One key gone. Your bitcoin isn't.

For years, holding bitcoin meant a choice: hand your keys to a company, or carry the whole weight alone. Trikey is a third way: a 2-of-3 wallet where every key is yours.

📱 your phone, for everyday payments with Face ID
🔐 your hardware wallet, for big payments and changing the rules
🏠 a guardian on your own Umbrel, co-signing everyday payments under a daily limit

Any two move your money. Lose one and the other two get it back. If someone starts a recovery, you and the people you trust hear about it every day, and any of you can stop it.

No company holds a key, and there's no server but yours: the phone and the guardian talk through end-to-end encrypted nostr messages, and both only dial out.

Pre-alpha and not audited: test networks, or only an amount you can afford to lose. MIT licensed, built in the open.

https://trikey.app
https://github.com/TheIcarusWings/trikey

#bitcoin #nostr #selfcustody #umbrel #plebchain

The best self-custody experience I've used comes from wallets where a company (or a 3rd party) holds one of your keys. Easy setup, easy payments, a real plan for losing your phone.

I wanted that, with every key mine and every line of code open.

It all started when I read about the Coldcard vulnerability, and asked myself what a safer setup would look like for a normal person.

I tested lots of models: a full wallet in the browser, then improving SeedSigner. Each one taught me something.

For someone who just wants their bitcoin safe, this approach came out best: three keys, any two move your money.

All three are yours: your phone, your hardware wallet, and a guardian on your own home server. No company in the middle. MIT licensed, built in public.

It's pre-alpha and not audited: use test networks, or only an amount you can afford to lose.

Over the next week I'll share how it works, what happens when a key goes missing, and how to try it.

https://trikey.app
https://github.com/TheIcarusWings/trikey

#bitcoin #nostr #selfcustody #plebchain

What should happen when you lose a key?

Not a support ticket. Not "sorry, it's gone."

Maybe a waiting period, a message every day to you and the people you trust, and the chance for any of them to say "stop, that wasn't me."

Tomorrow I'll show what I've been building.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Would you trust a wallet whose code you can't read?

Open source doesn't make code safe on its own. But anyone can check it, and nobody has to take your word for it.

That's the bar I'd want for anything holding my bitcoin.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Every key someone else holds is a dependency. A company can be hacked, shut down or simply go quiet.

The fewer people in the middle, the fewer things that can go wrong.

The hard part is keeping it easy to use.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Banks got one thing right: a daily limit.

However someone gets hold of your card, they can't empty your account in one go.

Why don't more self-custody wallets work like that? Small payments easy. Big ones need something you keep at home.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Most self-custody advice comes down to: write down 24 words and never lose them.

For most people, that's a test they'll fail once in their life.

Good security should survive one mistake.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

A seed phrase is a single point of failure. Lose it and your coins are gone. Someone finds it and they're theirs.

2-of-3 multisig fixes both: any two keys move the money, and one key alone does nothing.

So why do so few people use it? Mostly because setting it up is hard.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Lots of people now run a little home server for their own Bitcoin node.

What if it did more than verify the chain? Hold one key, enforce your spending rules, and still never be able to move your money on its own.

#bitcoin #selfcustody

Self-custody has a quiet problem.

Hold your seed alone, and one mistake, fire or burglary can end it. Hand a key to a company, and you're trusting them to still be there in ten years.

Is there a middle ground where every key is still yours?

#bitcoin #selfcustody