Choose a bitcoin wallet
When it comes to choosing a Bitcoin wallet, the most important decision is whether you control your own bitcoin or trust someone else to hold it for you.
Self-custody wallets put you in charge of your own private keys, meaning only you have access to spend your bitcoin — no bank, exchange, or third party can freeze or take it from you.
This is the true spirit of Bitcoin: permissionless, censorship-resistant money that you fully own. While custodial wallets and exchanges may seem convenient, they carry the risk that someone else controls your funds. If you want to truly benefit from Bitcoin’s freedom, a self-custody wallet is the best choice.
Self custodial bitcoin wallets for mobile:
Aqua – Supports on-chain, lightning and liquid network bitcoin. This wallet also have a built in swap feature so that a user can convert bitcoin to USDT or to bitcoin on the lightning network.
Blockstream – Supports on-chain, lightning and liquid network bitcoin. This wallet also connects to your own bitcoin node, and also is used by the Jade hardware wallet so that you can manage your assets there too.
Misty Breez – Supports on-chain and lightning transactions. Has built in Point of Sale for merchants to use and also is a self contained lightning node.
Zeus – Supports on-chain and lightning transactions, has advanced options to connect to your self hosted bitcoin node and also built in Point of Sale for merchants.
Phoenix – Supports on-chain and lightning transactions, and is also a self contained lightning node that runs on your phone.
Blue Wallet – Supports on-chain and lightning transactions
Self custodial wallets for your desktop computer:
Sparrow Wallet – Excellent South African made bitcoin wallet with loads of features, but might be confusing for new users.
Blockstream – Easy to use, supports on-chain, lightning and liquid network bitcoin transactions as wells as liquid assets like USDT.
Electrum – One of the oldest and most trusted bitcoin desktop wallets.
