How to send funds with an “air-gapped” wallet? Parity Signer

In this quick how to we are going to send funds securely by signing a transaction from an “air-gapped” wallet.

Our aim is to send funds in a much more secure way than using a “hot” wallet…

How can you send funds from a wallet that is not online you might be asking? The initial thought can be perplexing. But in this quick how-to you will understand the process. It involves downloading an app to your phone and then disconnected it from the internet, and thereafter using QR codes to sign transactions (aka extrinsics). So you need to make sure that the camera works on your “air gapped” phone.

1. Set up with Parity Signer

• First download Parity Signer app, and setup an account. Store the mneumonic seed, create your PIN.
• Send some test funds to this account, make sure to put enough that pays for the fees of multiple transactions.

2. Add your air gapped account to your Polkadot.js Apps area.

• Go to your Accounts area in polkadot.js.org
• Click add account with QR

• Pull up the QR code in your Parity Signer app and point it to your computers camera.

In this how-to we are using a computer but you could also be using another phone.

3. Create a transaction (Send Funds)

Now create a transaction to send some funds by clicking “send” from the account you just added.

You can create any kind of transaction such as voting, staking, etc. In this example I am sending funds from a multisig.

• Enter the amount and beneficiary
• Then on the screen (below) you should see sign via QR

• Send the transaction call data to your air gapped wallet, so that it can be signed, by showing it the QR code.
• Then the transaction (extrinsic) will be signed and it will (quickly) produce a QR code for you to share back with your computer.

The transaction extrinsic should then be signed and should then go on chain and complete succesfully!