# Accounts & Keys

## Overview

An Ethereum account is a secp256k1 key pair and the address derived from it. Ox provides the
primitives for the whole key lifecycle: generating [BIP-39](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki)
mnemonics, deriving [BIP-32](https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0032.mediawiki) HD
keys, computing and validating addresses, and encrypting private keys at rest as JSON keystores.

```ts twoslash
import { Address, Mnemonic, Secp256k1 } from 'ox'

// Generate a mnemonic and derive a private key (`m/44'/60'/0'/0/0`).
const mnemonic = Mnemonic.random(Mnemonic.english)
const privateKey = Mnemonic.toPrivateKey(mnemonic)

// Derive the public key and address.
const publicKey = Secp256k1.getPublicKey({ privateKey })
const address = Address.fromPublicKey(publicKey)
```

## Guides

<Cards>
  <Card icon="lucide:at-sign" title="Derive & Validate Addresses" description="Derive addresses from keys, checksum, validate, and compare." to="/guides/accounts/addresses" />

  <Card icon="lucide:key-round" title="Mnemonics & HD Wallets" description="Generate BIP-39 phrases and derive accounts along HD paths." to="/guides/accounts/mnemonics-hd" />

  <Card icon="lucide:lock" title="Work with Keystores" description="Encrypt private keys as JSON keystores with scrypt or PBKDF2." to="/guides/accounts/keystores" />
</Cards>