0x07 / 0x0eHow do I hold and move value without permission?
Financial Sovereignty
Self-custody, your own node, payment privacy, ecash and peer-to-peer markets. Money that cannot be frozen, and the operational discipline it requires.
Start here
Guides
Bitcoin Self-Custody, Step by StepNot your keys, not your coins. Holding your own keys is simple; holding them safely, privately and recoverably takes a plan.
intermediate
2-4 hours
Running Infrastructure for FreedomEvery one of these networks is only as strong as the number of independent people running it. Here is how to become one of them.
intermediate
10 minutes to a weekend
Technologies
Hardware Wallets
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
Lightning Network
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
Monero
Deep dive
✓ Battle-tested
Bisq
Deep dive
Usable
BTCPay Server
Deep dive
Usable
Cashu and Chaumian Ecash
Deep dive
Usable
CoinJoin and Payjoin
Deep dive
Usable
Fedimint
Deep dive
Usable
RoboSats
Deep dive
Usable
Zcash
Deep dive
Usable
BitVMalso in zero-knowledge
Deep dive
Experimental
Tornado Cash and Privacy Poolsalso in zero-knowledge
Deep dive
! Cautionary
Reference and research
Directory109 curated links
Atomic Swaps
- TierNolan's atomic swap — Original atomic cross-chain swap proposal (2013)
- Bitcoin–Monero Atomic Swap Protocol — Research protocol for BTC-XMR swaps using adaptor signatures and discrete-log proofs
- Monero Atomic Swaps Announcement — Monero project announcement of BTC-XMR atomic swap software reaching mainnet usability
- Bitcoin Script for HTLCs — Hash Time-Locked Contracts for atomic swaps
- Komodo BarterDEX — Decentralized exchange supporting atomic swaps across 95+ chains
- Liquality defunct — Atomic swap wallet for BTC/ETH/ERC-20 Liquality wallet was discontinued.
Atomic Swaps: Adaptor Signatures (Scriptless Swaps)
- Scriptless Scripts — Andrew Poelstra's adaptor signature concept for privacy-preserving swaps
- MuSig2 adaptor signatures — Two-round adaptor signatures for Schnorr
- secp256kfun adaptor — Rust library for adaptor signatures
Atomic Swaps: Cross-Chain Infrastructure
- COMIT Network — COMIT — an open protocol for trustless cross-chain trading
- DCRDEX / Bison Wallet — Decentralized exchange powered by atomic swaps with no KYC, no fees
- Thorchain — Cross-chain liquidity protocol (AMM-based, not atomic swap)
- Lightning Labs Loop — Submarine swaps between on-chain and Lightning
- xmr-btc-swap — Trustless Monero-Bitcoin atomic swap
- Farcaster Node — Microservice-based Bitcoin-Monero atomic swap node
- Serai — DEX architecture for BTC, ETH, DAI, and XMR using threshold multisig and swap cryptography
- Mintlayer — Bitcoin-compatible chain with native atomic swaps on mainnet (January 2026)
Atomic Swaps: Privacy-Preserving DEXs
- Bisq — Open-source P2P Bitcoin exchange using Tor, multisig deposits, and decentralized dispute resolution
- Haveno — Monero-and-Tor-based decentralized P2P exchange for fiat and crypto trades
- Penumbra — Fully shielded Cosmos zone for private staking, swaps, and market making
- BasicSwap DEX — Peer-to-peer atomic-swap DEX with decentralized order book and no accounts
- eigenwallet — Monero-Bitcoin DEX formerly known as UnstoppableSwap, built around atomic swaps
- RoboSats — Private Lightning-based peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange using Tor and hold invoices
Atomic Swaps: Privacy Analysis
- Atomic swap privacy — On the privacy of atomic swaps and cross-chain transactions
- Breaking Atomic Swaps — Privacy analysis of HTLC-based atomic swap protocols
- Monero's Decentralized P2P Exchanges — Kopyciok, Victor, Schmid (2025) — compares Haveno, Bisq, BasicSwap, COMIT, and privacy risks
CoinJoin: CoinJoin Implementations
- Wasabi Wallet caution — Privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet with Chaumian CoinJoin zkSNACKs ended its CoinJoin coordinator in June 2024; Wasabi now relies on third-party coordinators.
- Wasabi Wallet GitHub — Open source .NET implementation
- WabiSabi protocol — Flexible CoinJoin with blind signatures, not just equal-output
- WalletWasabi/WabiSabi — Anonymous credential scheme and protocol materials for coordinated CoinJoin transactions
- JoinMarket — Decentralized CoinJoin marketplace — market makers earn fees
- Jam — Web UI for JoinMarket
- Whirlpool defunct — Chaumian CoinJoin implementation based on modified ZeroLink theory Whirlpool coordinator went offline with the Samourai seizure in April 2024.
CoinJoin: Payjoin (P2EP)
- BIP 78: Payjoin — Pay-to-endpoint: receiver contributes inputs to a payment transaction
- Payjoin Dev Kit — Tools for integrating Payjoin into wallets
- BIP 77: Async Payjoin — Payjoin v2 using encrypted store-and-forward directory servers and OHTTP
- Payjoin v2 Guide — Implementation-oriented explanation of asynchronous Payjoin
- payjoin — Rust library for BIP 78 Payjoin
CoinJoin: Bitcoin Privacy Tools
- Samourai Wallet defunct — Privacy toolkit with Stonewall, Ricochet (note: developers arrested 2024) Seized by US authorities in April 2024; the developers later pleaded guilty.
- Silent Payments (BIP 352) — Reusable payment codes without address reuse
- BIP352 Index Server Specification — Work-in-progress API spec for Silent Payments wallet scanning services
- BIP 47: Reusable Payment Codes — Payment codes for static payment addresses
- Sparrow Wallet — Desktop Bitcoin wallet focused on security, privacy, and coin control
- Ashigaru — Open-source privacy-first Bitcoin wallet forked from Samourai Wallet (Tor-only)
CoinJoin: Privacy Research
- Bitcoin Privacy wiki — Comprehensive Bitcoin privacy guide
- CoinJoin research — Academic analysis of CoinJoin transaction patterns
Marketplaces: P2P Exchanges
- Haveno Reto — Community Haveno network distribution for Monero-and-Tor-based P2P exchange
- Bisq — Decentralized P2P Bitcoin exchange network using Tor and local payment methods
Marketplaces: Private Marketplaces
- OpenBazaar caution — Decentralized marketplace project planning a 3.0 relaunch after the original shutdown The original OpenBazaar network shut down in 2021; relaunch plans are unproven.
- OpenBazaar Haven archived — Mobile app for the original OpenBazaar decentralized marketplace network Client for the original OpenBazaar network, which shut down in 2021.
- Particl Desktop — GUI for Particl Marketplace and PART wallet focused on private peer-to-peer commerce
- Particl Core — Privacy coin and platform backend for Particl's decentralized marketplace ecosystem
Lightning: Lightning Network
- Lightning Network — Bitcoin Layer-2 payment channel network for instant off-chain transactions
- Lightning Labs — Company building Lightning infrastructure (LND, Loop, Pool, Taproot Assets)
- LND v0.20 — Latest LND release with sqlite/postgres channel graph, enhanced gossip rate limits (December 2025)
- Core Lightning (CLN) — Blockstream's Lightning implementation in C
- LND — Lightning Network Daemon by Lightning Labs
- Eclair — ACINQ's Scala Lightning implementation
- LDK — Lightning Development Kit — modular library for building Lightning nodes
- BOLT Specifications — Basis of Lightning Technology protocol specifications
- BOLT 2: Peer Protocol — Channel management spec covering v2 channels, dual funding, and splicing
- Lightning Pool — Marketplace for Lightning channel leases
- Mutiny Wallet defunct — Tiny Lightning node that runs in the browser via WASM Mutiny announced the shutdown of its hosted wallet and mobile apps; the remaining option is self-hosting.
- Phoenix — Self-custodial Lightning wallet with BOLT 12 support
- BOLT 12 Tracker — Track BOLT 12 adoption across wallets and Lightning implementations
- Twelve Cash — BOLT 12 offers with human-readable usernames via DNS for Core Lightning
- Lightning Node Comparison — Detailed comparison of LND vs CLN vs LDK vs Eclair
Lightning: Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs)
- DLC.spec — Discreet Log Contracts specification
- DLCs on Lightning — Original paper by Tadge Dryja (2018)
- DLC Markets — Bitcoin-native derivatives platform using DLCs
Lightning: Lightning Privacy
- BOLT 4: Onion Routing — Sphinx-based onion routing for Lightning payments
- Route Blinding (BOLT 4) — Recipient privacy via blinded paths
Lightning: Lightning Splicing & Swaps
- LND Liquidity Ads Issue — Tracking native dual-funded channel / liquidity ads support in LND
- Lightning Splicing — YouTube explanation of Lightning splicing by Dusty Daemon
- Boltz Exchange — Atomic non-custodial swaps between Lightning and other Bitcoin layers
- Boltz USDT Swaps — Atomic USDT swaps for Lightning (March 2026)
Liquid: Liquid Network
- Liquid Network — Blockstream's Bitcoin sidechain with confidential transactions
- Liquid Blog — Official blog with updates and technical articles
- Liquid Docs — Official documentation
- Elements Project — Open-source Liquid sidechain platform codebase
- Blockstream Green — Wallet supporting Liquid assets
- Liquid Asset Registry — Registry of issued assets on Liquid
- awesome-liquid-network — Curated directory of Liquid resources, libraries, tools, wallets, and applications
Liquid: Confidential Transactions
- Confidential Transactions — How Liquid hides transaction amounts using Bulletproofs
- Bulletproofs paper — Bünz et al. (2018) — short proofs for confidential values
- Greg Maxwell's CT proposal — Original Confidential Transactions concept (2015)
- Everyday Guide to Confidential Transactions — Technical deep-dive on how CT works on Liquid
- Elements CT Tutorial — Hands-on Elements walkthrough for blinded addresses and confidential transfers
Liquid: Liquid Development Libraries
- go-elements — Go library for Liquid/Elements transactions and confidential transaction primitives
- rust-elements — Rust library for Elements transaction and block serialization
- libwally-core — Cross-platform wallet primitives with Elements support
- Liquid Wallet Kit — Blockstream Rust toolkit for building Liquid wallets and applications
Liquid: Liquid Wallets & Apps
- Marina Wallet — Browser extension wallet for Liquid assets
- AQUA Wallet — Non-custodial Bitcoin and Liquid wallet for bitcoin, L-BTC, and stablecoins
- SideSwap — Non-custodial Liquid wallet and peer-to-peer asset swap platform
Liquid: Issued Assets on Liquid
- Tether on Liquid — USDt natively issued on Liquid Network
- Hadron by Tether — RWA tokenization platform on Liquid
- Liquid Securities — Security token framework on Liquid
Shielded Payments
- Zcash — Official explanation of transparent and shielded Zcash payments
- Zcash protocol specification — Shielded pools, notes, viewing keys and transaction rules
- Orchard (ZIP 224) — Halo 2 shielded protocol without a trusted setup; pool-boundary privacy limits
Federated Ecash
- Fedimint — Federated Bitcoin custody, Chaumian ecash and Lightning payments
- Fedimint guardian architecture — Threshold custody, guardian consensus and Lightning gateway contracts
Payment Processing
- BTCPay Server — Self-hosted payment processor with invoices and direct wallet payments
- BTCPay wallet documentation — Extended public keys, invoice addresses and address gap limits
Silent Payments
- BIP 352 reference implementation — Python reference for sending, receiving and scanning Silent Payments
- Cake Wallet Silent Payments — Sending, receiving, scanning costs and the scanning-server fallback
Issuer-backed tokens
- Circle token contracts — USDC EVM contract features including pause, blacklist and upgrade roles
- Tether terms — Issuer service restrictions, freezing powers and redemption terms