How can I import an account into Metamask using the Chrome extension? It asks for a “private key string”, but all I have is the secret recovery phrase.
You’re right – MetaMask wants the private key when importing an account, but you only have the seed phrase. Here’s how to get the private key from the seed phrase:
- Go to https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ and select “ETH” as the coin.
- Enter your 12 or 24 word seed phrase into the “BIP39 Mnemonic” field.
- Scroll down and under “Derived Addresses“, click on the “Private Key” button for the address you want to import.
- This will reveal the private key associated with that address and seed phrase.
- Copy the private key (starts with 0x).
- Go back to MetaMask, click “Import Account”, paste the private key into the box, and click Import.
- The account associated with that private key will now show up in your MetaMask extension.
The Ian Coleman site securely generates private keys locally in your browser from seed phrases. So now you can get the private key needed to import your wallet into MetaMask.
