FAQ
Is Vela self-custodial?
Yes. Your wallet is a Safe smart account controlled only by your keys, which stay in your devices, your password manager or your security keys. Vela holds no key and no role on it, so it can’t move, freeze or recover your funds by itself. It does write the software that asks your keys to sign — see the threat model.
Is there really no seed phrase?
Really. Your keys are passkeys, and a passkey has no secret you can write down or type. See how passkeys work.
What do I need to create a wallet?
A device that supports passkeys (a recent phone or computer with Face ID, fingerprint or Windows Hello), or two hardware security keys. No email, no account, no starting balance. You can create the wallet with up to seven keys; they can’t be added later. See create your wallet.
What happens if I lose my phone?
Sign in on a new device with any other key: the same passkey synced through iCloud Keychain or Google Password Manager, another phone, or your security key. If the phone held your only key and that key wasn’t synced, the wallet can’t be recovered. See recovery & sign-in.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
24 built-in EVM networks, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, BNB Chain, Gnosis and Avalanche, plus any EVM network you add that meets the requirements. Native coins and ERC-20 tokens. The address is the same on every network. See networks & fees.
What does it cost?
- The apps: the web wallet, the browser extension and the desktop apps are free. The iOS and Android apps will be a one-time purchase in the stores; you can also build any app from source for free.
- Each transaction: a fee paid from your wallet to the relay that submits it — Vela’s, unless you point the wallet at another relay or run your own. It covers the gas plus the relay’s margin, with a minimum of about $0.01. The exact amount is on the confirm screen before you sign and is part of what you sign. There is no deposit and no subscription. How the fee is calculated.
- No token. Vela has none and plans none.
Can I use Vela with dApps?
Yes, through the Vela browser extension (Chrome, Edge, Brave) and the browser built into the desktop (macOS, Windows), iOS and Android apps. The web wallet at wallet.getvela.app doesn’t connect to dApps. See install.
What can Vela see or do?
Vela can’t read your keys or move your funds by itself. Its services see your IP address and what the app asks them: the index sees your public keys and wallet name when it registers a new wallet, and the addresses you look up; the relay sees your address, the operations you submit and the RPC endpoint your app uses; the chain-data service sees which tokens and contracts your app asks about. What becomes public on-chain is listed on create your wallet. The privacy policy is the full, authoritative version.
Is Vela open source?
Yes, all of it, under the MIT licence: the wallet apps and the core, the relay, the public-key index, the exchange-rate service and the chain-data directory, on GitHub. Each service can be run by you — see the self-hosting guide.
Is Vela audited?
The contracts your money sits in — Safe and its modules, and the ERC-4337 EntryPoint — are audited. Vela’s own code is not, and no audit is scheduled. See audits & known issues.
What if Vela shuts down?
Your funds stay in your Safe on-chain. For an existing wallet, the Vela browser extension and apps you build yourself keep working without getvela.app, and every service is open source for someone else to run. The self-hosting guide lists the paths and their limits.