Wallet and accounts

On Solana everything is an account: your address, your tokens, every program and its data. Like a big apartment block where every flat has a number and every tenant pays a deposit. Once you understand that, you stop being surprised by the small amounts of SOL that "disappear" the first time you receive a new token.

Address and seed phrase#

A Solana address is a long string of letters and digits (32 to 44 characters), such as 7xKX…9fQm. It is your public key – you can give it to anyone who wants to send you money.

The wallet is backed up by a seed phrase of 12 or 24 words, just like on other networks. Whoever knows it controls all your funds. Solana wallets exist as browser extensions, mobile apps and hardware wallets – for example Phantom, Solflare or Ledger, mentioned only as examples.

Every token has its own account#

On Ethereum, your address has just a row in a table for each token. On Solana, every token in your wallet has its own account – a so-called token account owned by your address. It is created the first time you receive a new token. Like a new mailbox in the apartment block for each kind of letter.

Account rent#

Every account takes up space in the memory of all validators, so it has to hold a deposit in SOL. This is called account rent, although it is really a refundable deposit:

• A token account needs about 0.002 SOL. Whoever creates the account pays the deposit – usually the sender, or you yourself when buying.
• When you empty a token account and close it, the deposit comes back to you.
• The address itself must hold either zero or at least a small minimum (about 0.0009 SOL). A transaction that would leave less will fail.

Closing empty accounts is offered by wallets and by various websites – and scams often hide behind such "clean-up services". Only clean up in a wallet you trust.

Withdrawing from an exchange#

• Pick the right network. Send SOL and Solana tokens over the Solana network. A token sent over a different network may not be recoverable at all.
• Send a small amount first. You verify the address and the network for the price of one fee.
• Keep a little SOL. Without SOL for fees you cannot even send the tokens you hold.

Common myths#

• "0.002 SOL disappeared from my wallet." Most likely a token account was created. Close it and the deposit comes back.
• "A Solana seed phrase works in only one wallet." The same phrase loads in other Solana wallets too – which is why you never type it anywhere unless you need to.
• "If I have tokens, I can pay fees with them." Fees are paid in SOL.