Getting Started
Why Self-Custody Matters
Understand why Salmon is self-custodial and how that protects your assets.
Self-custody means you control your private keys—no third party can move your funds. Salmon is built around this principle to keep you in charge of your assets.
Why self-custody?
- Control: Only you can approve transactions; there’s no centralized switch that can freeze or seize funds.
- Resilience: Outages or policy changes from a company can’t lock you out of your wallet.
- Privacy: You decide when and how to share signing data; no custodial service intermediates your activity.
- Transparency: Open-source code lets the community audit how keys are generated, stored, and used.
How Salmon enforces it
- Keys are generated and stored locally; mnemonics never leave your device.
- Signing happens in an isolated context; dApps see approvals, not your secrets.
- Recovery is handled via your seed phrase—there’s no “forgot password” that bypasses your control.
- Open-source development invites audits and contributions to keep the stack trustworthy.
Good practices
- Back up your recovery phrase offline; never share or type it into websites.
- Set a strong password and lock Salmon when you’re away from your device.
- Verify dApp domains and signing summaries before approving.
- Use devnet for testing and keep mainnet activity intentional.
Self-custody is the safest path for a Solana wallet because it keeps power with the holder: you. Salmon’s design, transparency, and community ownership reinforce that promise.