Can Exodus staff monitor my account or control my transactions?

Exodus staff does not have access to your wallet nor private information.

Unlike an exchange, there is no sign up required to use Exodus and we do not require an email address nor ask you weird, personal questions.

Your wallet is YOUR wallet. You are in full control of your blockchain assets because only you hold your private keys

What's in this article?

Do I control my own wallet?

Exodus believes in an individual's right to privacy and full control of their funds. We've incorporated these principles into our technical design choices for Exodus.

Unlike your bank account or stock portfolio, this is what is referred to as custodial access with counterparty risk. Exodus (the company) doesn't actually hold any assets on your behalf. Exodus is non-custodial wallet with no counterparty risk. 

You control your assets through a set of private keys generated from when you first opened your wallet. 

Exodus is an account-less wallet which means there is no account to sign-up for to receive and use Exodus. You are essentially your own bank and have complete control.

What are Private Keys and why do they matter to me?

Exodus is an HD wallet which means there is a master key and individual sets of private keys for each of your individual asset addresses in your wallet.

  • The 12-word phrase is the master key which provides access your entire wallet including all of the assets inside. If Exodus was a house with many rooms, consider this your master key to the whole house and the key to controlling all your assets together.
  • The individual private keys are different from the 12-word recovery phrase because they match only one address for each asset. Sometimes referenced as a public/private key pair.

Your Exodus wallet is a software application running locally, on your computer. It creates and manages your private keys offline.

Since we also do not control your funds, it is very important to always keep your private keys secure by  never giving them to an untrustworthy site or third party. Exodus staff will never ask for your 12-words or private keys.

How is my transaction and balance information displayed in my wallet?

Exodus uses publicly available information from each of the asset's blockchains to build the current and past information in your wallet. Exodus the company provides some of the infrastructure for collecting and maintaining this data, however, we have no means of tying your individual transactions, including exchanges, to personally identifying information.  

How does Exodus differ from traditional exchanges with wallets?

We differ from hosted exchanges like Coinbase or Binance, because they are in full control of your private keys and require an account, which they control, hosted on their servers.

They act like traditional bank accounts where your funds are held by the account provider. The benefit is that you could lose every password or email account you have, but there is always a chance to get access to your account back if they allow it. On the flip side, if the account provider turns out to be untrustworthy, your funds could be as good as gone. They can also freeze your account or cease your assets. Some exchanges delay for months in getting their customers' funds back to them if there are ever any issues. Some never return them at all.

Since you own and hold your private keys with Exodus, you are in 100% control.


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