Your wallet & keys

Non-custodial wallet on Solana, private keys and encryption, seed phrase responsibility, shutdown resilience, and security architecture.

What is a digital wallet

When you open an Echlon account, your money is held in a digital wallet that belongs to you — not us. You don't need to know how it works under the hood, but if you're curious, here's what that means in practice.

A digital wallet is a secure container on the blockchain that holds your assets. Think of it as your personal vault — it has an address (like an account number) and is controlled by a private key (like a password, but much more secure).

Once your account is created, a non-custodial wallet is automatically created for you on the Solana blockchain.

Non-custodial: what it means

Echlon is a non-custodial platform. Unlike most banks and fintech apps, Echlon doesn't hold your money — you do. This model is called non-custodial, and it's what makes Echlon structurally different.

Custodial (traditional model)

When you deposit money at a bank, the bank holds your money. It is technically the bank's asset, and you have a claim against the bank. If the bank fails, your money is at risk (which is why FDIC insurance exists). The same is true for platforms like PayPal, Wise, and Revolut — they hold your funds in pooled accounts, and you have a claim against the platform.

Non-custodial (Echlon model)

Your money sits in a wallet that belongs to you. Echlon does not hold, custody, or control your funds. We cannot move your money, freeze your assets at our discretion, or use your deposits for our own purposes. Your assets are yours — stored in your own non-custodial digital wallet.

This means:

If Echlon were to cease operating, your funds remain in your wallet — they do not disappear with the company
No single point of failure: your money does not depend on Echlon's solvency
True ownership: you hold the keys, you control the funds

Private keys explained

Every wallet on the blockchain is controlled by a private key — a long, cryptographically generated string that proves ownership. Whoever holds the private key controls the wallet and can authorize transactions from it.

Your private key is yours and only yours. Echlon does not have access to it, does not store it, and cannot recover it on your behalf.

In short: because you hold the keys, you control the funds — not Echlon.

How your keys are secured

Your private keys are protected using multiple layers of encryption:

Encryption at rest: Your private key is encrypted before it is ever stored. It is never saved in plaintext — not on our servers, not on your device, not anywhere.
Encryption in transit: Any communication involving key material is encrypted end-to-end using industry-standard protocols.
Key isolation: Your encrypted keys are managed through Privy, our embedded wallet infrastructure partner for non-custodial key security. Privy specializes in secure key management for applications like Echlon. Even if someone were to breach Echlon's systems, they would not be able to access your private keys or move your funds.

In practice, this means your keys are encrypted in a way that even Echlon and our infrastructure partners cannot see or access — only your authenticated session can unlock them.

For a full overview of our security layers, see Security architecture.

Seed phrases & recovery

When your wallet is created, a seed phrase (also called a recovery phrase) may be generated. This is a series of words that can be used to recover your wallet if you lose access, or move it to another wallet app entirely.

Critical: Your recovery phrase is the ultimate backup for your wallet. Store it somewhere safe and private and never share it with anyone, including Echlon support — we will never ask for it. If you lose both your seed phrase and any other recovery path for your keys, access to your wallet and the assets in it may be permanently lost. Echlon cannot recover lost keys or recovery phrases. We'll guide you through securing your credentials when you set up your account.

What happens if Echlon shuts down

Your money stays with you. Because your wallet is non-custodial and exists on the blockchain independently of Echlon, your funds do not depend on Echlon's operations. If Echlon were to cease operating:

Your wallet and its contents continue to exist on the blockchain
You retain full access through your private keys
Your funds remain accessible even without Echlon — our support team would provide guidance on next steps in that scenario.
Your assets are not tied to Echlon as a company — they exist on the blockchain independently of us.

This is one of the core benefits of the non-custodial model — your money is structurally independent of the platform.

Still need help?

Have a question that isn't answered here? See our support channels, message us on WhatsApp at +1 (787) 468-5842, or open a support ticket — we typically respond within 24 hours.