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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dfns.co/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Most blockchain tools bundle the address and the private key into a single object they call a “wallet”. Dfns splits them in two:
  • Wallet: a blockchain address you can transact with
  • Key: what signs transactions for that wallet, secured by our MPC infrastructure
This split lets a single Key power wallets on as many blockchains as you need.

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Wallets across many chains

A single Key can power wallets on Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, and any other supported network. You create the Key once, then open wallets with it on each chain you need. On EVM chains, every wallet sharing the same Key gets the same address. At Dfns we call these multichain wallets.

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What each object does

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Wallet

A Wallet is your address on a specific blockchain. It’s the object you’ll spend most of your time with: it’s what holds funds, what you tag and apply policies to, and what shows up in the dashboard. Dfns indexes the blockchain to track the wallet’s activity, so you can:
  • View asset balances (native tokens and fungible tokens on Tier-1 networks)
  • Access transaction history
  • Receive webhook notifications when activity occurs so you can take appropriate actions
  • Broadcast transactions to the network and know when they confirm
The Dfns dashboard lets you track and manage your assets, and the API lets you do the same programmatically: transfer native tokens, fungible tokens, and NFTs, sign and broadcast custom transactions, and interact with smart contracts to integrate with any feature of the chain.

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Key

A Key is what signs transactions for your wallets. Every transfer, contract call, or message a wallet produces is signed by its Key. The Key itself stays inside the Dfns MPC network, so the underlying cryptographic material is never exposed, not even to you. In practice, you rarely interact with a Key directly. Creating a wallet creates its Key automatically. You only deal with a Key explicitly when signing a message off-chain or when creating multichain wallets via API. When a transaction needs reviewer approval under a policy, reviewers don’t sign with the wallet’s Key. They sign their approval with their own login credential (their passkey), the same one they use to access Dfns. With a Key, you can:
  • Open wallets on any blockchain that uses a compatible key format. On EVM chains, every wallet sharing a Key shares the same address.
  • Sign transactions or arbitrary messages, even on blockchains Dfns doesn’t natively support, as long as the chain uses a compatible key format. That lets you extend Dfns security to private chains or networks we haven’t integrated yet.
  • Delegate signing so your end users hold full authority over their own Keys.

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Benefits of this separation

One Key, many wallets

You manage one Key instead of one per chain. Recovery, import, and delegation are done once at the Key level and cover every wallet that uses it.

Same address everywhere on EVM

On EVM chains (Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, etc.), every wallet sharing a Key has the same public address. That makes recovery and operational tracking straightforward.

Signing stays off-chain

Keys sign transactions; wallets broadcast them. The signing material never touches a blockchain network.
Last modified on April 29, 2026