FX Wallet v 5.0
As the provider of this product holds the keys, verifiability of the product is not relevant to the security of the funds!
As part of our Methodology, we ask:
A custodial service is a service where the funds are held by a third party like the provider. The custodial service can at any point steal all the funds of all the users at their discretion. Our investigations stop there.
Some services might claim their setup is super secure, that they don’t actually have access to the funds, or that the access is shared between multiple parties. For our evaluation of it being a wallet, these details are irrelevant. They might be a trustworthy Bitcoin bank and they might be a better fit for certain users than being your own bank but our investigation still stops there as we are only interested in wallets.
Products that claim to be non-custodial but feature custodial accounts without very clearly marking those as custodial are also considered “custodial” as a whole to avoid misguiding users that follow our assessment.
This verdict means that the provider might or might not publish source code and maybe it is even possible to reproduce the build from the source code but as it is custodial, the provider already has control over the funds, so it is not a wallet where you would be in exclusive control of your funds.
We have to acknowledge that a huge majority of Bitcoiners are currently using custodial Bitcoin banks. If you do, please:
- Do your own research if the provider is trust-worthy!
- Check if you know at least enough about them so you can sue them when you have to!
- Check if the provider is under a jurisdiction that will allow them to release your funds when you need them?
- Check if the provider is taking security measures proportional to the amount of funds secured? If they have a million users and don’t use cold storage, that hot wallet is a million times more valuable for hackers to attack. A million times more effort will be taken by hackers to infiltrate their security systems.
But we also ask:
Discontinued products or worse, products of providers that are not active anymore, are problematic, especially if they were not formerly reproducible and well audited to be self-custodial following open standards. If the provider hasn’t answered inquiries for a year but their server is still running or similar circumstances might get this verdict, too.
The Analysis ¶
This does not represent a full code review.
Update 2022-02-09: This app is no more.
Caution: Some users have complained about not being able to withdraw we also tried to register but the service did not send the OTP email verification. We tried numerous times. We also tried to contact them via their Telegram, however it says
Username @fxwallet not found.
We will proceed with assessing this service via the information available on its website.
App Description
From Google Play:
You can use FXWallet app to send, receive money and track balances. The app provide significant features such as: Staking, Swap, Transfer, Payment and Decentralization.
Some users report having issues with this app:
Nazrul Islam
★☆☆☆☆ October 2, 2021
This wallet did not pay. I deposited usdt swap FXL and withdraw but they are not payment and also not show my assets. Everytime when i open app everytime ask update but playstore not show update. I think this wallet may be scam.
Movie and movie
★☆☆☆☆ August 23, 2021
My experience with this wallet is so bad I cannot withdraw my money from here. This is a big problem for all. And the app os very slow although I updated it.
Abir Ahmed
★☆☆☆☆ September 28, 2021
This a scam application because I withdrew my money a month ago but have not yet sent it to my account..
The Site
User Agreement
Section 14, a. states:
You agree that FXWALLET shall have the right to immediately suspend your account (and any accounts beneficially owned by related entities or affiliates), freeze or lock the funds in all such accounts, and suspend your access to FXWALLET for any reason including if it suspects any such accounts to be in violation of these Terms, our Privacy Policy, or any applicable laws and regulations. You agree that FXWALLET shall not be liable to you for any permanent or temporary modification, suspension or termination of your Account or access to all or any portion of the Services.
Additionally, from f.:
FXWALLET maintains full custody of the funds and User data/information which may be turned over to governmental authorities in the event of Account suspension/closure arising from fraud investigations, violation of law investigations or violation of these Terms.
This is contradictory to their claims on the homepage:
FXWallet helps users manage their own private keys and store their crypto assets directly on their devices, not with a centralized brokerage or exchange.
The App
We downloaded the app and were not able to register because we did not receive the OTP email verification. We tried several times.
Contact
We inquired FXWallet’s twitter concerning this contradiction in policy. We are still awaiting their reply.
Verdict
The information we have gathered about this app thus far indicates that it is custodial. It is mandatory to create an account, and in the Terms it is explicitly stated that FXWallet has the power to freeze your funds. The website includes nothing about mnemonics, despite claiming to be self-custodial.
(dg)
Do your own research!
Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.
If you find something we should include, you can create an issue or edit this analysis yourself and create a merge request for your changes.