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Cardano · Beginner

How to set up a wallet, get ADA, and connect it

A wallet is your personal, self-custodied home for ADA on Cardano. The word is a little misleading: a wallet doesn't really hold your ADA the way a billfold holds cash. Your ADA lives on the network. What the wallet holds is the keythat proves it's yours — which is why the whole of this guide is really about looking after one thing well.

The four points below are true of every Cardano wallet, whichever you end up using. The walkthrough that follows uses Vespras the worked example — it's free, works on every browser and on your phone, and has a built-in way to buy ADA — but once you understand the four, you can set up any of them.

Four things that are true of every wallet

Worth reading once before you start. They apply whichever wallet you choose, and they are the difference between following steps and actually understanding what you're doing.

  1. 1. Your recovery phrase is the wallet.You'll be given a list of words — usually 15 or 24. That phrase is your access. Anyone who has it has your ADA; if you lose it and lose your device, nobody on earth can restore it for you. There is no support line, no password reset, no exception. Write it on paper or put it in a reputable password manager. Never photograph it, never type it into a website, never send it to anyone — including someone claiming to be support, and including us. We will never ask you for it.
  2. 2. The password is not the phrase. The password unlocks the app on this device. The recovery phrase restores the wallet anywhere. Losing the password is an inconvenience; losing the phrase is permanent. People mix these up constantly, and it's the single most common way a beginner loses access.
  3. 3. Self-custody means the responsibility moved to you. That's the point of it, and it's a real trade. No company can freeze your funds, and equally no company can undo your mistake. If that sounds heavy, treat it the way you'd treat any medication safety step: slow down, do it once, do it properly.
  4. 4. Connecting is not the same as handing over. When you later connect your wallet to a site — including ours — you are proving you own an address, not giving anyone custody. Your ADA never leaves your wallet. Delegating to a stake pool works the same way: no lock-up, no transfer, reversible any time.

Before you start

  • About 10 minutes, unhurried.
  • A pen and paper — or a trusted password manager — you'll record a password and, later, your recovery words.
  • Chrome, Brave, or Edge on a computer — or just your phone.

You'll finish with your own self-custodied Cardano wallet, safely backed up.

If any step feels unclear, stop there rather than guessing. Nothing here expires, and a wallet set up carefully next week is worth more than one rushed today.

Setting up on mobile or desktop?

Ready when you are — 0 of 200%

Up next: Install the browser extension

Install the browser extension

  1. Open Vespr in the extension store →

    Vespr's desktop extension supports Chromium browsers (Chrome, Brave, Edge). On Safari or Firefox, use the mobile app instead.

Build your wallet

  3. Good password managers: Proton Pass, Bitwarden, mSecure, NordPass. (A dedicated comparison article is on the way.)

  4. Spaces count as characters. If you use one, note it — it's easy to add a trailing space by accident.

🔐 Back up your wallet — the important part

No rush here. These few steps are what keep your ADA yours, always — worth doing slowly and once.

  2. ⚠️ NEVER screenshot, photograph, email, text, or paste these words into a document. Store them ONLY on paper somewhere safe, or in a trusted password manager. Anyone with these words controls your wallet — and CP Health will never ask for them.

  6. The words shown in this guide's screenshots are intentionally compromised and will never hold funds.

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