's cooldown, then calls
releaseEjectedfor the remaining balance. Read the cooldown from the actual collateral contract.
Ejection cancels all your cards
Starting collateral ejection cancels all your Tuyo cards and cannot be undone. Only initiate it if you accept those consequences.
Ejection ends Tuyo’s ability to collect from that collateral account after the contract’s cooldown. Its counterparty can still collect during the cooldown, so the starting balance is not a guaranteed final payout. Confirm the consequences before initiating it. Cooldowns and rules must be read from the actual contract rather than assumed for all accounts.
The ejection route was simulated but has not been verified through a completed on-chain withdrawal in this guide.
Verified collateral implementation and release rules.
Technical reference: deriving the signer
The Tuyo mobile implementation verified for this guide uses:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Mnemonic standard | BIP-39, English word list |
| Key derivation | BIP-32 |
| Ethereum derivation path | m/44'/60'/0'/0/0 |
| Additional BIP-39 passphrase | None supplied |
| Reference operation | mnemonicToAccount(mnemonic) from viem/accounts, with default options |
Base's chain ID, 8453, is not the coin type used to derive this signer. The operation above produces the signer address, not the smart-account address. Calculating the latter requires the original account configuration; interacting with it requires checking its current configuration on the selected network.
Keep recovery material private
Never send your phrase or private key to support, paste it into an AI conversation, or include it in a screenshot. For recovery inside Tuyo, enter it in the official app. Independent signing should happen privately on your own device using software you have verified; a support conversation only needs public account details.
Related guides
Sources and verification
Verified on 15 September 2026 against Tuyo's signer implementation and a Kernel 3.2 test account on Base. Direct token transfer execution was verified on Base. Unsupported-network recovery and collateral ejection remain untested on-chain.
- Viem: mnemonicToAccount — standard signer derivation.
- ZeroDev: creating a smart account — account configuration and addressing.
- Kernel 3.2 implementation and ECDSA validator — direct owner-call authorization.
- ZeroDev: use an EOA with ZeroDev — using providers such as MetaMask as signers.