When choosing a lightning wallet it is important to decide on the type of wallet you need. Lightning payments are generally small payments for every day purchases, so although its not a lot to risk, there are pros and cons to using a self custodial versus a custodial wallet.
If you are intending on spending bitcoin at a store or website that accepts bitcoin, there is a good chance that they will have the option to pay with bitcoin using lightning, so make use of one of the wallets below to do this.
Self custodial vs custodial bitcoin wallets
Self custodial lightning wallets are wallets where you (and only you) have the key controlling the funds in the wallet. This key is made of a 12-words mnemonics, known as a “seed”. The responsibility is on you to securely store your wallet private key seed. If you lose your seed, you lose your funds.
Custodial Lightning wallets rely on a third party company who made the wallet to either manage or hold your bitcoin. While the trade-off to this is that trust is required, there are also benefits in features and speed, as well as being simple and easy to use. If you are not storing a significant amount of money in your wallet, a custodial wallet is perfectly fine for every day use.
Bitcoin Lightning wallets
Aqua wallet – (self custodial) – This wallet is a bitcoin, lightning and Liquid bitcoin app. By making use of the liquid network, the app keeps fees low and transactions private. Users can also easily swap between bitcoin and USDt Tether on liquid network privately for low fees ($0.10).
Blink wallet – This wallet is used widely in El Salvadore where bitcoin is legal tender. Users can easily swap between bitcoin and USDT as well as register a permanent @blink.sv address.
Wallet of Satoshi – “The worlds simplest bitcoin lightning wallet” This wallet is tried and tested and works great. Users can register their own permanent @walletofsatoshi.com address, and also use the Point of Sale option receive bitcoin from customers in person such as in a real world store.
Phoenix wallet – (self custodial) – This wallet has a clean interface and is very simple to use. Designed to use lightning natively under the hood the wallet is really a self-contained Lightning node that runs on your phone.
Breez wallet – (self custodial) – This is another wallet which is a self-contained lightning node in your pocket. This app has a Point of Sale option for merchants, and is very easy to use.
Muun wallet – (self custodial) – Muun wallet is self custodial 2-of-2 multi-signature bitcoin wallet that uses submarine swaps for lightning transactions. Not being a true lightning wallet, there are times when transaction fees could be high, due to bitcoin on-chain fees.
Advanced:
Zeus wallet – (self custodial) – This is another open source lightning wallet, but this one connects to your existing bitcoin lightning node. This wallet allows you to transact and manage your lightning node wallet from your phone.
Electrum – (self custodial) – This company has been active in the space since 2011 and is highly trusted (Electrum). The wallet is open source, and gives the user complete control with many configurable options. The down side is that many people new to bitcoin might get confused, so generally it a better option for advanced users who run their own bitcoin lightning node.
