Nomux has two places where your crypto can sit, and they answer the question “who holds it” in opposite ways. The Nomux balance is custodial: every top-up goes to addresses under Nomux control, and that pool is what your cards draw on. Nomux Wallet is non-custodial: your phone generates its key and locks it behind your passcode; Nomux has no way to spend from it unless you connect it to a card, and no way to recover it (terms, sections 2 and 16). The balance is what your cards spend; the wallet is yours to hold.
The two side by side
| Nomux balance | Nomux Wallet | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the crypto | Nomux, on wallets it controls | You — the key is on your device |
| What your cards spend from | This, by default | Only if you link the wallet to a card |
| What protects it | Your Nomux sign-in — Telegram, or email and password — plus two-factor authentication if you turn it on | Your passcode, and the recovery phrase as the backup |
| Can it be held or frozen | Yes: held from a card order until activation; can be checked or frozen (sections 6, 7, 12) | No; Nomux cannot move it unless you link it to a card (section 16) |
| Getting crypto out | A withdrawal through support: 3% plus the network fee, usually 15 to 60 minutes, within one day as the service standard (section 8) | Send it from the app yourself, paying the network fee |
| If you lose access | The balance belongs to your Nomux account, not to a phrase | Lose the passcode and the phrase together and the wallet is gone |
The balance: convenient, and held by Nomux
The balance exists so a card can pay. A card payment cannot wait for you to sign a blockchain transaction, so the money it spends has to sit with the service that settles it. That is why the Nomux terms call the balance custodial in plain words (section 2).
Custodial has consequences you should know before you fill it:
- It can be held. From the moment you order a card, the entire available balance stays locked until that card goes live (section 7).
- It can be checked. If questions arise about specific funds, Nomux can extend a check and ask where they came from (section 6).
- It can be frozen. Spending attempts that look wrong lead Nomux to lock the account and get in touch with you (section 12).
- Getting it out costs 3%. A withdrawal back to crypto carries a 3% fee plus the network fee, taken out of the amount.
What guards the balance is your Nomux sign-in, by Telegram or by email and password. Two-factor authentication protects that sign-in, so a stolen password alone does not open the account; it is not asked again on every withdrawal (section 3). Turn it on before you hold a meaningful balance.
The wallet: yours, including the risk
Nomux Wallet works the other way round. Your phone generates the private key and locks it with a passcode that never reaches Nomux. As long as no card is connected to it, Nomux has no means to spend from the wallet, and the checks and withdrawal rules of the balance do not reach it (section 16).
The same property cuts both ways. Nothing but the recovery phrase can bring the wallet back. You see it once at setup, and can reopen it on the Backup screen while you can still open the wallet. Lose the phone, forget the passcode and lose the phrase, and nobody — Nomux included — can bring the wallet back. Write the phrase on paper, in order, and keep it offline; never photograph it or paste it into a chat (how to back up the phrase). Whoever holds the phrase holds the coins, and no genuine support agent asks for it — ever.
Linking the wallet to a card
You can let a card spend from Nomux Wallet instead of the balance. That is optional, and it changes the model only within limits you set: under co-control, Nomux’s share of the key signs only within the spending limit, the allowed recipients and the stop switch you set in advance (section 16). Without the link, the wallet stays entirely yours.
What each one costs to use
- The balance pays for your card purchases. Topping it up costs 1%; taking crypto back out costs 3%, and the blockchain charges its own fee as well.
- The wallet holds crypto under your own key, with no Nomux fee for keeping it there. Moving from the wallet to the balance later is an ordinary top-up.
Short answers
Is the Nomux balance custodial? Yes. Top-ups sit on addresses Nomux controls, and that is what your cards pay with unless you connect the wallet.
Is Nomux Wallet custodial? No. Your phone makes the key and your passcode guards it; Nomux can neither spend from the wallet nor rebuild it.
Can Nomux freeze my Nomux Wallet? No. The checks and freezes in the terms apply to the balance. Nomux cannot move wallet funds unless you link the wallet to a card, and then only within the limits you set.
What happens if I lose my phone and my recovery phrase? Then the wallet is gone for good — the phrase was the one way back.
What does it cost to take crypto off the Nomux balance? 3% plus the network fee, through support. Sending from Nomux Wallet costs the network fee.
Related pages
- Nomux Wallet — what the wallet holds and how it works.
- How to back up your seed phrase — the one backup that matters.
- Security — how a Nomux account is protected.