You can use the same account on multiple Substrate-based chains. You may want to use your Polkadot or Kusama Ledger account on parachains for various reasons, like accessing your crowdloan rewards or recovering parachain tokens accidentally sent to the wrong Ledger account. 


Using the same account on multiple chains has its pros and cons. You can learn more about it here:

Can I use the same account on Polkadot, Kusama and parachains?


This article will teach you how to access your Polkadot or Kusama account on their respective parachains.


ℹ️ INFO

Each parachain requires its own Ledger app. Polkadot parachains are guaranteed to have a basic Ledger app developed. Kusama parachains will need to look into the development of these apps independently.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

What are Legacy and Crowdloan accounts on Ledger


Ledger accounts for Polkadot and Kusama parachains are of two types: Legacy and Crowdloan. If you open a parachain app on your Ledger device and press the right button twice, you will see your current account type. By default, it's Legacy.


Legacy

This account cannot be used on other networks. Each parachain will have a different Legacy account, which is also different from your Polkadot or Kusama account. Each Legacy account has its unique private key, although the same recovery phrase gives access to all accounts on your Ledger.


Crowdloan

This account can be used on multiple parachains that connect to the same relay chain. If you are using a Polkadot parachain app, your Crowdloan account has the same private key as your Polkadot account. Crowdloan accounts on Kusama parachains have the same private key as your Kusama account.


ℹ️ INFO

Each network has its own address format. Your Crowdloan account has different addresses on different parachains. You can see all the addresses corresponding to your account using Subscan's handy tool.

How to switch between Legacy and Crowdloan accounts on Ledger


1. Connect your Ledger device and make sure that you have both the Polkadot or Kusama app and the parachain app installed. You can install and update apps in Ledger Live.


2. Open the parachain app. Press the right button to see the Expert mode screen. Press both buttons to enable it:



3. Press the right button to see the Account screen. Press both buttons to switch from Legacy to Crowdloan or vice versa.


4. Review configurations, and press both buttons on the Approve screen to allow the change (or go to the next screen to reject it).


5. Done! You can see your new account type:



If you want to switch back, follow the same steps again.

How to use your Ledger account on parachains


Ledger Live supports only some tokens you can store on Ledger. You may need a third-party wallet compatible with Ledger to use your account on a parachain.


If the network is supported for Ledger accounts in the Polkadot browser extension, we recommend connecting your account through it. Please follow these steps:

How to Add Your Ledger Through the Polkadot Extension


You can also add your Ledger account directly on Polkadot-JS UI:

How to Add a Ledger Account through the Polkadot-JS UI


In both cases, please ensure that you have chosen the desired account type and that your parachain Ledger app is updated and open on your Ledger device.