Sia WalletFeature · available in v2.12.0
Your 28-word seed works again.
Sia v2 broke legacy 28 and 29-word seeds. Sia Wallet's built-in migration assistant imports your old seed locally, generates a new 12-word BIP39 seed, and walks the funds move in a single flow.
- Plaintext seed never leaves your machine
- Local derivation · no remote servers
- Open source · verifiable in the public repo
The legacy seed problem
Sia-UI was the official desktop wallet from 2015 through 2024. It used 28 or 29-word seed phrases — a format specific to early Sia that predates the BIP39 standard. When the Sia Foundation split its stack into renterd, hostd, and walletd in 2024, Sia-UI was deprecated. When the Sia v2 hardfork activated on June 6, 2025, the network stopped accepting transactions with the old address format.
For holders who stayed on Sia-UI that long — which was many of them, because the wallet worked — the result was a soft lockout. Their seed still existed. Their coins still existed. But no post-v2 wallet would accept the seed directly, and the old wallet could no longer broadcast a valid transaction.
The migration assistant
Feature
A built-in flow inside Sia Wallet that accepts your legacy 28 or 29-word seed, derives your legacy addresses locally, generates a new 12-word BIP39 seed, and walks you through moving the funds.
Advantage
Other migration paths require a detour through the SiaCentral web wallet, manual address copy-paste between tabs, trial transactions to confirm correctness, and your legacy seed in a browser you don't fully control.
Benefit
One flow. One screen at a time. Plaintext never leaves your machine. Your new seed is on paper before any funds move.
How the migration runs
- 1
Enter your legacy 28 or 29-word seed
The assistant asks which legacy format you have (Sia-UI typically used 28-word seeds; some older exports are 29-word). Paste or type the seed. The assistant validates the checksum locally and shows your legacy Siacoin balance plus any Siafund balance — proving the seed matches before anything else happens.
- 2
Generate a new 12-word BIP39 seed
Sia Wallet generates a new 12-word seed using the operating system's secure random source. The seed is displayed once. The assistant asks you to confirm it by typing three randomly-selected words back. If the confirmation fails, it re-shows the seed and you try again. No funds move until this step passes.
- 3
Review the transfer
The assistant shows the legacy address, the new address, the amount being moved, and the network fee. You pick Fast, Standard, or Economy fee tier. The SC and USD values are shown together. This screen requires a manual click to continue — no autopilot.
- 4
Broadcast and watch the confirmation
The assistant signs the transaction using your legacy seed (in memory, never written to disk), broadcasts it to the Sia network, and displays a live confirmation counter. First confirmation typically within one Sia block — about ten minutes. Six confirmations recommended before marking the migration complete.
- 5
Seal the migration
Once funds confirm in the new wallet, the assistant zeroes the legacy seed from memory and offers to remove the legacy wallet file from disk if it was imported from a Sia-UI installation. Your new wallet is now your primary. The new 12-word seed is the only seed you need to back up going forward.
Migration questions
What if I have 28 words but Sia Wallet expects 29?
The assistant accepts both 28-word and 29-word formats. Sia-UI's standard seed was 28 words; some early exports and command-line seeds generated 29 words with an extra checksum word. Select the format at the first step. If you're unsure, try 28 — the assistant validates the checksum and tells you if the format is wrong.
Will my Siafund balance migrate too?
Yes. The assistant detects any Siafund (SF) balance on your legacy address and offers to transfer both Siacoin and Siafunds to the new wallet in the same flow. Siafunds are rare — most holders will only see Siacoin — but the assistant supports them.
How do I know my new seed is safe?
Your new 12-word seed is generated on your device using the operating system's cryptographic random number generator — the same source used by Bitcoin Core, Monero, and every audited self-custody wallet. The seed is displayed once, confirmed by you, and then never shown again. Back it up on paper before any funds move.
Can I migrate to a Ledger instead of a software wallet?
Yes. Pick the 'Migrate to Ledger' option at step 2 instead of generating a software seed. Connect your Ledger Nano S or Nano X, open the Sia app, and the assistant will derive the new address from your hardware wallet. Funds move from your legacy seed address to your Ledger address in one transaction.
What happens if the network call fails mid-migration?
The assistant resumes on next launch. Funds either moved or they didn't — there is no partial state. If the transaction broadcast but never confirmed, the assistant lets you rebroadcast with a higher fee. If it never broadcast, your legacy seed and funds are untouched and you start the flow again.
Step-by-step migration guide
For a full walkthrough with screenshots covering every edge case — lost legacy password, split balances across multiple legacy addresses, migrating a watch-only wallet, verifying the move with siascan.com — read the complete migration guide.
Get Sia Wallet v2.12.0
The migration assistant is built in. Choose your OS on the download page.