Overview
Begin Wallet is a free wallet that holds your Cardano (ADA), Bitcoin (BTC), and Solana (SOL) coins under a single recovery phrase. One backup, three blockchains, no app-juggling. It works on iPhone, Android, and as a Chrome extension, so the same wallet can follow you from your phone to your laptop. You hold the recovery phrase, which means only you can move your coins1.
Begin is built by a small team in Düsseldorf, and the underlying code is open and has been independently reviewed by the OpenWallet Foundation, an industry group that runs security audits on wallet code2.
Key Features
- One recovery phrase for ADA, BTC, and SOL. Cardano, Bitcoin, and Solana coins all live under the same 15-word backup, with their tokens and NFTs visible side by side3.
- Stake ADA and lend it for yield. Delegate ADA to a Cardano stake pool for ongoing rewards, or lend ADA and stablecoins through Liqwid right inside the wallet. No jumping to a separate app4.
- Vote on Cardano's future. Pick a representative (called a DRep) to vote on Cardano governance proposals on your behalf. This is now required to keep claiming staking rewards under the latest Cardano rules5.
- Built-in browser for Cardano apps. Open Cardano DeFi apps, NFT marketplaces, and games from inside the wallet, with payments and logins handled by the same approval screen.
- Buy ADA with Apple Pay or Google Pay. Top up your wallet straight from a phone payment method, without setting up an account on a separate exchange1.
What to Expect
Setting up Begin Wallet takes about five minutes. You create a wallet, set a passcode or fingerprint lock, and write down a 15-word recovery phrase on paper. That phrase is the only way to restore your funds if you lose your phone, so it matters more than any password.
After setup, the home screen shows your total balance across all three chains in one currency total, and you can tap any chain to see its coins, tokens, and NFTs in detail. Cardano-specific actions (staking, voting, lending through Liqwid) sit in their own tabs. Bitcoin and Solana keep things simpler, mostly focused on sending, receiving, and swapping. If you'd rather keep your recovery phrase on a separate offline device, Begin pairs with Ledger and Keystone hardware wallets.
Begin is actively funded through Cardano's grant programme, Project Catalyst, which paid for a second version of the wallet covering biometric security and built-in payments6. Support for the Midnight Network is listed on the project's site as planned but is not yet live, so for now the wallet covers Cardano, Bitcoin, and Solana. Third-party guides cover staking and onboarding in detail if you want to read more before installing7.
