An Ethereum wallet that uses
your fingerprint,
not a seed phrase.
Vela is a self-custodial wallet built on Safe smart contracts. Your private key lives in your device's secure enclave — managed by your OS, not by us. Open source. 8+ EVM chains.
Web version is free. iOS & Android coming soon.
Seed phrases are the weakest link in crypto.
12 words on paper. One photo, one screenshot, one house fire — and your funds are gone. Most wallet hacks don't exploit smart contracts. They exploit people who wrote down a seed phrase.
Vela removes the seed phrase entirely. Your wallet key is a passkey — the same technology Apple, Google, and Microsoft use to replace passwords. It lives in your device's secure enclave, protected by your biometric. You can't screenshot it, you can't copy it, and Vela never has access to it.
How Vela works
Three things make Vela different from traditional wallets.
Passkeys replace seed phrases
When you create a Vela wallet, your device generates a passkey — a cryptographic credential stored in your OS secure enclave (the same chip that protects Face ID data). You sign transactions with your fingerprint or face. The private key never leaves your device.
Lost your phone? Your passkey syncs automatically through iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager. Sign in on a new device in seconds.
Safe smart contracts, not custom code
Every Vela wallet is a Safe smart contract account — the same audited v1.4.1 contracts that secure over $100B in assets across the ecosystem. We didn't write our own contract. We use the official, unmodified Safe with a WebAuthn signer module.
This means your wallet exists on-chain, independent of Vela. If our servers go down, your funds are still yours. All three backend services are open source and self-hostable.
One wallet, 8+ chains
Same address across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Gnosis. Add any custom EVM network. Manage all your assets from a single portfolio view.
What Vela can and cannot do
Transparency about our access model.
Vela never has access to
- Your private key
- Your biometric data
- Your transaction contents
- Ability to freeze or move your funds
Vela stores
- Your passkey's public key (on Gnosis blockchain)
- Your account display name
- Signed transactions you submit (relayed to the blockchain)
All data handling is described in our privacy policy. All source code is publicly auditable.
FAQ
Common questions about security, recovery, and fees.
How is Vela different from MetaMask?
MetaMask uses seed phrases (12-24 words) that you must write down and protect. If someone finds your seed phrase, they control your wallet. Vela uses passkeys — your private key lives in your device's secure enclave, protected by biometric authentication. Nothing to write down, nothing to leak.
What if I lose my phone?
Your passkey syncs through iCloud Keychain (iOS) or Google Password Manager (Android). Get a new phone, sign in with the same Apple/Google account, and your wallet is restored.
What if my iCloud or Google account is compromised?
An attacker with full access to your iCloud/Google account could potentially use your passkey. We strongly recommend enabling two-factor authentication and using a strong, unique password for your Apple/Google account.
What happens if Vela shuts down?
Your wallet is a smart contract on the blockchain — it doesn't depend on Vela's servers. All three backend services (chain data, passkey index, bundler) are open source and self-hostable. Your passkey still works regardless.
How do gas fees work?
Vela uses an ERC-4337 bundler to submit transactions. Each account requires a one-time gas deposit per network to activate the bundler. After that, each transaction is independently charged. Fee estimates are shown before you confirm. You can switch to any standard ERC-4337 bundler or self-host the Vela Bundler to eliminate the service fee.
What if the getvela.app domain goes offline?
Your funds are safe — they live on-chain in your Smart Account, not on our servers. Passkeys are tied to the domain (rpId), but we provide an open-source Chrome extension that lets you use your existing passkeys from any other domain or localhost. See the Domain Recovery guide for setup instructions.
Is it free?
The web version is free. iOS and Android apps will have a one-time purchase price — no subscriptions, no in-app purchases. Since Vela is fully open source, you can also build and install it yourself for free.