Manage FIL

This guide will show you how to create and manage a Lotus wallet and how to use it to send some Filecoin to a different address. Each node can have multiple addresses.

To receive and send FIL with Lotus, you will need to have a Lotus node installed and running.

About Wallet Addresses #

When using a wallet, an account is identified by its address. A Filecoin address always starts with the letter f and a digit that indicates what type of address it is.

Filecoin accounts have two kinds of address, longer public key addresses, and shorter ID addresses. Both addresses refer to the same account and can be used to send and receive FIL using a wallet.

Public Key Address #

A public key address is derived directly from a cryptographic key. Public key addresses start with the characters f1 (secp256k1) or f3 (BLS), depending on the type of encryption key used.

Here’s an example of a secp256k1 public key address: f1abjxfbp274xpdqcpuaykwkfb43omjotacm2p3za.

Public key addresses are the most common way to refer to Filecoin accounts, and they are supported by hardware wallets like Ledger.

Because a public key address does not depend on any blockchain state, they are considered robust and are recommended for most use cases involving transfers of FIL, for example, when sending FIL to another user through an exchange.

ID Address #

ID addresses are a compact and more “human friendly” way to refer to an account than public key addresses. ID addresses always start with the characters f0, followed by a sequence of digits, for example: f033259.

Every ID address for a Filecoin account has an alternative public key address that corresponds to the same account. You can find the ID address for any public key address by searching for the public key address on FilFox, a Filecoin block explorer.

Because they are more compact than public key addresses, ID addresses are often used when refering to miners and other long-lived Filecoin Actors. As these actors receive a large volume of messages, the compact address can result in meaningful savings in gas fees. A multisig wallet is a type of Actor.

While you can send FIL to an ID address using a wallet, you should first check the details for the account on FilFox to see when the account was created, as well as the corresponding public key address. If the address was created very recently (within the finality period) there is a small chance that it could be re-assigned as the network reaches consensus, and the public key address should be used instead.

More information about Addresses can be found in the How Filecoin works section.

Creating a wallet #

Creating wallets using Lotus is very simple. There are mutliple wallet types to choose from.

Create a BLS wallet #

lotus wallet new bls

Create a secp256k1 wallet #

lotus wallet new

Create a multisig wallet #

lotus msig create address1 address2..

This will create a new address and print it. You can distinguish mainnet from testnet addresses because they start with f for mainnet and t for testnets.

Listing addresses #

You can create as many addresses as you need. One of them will be the default address.

You can see a list of all addresses for your current node:

lotus wallet list

You can see the default address with:

lotus wallet default

If you wish, you can change the default address to a different one:

lotus wallet set-default <address>

Obtaining FIL #

For non-mainnet networks, FIL can be obtained from a faucet. A list of faucets is available on the networks dashboard. For mainnet, the easiest is to buy FIL from an exchange. Not all exchanges support FIL, so do your research before signing up.

Once you have received some FIL, use wallet balance to check your balance:

lotus wallet balance

Remember that you will only see the latest balance when your daemon is fully synced.

Sending FIL #

Use the send command followed by the receiving address and the amount of FIL you want to send

# lotus send <target address> <FIL amount>
lotus send f1zp2... 3

bafy1...

Lotus will output a transaction hash after a successful transaction. You can view details of this transaction using a Filecoin explorer.

Lotus assumes you want to send FIL from the default address. To send FIL from a specific address, use --from followed by the address you want to send FIL from. This address must have been created or imported to your Lotus node.

# lotus send --from=<sender address> <target address> <FIL amount>
lotus send --from f1zp2... f15zt... 3.141

bafy2...

For advanced sending options:

lotus send --help

Specify Invocation Parameters #

If you want specify invocation parameters using lotus send, you can use the following code-snippet to get the encoded parameters

lotus chain encode params --encoding=hex <toAddr> <method id> <params>

Mapped method <> method id can be found in the Filecoin GitHub repository.

Then to send it, run:

lotus send --params-hex=<encoded output from the previous step>

Transaction fees #

Every transaction that sends FIL pays an additional fee based on its gas usage. Gas and fees are explained in the How Filecoin Works guide. By default, Lotus automatically sets all the necessary values. However, you may want to use the --gas-feecap flag in the send command to avoid surprises when network congestion is high. For more information about messages and fees, see the Message Pool guide and Gas fees sections.

Exporting and importing addresses #

You can export and re-import a wallet, including a different Lotus node. Use wallet export to export an address from a node:

lotus wallet export <address> > <address>.key

Use wallet import to import an address into a node:

lotus wallet import <address>.key

and:

Offline nodes #

Each node stores its wallet in ~/.lotus/keystore:

~/.lotus/keystore/
├── MF2XI2...
├── MRSWMYLVNR...
├── NRUWE4BSOA...
├── O5QWY3DFOQWWMM3RNZSXI6TKOJYHQYTMMQZHQNDBNRY...
└── O5QWY3DFOQWWMM3VOBZHAZLCOIZGINLDMRZWWNLMNJS...

To export a wallet when a node is offline, copy these files from ~/.lotus/keystore to another location. To import this wallet, copy these files into ~/.lotus/keystore. The Lotus node will automatically use these keys when it next starts.

Ledger #

Setup your Ledger device #

1. Install Ledger Live and follow the instructions to set up your device. Linux users may need to add the necessary udev rules.

2. Enable Developer mode in the Ledger live settings:

   

3. You should now be able to search and install the Filecoin app in the Manager section of Ledger Live.

Ledger Wallet UI Options #

You can either use the browser-based Glif wallet or manually manage your funds using the Lotus node and Ledger integration.

Glif Wallet #

Filecoin is not accessible directly through the Ledger Live application. However, you can use your Ledger hardware with the Glif wallet at glif.io. Glif is an open-source Filecoin wallet you can use in the browser. It uses the Filecoin Ledger integration library, which has been security audited by a third-party.

Lotus #

You can use a Filecoin Lotus node with Ledger hardware to manage your funds.

Add your Ledger to a Lotus node #

Make sure you fully trust the Lotus node you are connecting to.

1. In the [Lotus configuration]({{ relref “configuration"uration-and-advanced-usage }}) (~/.lotus/config.toml), add EnableLedger = true into to [Wallet] section:

   [Wallet]
     EnableLedger = true
   

2. Unlock your Ledger device.

3. Open the Filecoin app on your Ledger device and keep it connected to your computer.

4. Use wallet new secp256k1-ledger to create a Ledger-backed wallet:

   lotus wallet new secp256k1-ledger
   

   You will have to confirm creation on your Ledger device.

   ❗

   Calling lotus wallet new secp256k1-ledger will provide a new Ledger-backed key whenever called. When called on a different Lotus node or in one that has been reset, the same keys will be generated as they are based on the Ledger device master key.

5. From this point, any FIL send operation from a Ledger wallet will have to be approved on the Ledger device. Make sure it is connected, unlocked, and running the Filecoin app.

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