Watch-Only Wallet
wallets · intermediate
A wallet that can see balances and construct transactions but cannot sign them. The signing keys live elsewhere — usually on hardware.
A watch-only wallet loads an xpub or output descriptor, derives all the addresses, and queries chain data to show balances and history. It has no private keys, so it cannot move funds even if compromised.
The typical setup pairs a hot watch-only wallet (Sparrow on your laptop, BlueWallet on your phone) with a cold signer (Coldcard, BitBox, Trezor, Foundation Passport). The watch-only side builds a PSBT, hands it to the signer, takes back the signed PSBT, broadcasts it. The keys never touch a network-connected machine.
For most users with non-trivial bitcoin, this two-machine split is the right default. The watch-only wallet handles every operation that doesn't require signing — checking, planning, monitoring — while the signing key stays offline and largely idle.