What is Watch-only wallet?
A wallet that can see balances and history but cannot sign anything.
Watch-only mode imports a public key or an address, not a private key. It is useful for tracking a cold wallet without exposing it to an online machine.
Anything that can be signed by a watch-only wallet is not a watch-only wallet; check what the import actually stored.
Related terms
- Cold storageSecurity
Keeping keys offline on a device that never connects to the internet.
- Public addressWallets
The shareable identifier you give someone to receive funds; safe to publish.
- WalletWallets
Software or hardware that holds keys and signs transactions; it does not hold coins.