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Integrating Monero to AirGap's cold wallet solution

ashishb1052002 requested to merge ashishb1052002/ccs-proposals:airgap-proposal into master

What the proposal is about.

This proposal outlines the integration of Monero (XMR) into AirGap, an open-source, security-focused self-custody wallet ecosystem designed around true air-gapped key management.

AirGap allows users to turn a spare smartphone into a fully offline cold wallet using a two-device architecture: AirGap Vault (offline) for key generation and transaction signing, and AirGap Wallet (online) for transaction creation and broadcasting. Communication between the two devices happens exclusively via QR codes, ensuring that private keys never touch an internet-connected device.

Through this proposal, we plan to integrate Monero support across AirGap’s stack, including:

  • AirGap CoinLib – our open-source library that handles transaction construction and signing logic

  • AirGap Vault – enabling secure offline key generation and signing for Monero

  • AirGap Wallet – allowing users to create, manage, and broadcast Monero transactions

This integration would provide the Monero community with a globally accessible, open-source cold wallet solution that aligns with Monero’s strong focus on privacy and self-custody.

Who will complete the proposal?

The integration will be completed by the AirGap development team.

AirGap is developed by Papers AG (https://papers.ch ) , a Swiss-based company specializing in secure and user-friendly blockchain solutions. The team at Papers AG brings together 20 skilled engineers, designers, and strategists, all focused on building and advancing the Web3 ecosystem.

Why it is important for Monero and the community.

Integrating Monero into AirGap would bring several key benefits:

  • True air-gapped security: Private keys never touch the internet, significantly reducing attack surfaces.

  • True Randomness while seed phrase generation – AirGap doesn’t rely on your device’s RNG chip for randomness. It uses data from audio, video, touch and accelerometer and mixes it up with the output of the hardware random number generator. Users can also opt in for advanced user-generated entropy collection methods (dice rolls and coin flips) to generate seed phrase.

  • Global accessibility: Users can create a cold wallet using any spare smartphone—no shipping, hardware purchases, or geographical restrictions.

  • No supply-chain risk: Unlike hardware wallets, AirGap eliminates risks related to device manufacturing, shipping, or tampered firmware.

  • Advanced security features: Including BIP-39 passphrase support, BIP-85 deterministic key derivation, and social recovery

  • Open-source transparency: All components are fully auditable and reproducible, aligning with Monero’s ethos of trust through transparency.

  • Improved long-term storage options: Monero users gain a robust cold-storage solution for securely holding XMR.

Overall, this integration strengthens Monero’s ecosystem by improving secure self-custody, accessibility, and resilience against attack vectors.

Milestones and projected timeline

Milestone 1: Monero airgap-coinlib Integration (53 XMR)

AirGap CoinLib is the core open-source library that powers the entire AirGap ecosystem.

It acts as the engine that handles transaction creation, signing, and broadcasting for different blockchains. Whenever a new chain is integrated into CoinLib, it automatically becomes compatible with both AirGap Vault (offline cold wallet) and AirGap Wallet (online app).

Because it’s fully open source, third parties can also use CoinLib to build their own wallets or tools for specific chains — without starting from scratch.

Timeline: 6 Weeks runtime

Description:

  • Integrate Monero into AirGap’s open-source airgap-coin-lib, which handles transaction construction, signing logic, and broadcasting.

  • Integrate UR (Uniform Resources) animated QR (encode/decode)

  • Defines the data structures & serialization

  • Testing of the airgap-coin-lib integration

Milestone 2: Vault Integration (33 XMR)

Timeline: 3 Weeks runtime

Description:

  • Enable Monero key storage and offline signing via AirGap Vault

  • Ensure reproducible builds and compatibility with QR-based workflows

  • Testing of the AirGap Vault integration

  • Post this, AirGap Vault will be compatible with all Monero wallets that support UR (Uniform Resources) animated QR.

Milestone 3: Wallet Integration (47 XMR)

Timeline: 3 Weeks runtime

Description:

  • Add support for Monero in AirGap Wallet

  • Testing of the Airgap Wallet integration

  • Full integration tests of airgap-coin-lib, Airgap Wallet and vault

  • Deployment and Publishing in both app stores

  • Publish detailed onboarding guides, setup videos, and FAQs for Monero + AirGap

  • Provide 2 years of support and maintenance (if required after successful integration).

Edited by ashishb1052002

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