SchnelPay Wallet: open it with Face ID, no seed phrase (testnet beta)

Most people's first crypto wallet asks them to do something strange: write down twelve or twenty-four random words, keep them somewhere safe forever, and never lose them. Lose the words, lose the wallet. For a lot of newcomers, that's where it ends.

SchnelPay Wallet takes a different path. You open it with Face ID or Touch ID — the same thing you already use to unlock your phone. There's no seed phrase to write down, and no app or extension to install. It runs in your browser, on Base. And because your passkey lives in your own Apple or Google account, SchnelPay never holds it: we can't move, freeze, or recover your funds.

It's an open testnet beta. Anyone can try it today with free test ETH — nothing on it is real money — and we'd genuinely like your help finding what breaks.

Try the testnet wallet → (testnet only)

A wallet without a seed phrase

When you create a SchnelPay Wallet, you pick a name and confirm with Face ID or Touch ID. That creates a passkey — a standard, phishing-resistant credential — and your wallet. No words to copy down, no browser extension, no download.

Your passkey syncs through your own Apple (iCloud Keychain) or Google account, so the same wallet opens on your other devices. (We've tested creating a wallet on a Mac and sending from an iPhone.) A passkey only works on the SchnelPay wallet site where it was created, which is part of what makes it hard to phish.

Recovery you control

Here's the usual trade with self-custody: hold your seed phrase, or lose everything. We wanted a third option that still doesn't put SchnelPay in control of your money.

So SchnelPay Wallet lets you set up a backup passkey — ideally on a second device or a hardware security key. Keep it outside the Apple or Google account your main passkey syncs to; otherwise, losing that account loses both. If you lose your main passkey, the backup can start a recovery from a new device:

• Recovery waits before it completes — 5 minutes in the testnet beta so you can try it end to end, and 48 hours planned for mainnet.
• During that wait, if you open your wallet with your current passkey, you'll see a warning and can cancel the recovery. Email alerts for this are planned.
• When it completes, the old passkey is removed and the new one opens the same wallet, at the same address, with the same balance.
• Recovery can only replace the passkey. It can't move your funds. And you can turn recovery off at any time.

One thing we'll say plainly: if you lose your main passkey and your backup, no one can recover the wallet — not even SchnelPay. That's the trade-off of not having a company in control of your money.

What you can do today

On Base Sepolia (Base's test network), with test ETH:

• Create a wallet with Face ID / Touch ID.
• Get test ETH from a faucet link, right from an empty wallet.
• Receive with your address, a QR code, or a shareable payment link.
• Send ETH — before you confirm, you see the recipient, the amount, the maximum network fee, and the total. "Confirmed" shows only after the blockchain confirms.
• Use it on your other devices through your Apple or Google account.
• Set up recovery — add a backup passkey, save your recovery kit, and try a full recovery (and a cancel).

Under the hood

For the curious:

• Each wallet is a smart account (ERC-4337 account abstraction) built on Coinbase Smart Wallet v1.1, an open-source contract.
• Sign-in uses standard WebAuthn passkeys (P-256).
• SchnelPay's server stores only a public record — your passkey's public key and your wallet address — so your other devices can find your wallet. Nothing in it is secret. Before showing a wallet, the app checks what the server says against the blockchain, so a faulty or compromised server can't point you at the wrong wallet.
• Recovery runs through SchnelPay's own contract, PasskeyRecoveryModule. Its source is public and verified on Basescan — the release candidate is at 0x26BAec4Dc571ec1850AE67f0F197640B4E0E4Aac on Base Sepolia. It's had an extensive internal pre-audit review and comprehensive automated tests.

Built on Coinbase Smart Wallet, an open-source smart-account contract. Coinbase has published independent audit reports for it. SchnelPay's own recovery module hasn't been externally audited yet — that audit comes before mainnet.

What SchnelPay can and can't do

Honest about the beta

• It's testnet only. Never send real funds to a SchnelPay Wallet address — the app can't move real ETH sent to it.
• Beta wallets won't carry over to mainnet. The mainnet wallet will live at a new address, and passkeys only work on the site they were created on, so you'll create a fresh wallet when mainnet arrives. Don't treat a beta wallet as permanent.
• Fees: network fees apply (paid in test ETH during the beta) and are shown before you confirm.
• Not in the wallet yet: tokens other than ETH, other networks, swaps, buying crypto inside the wallet, and recovery alert emails.
• Devices: we've tested on Mac and iPhone with Safari. Feedback from Android, Windows, Chrome and other browsers is especially welcome — some browsers don't share what's needed to create a passkey, and the app will tell you and suggest Safari or Chrome.

What's next

No dates — these are plans, not promises:

• An external security audit of the recovery module. It's the gate for mainnet.
• Mainnet on Base, ETH first, after the audit, with the 48-hour recovery wait.
• A permanent home at wallet.schnelpay.com.
• More assets after ETH — USDC and others, one at a time. (No other chains in v1; each needs its own security work.)
• Recovery alert emails when a recovery starts.
• A smoother way to start a recovery on a new device.
• Down the road, SchnelPay Wallet as a destination in the SchnelPay on-ramp — buy crypto straight into it.
• Plain-language and technical papers once the production wallet exists.

Help us test it

It's early, and the most useful thing you can do is try it and tell us what breaks.

Things to try:

1. Create a wallet with Face ID / Touch ID.
2. Get test ETH from the faucet link.
3. Send a small amount to a friend's beta wallet, or use a payment link.
4. Open the wallet on a second device.
5. Set up a backup passkey and save your recovery kit.
6. Start a recovery from another device, then cancel it from your main one.
7. Run a full recovery (5-minute wait) and confirm the same address and balance.

Starting a recovery needs a small amount of test ETH on the new device — the app shows how much and links to the faucet.

Try the testnet wallet → (testnet only — never send real funds)

Found a bug, or have feedback? Tell us what breaks on our Telegram (linked in the footer).