Wallet & SOL

Before you can trade, you need a Solana wallet with some SOL. This guide covers setting up Phantom and funding your wallet.

Install Phantom

Phantom is a popular Solana wallet available as a browser extension and mobile app.

1. Go to phantom.com/download
2. Download the browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Brave or Edge
3. Click Create a new wallet
4. Write down your recovery phrase and store it somewhere safe
5. Set a password for the extension

Your wallet is now ready. You’ll see your wallet address (a long string starting with a letter or number).

Get SOL

You need SOL to pay for transactions. There are two ways to get it:

Option 1: Buy in Phantom

Phantom lets you buy SOL directly with a credit card:

1. Open Phantom and click Buy
2. Select Solana (SOL)
3. Choose an amount and payment method
4. Complete the purchase

This is the fastest way to get started.

Option 2: Transfer from an Exchange

If you already have SOL on an exchange:

1. Copy your Phantom wallet address (click the address at the top to copy)
2. Go to your exchange (Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, etc.)
3. Withdraw SOL to your Phantom address
4. Wait for the transfer to complete (usually 1-2 minutes)

This option is recomended for obtaining larger amounts of SOL, because of smaller fees than buying with card.

Export Your Private Key

The Darkfibre SDK needs your private key to sign transactions locally. Your key never leaves your device and we never see it.

To export from Phantom:

1. Open Phantom and click the profile picture at the top left
2. Click Settings at the bottom left
3. Click Manage accounts
4. Click on your account name
5. Click Show Private Key
6. Enter your password
7. Select Solana
8. Copy the private key (it’s a long string of text)

Keep your private key safe

• Never share your private key with anyone
• Never paste it into websites or forms
• Never commit it to version control
• Store it securely (we’ll use a .env file)

How Much SOL Do You Need?

For this quick start, you’ll need at least 0.01 SOL:

• 0.005 SOL for the test trade
• 0.002 SOL for token account rent (see below)
• Some buffer for additional testing

You can always add more later.

Token Account Rent

When you buy a token for the first time, Solana creates a “token account” to hold your balance. This account takes up space on the blockchain and you pay a small deposit (~0.002 SOL) called rent to reserve that space.

The good news: rent is refundable. When you sell 100% of a token that ~0.002 SOL is returned back to your wallet. Think of it as a refundable deposit, not a fee.

---

Next: Set up your development environment