For a long time, self-custody forced a tradeoff:
privacy or recoverability.
That wasn’t a law of bitcoin — it was a limitation of the tools.
We think it’s time to move past that.
On Simply Bitcoin Bitkey Product Lead Jonathan explains how recovery contacts work — no keys shared, no balances exposed, just permissioned recovery built on trust.
Bitkey inheritance, explained.
Your bitcoin is never decrypted on our servers.
Your beneficiary gets nothing until the claim is complete.
A 6-month delay protects against fraud.
Here’s a technical deep dive into how it works 👇
What if Bitkey goes down? Your bitcoin doesn’t.
Bitkey is built so you can move your funds independently, even without our app or servers.
Learn how the Emergency Exit Kit works:
Seed phrases were meant to help with recovery.
Over time, they became the easiest way for scammers to steal bitcoin.
By design, Bitkey removes seed phrases entirely—
eliminating the most common attack vector in self-custody.
Full explanation:
Locked out doesn’t have to mean starting over.
If your fingerprint stops working, you can recover access to your Bitkey without replacing your device — with a built-in security delay so nothing happens instantly and you stay in control the whole time.
Built for real life. Built for security.
Block has been building for bitcoin for over a decade.
Cash App. Square. Proto. Sprial. And Bitkey.
Our lane at Bitkey: self-custody that’s built for real life — security + recovery + privacy, without the tradeoffs.
Because bitcoin deserves a full ecosystem.
Self-custody shouldn’t require giving up your privacy.
With Chain Code Delegation, Bitkey enables collaborative multisig without exposing balances or transaction history.
Not our keys. Not our business.
Private by default. Not a setting.
Anyone onboarding to Bitkey today gets a wallet we’ve provably never seen.
Existing users can upgrade to get there too — new wallet, new descriptor, full privacy.
Jonathan breaks this down further with Simply Bitcoin
Bitkey doesn’t use seed phrases.
Not because recovery doesn’t matter, but because relying on one fragile backup creates a single point of failure.
Self-custody should survive real life.
Why we built it this way ↓
Hardware wallets are essential.
But they’re not the full answer to self-custody.
Secure signing ≠ safe ownership.
True self-custody has to account for loss, theft, coercion, inheritance — and real life.
Our Product Lead, Jonathan breaks down why hardware alone isn’t enough, and what it takes to solve the whole custody problem 👇
Collaborative multisig has always come with a privacy tradeoff.
Chain Code Delegation removes it.
Cosigners can help with recovery and policy enforcement—without seeing balances or transaction history.
That’s a privacy win for the entire bitcoin ecosystem.
Bitcoin MENA was special.
Real conversations about bitcoin self-custody, privacy, and building for real life.
Grateful for the community — onward to 2026.