Wallet Security.

Hot and cold wallets

A hot wallet is connected to the internet: a phone app, a browser extension, an exchange account. It is convenient, and it is the part of your holdings that malware, phishing and bad approvals can reach. A cold wallet keeps its keys offline, so an attacker on the internet cannot sign anything with them.

For holdings you intend to keep for years, cold storage is worth the small inconvenience. Think of a hot wallet as a purse for spending money and a cold wallet as a safe.

Hardware wallets

A hardware wallet is a small device that holds your keys and signs transactions inside itself, so the keys never touch your computer or phone. You confirm each action on the device’s own screen.

• Buy new, directly from the maker or an authorised seller. Never use a device that arrives pre-set-up or with a seed phrase already written down.
• Check what the device screen shows before you confirm. The screen is the part malware cannot change.
• Keep the firmware up to date, using only the maker’s official app.

We do not recommend any brand. Look for devices with open, widely reviewed security and a long track record.

Seed phrase safety

Your seed phrase (usually 12 or 24 words) is your wallet. Anyone who has it can take everything, from anywhere, and nobody can reverse it.

• Keep it offline. Write it on paper or, better, stamp it into a metal backup that survives fire and water.
• Never photograph it, never store it in a notes app, cloud drive, email or password manager, and never read it out.
• Never type it into a website or app except when you are restoring your own wallet on a device you trust. No support agent, exchange, project or community admin will ever need it.
• Consider a passphrase. An optional extra word that is not written with the seed. It adds protection if the backup is found, but if you forget it the funds are gone, so practise recovery first.
• Keep two copies in two places. One lost copy should not be the end.

On Chain Tribe will never ask for your seed phrase or private keys. Verification asks you to sign a free text message, which never reveals your keys. Anyone claiming to be us and asking for either is a scammer.

Splitting funds across wallets

One wallet for everything is one point of failure. A simple, common pattern uses three kinds of wallet:

• Spending wallet. A hot wallet with a small amount, used for everyday activity and for connecting to apps.
• Savings (cold) wallet. A hardware wallet you rarely touch. You never connect it to unfamiliar sites.
• A fresh wallet for paying On Chain Tribe. A new wallet that is not linked to your main holdings. We keep only the address you pay from, so a fresh one means that address says nothing about the rest of what you own.

Verification can add the balances of several wallets together, so splitting your funds does not stop you proving a balance. We delete the verification addresses afterwards.

Multisig basics

A multisig wallet needs several keys to approve a move, for example two out of three. The keys can sit on different devices, in different places, or with different people you trust.

It protects against one stolen or lost key, and suits larger holdings, shared funds and inheritance planning. The trade-offs are more set-up, more to keep track of, and the need to back up the wallet’s setup details as well as the keys. Try it with a small amount first.

Approvals and drainers

When you use a decentralised app you often grant an approval: permission for a contract to move a certain token from your wallet. Some approvals are unlimited and last until you cancel them. A drainer is a malicious site or contract that tricks you into signing one, or signing something that looks harmless, and then empties the wallet.

• Read what you are signing. A request to approve spending of all your tokens, or a signature you cannot read, is a warning sign.
• A message is plain text. A transaction or permission is not. Signing a message does not move funds, but a permission can.
• Review and revoke old approvals from time to time using a reputable approvals checker, and remember that revoking costs a small network fee.
• Use your spending wallet for new or unknown sites, never your cold wallet.

Phishing and fake support

Most thefts start with a person being fooled, not a clever hack.

• Nobody who really works for a wallet, exchange or project will message you first, ask you to “validate” your wallet, or ask for your seed phrase, keys or a screen share.
• Fake support accounts appear under real posts and in direct messages. Ignore them, and find official help only through links you typed or bookmarked yourself.
• Check the address of every site before connecting a wallet. Lookalike domains, sponsored search results and links from replies are common traps.
• Urgency (“claim now”, “account at risk”) is the scammer’s main tool. Slow down.

SIM-swap and two-factor advice

In a SIM swap, a criminal persuades your phone company to move your number to their SIM, then uses text-message codes to reset your accounts.

• Do not use text messages as your second factor for exchange or email accounts. Use an authenticator app, or better, a hardware security key or a passkey.
• Put a PIN or passcode on your phone account if the provider offers one, and keep your number out of public view.
• Secure your email first: whoever controls your email can reset almost everything else. Use a unique, long password and strong two-factor sign-in.
• Keep backup codes offline.

Address poisoning

In address poisoning, an attacker sends you a tiny or zero-value transaction from an address that looks almost the same as one you use, hoping you will later copy it from your history and send funds to it.

• Never copy an address from your transaction history.
• Check the whole address, not just the first and last few characters.
• Save trusted addresses in your wallet’s address book, and send a small test amount first for large transfers.

Physical security and discretion

Digital security can be undone by someone knowing who holds what. Publicly showing or boasting about holdings makes you a target for fraud, burglary and worse, a risk sometimes called a “wrench attack”.

• Do not flex your holdings, post screenshots of balances or talk about them with people you do not trust.
• Keep hardware wallets and backups out of sight, and not in the place a burglar would look first.
• This is part of why On Chain Tribe members are known only by a username, why we keep no real names or photos, and why we delete verification addresses.

Inheritance planning

If you died or lost capacity tomorrow, could the people you trust recover your funds, and would a stranger be unable to? Plan for both.

• Write instructions that explain where things are and how recovery works, without including the seed phrase itself. Keep them with a lawyer, in a safe, or with a trusted person.
• Consider a multisig set-up or a split backup so that no single person can act alone.
• Review the plan after any big change, and speak to a qualified professional about wills and local rules.

A short checklist

• Long-term holdings are in cold storage, in a wallet I rarely connect to anything.
• My seed phrase is written offline (ideally on metal), in two places, and has never been photographed or typed into a site.
• I use a small spending wallet for apps and a fresh wallet for paying anyone I do not need to be linked to.
• My email and exchange accounts use an authenticator app, a security key or a passkey, not text messages.
• I check the full address and the website every time, and never copy an address from my history.
• I review and revoke old token approvals from time to time.
• Nobody who messages me first gets my seed phrase, keys or a screen share. Ever.
• I do not talk about or show my holdings, and someone I trust knows how recovery works.