Polkadot wallet: buy DOT, create an account, receive and send (2026 guide)

Daniel Platteau

From buying on an authorised platform to your first transfer, with what changed after the migration to Polkadot Hub

Practical, educational article, updated October 2026. Not investment advice. DOT is a speculative crypto-asset: you can lose all or part of your stake. Always keep your recovery phrase offline and never share it.

Do you want to buy DOT, withdraw it from a platform to your own wallet, or simply understand why your balance seems to have "moved"? This guide covers the essentials, from purchase to first transfer. It takes into account the big change of late 2025: since 4 November 2025, DOT balances no longer live on the Relay Chain but on Polkadot Hub (formerly Asset Hub).

To understand Polkadot's architecture itself, see our article Polkadot: the blockchain of blockchains.

1. What changed: the migration to Polkadot Hub

Until 2025, your DOT balance, your staking positions and your governance votes were recorded on the Relay Chain, Polkadot's central chain. On 4 November 2025, all of this was transferred to Asset Hub, a chain of the ecosystem since renamed Polkadot Hub. According to the official wiki, the migration covered balances, staking, nomination pools, governance, vesting schedules, proxies and multisig accounts. Kusama had followed the same path on 7 October 2025.

For users, three practical consequences:

Your address did not change and your funds did not leave Polkadot. No action was required.
If your wallet shows a zero balance, it is still querying the old chain: update it. In Polkadot.js, select the Polkadot Asset Hub network.
Fees dropped sharply and the existential deposit fell from 1 DOT to 0.01 DOT (see section 6). Polkadot Hub also lets you hold stablecoins and pay fees with assets other than DOT.

⚠️ Users of Polkadot Vault version 7.0 or earlier may need to create an Asset Hub account with the same derivation path to recover the same address. Ledger users must update the Polkadot app on their device.

2. Buying DOT in Belgium

Most people buy their first DOT on an exchange before withdrawing them to their own wallet. Since 1 July 2026, the end of the transitional period of the European MiCA regulation, a platform must hold a MiCA authorisation to serve customers in the European Union. The FSMA stated at that date that no provider had yet obtained an authorisation granted in Belgium: Belgians therefore use platforms authorised in another Member State, thanks to the European passport.

Before opening an account, check that the platform appears in ESMA's MiCA register and is not listed in the FSMA's warnings. Also check that it allows DOT withdrawals on the Polkadot network (and not only on another network as a "wrapped" token).

Leaving your DOT on the platform is simpler, but you do not hold the keys. Withdrawing them to your own wallet makes you solely responsible for their security, but protects you from a platform bankruptcy or freeze. That is what the rest of this guide is about.

3. Polkadot addresses: the SS58 format

An Ethereum address looks like 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc454e4438f44e. A Polkadot address looks like 15oF4uVJwmo4TdGW7VfQxNLavjCXviqxT9S1MgbjMNHr6Sp5.

This format is called SS58. Like Bitcoin's Base58Check, it encodes the public key, a checksum that catches typos, and a network prefix: 0 for Polkadot, 2 for Kusama, other values for other chains in the ecosystem. Prefix 0 produces addresses starting with 1: a quick way to check you are looking at a Polkadot address.

⚠️ The same key gives different SS58 addresses depending on the network. Your Polkadot address (15oF4…) and your Kusama address (Fu3r…) come from the same key but are written differently. This is normal, but it regularly catches out users who paste an address on the wrong network.

4. The recovery phrase and key types

As with Bitcoin and Ethereum, your account is generated from a recovery phrase (seed phrase) of 12 or 24 words in BIP39 format. It is the only truly critical element: whoever holds it holds your funds.

By default, Polkadot uses a signature scheme called sr25519 (Schnorr signatures on Curve25519), different from the secp256k1 used by Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also supports ed25519 and, for compatibility with the Ethereum world, ecdsa. The practical consequence for users is simple: the same recovery phrase does not give the same address from one software to another if they do not use the same key type and derivation path. Importing your Polkadot phrase into MetaMask, for example, will give you an Ethereum address unrelated to your DOT. And a Ledger derives its accounts according to its own scheme.

💡 If you restore an account and cannot find your balance, first check the key type and derivation path used when it was created, before concluding it is lost.

Protecting your recovery phrase

Never digital: no email, message, screenshot or unencrypted file.
On paper or metal, kept in a safe place; ideally two copies in two different locations.
Never shared: no legitimate wallet or support team will ask for it. Any such request is a scam.

5. Choosing a wallet

The ecosystem offers several wallets, all updated for Polkadot Hub. The choice depends mainly on how you use it.

Wallet	Platform	Strengths	For whom
Talisman	Browser extension	Modern interface, Polkadot and Ethereum accounts in one place, staking, Ledger-compatible	Regular use on a computer
Nova Wallet	Mobile (iOS, Android)	Built-in staking and governance, many networks, open source	Daily use on mobile
SubWallet	Extension and mobile	Balance between simplicity and advanced features	Intermediate users
Polkadot.js	Extension + web app	Access to every protocol function	Developers and advanced users
Ledger	Hardware wallet	Offline keys, physical confirmation of every operation	Large amounts, long-term storage
Polkadot Vault	Offline smartphone	Keys on a disconnected phone, signing by QR code	Experienced users wanting an alternative to dedicated hardware

A hardware wallet or Polkadot Vault protects your keys far better than a browser extension, at the cost of some convenience. For large amounts, it is the recommended choice; Talisman and Nova can serve as the interface while leaving signing to the Ledger.

6. The existential deposit: 0.01 DOT

On Polkadot, an account only exists on-chain if it keeps a minimum balance, called the existential deposit. Since the migration to Polkadot Hub, this minimum is 0.01 DOT (it was 1 DOT on the Relay Chain).

If your balance falls below this threshold, the account is removed from the chain and the remainder is lost. Your recovery phrase stays valid: simply send DOT to the address again to "recreate" the account. Two situations need attention:

Emptying an account: use your wallet's "send all" function (Send max / Transfer all), which calculates fees and does not leave dust below the threshold.
Sending a small amount to an empty account: a transfer below the existential deposit to an address that does not yet exist is rejected.

Each chain in the ecosystem has its own existential deposit, in its own unit. Check it before sending small amounts to another chain.

7. Creating an account with Talisman

Install the extension from talisman.xyz, checking the site address: fake wallets are a common scam.
Create a new wallet and choose a password. This password protects the extension on your computer; it is not your recovery phrase.
Write down the recovery phrase on paper, word by word, before going any further.
Confirm it by selecting the words in the requested order.
Display your Polkadot address (it starts with 1): this is the one to share to receive DOT.

8. Receiving and sending DOT

Receiving from a platform

Copy your Polkadot address from the wallet.
On the platform, choose "Withdraw" then DOT, and paste the address.
Compare the first and last characters after pasting: some malware replaces the address in the clipboard.
Select the Polkadot network (not Kusama, nor a third-party network where DOT circulates as a wrapped token).
Make a small test transfer first.

What happens when you send

Your wallet signs the transaction with your key and broadcasts it to the network; it is included in a Polkadot Hub block, and these blocks are then finalised by the Relay Chain. Once the block is finalised, the transaction is final: no multiple confirmations to wait for as on Bitcoin. In practice, a transfer is finalised within a few tens of seconds.

Fees are low and fell further with the migration. Your wallet shows them before signing; they depend mainly on the size of the transaction.

Checking on Subscan

Subscan (assethub-polkadot.subscan.io) is the reference explorer. Paste your address or the transaction hash: you will see the status, block, sender, recipient, amount and fees. Since the migration, DOT transfers appear on the Polkadot Hub (Asset Hub) explorer, not on the Relay Chain one: if you find nothing, you are probably looking at the wrong chain.

9. Security: mistakes to avoid

Never share your recovery phrase, under any pretext.
Check website addresses and bookmark them: talisman.xyz, novawallet.io, polkadot.js.org, subscan.io.
Be wary of extensions with few users or an unknown publisher in browser stores.
Be wary of unsolicited "support" on Telegram, Discord or X: they want your phrase or a signature.
Always test with a small amount before a large transfer to a new address.
Keep your wallet up to date: that is what got you through the migration to Polkadot Hub without trouble.

Once your DOT are safe, you can put them to work: our guide Staking your DOT explains how, and what changed in 2026.

Summary

Since 4 November 2025, your DOT are on Polkadot Hub (formerly Asset Hub); your address has not changed.
Buy on a MiCA-authorised platform and check that it allows withdrawals on the Polkadot network.
Polkadot addresses use the SS58 format and start with 1.
The same phrase does not give the same address depending on the key type and derivation path.
The existential deposit is now 0.01 DOT.
For large amounts: Ledger or Polkadot Vault.
Transfers are checked on the Polkadot Hub Subscan explorer.