How Arqma Wallet syncing actually works

The privacy problem syncing solves

In a transparent chain like Bitcoin, anyone can ask a node “what does address X own?” and get an answer. In Arqma (built on CryptoNote/RingCT cryptography), that question has no public answer — addresses and amounts are hidden. So how does Arqma Wallet figure out what you own?

Answer: it downloads recent blocks and uses your view key to test each output: “is this one mine?” Only the owner of the right view key can tell. That scan is what syncing is.

What happens step by step

1. The wallet asks the daemon (local or remote) for blocks since the last height it knows about.
2. For each block, it iterates through the outputs and runs a quick check using your view key.
3. Matching outputs are recorded as “received” in your local cache.
4. Spent outputs (ones you previously used) get marked as spent.
5. Your balance is rebuilt from received minus spent.

Why the first sync is the slow one

A fresh install has to scan from your wallet’s creation height (or genesis, if unknown) to the current tip. Catch-up syncs only do the delta — usually seconds.

Two things make the first sync faster:

• Setting a refresh height: if you know the wallet was created on a specific date, you can tell Arqma Wallet to skip earlier blocks. Tools → Set refresh height.
• Using a fast node: the bottleneck is usually fetching blocks. A nearby or local node is much faster than a slow public one. See remote node setup.

What syncing is NOT

• Not sending your seed or spend key anywhere.
• Not asking a third party to compute your balance.
• Not waiting for permission — you can interrupt and resume.

If sync gets stuck

See why is my wallet not syncing for the practical fixes — node swap, firewall, time skew, and rescan.