What happened to Chainweaver
Chainweaver was developed and maintained by Kadena LLC (the entity that was dissolved on October 21, 2025). The GitHub repository under the kadena-io organization was archived on January 9, 2026 along with several other Kadena-LLC-maintained repositories. Archived means the repository is read-only: no further commits, security patches, or releases will be made under the original maintainer's control.
The web-hosted version of Chainweaver (the playground at chainweaver.kadena.network) continues to function at the time of this writing. There is no public commitment from any successor party regarding how long it will remain online. Treat its continued availability as not guaranteed.
For broader context see What happened to Kadena? and Is Kadena dead?.
Should you migrate?
The short answer is yes, eventually, but you do not need to act today.
The current state of Chainweaver is functional but unmaintained. This means:
- Your existing wallets continue to work and your funds are accessible.
- No new vulnerabilities will be patched. Over time the security gap between Chainweaver and actively-maintained alternatives will grow.
- If the web-hosted playground goes offline at some future date and you have not exported your seed phrase or moved to another wallet, recovering your funds will be more difficult.
A reasonable timeline is to migrate within the next several months. There is no acute deadline.
Where you can migrate to
There are three actively-maintained self-custody options for Kadena holders in 2026:
Kadena Wallet (this site) — A native desktop wallet for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The recommended migration path if you used Chainweaver primarily as a desktop application. Imports Chainweaver's custom seed-phrase derivation directly. See Kadena Wallet.
eckoWALLET — A browser extension and mobile wallet from the Kaddex / RunOnFlux team. The most-used Kadena wallet by user count. Note: eckoWALLET uses standard 12-word BIP39, not the Chainweaver derivation, so direct seed import is not straightforward. Comparison: Kadena Wallet vs eckoWALLET.
Koala Wallet — A mobile-only wallet from Eucalyptus Labs. Comparison: Kadena Wallet vs Koala.
Step-by-step: Migrate from Chainweaver to Kadena Wallet
These steps move your Chainweaver-managed KDA balances into Kadena Wallet without sending any transactions. Your funds stay on the same Kadena addresses; you are simply changing the software you use to access them.
Step 1: Locate your Chainweaver recovery phrase
You will need the 12-word recovery phrase you wrote down when you first created your Chainweaver wallet. If you stored it on paper, retrieve it. If you stored it in a password manager, retrieve it from there.
If you cannot find your recovery phrase but Chainweaver is still installed and unlocked, open Chainweaver, navigate to Settings → Show recovery phrase, and write down the 12 words on paper.
Step 2: Install Kadena Wallet
Download the installer for your operating system from the main Kadena Wallet page, then run it.
Step 3: Choose the Chainweaver import option
When Kadena Wallet launches for the first time, choose Import existing wallet. Select the Chainweaver format option, then enter your 12-word recovery phrase.
Step 4: Wait for the chain scan to complete
Kadena Wallet scans all 20 Kadena chains for balances and account history. This takes 30 to 60 seconds on a typical home connection.
Step 5: Verify all balances before retiring Chainweaver
Compare the balances Kadena Wallet shows against what Chainweaver showed. Once they match, send a small test transaction (0.1 KDA to a known address) before relying on the new setup.
What if my Chainweaver recovery phrase does not work in another wallet?
Chainweaver uses a custom seed-phrase derivation that is not compatible with the standard BIP39 derivation used by most other wallets. This is why eckoWALLET and most multi-chain wallets cannot directly import a Chainweaver phrase even if you enter all 12 words correctly.
Kadena Wallet supports the Chainweaver derivation directly. If you want to migrate to a wallet that does not support the Chainweaver derivation, options are: import into Kadena Wallet first then send funds to a fresh wallet you generate, or use the open-source KadenaKeys derivation tool (developed by the Koala Wallet team).
What if I lost my recovery phrase
If you no longer have your Chainweaver recovery phrase and you also cannot access an unlocked Chainweaver installation:
- There is no service that can recover the phrase for you. Self-custody wallets do not maintain copies of recovery phrases by design.
- Beware of any service that claims to recover lost crypto wallets for a fee. These are almost universally scams.
- See the wallet recovery guide for the full set of options.
This is a genuinely difficult situation and we will not pretend otherwise.
Comparison: Chainweaver vs Kadena Wallet
| Capability | Chainweaver | Kadena Wallet |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance status | Archived (Jan 9, 2026) | Active |
| Platforms | Web playground; archived desktop | Native Win, macOS, Linux |
| 20-chain Chainweb support | Yes | Yes |
| Pact contract deployment | Yes (developer feature) | Not in v1 (planned) |
| Ledger hardware support | Limited | Yes (Nano S Plus, Nano X) |
| Open-source | Yes (BSD-3-Clause; archived) | Yes (MIT) |
| Mining-payout UX | No specific support | Yes |
| Seed-phrase format | Custom (Chainweaver) | BIP39, Koala 24-word, Chainweaver |
For more detail see Kadena Wallet vs Chainweaver.