Setting up an XRP wallet safely, step by step

To pay or receive XRP between friends you need two things: an exchange account, to swap kronor for XRP and back, and a wallet you control, to hold it. Install a self-custody wallet such as Xaman, write its recovery secret on paper, buy XRP on an exchange that is authorised to serve customers in Sweden, and withdraw a small test amount before moving the rest. Every time you send XRP to an exchange, include the destination tag. That one habit prevents the most expensive beginner mistake.

Before you start, check that you need XRP at all. If everyone involved has Swish, Swish is simpler and free; the comparison of XRP and Swish goes through when XRP is worth the effort.

1. Decide where the XRP will live

For paying and receiving between friends, a self-custody wallet is the practical choice, as long as you accept that nobody can rescue you if you lose the secret. Treat it like the cash in your pocket: keep in it what you expect to spend or receive in the coming weeks, not your savings.

2. Install the wallet and create an account

Xaman (formerly called XUMM) is a widely used wallet for the XRP Ledger on iOS and Android. Fake wallet apps do turn up in app stores, so follow the download link from Xaman's own website rather than tapping the first search result. When you create a new account, the app generates the secret that controls it. Many wallets show this as 12 or 24 words; Xaman's own format is a grid of numbers. Whatever the format, it is the account. Anyone who has it can move your XRP from anywhere in the world.

3. Protect the recovery secret

• Write it on paper by hand, then check every word or number against the screen.
• Don't photograph it, screenshot it, email it to yourself or put it in a notes app or cloud drive. Phones get synced, backed up and stolen.
• Keep it somewhere you'll find in five years and a burglar won't think to look. A second copy somewhere else covers fire and flood.
• Never type it into a website and never give it to anyone. No genuine support person from a wallet, an exchange or Qvitt will ask for it. Anyone who does is trying to empty your wallet, however official their message looks.

Your phone's PIN, fingerprint or face recognition opens the app on that phone only; the secret is what restores the account on a new one. Lose the phone and you restore from the secret. Lose the phone and the secret and the XRP is gone, with nobody to call. Also, only approve signing requests you started yourself, and read the amount and destination before you approve.

4. Understand the reserve

A new XRP Ledger address doesn't exist on the network until it receives enough XRP to cover the base reserve, and that reserve stays locked for as long as the account exists. It's a small amount, set by the network's validators to stop people filling the ledger with junk accounts, and it has been lowered several times over the years. Check the current figure in your wallet or on xrpl.org rather than trusting an older guide. Each extra item you hold on the ledger, such as a trust line for a token, locks a little more.

The reserve explains two surprises. You can never send your whole balance, because the wallet won't go below the reserve. And a payment to a brand-new address fails if it's smaller than the reserve, because it isn't enough to create the account.

5. Buy XRP on an exchange

Under the EU's MiCA rules, a company offering crypto services to people in Sweden needs authorisation. Finansinspektionen and ESMA (the EU securities regulator) publish lists of authorised firms, which is a sensible first check before you hand over any money. Expect to verify your identity, then deposit kronor and buy. A bank transfer is usually cheaper than paying by card.

Look at the whole cost, not only the advertised trading fee. Exchanges charge through some mix of trading fees, the spread between buying and selling prices, deposit fees and a fixed fee each time you withdraw XRP. On small amounts the spread and the withdrawal fee matter most. This is what 500 kr can turn into, using made-up but plausible numbers; replace them with your exchange's real prices and your wallet's current reserve:

So if you need to pay a 450 kr share, buying exactly 500 kr leaves you 10 kr of margin, and the price can move that much in an afternoon. Buy a little more than you need.

6. Withdraw to your wallet, test first

Copy your wallet's receiving address (it starts with "r") and paste it into the exchange's withdrawal form. Never retype it. After pasting, compare the first and last few characters with the wallet, because malware that swaps copied addresses does exist. Send a small amount first and wait until it shows up in your wallet before sending the rest. The test costs one extra withdrawal fee, and for anything more than pocket money that's cheap insurance. Your own wallet doesn't need a destination tag, so leave that field empty unless your wallet tells you otherwise.

7. Sending to an exchange: the destination tag

This is where beginners lose money. An exchange usually receives every customer's XRP at one shared address and uses a number, the destination tag, to tell whose deposit is whose. Address plus tag works like an account number plus a payment reference. Send to the address without the tag, or with the wrong one, and the XRP reaches the exchange but isn't credited to you.

What happens next depends on the exchange. Some set their address to reject payments without a tag, so the transaction fails and the XRP never leaves your wallet. Others accept it, and you have to open a support case with the transaction ID and wait, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for a fee, with no guarantee of getting it back.

• Copy both the address and the tag from the exchange's deposit page each time. A tag from a different exchange or a different account is no good.
• Some exchanges show an "X-address" that packs the address and tag into one string. Use it only if your wallet accepts that format.
• Send a small test and wait until the exchange has credited it.

The same logic is why you shouldn't give friends an exchange deposit address to pay you. Qvitt, for example, sends XRP payments to the address you enter without any destination tag, so the address has to be your own wallet's.

8. Receiving your share from a Qvitt session

As a host, turn on XRP payments in the session settings and add your wallet address. You can also connect Xaman in your account settings so the address is saved for next time, which needs an account signed in with email. Participants then get a Pay with XRP option for their share. Qvitt converts their amount from the receipt's currency into XRP at the current rate, they approve the payment in Xaman, and Qvitt checks it on the XRP Ledger before marking them as paid.

The XRP lands in your wallet. If you want kronor, send it to your exchange, with the tag, and sell. Agree with the group beforehand that paying this way is fine, because while you hold the XRP you carry the price risk. If friends abroad would rather use a bank transfer, Wise or Revolut, the guide to splitting costs with friends in different countries compares those options.