Getting started

You can go from a normal wallet to a private one in about a minute. You don't need a new seed phrase, a new chain or a bridge, and you don't need an account or anyone's approval to begin.

1. Sign in once

Connect your wallet and tap the ghost icon. Your wallet asks you to sign a message, and that signature alone derives the keys of your private account. Signing the message costs nothing and is not a transaction.

The wallet you already use should work, including Keplr, MetaMask, Rabby and Trust. Account creation is sponsored, so you don't need to send anything to get started. Once you have signed, Private Mode is unlocked and your wallet won't interrupt you again.

2. Save your recovery backup

Open the account menu and choose Back up account. You get one encrypted file protected by a passphrase you set. If you keep the file and the passphrase in separate places, you can restore your private account after losing a laptop or a phone, or even after switching to a different wallet. It takes about two minutes, and you can read more in Backup and recovery.

3. Deposit to the Reserve

Pick an asset and deposit it from your public wallet into the Reserve. This is the one action your public wallet signs, because it is the moment your funds move out of public view and into the shared Reserve. Once they are inside, your funds are represented by encrypted notes that only you can read, mixed in with everyone else's.

Depositing from another chain

You can also bring coins straight from Bitcoin, Ethereum and the other chains THORChain connects to.

1. In the app, open Deposit and choose the chain and coin you want to send from.
2. The app shows the deposit details for your pay-in account, a private landing address that belongs to your account and is never your Spending account. Send the coins from your wallet on that chain exactly as shown, including the memo.
3. Once the coins arrive, the app moves them into your Reserve for you. Like any new money, they settle for about two hours before you can use them privately.
4. If the coins are tied to a known hack or a sanctions list, they don't enter the Reserve, and the app shows this. When the nodes allow it, which they do for coins tied to a known hack, the app can send them straight back to the address they came from, with the network fees taken from the amount.

If you later send from a different address, the app gives you a fresh pay-in account, so your sending addresses aren't linked to each other.

4. Move funds to Spending

When you want to use some of your money, move it from the Reserve to Spending, your private account. That takes one click and one proof and needs no signature, and the app offers the right funding step automatically whenever an action needs it. Funds you leave in the Reserve stay among everyone else's notes, which is where your privacy is strongest.

5. Use DeFi as usual

Trade, swap, stake and borrow the way you normally would. You choose an action, review the quote and the privacy fee, and confirm. Your browser creates the proof, a relayer submits it and the chain runs it, and you can follow along in the status panel. It is the flow you already know, without the wallet popups.

6. Withdraw whenever you want

You can move Spending funds back to the Reserve at any time, and withdraw from the Reserve to your public wallet whenever you like, with no one's approval. With the node network, your own money returns to the Reserve at once. Your funds are never locked in, because getting in and out is always one proof away.

To learn more, read Reserve and Spending, Fees and How privacy works.