Your wallet
Step 1 of 5 · Open
A wallet holds keys, not coins. Your ada lives on the chain, and the wallet is how you prove it is yours.
Install one of these wallets for your device, or compare them all in the Wallet Finder.
Eternl
Feature-rich Cardano light wallet for browser and mobile. Favored by experienced users for power features the community has requested most.
Lace
Light wallet platform from IOG, audited by an independent reviewer. Lace lets you manage your digital assets and connect to Web3 dApps on Cardano.
Multisig Wallet
Secure team treasury management and governance participation on Cardano using native multi-signature scripts and an approval workflow UI.
Compare all wallets in the Wallet Finder · What is a wallet?
Quick check
When people say they "have ada in a wallet," what does the wallet actually store?
Your recovery phrase
Step 2 of 5 · Open
Twelve to twenty-four words are the only backup. There is no company, no support desk and no reset. Whoever has the words has the ada.
Practise the check your wallet will ask for, with a demo phrase. Then write your real one on paper and keep it offline.
- 1byron
- 2shelley
- 3goguen
- 4basho
- 5voltaire
- 6ouroboros
- 7lovelace
- 8plutus
- 9hydra
- 10mithril
- 11conway
- 12epoch
Quick check
A moderator in a Cardano forum sends you a private message offering help with your wallet. What should you do?
You, on the chain
Step 3 of 5 · Open
Your address is public, like an account number. You can share it with anyone. Your phrase you share with no one.
Connect your wallet, or paste a receiving address.
Looking for wallets in this browser.
Your address is stored only in this browser. To check its public on-chain activity, it is sent to cardano.org's chain-data service, the same way an explorer works. Privacy policy
Quick check
Unlike a recovery phrase, what is a Cardano receiving address meant for?
Your first ada
Step 4 of 5 · Open
Most people buy their first ada on an exchange. On the exchange it is theirs, in your wallet it is yours.
Choose a way to get ada, then send it to your own address.
Quick check
When ada is sitting in an account on a centralized exchange (CEX), who actually has custody of it?
Stake and vote
Step 5 of 5 · Open
Delegation moves rights, not ada. Your ada stays spendable, the pool produces blocks with it, your DRep votes with it. A vote delegation is also required before staking rewards can be withdrawn.
Delegate to a stake pool and to a DRep, both from your wallet, in either order.
Quick check
When you delegate your ada to a stake pool, what happens to the ada itself?
Quick check
What is a DRep?
Summary
Not sure what Cardano is yet? Start with the overview.