Cardano multi wallets with Yoroi and Trezor
Unlike the jormungandr implementation we have used during the Incentivized Testnet, the current Shelley ledger does not support partial delegation (one address partially delegated to multiple staking pools) out of the box.
There has been a long talk about multi delegation support for Cardano, mostly because it has become one of the early blockers preventing the change of the k parameter. This parameter determines the saturation point of a staking pool and therefore regulates the desired number of pools within the network. The problem is mostly for large stake holders, such as IOG or Emurgo. Each delegated pool means one wallet, one set of key to manage, and of course, increased security risks that come with it.
To make things easier, mostly for software wallets, there has been a discussion about multi-account support, but a lot of people incorrectly call it multi-wallet support.
Multi-wallet or multi-account?
The difference is, the multi-account support is using a single key (seed) to generate multiple addresses using sub-keys. Whereas in the multi-wallet setup, we have a separate key (seed) for each wallet, making each wallet completely independent and even transferable.
So, while it is true we are waiting for software wallets to introduce multi-account support to enable staking, few know that if you own a Trezor device, you have the multi-wallet support today!
Trezor passphrase feature
If you own a Trezor device, you might know that you can use a custom passphrase, which is an additional word to your existing seed, to create different hidden wallets using only one device. More information about it is in the video below.
Setting up multiple wallets in Yoroi
You know Yoroi. It’s an awesome lightweight Cardano wallet which supports multiple wallets.
First of all, we need to enable the passphrase support in Trezor, if you are currently not using this feature.
Head to Trezor Suite, connect your Trezor and in the top right corner, click on Settings and select the Device tab. In the Security section, enable the Passphrase support.
Now, open Yoroi and Add a new wallet and choose to connect your Trezor. Next, you will be asked to enter the passphrase. Either in the web interface or on the device, choose a passphrase for your new wallet.
Each passphrase represents a different wallet, and it is up to you how you choose the passphrase. You might want to choose a more secure way with longer passphrase typed on the device as opposed to a lazy way, where you just put a number of your wallet as the passphrase. All depends on your use case and on how much you want to protect your assets.
Repeat this process to create as many wallets as you want. Each one is separate, can be delegated to a separate staking pool but all can be managed with a single Trezor device!
That’s it! And consider delegating one of these to NUTS ;)
