Technical question about receive bitcoin on ledger nano s

[cryptown]

Hello, sorry for my english that is not well. as you know every HD Wallets can create unlimited address to use, but always in a specific order.

The question is : can ledger nano live detect balance that i have in my 10th (for example) bitcoin address when i did not use addresses before 10th?

[1713856929]

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[1713856929]

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[Rath_]

The question is : can ledger nano live detect balance that i have in my 10th (for example) bitcoin address when i did not use addresses before 10th?

You can set a custom gap limit in the settings (see "Experimental features" tab). The higher it is, the more unused addresses will be scanned for each account. By default, Ledger Live looks for 20 unused addresses so it should detect coins in your example.

[cryptown]

The question is : can ledger nano live detect balance that i have in my 10th (for example) bitcoin address when i did not use addresses before 10th?

You can set a custom gap limit in the settings (see "Experimental features" tab). The higher it is, the more unused addresses will be scanned for each account. By default, Ledger Live looks for 20 unused addresses so it should detect coins in your example.

Thanks  for your fast reply.

It is cool, can i set gap limit to 1000?

[Rath_]

It is cool, can i set gap limit to 1000?

The maximum value seems to be 999. While it might work fairly well right now, you might experience long sync times when Ledger servers are overloaded. It usually happens when the Bitcoin price rapidly changes.

[bitmover]

It is cool, can i set gap limit to 1000?

The maximum value seems to be 999. While it might work fairly well right now, you might experience long sync times when Ledger servers are overloaded. It usually happens when the Bitcoin price rapidly changes.

Personally, I don't think you should do those things.

The security of your coins is based in your seed phrase. If you need extra security, add a mnemonic phrase or even a hidden second wallet (https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005214529-Advanced-passphrase-security?docs=true)

You can add a secondary wallet, with an additional PIN (2 PIN in the same device, with 2 different wallets sharing the same seed, but one of them with a passphrase).

Adding 1000+ address to the gap limit will potentially lead to fund losses when recovering in another wallet/software/etc. This is an experimental feature of Ledger Live. There is a big warning in the screen saying "use them at your own risk"

These are experimental features we provide on an "as is" basis for our tech savvy community to test. They may change, break or be removed at any time. By enabling them, you agree to use them at your own risk.

What I want to point out is: your funds will not be safer by adding 1000+ gap limit. They will probably be more unsafe. The correct way to add an additional security is to add a passphrase.

[NeuroticFish]

The question is : can ledger nano live detect balance that i have in my 10th (for example) bitcoin address when i did not use addresses before 10th?

It can, also you've got the answers about the gap limit.
But my advice is also to not do this. You won't stop any hacker, you will just make your life harder for no actual benefit. And in 10 years you may forget about the gap limit and think that your money got lost or stolen.

[Pmalek]

@cryptown
It might help if you explained what you are trying to accomplish by changing the gap limit. There might be a better and safer way to do it if you tell us what you are trying to achieve.

I agree that increasing gap limit doesn't increase security (unless the theft who have your seed words don't think to change gap limit). However, i don't understand why would increasing gap limit leads to less security?

The ease of use is affected. Unless you made it clear to your heirs that they need to increase the gap limit and check the addresses beyond gap limit 500, it's unlikely they would think of doing it themselves. Restoring a wallet from seed where the software uses a standard gap limit would return an empty wallet right? Or you simply suffer a memory loss and forget about the gap limit you used.