Wallets in Surge
Surge uses two kinds of wallet. Your browser wallet (Eternl, Lace, …) is your identity and your funding source. Strategy wallets are extra wallets Surge creates inside your browser; each automated strategy trades from one of them. Understanding which wallet does what, and where each key lives, is the most important thing on this page.
Browser wallet vs strategy wallet
Created by
You, in the wallet extension
Surge, in your browser (Wallets → Generate)
Key stored
In the extension
In an encrypted vault in this browser, and in the key file you download as a backup
Signs
Login message, funding transfers, manual swaps, sends
Every automated strategy trade, order cancels for that strategy
Prompts you
The extension's own confirmation dialog, every time
Nothing by default (Automate signing is on); the Surge Signing Approval window if you turn it off
How many
One connected at a time
Up to 20
Used by strategies?
No — strategies never spend from it
Yes — one strategy per wallet
Counted in Portfolio
No — the Portfolio page sums strategy wallets only
Yes
You can run a manual swap from either kind of wallet. The swap page lists your browser wallet plus every active strategy wallet you own.
Why strategies use a separate wallet
A strategy needs to sign trades in the background, at any hour, without a wallet extension popping up. Extensions cannot do that, so Surge generates a wallet whose key it can use from your browser. Keeping that wallet separate also caps what a strategy can ever touch: only the funds you put in it.
Where the strategy wallet key is stored
The key is generated in your browser and never sent to Surge's servers. Surge stores the wallet's address and public key only, after you prove ownership by signing a challenge with the new key.
At rest, the key is encrypted with a wrapping key that the browser will not export (an AES-GCM key marked non-extractable, held in the browser's IndexedDB storage). Copying the browser's storage files to another machine does not recover the wallet.
While a strategy is armed, the decrypted key is in the browser tab's memory. This is why the browser you run Surge in must be one you trust: malicious extensions or a compromised page could read it.
The key exists only in this browser profile on this device. Another browser, another device, or a cleared browser storage will not have it — see below.
Back up strategy wallets
Export every strategy wallet before funding it. Save the key file in a secure location on your device. Anyone with this file controls the wallet.
Back up / Download key file on the Wallets page writes the wallet key to a file.
Export wallets on the Wallets page, or in Settings → General → Data management, exports all wallets at once.
Import (Wallets page) accepts the same CSV/JSON files, including from another device.
Reconnect from key file (wallet detail page) re-attaches a wallet's key to a browser that knows about the wallet but does not have its key.
Each wallet card shows a connection status:
Connected
Backed up to Surge (address registered) and the key is in this browser — the wallet can sign here
Not connected
Surge knows the wallet, but this browser does not have its key. Reconnect from a key file to use it here
Not backed up
The key is in this browser but the wallet is not yet registered with Surge — nothing can be run from it until it is
Clear all data in Settings wipes this browser's Surge storage — your wallet list, settings and cached data — so strategy wallets become unusable here until re-imported. [VERIFY: whether the encrypted key vault itself is also cleared.] Export first.
Fund a strategy wallet
Click Fund on a wallet. You choose an ADA amount and, optionally, a token and amount; your browser wallet signs the transfer. A "funding settling" banner shows for two minutes. Every strategy builder shows the required balance for the strategy you are configuring; send at least that plus a few ADA of headroom.
Move funds out
Send (wallet detail) builds a transfer from the strategy wallet to any address; the strategy wallet signs it in your browser after the transaction guard checks it.
Sweep moves all funds from a wallet to one designated wallet. Open the Surge sweep tool, then provide the source wallet key file and destination address.
Receive shows the wallet's address and QR code.
Link wallets to strategies
A strategy wallet can be linked to exactly one strategy. The builders only offer wallets that are unlinked, owned by your connected wallet, on the current network, and have their key in this browser. Links are shown on the wallet card and on the strategy's Linked wallet tab. Deleting a strategy releases its wallet. [VERIFY: whether archiving does too.]
Deactivate or delete a wallet
Deactivate hides a wallet from strategy builders and the swap page without removing its key. Delete removes the wallet from Surge and from this browser; it does not move any funds, so empty the wallet first.
Security summary
Surge's servers cannot spend from any of your wallets.
A strategy can spend only from its own strategy wallet, only within the transaction guard limits, and — if you turn Automate signing off — only with your approval.
Losing the browser profile and the key file means losing the wallet. Back up.
The key file and the export file contain plaintext private keys. Treat them as such.
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