# Shield crypto spend

Protect the crypto spend path before an agent can sign or send. Dedicated hot wallet, spend caps, review before place, revoke and rotate. Cold store stays offline. Agent Lane does not hold keys or settle payments.

Canonical HTML: https://agentlane.net/guides/shield-crypto/

## Answer first

Before a live on-chain sign or send: put agent money in a dedicated hot wallet; set spend caps; keep review before place; keep seeds and long-term balances on cold store the agent cannot see; fund only what one bad run can lose; revoke and rotate before you raise the balance.

## Hot agent path vs cold store

- **Cold store** — hardware wallet or offline vault for long-term holds and seeds; outside the shield; agent never sees that seed.
- **Hot agent wallet** — dedicated spend wallet; money this run may lose; inside the shield behind caps and review.
- **The gap is the shield** — one bad prompt must not drain the main stash.

## How to shield crypto spend

1. Separate hot spend from cold store — never share key, seed, or funded wallet the bot can reach.
2. Open a dedicated hot wallet — one agent login, one spend wallet.
3. Keep seeds offline — never put a seed in the agent env, chat, prompt, or repo.
4. Set spend caps — session max and daily max; refuse wrong asset/network or over-limit quotes.
5. Require review before place — amount, destination, asset before any signature or send.
6. Fund only one bad run — ceiling for this day or project; refill after receipts.
7. Revoke and rotate before you raise — disconnect, empty/move hot wallet, revoke grants, rotate tokens, then raise or debug.

## Spend gate stack

1. [dedicated-agent-wallet.md](./dedicated-agent-wallet.md) — money the bot can reach.
2. [agent-spend-caps.md](./agent-spend-caps.md) — session/daily maxes; funded balance is last brake.
3. [review-before-place.md](./review-before-place.md) — human gate before sign/send.
4. Venue — on-chain pay path, including [x402-buyer-basics.md](./x402-buyer-basics.md).

## Never put a seed in the agent env

Deepen: [never-share-seed-with-agent.md](./never-share-seed-with-agent.md).

- Seeds stay on cold store you approve.
- Prefer a signer you approve over a raw key in `.env`.
- If a key must live on the computer, keep it out of agent-visible files — see [shared-box.md](./shared-box.md).
- Empty the wallet when the project ends.

## Caps before any signature

- Read amount/asset from the 402 or proposed send.
- Compare to session and daily max.
- Refuse over limit, wrong asset, or disallowed network.
- Allow only known destinations.
- Log quote, decision, and receipt.

## Revoke and rotate before you raise

1. Disconnect live payer connectors / payer MCP.
2. Lock or sign out of agent apps.
3. Move funds off the hot spend wallet (or empty it).
4. Revoke grants and rotate tokens.
5. Then fund a higher ceiling or debug.

Related: [never-share-seed-with-agent.md](./never-share-seed-with-agent.md), [shared-box.md](./shared-box.md), [trading-agent-map.md](./trading-agent-map.md), [shield-brokerage.md](./shield-brokerage.md).

## FAQ

**What is the crypto spend shield?**
Gap between a hot agent wallet the bot can sign/send from and cold storage that stays offline. Only agent spend lives inside, behind caps and review.

**Hot agent wallet vs cold store?**
Hot spend wallet for agent runs (fund only one bad run). Hardware/cold for long-term holds and seeds. Prefer a signer over a raw key in `.env`.

**Why never put a seed in the agent env?**
A seed in `.env`, chat, prompt, repo, or screenshot is a key the next prompt or leak can spend.

**How do wallet, caps, and review stack?**
Dedicated agent wallet → spend caps → review before place → then sign or send.

**Revoke before raising funds?**
Yes. Disconnect, empty/move the hot wallet, revoke grants, rotate tokens first.

**Where does x402 fit?**
Buyer-side pay-for-request after a 402 quote; still check amount/asset/network/allowlist against caps before any signature. See [x402-buyer-basics.md](./x402-buyer-basics.md).

## Product links

Same hrefs as the live guides / Resources shelf:

- [x402 protocol site](https://www.x402.org/)
- [x402 — Quickstart for buyers](https://docs.x402.org/getting-started/quickstart-for-buyers)
- [Coinbase CDP — x402 quickstart for buyers](https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/x402/quickstart-for-buyers)
- [Trezor (hardware wallet)](https://affil.trezor.io/aff_c?offer_id=133&aff_id=846613)
- [Ledger (hardware wallet)](https://shop.ledger.com/?r=10d2c2f80cfd)

## Sources

- Canonical HTML: https://agentlane.net/guides/shield-crypto/
- Related shelf: https://agentlane.net/resources/
- Site index for bots: https://agentlane.net/llms.txt

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Contact: agentlane@agentmail.to