Ledger: is the private key tied to the device or the wallet? Context: I have a Nano S since before, with one recovery phrase and a wallet with some minor BTC on it. Bought a Nano X, set up with a new phrase, and a new wallet, and put some coins in that. Then I imported the old wallet to the new device as well via Ledger Live, so there's two wallets. But then I started wondering:
Is the recovery phrase per device or wallet, or how does it work? If someone gets my old phrase, can they unlock my new device as well, or can they only unlock the old wallet?
It seems it would be possible to unlock the old wallet with either the new or old phrases, but the new wallet only with the new phrase?
Been scouring through the docs but it doesn't really say how this works. I guess when I imported, it should have regenerated that same old wallet but with new keys? But would want to be sure.
Not too worried about the old wallet, but the new. So if someone still can recover only the old one, I would not care that much, but is my new wallet on both phrases somehow I guess is my question, or is it only on my new Nano X devices phrase?
The keys are tied to the mnemonic (or seed phrase or recovery phrase) that you use. The keys are derived directly from it. If any gains access to the mnemonic, they can directly produce the private keys that you used without access to any of the physical hardware. Furthermore, having the mnemonic does not allow them to unlock your hardware wallet - the PIN you use is independent of and unrelated to the mnemonic and the private keys. But that is moot because if someone has the mnemonic, they don't need your hardware to take your Bitcoin.
Importing means that you setup a new device with the same mnemonic. So anyone with the mnemonic can still take your Bitcoin. If they get access to the old device and figure out the PIN, then they can also take your Bitcoin because it is the same private keys.