Yeti: A Ycash Cold Wallet

This is command-line utility implementing a cold wallet for Ycash. It is a fork of hanh00's Zcash Cold Wallet.

For a detailed explanation on what a cold wallet is, please refer to Cold Storage.

Experimental Warning Notice

The code has not been audited and should be used for experimental purposes only.

What does it do?

• Yeti can help you create and spend paper wallets
• It helps you spend from any y-address as long as you have the secret key
• It keeps your secret key usage from any online computer
• It supports shielded (Sapling) addresses

This program splits the process of making a spending transaction in two. Using two air-gapped computers, you prepare the transaction from the online computer which only has the viewing key. Then you transfer the transaction data to the offline computer that has the secret key. On the offline computer, you complete the transaction by signing it. You copy the finalized transaction back to the first computer, and you can submit it to the network.

In this workflow, your secret key never leaves the offline computer.

What doesn't it do?

• It will not work well as a daily wallet. For this use case, mobile wallets are better suited.
• It does not support t-address or sprout addresses.

Requirements

You need two computers.

One of them must be connected to the Internet. The other one should be kept offline. Both computers do not have to run the same OS.

The tool is a command line utility. You must be able to use a command shell, i.e. be familiar with navigating directories and executing commands.

Ideally, you would be running your own lightwalletd server and zcashd. But it is not a requirement and by default the tool will use a public lightwalletd server.

Installation

• Copy the binary on both the online and offline computers.
• Copy the Zcash params from the online computer to the offline computer. They are in the .zcash-params folder on Linux if you have installed ycashd. Or use this download script

Usage

For maximum security, all data exchanged between the online and offline computer should be made via USB drive.

Private lightwallet URL

Pass the -l option to specify the URL of the lightwalletd

yeti -l http://127.0.0.1:9067 sync

Only init-account, sync and submit require the lightwalletd server.

Obviously, the offline computer does not need lightwalletd.

Usage

Generate new wallet

yeti generate

Example Output:

Seed Phrase: reform tower uncle cloud diamond sail region index buddy inside pool picture monitor mango snow salute find welcome drum trick vanish submit float source
Derivation Path: m/32'/1'/0'
Secret Key: secret-extended-key-test1qvf49wh8qqqqpqple3k2uqm97rkf24g5s5w5k40kdjyn7wnx2xrakjtfq9qw6wzjgemcuhmul4a34k2j0vlwk5rys9v57rr94zxu2j0f890qgsmfx5xq895m2glaphpftlar82w4duy2zcgaxtscy3hml9nxntxkzzhaccqysmexwxnhm3aydujfcva7ax8nxn9ckfjug3q92raw4vhp2f8q36g64muzl3e53d6zm897lq8gg3x7upjxwd7j7m4mtmhwjjx9pmyt0nc7u8mw6
Viewing Key: zxviewtestsapling1qvf49wh8qqqqpqple3k2uqm97rkf24g5s5w5k40kdjyn7wnx2xrakjtfq9qw6wzjgccd0249gc86dqhzt0e5fm48p7luzfvx5e5fgpn7ecu33yk4pdjxp53xsyerjwmv7j4t64vvsxd6a0qzzqecpf93rp8n473hkh0rwrtrsmexwxnhm3aydujfcva7ax8nxn9ckfjug3q92raw4vhp2f8q36g64muzl3e53d6zm897lq8gg3x7upjxwd7j7m4mtmhwjjx9pmyt0nchzn4xk
Address: ztestsapling16vq8ue73sd3hqzjf4tlcgt2lkww4dl45te7rppwyafrjgxtgw9ac9vkxlyc0nehr4f5g58um63r

Note: Yeti does not store this information.

YOU MUST KEEP IT SAFE!

Initialize wallet and blocks databases

On the online computer, you need to run this command once. This creates the cache database where we store the blocks we get from the lightwalletd server and the account database.

yeti init-db

Initialize Account database

Then import your viewing key to the account database.

If this is a new account:

 yeti init-account zxviewtestsapling1qvf49wh8qqqqpqple3k2uqm97rkf24g5s5w5k40kdjyn7wnx2xrakjtfq9qw6wzjgccd0249gc86dqhzt0e5fm48p7luzfvx5e5fgpn7ecu33yk4pdjxp53xsyerjwmv7j4t64vvsxd6a0qzzqecpf93rp8n473hkh0rwrtrsmexwxnhm3aydujfcva7ax8nxn9ckfjug3q92raw4vhp2f8q36g64muzl3e53d6zm897lq8gg3x7upjxwd7j7m4mtmhwjjx9pmyt0nchzn4xk

If this is an old account

 yeti init-account zxviewtestsapling1qvf49wh8qqqqpqple3k2uqm97rkf24g5s5w5k40kdjyn7wnx2xrakjtfq9qw6wzjgccd0249gc86dqhzt0e5fm48p7luzfvx5e5fgpn7ecu33yk4pdjxp53xsyerjwmv7j4t64vvsxd6a0qzzqecpf93rp8n473hkh0rwrtrsmexwxnhm3aydujfcva7ax8nxn9ckfjug3q92raw4vhp2f8q36g64muzl3e53d6zm897lq8gg3x7upjxwd7j7m4mtmhwjjx9pmyt0nchzn4xk 2020-05-02

Notice the date that was passed as last argument. It is the account "birthday".

When the wallet syncs an old account, it needs to download past blocks and scan them for your transactions. Pass the "birthday" of your account in order to avoid getting earlier blocks. For example, if you know your wallet was created around Mid Feb 2021, you can use 2021-02-01. It does not have to be precise, in fact, a few days of margin does not harm.

Sync

Connect to the lightwalletd server (by default ligthwalletd.com) and grab the latest blocks. It also scans the new blocks to update your account information. This command runs online.

yeti sync

Starting height: 1288000
Synced to 1289093
Scan completed

This command can take a few minutes depending on the starting height.

Note: We start from a checkpoint at the wallet birthday. If you have received notes before that time, they will not appear in your wallet.

Tip: If you are planning to sync many blocks, using a RAM drive speeds up the process greatly. On Linux machines, /tmp acts like a RAM drive. You may get 100x speed even over a SSD. This is highly recommended.

Get Balance

Get your current balance. If the result is not what you expect, check that you are synced. This command works offline.

yeti get-balance

Balance: 1.0

Prepare Spending Transaction

yeti prepare-tx ztestsapling16vq8ue73sd3hqzjf4tlcgt2lkww4dl45te7rppwyafrjgxtgw9ac9vkxlyc0nehr4f5g58um63r 0.4 tx.json

The output will be a json file tx.json. This needs to be signed on the offline computer.

Sign the transaction

Transfer the json file to the offline computer by using a USB key for example (do not use the network). Now you need to sign with your secret key.

yeti sign secret-extended-key-test1qvf49wh8qqqqpqple3k2uqm97rkf24g5s5w5k40kdjyn7wnx2xrakjtfq9qw6wzjgemcuhmul4a34k2j0vlwk5rys9v57rr94zxu2j0f890qgsmfx5xq895m2glaphpftlar82w4duy2zcgaxtscy3hml9nxntxkzzhaccqysmexwxnhm3aydujfcva7ax8nxn9ckfjug3q92raw4vhp2f8q36g64muzl3e53d6zm897lq8gg3x7upjxwd7j7m4mtmhwjjx9pmyt0nc7u8mw6 tx.json tx.raw

Note: This command will print out the payment address and the amount. Make sure these are correct! An attacker could trick you into signing a transfer into his own account.

The output will be a signed transaction file tx.raw.

Transfer this file back to the first computer.

Broadcast the signed transaction

yeti submit tx.raw

The output should look like:

Success! tx id: "86a82d880bd3394390613aabc9919f2de9c1c1b28d95011ef4828bcd8f43b4bf"

This means that everything went well and the tx id is 86a82d880bd3394390613aabc9919f2de9c1c1b28d95011ef4828bcd8f43b4bf See it on the testnet explorer: here

Mainnet

If you want to use this tool for mainnet coins, this tool was not yet audited by the ZOMG. As such, you do it at your own risk. I am not responsible for any potential loss of money.

To use mainnet, you need to compile with the feature flag mainnet

cargo build --features mainnet --release

FAQ

• Why not use a paper wallet?

  With a paper wallet, you can receive ZEC but not spend any. Without this tool, you would have to import your secret key to an online wallet when you want to send from your paper wallet, therefore reducing its safety.

• I received some coins, and I just synced. I don't see my balance updated. Where are my coins?

  Coins need 10 blocks to mature before they are spendable. Before then, they will not appear in your balance.

• What happens if there is a blockchain reorg?

  The sync stops 10 blocks short of the latest block. If the re-org is shorter than 10 blocks (which should be the case unless the network has an issue), you shouldn't be affected. If there is a longer reorg, you will need to manually delete the database files (*.sqlite3). I don't think it has ever happened though.

• How about using a hardware wallet?

  At this point, hardware wallets do not support shielded addresses (y-addresses). In any case, a hardware wallet is special equipment that not everyone is comfortable using. Yeti code is open source and does not rely on any proprietary logic. Also, hardware wallets break, but a paper wallet does not.

• Is there a UI?

  To keep the tool as simple as possible, the tool is command line only.

• Can I import more than one y-address?

  No, it supports a single address. But, all the data is stored in a couple of files, you can keep several sets of files.

• Does the tool store my secret key?

  It does not store your secret anywhere. Your viewing key is stored in the online computer, but your secret key is not kept in the online computer or the offline computer. The tool uses two SQLite database files. If you want to wipe out everything, just delete these two files.

• (Advanced usage) Can I swap the account file (data.sqlite3)?

  Yes but only if your new account file has a birthday after the original one. If you need to reindex, do the following:

  • delete/move the old data.sqlite3 file,
  • run init-db
  • import a new account with init-account
  • run re-index

  Your new balance should show up. If you want to be sure, just delete both data files and start anew.