OtterFi

Security

Security is the foundation of OtterFi. Members always keep full control of their wallets, assets, and private keys. OtterFi only verifies ownership - it never takes custody.

Security at a glance

  • No custody
  • No private keys
  • No seed phrases
  • No wallet funds ever leave your control
  • Live on-chain verification
  • Minimal data collection

No custody, ever

OtterFi never asks for, receives, or could receive a private key. There's no deposit step, no wrapped token, no vault - your assets stay in your own wallet, under your own control, the entire time. Your wallet remains yours before, during, and after verification.

Wallet ownership verification

Verify offers two ways to prove you control a wallet, and both stop at proof - neither one hands over any control:

Connect Wallet

  • Best on desktop
  • Sign a standard SIWE message
  • No blockchain transaction
  • No funds move

Verify without connecting

  • Best on mobile
  • Send a tiny amount to yourself
  • No wallet connection
  • Funds never leave your wallet

Email or social login is intentionally not offered as an alternative here, since that would create an account that could never actually hold real on-chain assets.

Why funds never leave the wallet

No matter which verification method you choose, OtterFi can never receive your assets.

In the self-transfer method, the sender and recipient of the transaction are the exact same wallet - by construction, funds can't end up anywhere else. In the connect-wallet method, nothing is sent at all; a signature isn't a transfer. Either way, the only real cost is your own network's gas fee for that one small transaction, and only when you choose the self-transfer method - never a payment to OtterFi.

Every check re-verifies live, on-chain truth

OtterFi never relies on old verification results.

Whether a re-check is triggered on a schedule, by a manual command, or by Live Membership's event detection, OtterFi always reads your wallet's real, current holdings directly from the chain before deciding anything. A temporary read failure never revokes access; it's treated as inconclusive and retried, not as a "no."

Note

When granting access, OtterFi waits until the blockchain considers the transaction safely confirmed. This prevents temporary blockchain changes from granting access incorrectly. A purchase that's reversed by a chain reorg a few blocks later should never have granted access in the first place - removing access, by contrast, is dispatched immediately, since a mistaken removal simply self-corrects on the very next check.

Data storage and privacy

Every piece of stored data exists solely to determine and maintain community access.

Stores

  • ✓ Verified wallet address
  • ✓ Telegram or Discord ID
  • ✓ Membership status

Does NOT store

  • ✗ Private keys
  • ✗ Seed phrases
  • ✗ Email addresses
  • ✗ KYC information
  • ✗ Personal documents

Security limitations

Like any wallet-signature-based system, if someone else has your private key, they can pass verification as you - there's no way to distinguish a legitimate owner from someone who stole the key, without identity verification (KYC), which OtterFi doesn't do. Keep your private key and seed phrase secret; OtterFi will never ask for either.

Best Practices

  • Never share your private key or seed phrase.
  • Verify the website URL before connecting a wallet.
  • Use the verification method you are most comfortable with.
  • Disconnect unused wallet sessions when appropriate.
  • Keep your wallet software updated.

OtterFi is designed around one principle: prove wallet ownership without ever taking control of a member's assets.

Next steps