FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
Is Winternitz safe to use with real money?#
No. It is a testnet prototype and has not been audited.
Do I get a new address for every transaction?#
No. Your address stays the same forever. Only the key behind it changes.
Why can't I "Sign message" in dApps?#
Each Winternitz key can sign exactly once. Signing an off-chain message would use up a key without moving the account on to the next one, so these requests are refused. A future Merkle-tree (XMSS-style) design can support them.
Why is it more expensive than a normal wallet?#
The signature is 2,176 bytes instead of 65, and checking it takes hundreds of hash operations. An ETH transfer costs about 219k gas vs about 91k for an ECDSA wallet. See Gas & benchmarks.
What happens if I lose my device?#
Your 24-word recovery phrase restores every key, on the web, in the extension or in the CLI. Write it down when you create the wallet. Without it, the funds cannot be recovered.
What is the recovery phrase?#
Your seed is 32 random bytes, which is exactly what a 24-word BIP-39 phrase encodes. The phrase and the 0x… hex seed are the same secret written two ways; either one can be imported.
Can I import my MetaMask private key?#
No. A MetaMask key is an ECDSA key, which is exactly what Winternitz protects you from. Create a Winternitz wallet and transfer your funds to it.
Can I swap tokens and Stock Tokens?#
Yes, on Robinhood Chain mainnet: ETH, WETH, USDG, TSLA, AMZN, AAPL, NVDA and MSFT, through Uniswap v4, in the web wallet, the extension and the CLI (winternitz swap 0.01 ETH NVDA). Everything happens on-chain, because a one-time key cannot sign the off-chain permits some swap apps use. Stock Tokens are not available to US persons and are restricted in some other countries.
Does this make Ethereum quantum-safe?#
No. It makes your account's authorisation quantum-safe. Consensus is a protocol-level matter. See Security & scope.
Which networks are supported?#
Robinhood Chain Testnet (default) and Robinhood Chain mainnet (unaudited, behind an explicit opt-in), plus Ethereum Sepolia, Base Sepolia, Arbitrum Sepolia and local Anvil. The contracts have the same addresses on every EVM chain with the canonical ERC-4337 EntryPoint, so adding a chain is configuration, not new code.
What does "key #3" mean in the wallet?#
It's the one-time key that will sign your next transaction. Keys #0 to #2 have already been used and can never sign again.
My transaction says "pending" and the wallet won't let me send.#
An operation signed with the current key hasn't confirmed yet. Re-send that same operation unchanged (the wallet offers a button, the CLI has winternitz resend). Signing a different one with the same key would weaken it.
If it stays stuck (usually because network fees rose above what it offered), choose Replace, or winternitz replace in the CLI. Your recovery key signs a replacement with higher fees and the stuck key is skipped. If the wallet later asks you to rotate the recovery key, the original landed first; rotating is a normal transaction that retires the revealed recovery key.
Where do the token logos come from?#
Brand marks come from Simple Icons (CC0; the logos remain trademarks of their owners). They are only shown for verified token addresses. Amazon and Microsoft withdrew their marks from Simple Icons, so AMZN and MSFT use a monogram.