Published: April 4th, 2023
Some time ago, I noticed various tweets on Twitter that mentioned "hey_wallet" as a user but also as a word. Not knowing what it was, I ignored it. But eventually, I got curious and wanted to know what "hey_wallet" was. So I looked at the bio, clicked the link and started to create a new wallet.
Basically, it's a wallet using the Solana-network connected to Twitter with the Twitter API. You can send coins from one Twitter-user to another without knowing their SOL-address. You can say something like "@hey_wallet send 1000 BREAD to @crypto_bobo". It is that easy. But keep in mind it is still BETA-software. For those who don't know what BETA means: it might have glitches, bugs and other unforseen things. You might even loose your coins!
The coins listed are, with exception of SOL, SPL-tokens (a.k.a. meme- or altcoins). So not one of the other major crypto currencies from networks like $BTC (bitcoin), $ETH (Ethereum) or $MATIC (Polygon). Maybe in time, who knows. For now, only the Solana network is supported due to the low fees and the high speed of the Solana network.
According to Solana, SPL stands for Solana Program Library. It is a library of programs on the Solana network that facilitates various tasks. Such as SPL-tokens which can be created and used. For each SPL-token you pay a small, one-time fee. No gas per transaction is necessary.
First of all, allow this Twitter-account to DM (Direct Message) you. You need this to activate your wallet. Creating the wallet is as simple as following the instructions on screen. Connect your Twitter-account and write down the 12 words of your pass phrase. You can use this recovery sheet.
To log in you use Twitter's Direct Message. The first time, after account creation, it has got a message ready for you as a DM that says "Log me in". The only thing you have to do is hit the "enter" key. It will respond with a unique link which you should not share. Ever. Click on the link and a new browser tab will open: you are logged in.
The first time you have to sent some $SOL to the address you see on the page. Yes, the growing and shrinking address-box is annoying. Also copying the address might be a little bit difficult to do. I know it is a bit strange to send yourself some coins, but you need this to receive coins (keep reading). I've sent about .005 $SOL which is more than enough to get started.
A number of Twitter-users are giving away free crypto. Keep in mind they can be the token-owners, casino-owners, social-media promotors or have another interest to get the coin growing. At the moment of this writing, the most coins that are offered, are named $POG, $GM, $FEET, $SBONK, $BONK, $BREAD, $CHILI, $COPE, $DOGGO and $FRONK.
You'll see tweets like "@hey_wallet sent 1000 DOGGO to the first 10 followers who retweet and like". Basically, that is the instruction that you have to follow to receive the coins. Make sure you follow the original maker of the tweet, be one of the first 10 (in this example) that retweet and like the tweet. Sometimes, you have to comment the requested keyword or icon/smiley. Once you have done that, refresh or click the transaction-tab in your Hey_wallet browser window to see if you have received some. It might take a couple of seconds for @hey_wallet to process the commands.
On the Solana network, SPL-transactions don't cost you anything, except the very first (fixed?) fee. At the time of this writing, it is .003 $SOL to accept a new coin. Next to the transaction in the Hey_wallet browser tab you see a button to "claim" the coins if it is your first transaction for that token. Which means that you have to pay the one-time fee. Clicking it, it gives you a message first and once you accept that a DM in your Twiter account like "@hey_wallet accept $DOGGO reward". The response is "Done! Your reward is being processsed now and should display in your wallet shortly". After that, you should receive your reward.
Once you have paid for a token, you'll receive the crypto normally within a minute. On the "Transaction" page of the Hey_wallet browser tab you see the message "Pending" or "Received" once the transaction is finished. Occasionally I see "Unsufficient funds", which means that the sender doesn't have the coins anymore. That's sad, but nothing you can do about it.
I've not done a giveaway yet, so I don't know if the sender of the money needs to do something before you receive the money. I guess not. Also, it's not clear if you have to pay gas if you sent $SOL.
Now this is the difficult part to get a grip on: not all retweets/comments work. I have tried to figure out where it goes wrong, but it is not always that obvious. I do suspect that the words used in the tweet matter. Tweets that use "follows" instead of "followers" don't seem to work. Also tweets that are a day or days old, don't seem to work despite that the number of retweets is not (yet) met. Keep in mind that people might clean up their timeline and undo the retweet after they got paid.
I guess sometimes people create a tweet that exceeds the value of coins they own or they don't even own the coin they mention, so it won't work. Also pay attention to the value of the crypto they are giving away. What I mean with that it that thousand- and decimal separators seem to be confusing for some users (or is done on purpose), resulting in not being accepted by or it's value changed by @hey_wallet. So 1,000 $BONK means 1 $BONK to @hey_wallet, not 1000!
And last but not least, sometimes the @hey_wallet-account does not seem to pick up your retweets or comments. Of course the Twitter-api is used to scan for "@hey_wallet" and some keywords I guess. We all know the Twitter-api seems not to be instant at all times and if they are really busy (a lot of @hey_wallet-tweets) it might be slow, meaning it'll take a minute or two to see the transaction "pending" in your transaction tab.
If you open the tweet, one of the first responses should be from @hey_wallet saying "Done. Let's roll!". But sometimes the giveaway is for the first 10 retweets only. So opening the tweet makes you probably too late to qualify. If you follow @hey_wallet and on the Twitter home-page (the Twitter timeline) you choose the tab "Following" instead of "For you", most of the time (but not always, I guess this one is on Twitter) you see the "Done. Let's roll!" comment from @hey_wallet underneath the original tweet. (For the future: Twitter might change the algorithm, which they have done a couple of times in recent months, so this might not be working or will not always be the case anymore!)
I've been doing this for a couple of months now and I noticed that the "tag a friend" request in the @hey_wallet command-line is unneccessary! Also the "comments" word seems not to be executed ("comment" does). Of course the "follow" command is necessary. Although it seems like there is no specific order of the commands to execute, I recommend to "follow" first (if you do not follow the sender of that tweet already and "follow" is requested). The order of "like" and "comment" seems not to matter after that. Sometimes you see people put in a request to click a (discord) link. In my experience, this is not (yet) necessary to receive the coins and can be skipped.
I have also seen tweets where a "normal" Solana address is used to send $SOL. So I guess that works too.
Not all SPL-tokens are (yet) listed on an exchange. Raydium does support some of them. CoinGecko does some too, but not all. The value of your tokens on the Tokens-tab in your Hey_wallet browser window comes from CoinGecko. If a token is not (yet) supported by them, you do not see a value in the last column. The arrow poiting to the right behind the value can be used to send coins to other Twitter users.
I have not tried to receive a NFT on the Solana network. Although the tab on the Hey_wallet page is there, I can not tell you anything about it.
And yeah, not all Twitter-user-logo's seem to load on your @hey_wallet transaction page, although it is better than it was. This issue seems to be resolved.
At times you'll see a message in the lower right corner telling you that it can not connect to CoinGecko. I suspect they use their API information to get the value of the coins you collect. Not all coins are listed, so that is why not all coins have a dollar-value displayed (eg. $BREAD) on you Hey_wallet Token-page.
It is also good to know that there are people who use the hey_wallet-logo, but their twitter-account is @heywallet, @hey_walletnft or other variants. I can only suspect they do this to get more followers.
And last but not least, other Twitter-accounts are doing more or less the same thing. Eg.: you can receive free $NANO at your account from users who use the @sendnano-account. The process is similar. First register your address (you don't have to get a new address!) and then look for NANO-giveaway tweets like "@sendnano 0.001 to 300 people who like and retweet".
In the early morning @hey_wallet tweeted: "Due to recent API changes by Twitter, sending/receiving is temporary offline. Please standby."
Due to the new Twitter "BASIC" developer api-plan for "Hobbyists and Developers", some accounts might have to pay $100 a month! For free services that started as a hobby project, it might be too much. The owner of the @sendnano-account already mentioned they can not afford this kind of subscription.
As always with hot wallets in cryptocurrencies, you can loose everything. Be carefull when depositing coins and only do this if you can afford to loose them. Keep your coins in a cold (hardware) wallet where you own the keys (12/24 words/pass phrase). Remember, not your keys, not your coins!
Just to be clear, I am not part of the development team for @hey_wallet, nor am I associated to any of the owners of @hey_wallet. I am just a normal user just like most of you.
Use this information at your own risk! I will not be liable for the accuracy of this information, the operation of @hey_wallet or Twitter!
ATTENTION: As with all financial investments (crypto is no exception!): do your own research! Do your own analysis of the "promises" made and only invest money that you can afford to lose! Before sending your crypto money to an anonymous site, please do your due diligence!
