Firefly Token Migration

IOTA Foundation ·

Visit: https://firefly.iota.org/

When it comes to Chrysalis, Firefly will guide you through the whole migration process painlessly. All you need to do is enter your seed in Firefly and follow the step-by-step process. The Pre-Chrysalis Migration Period starts on April 21st and the new network launches on April 28th. You can choose to migrate during this period or you can wait until after April 28th. There is no rush to migrate your tokens.

After entering your seed, Firefly will create a new mnemonic and generate an EdDSA address on the Chrysalis network for your tokens. The heavy lifting is fully automated through the Firefly wallet and token holders are guided by a simple interface. This post serves as a supplementary guide to the automated token migration. Think of it as a side-by-side reference to make sure everything is running smoothly!

We also advise everybody to read our blog post about "Security During Token Migration".

Important Note for Ledger Nano users

Chrysalis is an enormous upgrade touching all areas of the IOTA ecosystem. We have made the decision not to include Ledger Nano migration in the first Firefly version. Ledger Nano migration will be available in Firefly soon after the Chrysalis upgrade. While the Ledger implementation is nearly ready, we do not want to rush its testing and deployment. If any Ledger Nano users don’t want to wait a couple of weeks and need to access their funds sooner, then it is recommended they transfer their funds to a regular seed before April 28th.

Migrating Funds

As you migrate your funds with Firefly, most users will move through the same migration process. Some users will follow a slightly different flow but even with these differences, remember that we have made the transition as simple as possible. There are built in options to help you through, which we will outline below on a case by case basis.

Note, that if your funds are on an exchange, you do not need to initiate any kind of migration process as the exchanges will perform the token migration for you.

Additionally, if you have lots of small amounts (<1Mi) spread across lots of addresses it may not be possible to migrate these small amounts. If you care about these small amounts, it is recommended you consolidate these funds in Trinity first by simply sending your full balance to yourself before 28 April.

Whether you used Trinity on a desktop computer, Trinity on a mobile device, and whether you choose to initiate the migration prior to the network update or afterwards, all token migrations follow the same basic process:

  1. Import into Firefly desktop
  2. Check whether balance is correct
  3. Create a new password and PIN for your wallet
  4. Create a recovery phrase and Stronghold backup for your wallet
  5. Initiate the automated migration process
  6. Begin exploring Firefly

Most common token migration case

First, download Firefly (Windows, Mac, or Linux). Here you have one of two options to load your existing seed into Firefly. Either import a text backup or a file backup.

Text backup - You enter your IOTA seed (81 characters).

File backup - You import a Trinity SeedVault file (with the extension .kdbx).

Note: If you have lost your Trinity backup, you can re-export your seed from Trinity in the settings in Trinity Desktop or Trinity Mobile.

If you selected the text backup option, you are prompted to enter your seed to continue.

Once you’ve entered your seed (or SeedVault), you can check if your balance is correct before beginning the migration. If it is not correct, hit “No, Check Again”.

Note: If the balance is zero it is likely you typed your seed incorrectly.

After confirming your seed balance, you will create a password for your wallet; it’s used for protecting your funds and restoring from backup.

Next, you are prompted to set up and confirm a 6-digit PIN code for when you log into your profile.

It is important to backup your wallet to make sure you can always access your funds. In the next step, you begin the backup process, starting with a 24-word recovery phrase. This phrase will help you recover your funds if you lose access to your wallet and other backups.

Note: It is recommended that you print the “Recovery Kit Template” to help you write down your recovery phrase.

Copy down the words in their exact order. It is important that you keep a physical copy because digital files can fail.

You will have to verify your recovery phrase next to ensure you captured it correctly.

Finally, you are prompted to back up to a Stronghold file by entering your wallet password. Having both a digital and physical backup is the best way to ensure you can always restore your wallet.

Now, let's begin the migration of your funds. The only thing you need to do is select the “Begin migration” button since this is an automated process. But do note that if you have any further questions, you can select “Learn about the migration” at this point.

Be patient! The next step could take a few moments.


Congratulations, you’ve successfully migrated your funds!

Your Firefly dashboard should look something like this. Your funds will become available when the Chrysalis network launches on April 28th. If you migrate after April 28th, your funds will become available after a short period of time.

Other common migration case

As we mentioned before, even though there are less common variations of the migration process, your funds will be transitioned regardless. And no matter what, you can still navigate through the setup of your wallet easily.

Say you make it through the preliminary steps of the wallet to the step where you check your balance is correct but find that you have multiple bundles to migrate?

You won't have to worry, you only need to select “Migrate funds” and Firefly will bundle multiple transactions!

Then you can continue on to a successful migration and setup!

Rarer Migrations

Migrating funds on an address that has already been spent from

If you have accidentally received funds on an address you already spent tokens from, after going through the preliminary setup, you may encounter an unsettling screen. But rest assured, Firefly will guide you through this as well.

Note. In the old IOTA network it was dangerous to send funds from an address after it had been spent from already. This process helps to secure those funds during migration transfer.

This just means Firefly will conduct what we call “bundle mining”. In this case, Firefly is spending a few minutes trying to find a safe bundle for that address so you can migrate tokens safely. Give it a bit of time, the process might take a while.

After selecting “Continue”, you can choose “Secure selected addresses” to help secure and transfer your funds safely.

Be patient! This process will take 10 minutes as Firefly tries to create a secure bundle. Your computer will run at full capacity in this period, so do something else while you wait for this to complete.

Once the security check completes, you can choose to rerun the process (which may lower your risk level) or continue the migration process once you feel satisfied.

Your funds are now bundled into transactions and migrated!


Additional occurrences

What if you find that you don’t have the minimum amount of funds to migrate?

If your balance is not correct, hit “Check Again'' to find your funds. Be aware that there is a minimum requirement of 1Mi for a successful migration due to our dust protection. It is not possible to migrate a seed with less than 1Mi.

As noted previously, if you have lots of small amounts (<1Mi) spread across lots of addresses it may not be possible to migrate these. To migrate your funds successfully, consolidate these small amounts in Trinity first by simply sending your full balance to yourself before 28 April.

To stay up to date with Chrysalis and view the resources available for the biggest upgrade in IOTA's history, visit: https://chrysalis.iota.org/. If you have further questions join the #firefly-discussion channel on our Discord.