The Stacks Wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet for managing your STX tokens.
Generally speaking, cryptocurrency wallets enable the sending and receiving of cryptocurrency quantities. Unlike physical wallets for carrying cash, cryptocurrency wallets don’t contain tokens directly inside of them; they merely provide a mechanism for managing them on a blockchain using credentials.
The Stacks Wallet specifically empowers you to manage your STX tokens on the Stacks blockchain, as those tokens are associated with a single publicly-known Stacks address and a single privately-held “Secret Key” (otherwise known as a “seed” or “mnemonic” phrase), which serves as your sole credential.
Your Stacks address is akin to a bank account number, in that it’s known and shared publicly so others can send STX tokens to you.
Conversely, your Secret Key is akin to a password, in that it should be kept completely private and used only to authenticate with trusted software like the Stacks Wallet so you can send STX to others and otherwise manage your own holdings. However, unlike a traditional password, no one can ever reset your Secret Key should it get lost. It’s absolutely vital that you secure your Secret Key since its lost will entail the lost of all associated STX tokens irreparably.
The Secret Key consists of 24 words separated by spaces. The words, spaces and their positions in the sequence are all critically important. Be sure to record them exactly as presented by the Stacks Wallet.
When sending STX from the Stacks Wallet, the software digitally signs a token transfer from your address to another then broadcasts it to the Stacks network. After the network has received and validated this transaction, tokens will be moved from your address to the specified destination address. The transaction will be permanently and irreversibly recorded on the Stacks blockchain.
Using the Stacks Wallet, you can:
- Generate a new STX address with associated Secret Key
- Send STX from your STX address
- Receive STX to your STX address
- View the balance for your address and associated details
- Review the transaction history associated with your address
- Pay for fees associated with sending STX in STX
- Participate in Stacking for the chance to earn BTC as paid out to a separate BTC wallet
- Optionally authenticate with a Ledger hardware device
Use the Stacks Wallet with a hardware wallet device raises the level of security by keeping your Secret Key away from your desktop computer at all times during initial authentication and transaction signing.
The Stacks app is available in Ledger Live. You'll need to install it there before proceeding to connect your Ledger Nano S or X device to the Stacks Wallet for authentication.
- Download and open Ledger Live
- Connect your Ledger device
- Upgrade your firmware for Ledger Nano S to version 1.6.1 or Nano X to version 1.2.4-5 or greater.
- Select "Settings" in the top-right corner of Ledger Live then the "Experimental features" tab
- Toggle on "Developer Mode"
- Go to "Manager" on the left-hand side of Ledger Live
- Connect and enter your PIN on your Ledger device
- Confirm "Allow Ledger manager" on device
- Search "Stacks" and select "Install"
- Return to Stacks Wallet and proceed with authentication
Important:
- Don't turn on "Developer Mode" before upgrading your firmware, otherwise Ledger Live won't show you the dialog to upgrade. If you don't see the upgrade option, turn off "Developer Mode" before proceeding.
- Press both top buttons on your Ledger device simultaneously to proceed whenever it shows "Pending Ledger review" on the screen.
- Ledger Blue has been discontinued and is not supported by the Stacks Wallet. You'll need to transfer your recovery phrase to a separate Nano S or X device.
Verify receive address on Ledger device
- Open the Stacks Wallet
- Select "I already have a wallet"
- Select "Continue with Ledger"
- Connect your Ledger and enter its PIN on the device
- Open the Stacks app on your Ledger device
- Select "Continue" to view the receive address on your Ledger device
View your balance with Ledger device
- Open the Stacks Wallet
- Select "I already have a wallet"
- Select "Continue with Ledger"
- Connect your Ledger and enter its PIN on the device
- Open the Stacks app on your Ledger device
- Select "Continue" to view the receive address on your Ledger device
- Select "Approve" on your Ledger device
- Your total balance is shown at the top of the window under "Total balance"
Receive STX with Ledger device
- Open the Stacks Wallet
- Select "I already have a wallet"
- Select "Continue with Ledger"
- Connect your Ledger and enter its PIN on the device
- Open the Stacks app on your Ledger device
- Select "Continue" to view the receive address on your Ledger device
- Select "Approve" on your Ledger device
- Select "Receive" at the top of the window under your total balance
- Copy the address shown or scan the displayed QR code to another wallet to receive STX from it
Send STX with Ledger device
- Open the Stacks Wallet
- Select "I already have a wallet"
- Select "Continue with Ledger"
- Connect your Ledger and enter its PIN on the device
- Open the Stacks app on your Ledger device
- Select "Continue" to view the receive address on your Ledger device
- Select "Approve" on your Ledger device
- Select "Send" at the top of the window under your total balance
- Enter the address to which you'd like to send STX, the amount of STX and an optional memo describing the transfer
- Select "Preview" then "Sign transaction and send" to initiate the transaction.
- Select "Sign transaction" and confirm the address displayed on your Ledger device.
It is important that you understand how to keep good security for your Stacks Wallet software.
Your wallet Secret Key or seed phrase is a cryptographic key with which you need to use the strictest security available to you.
The Cryptocurrency Security Standard publishes guidelines for key storage. These guidelines are presented from least (Level I) to most secure (Level III). We recommend you store your keys with at least Level II security. This level states that you should:
- Back up each of your cryptographic keys.
- Store the backup in a location separate location from where you use a key. For example, if you use the key at the office, you can store the key are your office.
- Protect your backup from access by unauthorized parties. For example, a safe, safe deposit box, or lock box are good examples of protecting access to a backup.
- Employ some form of tamper mechanism that allows your to determine when if you key was accessed by someone else. For example, you could use a sealed paper envelopes with handwritten signatures over the seal as a tamper mechanism.
You are responsible for recalling and protecting your keys. Blockstack does not store your seed phrase and cannot help you recover it. If you lose your seed phrase, you lose the key to your STX tokens, which can be a very costly mistake.
Follow these instructions to install the Stacks Wallet:
- Download for MacOS, Windows or Linux
- Double click the download and drag the "Stacks Wallet" icon into your "Applications" folder.
- Double click the "Stacks Wallet" application to open
- Select "Create a new wallet" if you haven't used the Stacks Wallet before.
If you have a Ledger S device, ensure that it's connected and unlocked with your PIN. Ensure that the "Stacks" application is installed on your Ledger device using the "Ledger instructions" below. Then proceed to select "Use a Ledger wallet". See Ledger instructions.
If you do not have a Ledger device, select "Create a software wallet". - If you've selected "Create a software wallet", follow the instructions provided to generate and save a 24-word Secret Key.
The Stacks Wallet unfortunately no longer supports authentication and transaction signing with Trezor devices. This is due to how Trezor supports integrations, in which the company's availability and engagement is required to set them up in contrast to Ledger's open model.
If you've used a Trezor device with a previous version of the wallet, you have two options going forward:
- Purchase a Ledger device and load the 12- or 24-word recovery phrase you saved when originally setting up our Trezor device into your Ledger device. See "Restore from recovery phrase" from Ledger.
- Enter the 12- or 24-word recovery phrase you saved when originally setting up our Trezor device directly into the wallet upon selecting "Sign In" and viewing a prompt for your "Secret Key".
Warning: We highly advise that you continue using the Stacks Wallet with a hardware device, even if you can no longer use your Trezor device, to ensure the same level of security to which you're accustomed. As such, option #1 above is recommended over option #2 despite the extra cost and time required.
We hope to support Trezor again some day soon, but there is currently no timing expectation available. We will update the community if and when this work gets underway.
The Hiro PBC team is aware of the following issues affecting Stacks Wallet performance and is actively working to resolve them.
Please ensure that you've downloaded the latest version of the Stacks Wallet since other bugs and issues are known to affect older versions.
- Users attempting to withdraw STX holdings from exchanges (e.g. OKCoin, Binance, KuCoin) have reported transactions as labeled "invalid" or "pending" perpetually.
These issues appear related to fixes needed on the exchange's side in regards to Stacks 2.0 integration. They are not related to the Stacks Wallet software specifically, and unfortunately there is nothing Hiro PBC can do to resolve them aside from general advisory support.
Please contact your relevant exchange for help if you are unable to withdraw successfully. - Ledger Nano X users have been unable to send STX. However, a fix is now provided by the latest version of the Stacks app listed on Ledger Live. Please upgrade within Ledger Live if you've encountered this problem.
If you've previously set your "Manager provider" to 4 under "Experimental features" in Ledger Live's settings, you'll need to toggle it off or otherwise set to 1 before this version appears for installation. - Ledger Nano X users sometimes find that their devices crash after displaying "Pending Ledger review" on the screen. View GitHub issue.
See all GitHub issues for the Stacks Wallet that track other known areas of improvement, or file your own.
Join the #support channel on Discord and post a message describing your issue if you need personal assistance.
Secret Keys are 12- or 24-word phrases that authenticate you to products built with the Stacks blockchain such as the Stacks Wallet.
They are otherwise known as "seed phrases" or "mnemonic seed phrases".
The desktop Stacks Wallet has always generated 24-word Secret Keys for new users, whereas other products such as the Blockstack Browser and web-based Stacks Wallet have generated 12-word Secret Keys for new users.
Generally speaking, if you purchased STX before 2021, your STX holdings are almost certainly associated with a 24-word Secret Key. If you have a 12-word Secret Key, you most likely generated it when trying separately to use apps built with Stacks (or Blockstack) in a web browser. Please ensure that you are entering the 24-word Secret Key into the desktop Stacks Wallet to view and manage your balance.
Secret Keys are like strong passwords in that they protect your identity and STX holdings. However, unlike passwords, they can never be recovered – by you or anyone else – if lost. So be sure to always back up a copy in a very secure place that you remember! See our instructions for securing Secret Keys.
You can use 12- or 24-word Secret Keys across both the desktop and web versions of the Stacks Wallet. However, we generally recommend that you generate and use a separate Secret Key for entry in the web browser since it's a less secure environment than desktop software.
Always double check that you trust any downloaded software or website that prompts you for your Secret Key before proceeding to enter it!
It's common for cryptocurrency users to suffer phishing attacks that fool them into providing their Secret Keys to malicious actors. Once your Secret Key is stolen by "bad" websites or software, there are no guarantees that you will get your associated STX or other digital assets back. And you will surely have to generate a new Secret Key for future usage since the original one will have been compromised forever.
Users who have deposited BTC into the Stacks Wallet to pay for transaction fees can withdraw any remaining amounts by downloading and installing version v3.1.1.
This version comes with a new feature within "Settings" under "Withdraw BTC" that empowers you to enter a BTC receive for receipt of all remaining BTC in another wallet.
Important note: This version of the wallet does not operate correctly for any other purpose such as checking your balance or transaction history, which has been frozen since January 2021 on Stacks 1.0 upon the launch of Stacks 2.0. Please do not use it for any purpose other than withdrawing BTC.
Note that BTC is no longer be needed for paying such fees on Stacks 2.0. Download the new Stacks Wallet to send STX.
Support is available on Discord and Reddit as well as at support@blockstack.com.
Just as you don’t keep all the money you have in your bank in a physical wallet, you shouldn’t keep large numbers of tokens in your cryptocurrency wallet. Instead, if you have a large number of crypto assets, you should store them with a custodial service. Custodial services protect your token holdings using high-security systems.
Custodial services have different techniques for storing crypto assets. The techniques vary according to factors such as the liquidity level you want to maintain or the security you would like. If you own large numbers of token assets as an investment, you should choose a custodial service as if you were selecting any investment service. Consider your needs, the firm’s reputation, fees, and so forth.
The Stacks Wallet is not recommended for institutional holdings. Blockstack suggests a firm such as Coinbase Custody for institutional holders. Coinbase Custody charges its clients a management fee based on assets. Of course, like any responsible asset holder, you should do your own research and select a service that meets your needs. The Investopedia's article What Are Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions? is one place to start.
If you used an older version of the wallet, you should begin using the latest Stacks Wallet with the same 24-word seed phrase from that wallet.
Earlier versions of the wallet required a hardware wallet to send and receive STX. You can connect this same hardware wallet to the latest version of the Stacks Wallet software. Choose “Use existing wallet” upon opening Stacks Wallet. You don't need to create a new wallet.
No. STX holdings that have yet to unlock as part of a purchase-based unlocking schedule cannot be used for Stacking until they unlock.
The minimum amount needed to participate in Stacking directly is dynamic and based on both the total supply of STX and the total amount of current participation. It is be reported by Stacks blockchain nodes at path /v2/pox with the min_amount_ustx property and denominated in microstacks (μstx).
The value will never fall below 50,000 STX.
Follow these instructions if you've already locked STX for Stacking in the Stacks Wallet but wish to increase the amount of STX locked for improved chances to receive BTC rewards. Currently, the Stacks Wallet requires locking STX in increments of 70k or more.
Note: These instructions require you set up STX holdings across two separate Ledger devices or software wallets. Please proceed only if you feel comfortable dealing with multiple devices or Secret Keys. We highly recommend you do so with two Ledger devices and not two software wallets, for security purposes.
- Ensure that you've secured the Ledger device or Secret Key for your existing wallet, as well as possess the BTC address you've already used to initiate Stacking.
- Go to "Settings" in the Stacks Wallet and select "Reset wallet".
- Accept the "Terms of Service".
- Choose "Create a new wallet" and proceed with either your second Ledger device or new software wallet, securing your new recovery phrase or Secret Key in the process.
- Choose "Receive" once you've finished setup and copy the address displayed for your new wallet somewhere for easy access outside the Stacks Wallet (e.g. notes).
- Go to "Settings" in the Stacks Wallet and select "Reset wallet".
- Accept the "Terms of Service".
- Choose "I already have a wallet" and proceed with your first Ledger device or existing software wallet.
- Choose "Send", paste the address for your new wallet, and enter the additional amount of STX you'd like to lock for Stacking plus 0.0002 STX to cover fees.
- Confirm the transaction with your Ledger device or password.
- Go to "Settings" in the Stacks Wallet and select "Reset wallet".
- Accept the "Terms of Service".
- Choose "I already have a wallet" and proceed with your second Ledger device or new software wallet.
- Wait for the incoming transfer to confirm.
- Select "Get started" on the right-hand side to view the Stacking form.
- Enter the additional amount of STX you'd like to lock for Stacking, the same or greater number of cycles as you previously set for Stacking, and the same BTC address you previously used to initiate Stacking.
- Submit the Stacking form and confirm with your Ledger device or password.
You will now participate in Stacking with the total STX locked by both of your wallets for any given cycle in which they are both still locked.
Alternatively, you can simply wait until your STX unlock for your single wallet after the total number of cycles in which they've been locked transpire. You'll then be able to reinitiate Stacking with a new total using the single wallet instead of creating a new one for adding STX before those cycles transpire.
Stacks holders provide the Stacks blockchain with a Bitcoin (BTC) address when participating in Stacking.
BTC is transferred directly to this address via the Proof of Transfer consensus mechanism when the committed STX qualifies for rewards.
You must provide a BTC address in one of two formats:
- Legacy (P2PKH), which starts with "1". (e.g. "17VZNX1SN5NtKa8UQFxwQbFeFc3iqRYhem")
- Segregated Witness / Segwit (P2SH), which starts with "3" (e.g. "3EktnHQD7RiAE6uzMj2ZifT9YgRrkSgzQX").
If you enter a different format while initiating Stacking, you may see the error "only pubkey hash and script hash support".
The "Native Segwit" format (which starts with “bc1”), for example, is not supported.
You can find the latest version of the Stacks Wallet for testing against the Stacks Testnet under the "Releases" tab of the blockstack/stacks-wallet repository on GitHub.
Expand the "Assets" section for the latest release and select the version with "testnet" in the filename that matches your operating system (MacOS, Windows or Linux).
Versions are available for MacOS, Windows and Linux. There's no other requirement for getting started with the Stacks Wallet.