A “wallet” can mean very different things, providing a range of different types of functionality – from simply holding and transferring XRD, all the way to complex Radix dApp interactions, transactions, and use of Persona logins.

Depending on your needs, this article provides a summary of some options available to you.

The Radix Wallet

One of the cornerstones of the Radix roadmap is the belief that Web3 and DeFi need a radically better user experience – without giving up the control and decentralization of a truly trustless “self-custodied” wallet. The only way of providing this great user experience without compromise is taking a highly integrated approach, from the fundamentals of the network, smart contracts, and transactions, all the way up to a Wallet UI that uses those features.

This is why Radix Publishing has published the Radix Wallet for iOS and Android, letting users securely and confidently manage all assets on the Radix Network and interact with dApps on the Radix Network.

The Radix Wallet is only possible by taking full advantage of Radix Network features like the Radix Engine and resources, as well as native functionality like Smart Accounts, Identities, validators, liquid stake units, and pool units. It is also highly integrated with developer tools provided for dApp developers, like Radix dApp Toolkit that enables no-password one-click logins and easy sharing of Account and other information.

Its initial release provided the most essential functionality, and is now being followed by a long and exciting roadmap of additional features and enhancements, led by RDX Works. You can have a look at the presentation from RadFi 2022 to get an idea of the vision for where this user experience is going.

The Radix Wallet should be the first port of call for users wanting to get started with Radix, and development resources are committed to aggressive ongoing development of this wallet to drive toward ever more mainstream-suitable user experience and robust features for dApp interaction.

What about a Radix Wallet for desktop or a browser extension?

The Radix Wallet is a mobile application for iOS and Android, but with a very different design than the typical “mobile wallet”. RDX Works believes that a true Web3 wallet for everyone must have three goals in mind:

You can always use it wherever you are
You can use it to connect to dApps running anywhere
It always manages your Accounts and transactions securely

A mobile app is the clear answer to the first goal. We all increasingly rely on our phones as our access point for our digital lives, and this is also simply the right solution for a digital wallet – if that wallet can be made secure and flexible enough.

The second goal is why Radix Connect was developed. Even though the wallet app is mobile-only, it is architected to work with dApps running anywhere, connected via Radix Connect. In its first form, Radix Connect allows the wallet to be linked to a desktop web browser so that it can seamlessly interact with dApp web pages running on desktop – where the majority of Web3 and DeFi happens today. But Radix Connect’s design means that in the future, it will add the ability to connect to dApp web pages in mobile browsers, as well as applications running natively on mobile devices – or even things like native applications like games or enterprise backend systems.

The third goal is met with Radix’s on-ledger multi-factor features. On other networks, a mobile wallet is a scary proposition – who wants to trust serious money to a single key stored on a phone? On Radix, the multi-factor control and recovery features of Smart Accounts mean that users will be able to use the Radix Wallet to set up institutional-grade multi-factor signing, and will be able to recover access to their Accounts even if their phone is lost or stolen. While the network support for multi-factor already went live with the Babylon upgrade, the UI to easily manage it in the Radix Wallet is still in development; until then, users can choose to use a Ledger hardware wallet device for increased security.

This is why the focus is on a mobile wallet experience. Building additional wallets for desktop or as a browser extension are unnecessary when a mobile wallet can meet these goals with better user experience and without compromise to flexibility or security. Does this introduce a bit of friction for the current crypto head who is already used to adding Metamask to Chrome and writing down a seed phrase? It is - but the tradeoff for better general security and accessibility for everyone is worth breaking that mold.

What about the risk of app store rejection?

Development of the Radix Wallet has scrupulously avoided the sorts of features that cause concerns for app store reviewers. Firstly, it is not a custodial wallet. Secondly, it avoids directly baking in exchange or marketplace functionality — areas which instantly get into red-flag territory for reviewers — because the seamless dApp connection experience of the Radix Wallet means that there is no need to build it in. (Building DEX functionality into Metamask is like building a web browser that’s so bad at presenting web pages that it has to hard code in a custom Amazon shopping interface – silly!)

So far approvals for app stores have been quick, but if a problem were to arise, distribution by other means would be considered – and long-term there is industry momentum toward these options being both available and possibly mandated by law.

Other Non-custodial Wallet Options

While it is technically possible for anyone to build a fully dApp-capable wallet for Radix, such developments are not actively encouraged or supported, instead prioritizing the aggressive ongoing development of the integrated Radix Wallet experience. Why?

The reason is that creating a mainstream-ready user experience for a Web3/DeFi wallet is truly breaking new ground, and that is going to require continuous, rapid, and aggressive development up and down the integrated stack of technologies. This is the only way to ensure development remains unconstrained in finding the right long-term solutions for the best user experience, and new wallet features and capabilities can be released as quickly as possible.

In time and with more maturity of the Radix ecosystem, the focus will shift naturally from rapid innovation to stability and documentation, and wallet functionality may become more standardized. This is similar to how years of maturity of the world wide web finally led to standardized web browser engines, and commoditized browsers using them, without fragmenting the web for users. For now, prioritizing enablement of a multiplicity of wallet options will not help drive forward the Radix ecosystem as much as continuing to focus efforts on iterating a great Radix Wallet user experience as aggressively as possible.

However, for users with particular needs that the current Radix Wallet does not support, there may be community options available. RDX Works, Radix Publishing, and Radix Tokens Jersey do not review, audit or otherwise endorse the community wallet options.

These options include:

Z3US Wallet

Custodial wallets for XRD and other Radix-native tokens

Custodial wallets control and operate a wallet on your behalf. They are convenient, but require trust for the party operating the wallets.

Currently custodial wallet providers do not provide dApp interaction support. A future update to the Radix Wallet is intended to enable integration of custodial signing for transactions received by the wallet.

Many centralized exchanges provide custodial wallet support for Radix, including:

In addition, for users who require or desire a professional custodian for the XRD or other tokens issued on Radix, partners who can provide it are being identified and supported in integrating Radix. Examples of professional custodians which already support XRD include:

Bitpanda Custody

Multi-network wallets with XRD token support

Multi-coin wallets, providing simple management and transfer functionality of many tokens on many networks, can easily build a lightweight integration with the Radix Network and the XRD token. Partners who can provide this are being identified and supported. There are many wallets that currently support eXRD, such as Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, or MetaMask.

Further Reading: