Thank you for being a part of the Swan Mission!
When you purchase Bitcoin through Swan, your Bitcoin is stored by BitGo, a licensed and regulated trust company chartered in the United States. BitGo secures billions of dollars worth of fiat and cryptocurrency for some of the biggest companies in the industry.
Your Bitcoin and USD are stored under your name with BitGo, with you as the sole legal owner. Your Bitcoin is stored using best-in-class security practices and technologies.
BitGo cannot rehypothecate your Bitcoin, and Swan itself cannot move your funds without your authorization. Swan also has full on-chain visibility all of our customer's assets. In order to ensure that Swan cannot move Bitcoin out of your account, you will receive a direct confirmation of withdrawal from our custodian whenever you withdraw your Bitcoin. This email is delivered directly from our custodian and requires your authorization to move Bitcoin from our custodial wallets to your own.
Read more here to learn about Bitcoin custody risk and how you can assess it.
Should I self-custody Bitcoin?
At Swan we encourage everyone to take self-custody of their Bitcoin.
There are many different types of Bitcoin wallets, each with its own pros and cons. If you are just getting into Bitcoin, we recommend downloading a free mobile wallet to test out. We like Muun on mobile. (Note: Bitcoin wallets are not Bitcoin exchanges. They do not give you USD. If you wish to sell your Bitcoin back for USD please contact us and tell us exactly how much you wish to sell). As you learn more about Bitcoin, you will want to move your Bitcoin into more secure setups, like cold storage, that may cost money or take longer to learn to use.
In short, if you have:
Small amounts (~0.1% net worth) — use a Mobile Bitcoin Wallet
- Muun Seamlessly integrates Bitcoin and lightning for (beginner)
- Blockstream Green (intermediate)
- Hexa Great features like multiple accounts, custom fees, batch send (intermediate)
Medium Amounts (~1-30% net worth) — use a Hardware Bitcoin Wallet
- Trezor More user-friendly with a built-in software suite (beginner)
- Blockstream Jade Bitcoin-only and the least expensive hardware wallet
- Coldcard by Coinkite The most secure Bitcoin-only hardware wallet (advanced)
Large amounts (more than 30%+ net worth) — use a Multisig Bitcoin Wallet
- Swan Vault (Click here to learn more) - Swan's own multisig Bitcoin custody solution. Features include:
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Collaborative Multi-signature: Two of three keys are required to move your Bitcoin. You hold two keys for full control, and Swan holds a third key to help recover your Vault if needed.
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Easy Onboarding: Swan Vault is designed specifically for Blockstream Jade hardware wallets, creating a simple and seamless experience.
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Expert Security: The Swan security and risk teams bring extensive expertise to Swan Vault. Vault leverages state-of-the-art security technology and undergoes regular third-party security audits.
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Swan Ecosystem: Swan clients can easily move Bitcoin between Swan Vault and their Swan accounts.
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Full Sovereignty: For advanced users, Swan Vault offers smooth multisig wallet recovery into Bitcoin Core using the widely respected, open-source Specter Wallet.
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- Specter Do-it-yourself setup that preserves privacy (advanced)
- Sparrow Simple interface for single-signature or multi-signature
For a more detailed explanation of wallets and their tradeoffs read this blog post.
For more information on Bitcoin's technical underpinnings, you can read this free introductory book.
If you are a Swan Private client and need assistance setting up your wallet, please reach out to your Swan Private representative.