Arqma Wallet architecture, explained

The three layers

Arqma Wallet is built on three distinct layers. Understanding them makes every other guide click.

1. Your keys — generated locally, derived from your 25-word seed, stored encrypted in a .keys file. Never leave your device.
2. The daemon (the node) — software that holds a copy of the blockchain and broadcasts transactions. Can be on your machine or somewhere else.
3. The wallet UI — the app you actually click. Talks to your keys (to sign) and to the daemon (to read/write the chain).

What “send” actually does

1. The UI asks you for amount and destination.
2. It pulls the relevant unspent outputs from the daemon’s view of the chain.
3. It builds a transaction and signs it using your spend key — locally, in memory.
4. It hands the signed transaction back to the daemon, which broadcasts it to other nodes.
5. Miners eventually include it in a block. The daemon notices, your wallet refreshes, you see the confirmations climb.

At no point does Arqma Wallet send your keys anywhere. The signing is what proves the transaction is yours; the daemon just relays the result.

Local node vs remote node

The daemon is the only piece that can vary in location. Run it locally and you trust no one for chain data. Use a remote node and you save disk space at the cost of a third party seeing your IP and broadcasted transactions (never your keys). See remote node setup.

Desktop vs mobile

Same architecture, different package. The desktop client can host its own daemon. Mobile wallets are smaller, always connect to a remote node, and store the same encrypted key file on-device. Both originate from the same official Arqma Wallet codebase — download from the official download page.

Where each piece lives

• Keys file: on your device, encrypted with your wallet password.
• Blockchain data: either on your device (local daemon) or on the remote node.
• The seed: on paper, in your physical custody. Not on the device by default.