A decentralised multi-currency wallet for built-in atomic swaps.
Atomic Wallet is a desktop wallet built with security, anonymity and decentralisation in mind.
This means you hold your own keys, which are encrypted and kept only on your own device, control your own funds and can efficiently swap tokens without needing to go through a centralised exchange.
None of your vital data is stored by anyone except you.
Cons
You are solely responsible for your wallet’s security.
It is critical that you keep your password and back-up phrase safe.
No hardware wallet integration at the time of writing
What is Atomic Wallet?
Atomic Wallet was designed to leverage the potential of atomic swaps and become part of a fully-fledged decentralised cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The "physical" wallet itself is a PC application which can be downloaded to your computer. Your private keys and other data will then be stored on your PC in an encrypted form.
This application then interacts with the blockchains of supported coins. For example, if you check your transaction history in the program it looks it up on the blockchain and then shows it to you, rather than storing this potentially sensitive information somewhere.
Those who want to get the most out of it can use the Atomic Wallet Coin (AWC) token to perform features such as rising higher in the atomic swap queue or pay listing fees to get your own token supported by the wallet.
It aims for a blend of simplicity and power. It's intended to be simple enough for anyone to use, even without any kind of technical experience, while also being packed with a range of accessible features, including the ability to add custom ERC20 tokens and trade coins peer-to-peer directly through the wallet, by utilising a global decentralised orderbook.
ATOMIC SWAPS
Atomic swaps have a complicated-sounding name and are technically very difficult to achieve given the complexities of blockchain engineering, but the hard work put into them is why actually performing an atomic swap, through a tool like Atomic Wallet, is relatively straightforward and easy.
It works like a combination of a fully automated currency exchange and a community bulletin board.
Anyone can anonymously put a notice up on the bulletin board saying how many of one coin type they want to trade for another at current market rates. When you initiate a trade, you're putting up a notice on the bulletin board.
The atomic swap itself is like a robot that receives an order from the bulletin board notices, then automatically picks up the coins from two suitable parties and swaps them around, no questions asked.
Atomic Wallet includes features that let you easily write those notices and a system for matching compatible orders to make the robot's job easier.
How do I make payments with my Atomic Wallet?
To send funds out of your wallet just click on the cryptocurrency you want to transfer. It will expand into a space to enter the destination address, the amount you want to send and ask to re-enter your Atomic Wallet password for security.
Advanced users can also export their private keys.
Is Atomic Wallet safe?
Atomic Wallet is theoretically completely secure, as long as you do everything correctly. It's open source which significantly reduces the chances of bugs or hidden vulnerabilities creeping into the programming and critical data like passwords are encrypted and only stored locally on your device.
However, your funds might still be at risk if you install the wallet on a computer that has malware or which connects to the Internet through unsecured Wi-Fi networks. There's always some level of risk where Internet connections are involved.
These risks can be mitigated very effectively by pairing your Atomic Wallet with a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet creates a physical layer of security, such as a button that needs to be physically pressed, which prevents people from remotely stealing funds.
With the combination of Atomic Wallet and a supported hardware wallet you can simultaneously get the cool features of Atomic Wallet and the extra security that's needed to use it with near complete confidence. At the time of writing hardware wallet support is not yet available, but it's still underway.
It's also critical that you keep your back-up phrase safe. Your back-up phrase is a string of words that will be presented to you upon creation of your wallet and which acts as a secondary password. It will allow access to the funds held in your Atomic Wallet and so must be kept private.
Unless you have a one in a billion memory, this phrase should be written down in a physical form and then kept somewhere safe, such as a bank safe deposit box. This back-up phrase is how you restore access to your funds if your computer gets fried, goes down in a house fire or otherwise experiences misadventure.
