Salmon

Salmon is an open-source, self-custodial wallet built for Solana and the emerging generation of open financial networks. Originally launched with roots in the Solana Riptide hackathon — where it won recognition that led to a Serum Foundation grant — the project has grown from a Sollet fork into a fully rewritten, cross-platform wallet with a clear philosophical stance: critical wallet infrastructure should not be governed by any single private entity indefinitely.

The wallet is community-driven and being built toward community ownership. Every design decision, from architecture to feature selection, flows from that commitment. Source code is public, contributions are open, and the governance trajectory points toward a wallet that belongs to its users.

How It Works

Salmon follows a self-custodial model. Private keys are generated and encrypted directly on the user's device using the user's password. They are never transmitted to any server or exposed to third parties. Account addresses, asset balances, and personally identifiable information are not tracked. Before any transaction is signed, users see a preview of exactly what will leave their wallet — a transparency guarantee that sits at the heart of the product philosophy.

The architecture is built around a deliberate tension: keep the core wallet lightweight and understandable, then extend capability through optional Powerups. Powerups are modular additions that expand what the wallet can do without hardcoding features into the base experience. Only Powerups that solve a genuine user problem and clear security and technical compatibility review are added. The result is a wallet that avoids becoming a bloated super-app while still accommodating advanced use cases.

Third-party integrations follow a curated evaluation process covering security posture, user value, and technical fit before they appear inside the wallet. This keeps the integration surface area intentional rather than opportunistic.

Supported Chains and Assets

Salmon initially focused exclusively on Solana, reflecting the network it was designed for. The wallet now also supports Bitcoin, making it a two-chain self-custody option for users who hold assets across both ecosystems. Users can store, send, receive, and swap tokens and NFTs, and connect to decentralized applications across the supported networks.

Security Features

Transaction security is reinforced through Blowfish integration on Solana. Blowfish is a simulation-based transaction scanning service that flags malicious or suspicious transactions before signing — a layer of protection against phishing, drainer contracts, and misleading approval requests. Salmon has also been working to integrate hardware wallet support through Ledger and Keystone, giving users who want air-gapped key storage a path to use the wallet with physical signing devices.

The open-source codebase itself serves as a security property. Anyone can audit the code, verify that keys stay client-side, and confirm that no hidden telemetry or data collection is present. Responsible disclosure is handled through private reporting channels rather than public issues, enabling coordinated vulnerability handling.

Platforms and Availability

Salmon's primary interface is the Chrome browser extension, built on Manifest V3 using the WXT framework. A Firefox build is also maintained. The Android app is live on the Google Play Store. An iOS application is listed as in development.

The web wallet interface — previously accessible at app.salmonwallet.io — was retired on September 2, 2026, consolidating browser users onto the extension. The extension operates as a side panel within Chrome, integrating into the browser's native layout rather than launching a separate popup window.

Technical Foundation

The V3 codebase, maintained under the Salmon-HQ GitHub organization, is a modern TypeScript monorepo. The frontend is built on React 19 and React Native 0.83, with Expo SDK 55 driving the mobile layer. The monorepo tooling uses pnpm workspaces and Turborepo for build orchestration. UI styling uses Emotion for the DOM layer and React Native StyleSheet for native surfaces, giving both platforms a shared component contract. Testing spans Vitest, Jest, and Playwright. The extension is licensed under Apache 2.0; the earlier V2 codebase carried a GNU GPL v3.0 license.

The V2 repository logged 857 commits; V3 has surpassed 1,250 commits on the main branch, reflecting sustained active development. The project accepts pull requests with a contributor agreement requirement and invites community participation in bug fixes, features, documentation, and localization. English and Spanish locales are included, and optional pseudonymous analytics — disabled by default — are available for users who choose to share usage data.

Origin and Ecosystem Position

Salmon's origin story is tied closely to Solana's early hackathon ecosystem. The project began as a fork of Sollet, the browser extension wallet that predated Phantom as Solana's primary developer tool. After the Riptide hackathon, the Serum Foundation provided grant funding to support continued development, and the team undertook a complete rewrite in React and React Native to give the project a maintainable, modern foundation.

Within the Solana wallet landscape, Salmon occupies a distinct position. It is not competing on the basis of brand or closed-platform integrations. It competes on openness: open source, open contribution, and an eventual governance model that removes permanent private control. For developers and users who want to verify what their wallet is doing — and potentially shape what it becomes — Salmon offers something that closed-source competitors structurally cannot.

The wallet has maintained a presence in curated Solana wallet lists and remains listed on the official Solana ecosystem wallet directory. Its Chrome extension entry on the Web Store provides an additional point of discovery for users evaluating options within the browser.

Status

As of September 2026, Salmon is active. The Chrome extension and Android app are operational. Development on the V3 frontend continues with open pull requests and no outstanding issues. The web wallet has been retired in favor of the extension-first model. Bitcoin support is live alongside Solana. Hardware wallet integration work is ongoing.