Whitelist¶

The whitelist prevents Theft Shield from triggering when you make legitimate transactions.

Whitelist BEFORE You Need It

Before setting up Theft Shield, add all addresses you might legitimately want to send funds to. This prevents Theft Shield from blocking your own transactions and avoids the need to temporarily disable protection.

Common addresses to whitelist:

Your other wallets (cold storage, hardware wallets)
Exchange deposit addresses
Regular payment destinations
Business partner addresses

What is the Whitelist?¶

The whitelist is a list of trusted addresses. Transactions sending to whitelisted addresses are considered legitimate and will NOT trigger Theft Shield protection.

How It Works¶

Transaction detected in mempool
         │
         ▼
Is destination whitelisted?
    │           │
    ▼           ▼
   Yes          No
    │           │
    ▼           ▼
 Allow       Trigger
 transaction  Theft Shield

Automatic Whitelist Entries¶

Vigil automatically whitelists certain addresses:

Your Own Addresses¶

All addresses derived from your monitored wallet are automatically whitelisted:

External chain addresses (receiving)
Internal chain addresses (change)
Previously used addresses

Your Safe Address¶

Your configured safe address is whitelisted to prevent Theft Shield from blocking its own transactions.

Manual Whitelist Entries¶

Add addresses you regularly send to:

Adding an Address¶

Go to Wallets → [Wallet] → Theft Shield → Whitelist
Click Add Address
Enter the address
Optionally add a label (e.g., "Exchange deposit", "Cold storage")
Click Save

Whitelist Entry Format¶

Field	Description	Required
Address	Bitcoin address to whitelist	Yes
Label	Human-readable description	No
Network	Auto-detected from address	Auto

Common Whitelist Entries¶

Exchange Deposit Addresses¶

If you regularly deposit to an exchange:

Address: bc1qexchange...
Label: Coinbase Deposit

Exchange Address Rotation

Some exchanges rotate deposit addresses. Verify your deposit address hasn't changed before large transfers.

Cold Storage Addresses¶

For your own cold storage addresses:

Address: bc1qcold...
Label: Cold Storage Wallet

Business Addresses¶

Regular payment destinations:

Address: bc1qpayment...
Label: Monthly VPS payment

Managing the Whitelist¶

Viewing Entries¶

Go to Theft Shield → Whitelist to see:

All whitelisted addresses
Labels
When added
Auto vs manual entries

Editing Entries¶

Click the edit icon on an entry
Modify the label
Click Save

Note: The address itself cannot be edited. Remove and re-add if needed.

Removing Entries¶

Click the delete icon on an entry
Confirm removal
Address is no longer whitelisted

Removal Impact

After removal, transactions to that address WILL trigger Theft Shield.

Best Practices¶

Do Whitelist¶

✅ Your other wallets
✅ Trusted exchange deposit addresses
✅ Regular payment destinations
✅ Business partners you pay frequently

Don't Whitelist¶

❌ Addresses you don't recognize
❌ One-time payment addresses
❌ Unverified addresses
❌ Everything (defeats the purpose)

Whitelist Hygiene¶

Review your whitelist periodically:

Remove addresses you no longer use
Verify exchange addresses are still valid
Remove entries for closed accounts

Whitelist and Security¶

The Trade-off¶

More whitelist entries = less protection:

Whitelist Size	Protection Level
Minimal	Maximum protection
Moderate	Good protection
Extensive	Reduced protection

Attacker Considerations¶

If an attacker compromises your keys, they might:

Check your whitelist (if they have Vigil access)
Send to a whitelisted address they control

Mitigation: Don't whitelist exchange addresses where attackers might have accounts.

Temporary Disabling¶

If you need to make a large transaction to a new address:

Option 1: Add to Whitelist First¶

Add destination to whitelist
Make transaction
Remove from whitelist after confirmation

Option 2: Disable Theft Shield Temporarily¶

Pause Theft Shield monitoring
Make transaction
Wait for confirmation
Re-enable Theft Shield

Learn about monitoring controls →

Next: Monitoring →