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0. Prerequisites

API credentials are required for this guide. If you have not already gone through the API setup guide, go through those steps now.

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1. Create a wallet

Let’s create a simple Ethereum wallet: 
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.privy.io/v1/wallets \
  --header 'Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'privy-app-id: <privy-app-id>' \
  --data '{
  "chain_type": "ethereum"
}'
Authorization signatures are an optional security improvement that requires all requests to be authorized by you.
The response will include the wallet ID and public address: 
{
  "id": "jf4mev19seymsqulciv8on0c",
  "address": "0x7Ef5363308127128969618240eDcB9F8f61e90F6",
  "chain_type": "ethereum",
  "policy_ids": [],
  "created_at": 1741362961254
}

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1b. User wallets

If you want the wallet to be owned by a user, you can first create a user and then create a wallet for that user, or create the user and wallet in the same API call as shown below. 
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.privy.io/v1/users \
  --header 'Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'privy-app-id: <privy-app-id>' \
  --data '{
  "linked_accounts": [
    {"type": "email", "address": "[email protected]"}
  ],
  "wallets": [
    {"chain_type": "ethereum"}
  ]
}'
If your server initiates actions on user wallets, you may need to sign requests with an authorization key and include the privy-authorization-signature header. See authorization signatures and using authorization keys.
To prevent duplicate operations in case of retries, include an idempotency key.

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2. Sign a message

Now let’s sign a message with our new wallet: 
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.privy.io/v1/wallets/{wallet_id}/rpc \
  --header 'Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'privy-app-id: <privy-app-id>' \
  --data '{
  "method": "personal_sign",
  "params": {
    "message": "Hello from Privy!",
    "encoding": "utf-8"
  }
}'
The response will contain the signed message: 
{
  "method": "personal_sign",
  "data": {
    "signature": "0x292d67e9c5178447f1c5344b3122997dfba8f00e43102d0b746301e9b4afbbf67d952bf870878d92b8eb066da205840458c0a5fb3f53253dbe1adf9c143678311c",
    "encoding": "hex"
  }
}

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3. Send a transaction

Finally, let’s send a transaction on Ethereum’s testnet, Sepolia: 
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.privy.io/v1/wallets/{wallet_id}/rpc \
  --header 'Authorization: Basic <encoded-value>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'privy-app-id: <privy-app-id>' \
  --data '{
  "method": "eth_sendTransaction",
  "caip2": "eip155:11155111",
  "chain_type": "ethereum",
  "params": {
    "transaction": {
      "to": "0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045",
      "value": 1000000000000000
    }
  }
}'
You will need to fund your wallet with Sepolia ETH for this step. Use a Sepolia faucet and send it to the public address.
The response will contain the transaction hash and a Privy transaction ID: 
{
  "method": "eth_sendTransaction",
  "data": {
    "hash": "0x7c91ba85d67ef92cc15f3e9c8d8c5788e982cf83fabe9bfcc66a747aa0bd3701",
    "caip2": "eip155:11155111",
    "transaction_id": "d2obiyxnblv7jzp73b8scqa8"
  }
}

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Next steps

Now that you’ve created a wallet and made your first transaction, you can explore:
  1. Creating policies to control wallet spending and contract interaction
  2. Setting up webhooks for real-time transaction notifications
  3. Using idempotency keys to prevent duplicate transactions
  4. Setting up quorum authorizations for sensitive wallets