Your first payment

Nano (XNO) is digital money that moves in under a second with no fees. Merchants ask for it because a payment of a few cents costs the buyer nothing extra and needs no account, card, or sign-up with the merchant.

Paying takes three steps: get a wallet, put a little Nano in it, then scan the merchant's QR code.

1. Get a wallet

A wallet is an app that holds your Nano. Install one on your phone:

• Cake Wallet (iOS, Android, desktop) — open source and actively maintained, holds Nano alongside other currencies.
• Nautilus (iOS, Android, macOS) — open source, built only for Nano.

When the wallet shows you a secret phrase, write it down and keep it somewhere safe. Anyone with that phrase controls your Nano, and without it a lost phone means lost funds. For amounts you plan to keep, see Account Setup.

More wallets are listed on the Nano Hub. None are endorsed by nano.community; please do your own research.

2. Get a little Nano

Few card services sell Nano directly, and which ones work depends on your country, so buy a few dollars' worth once to cover several payments rather than one.

• From an exchange: Kraken trades Nano against US dollars and euros. Buy there, then withdraw to your wallet's address.
• By swapping another coin: if you already hold Bitcoin, Litecoin, or another common coin, or can buy one with a card, swap it for Nano on Nanswap and have it sent straight to your wallet's address.
• To try it for free: a faucet such as NanoDrop gives out tiny amounts. That is enough to see how sending works, though usually not enough to pay for something.

See Acquiring for more exchanges and services by country.

3. Pay

1. On the merchant's page, choose what you are buying. It shows a QR code.
2. In your wallet, tap Send and scan the code. The address and the exact amount fill in for you.
3. Check the amount and confirm.

The payment settles in about a second, and the merchant's page updates on its own. Send the exact amount shown: many merchants give each purchase its own address and match the payment to it.

Next

• Basics — what to understand before holding more Nano
• Privacy — every Nano payment is public, though not tied to your name
• Choosing a Representative — how holding Nano helps secure the network