Bitkit Wallet AMA - John Carvalho, CEO of Synonym \ stacker news ~AMA

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Bitkit Wallet AMA - John Carvalho, CEO of Synonym

29.2k sats \ 118 comments \ @BitcoinErrorLog 6 Sep AMA

I'm John Carvalho, CEO at Synonym, where we created Bitkit, a self-custodial Lightning and on-chain wallet.

Bitkit allows you to hold your keys for Bitcoin and a LDK-powered Lightning node in the app. This is supported by our Blocktank LSP server, providing connectivity to the wider Lightning Network.

Bitkit contains an open widget system, with more cool widgets on the way. It also supports a contact list and pay-to-contact features.

We recently formally launched into app stores after being in a beta for a while. We've got a lot planned for the next year and we're excited to grow our userbase and collect any feedback!

I'll answer questions for 1-2 hours, starting at 3PM EST // 7 PM UTC.

Ask me about:

Bitkit features, plans
Building self-custodial wallets, apps
Building with the Lightning Network
payment protocols
UX/UI, design, branding

view all related items

313 sats \ 3 replies \ @rijndael 6 Sep

What has been most surprising or unexpected to you while building BitKit? Any particularly interesting discoveries in customer behavior, product strategy, tech, etc?

42 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

How many weird decisions were made in Lightning protocol/implementation designs.

31 sats \ 1 reply \ @benwehrman 6 Sep

Any you would consider straight-up "bad", or just weird?

108 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

millisats, channel reserve

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @aljaz 6 Sep

(How) has your thinking around bitcoin as medium of exchange evolved in the last 5years?

89 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Yes, understanding Cryptoeconomics, by Voskuil, better and better.

291 sats \ 4 replies \ @anon 6 Sep

Is there a single thing that would make you quit Bitcoin?

103 sats \ 3 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I imagine there are many things... I suppose it also depends by what you mean by "quit."

I love my job, but it is just as much "freedom software" building as Bitcoin now.

I have outgrown much of Bitcoin culture at this point, but I'm still here, right!

41 sats \ 2 replies \ @anon 6 Sep

I have outgrown much of Bitcoin culture at this point, but I'm still here, right! What do u mean with that?

748 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Bitcoin culture is a tapestry of narratives, eventually you realize most of them lack substance.

When you want to question the narratives, you don't have many friends.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @jbschirtzinger 6 Sep

Truer words are seldom spoken.

352 sats \ 7 replies \ @TheMorningStar 6 Sep

When do you see Bitcoin overtake the fiat shit?

79 sats \ 6 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Bitcoin can't scale, thus it has not solved fiat.

It can be argued that Bitcoin itself is a form of "market fiat."

So what? People make monies of various qualities, and various people use them in various quantities for various reasons.

If Bitcoin is the best, then the question is by which measure?

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheMorningStar 6 Sep

Thanks for your honest answer.

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @DeltaClimbs 7 Sep

Wrong. Scalability is subjective. Everyone is free to use bitcoin as a measure today of they wish without ever having to touch bitcoin directly.

You have a broken model of "money" because you are not sufficiently familiar with the notion of measure of value, the often ignored 4th function of money.

Anyone who sincerely wishes to understand the nature of total global adoption must start here or remain in ignorance.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @john_doe 7 Sep

Hello, I come after the debate but could you please reference a chapter of a book or an article? His point I think was Bitcoin is not scalable for all people of planet earth, which looks to me correct, hence his conclusion is I guess let us use Lightning. I am not sure what you mean as counter argument by "measure of value". If you don't have a chapter of a book or an article could you then explain?

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

"measure of value" requires agreeing on a unit, hence "unit of account"

"Scalability" just means to make something bigger, so the question is "scaling what?"

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @john_doe 7 Sep

Ah sorry, I was asking to @DiracDelta as I didn't get his answer. I guess your point was transactions on Bitcoin won't scale to all people on Earth, which made sense to me. And he seems to refute somewhat that. So I was wondering what he meant in more details.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DeltaClimbs 9 Sep

Sure, I wrote a bit about it. https://heaviside.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-fourth-function-of

You can also look into Financially (USD) Settled Forward Contracts.

"Using" bitcoin as MOE for regulated long term contracts with a dollar unit of account is a total LARP.

254 sats \ 2 replies \ @Golu 6 Sep

What is the best suggestion you'd give to newcomers in Bitcoin?

82 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

99% of what you are told about Bitcoin or crypto is bullshit. You really need to figure this out for yourself until you have confidence.

35 sats \ 0 replies \ @random_ 8 Sep

Whats that 1% kernel of truth?

254 sats \ 1 reply \ @Golu 6 Sep

Which other Lightning wallet do you think is better than Bitkit?

378 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Phoenix is the best at LN reliability, owning the whole stack and being rockstar protocol devs makes them great.

Zeus is great for a power user, home noderunner, enthusiast.

Of course, I think Bitkit is best in other aspects ;)

264 sats \ 1 reply \ @IamSINGLE 6 Sep

What are your hobbies?

32 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

https://m.stacker.news/50346

285 sats \ 1 reply \ @Car 6 Sep

Hey John heard a story that you were the one who came up with Web of Trust model for Stacker News in 2021 is this true?

164 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Uhhh, I often think I invented things that already existed!

492 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 6 Sep

You aren't new here! What's the best thing you like about Stacker News? Anything that you don't like?

146 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I like that SN is unapologetically SN.

I don't like that I also want to obsolete it with new stuff!

44 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 6 Sep

How do you see India progressing on the world Bitcoin map?

130 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I'm not going to pretend I have an informed answer to that.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @ken 6 Sep

Now we have an AMA with John Carvalho, On-chain fees high, on Lightning they're low They created Bitkit, you should check it out yo, It supports a contact list, you can now add your bro

285 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

Self custodial wallets are usually hard to nail since the UX is not "there yet". How do you guys manage that user frustration with Bitkit? Does Bitkit have a big difference Vs other non custodial LN wallets?

119 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

We definitely rethought the LN UX, and we continue to iterate on it.

We have also seen other wallets imitate several of our UX changes and novel features.

Sometimes our hands are tied by what is available in our LDK/LND stack, but we also innovate in other ways to simplify things.

231 sats \ 1 reply \ @benwehrman 6 Sep

For the newbies out there who don't know how to tell the difference between all the different on-chain and lightning wallet options, what would be your summary on what sets Bitkit apart from the crowd?

134 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Bitkit is one of a few wallets that lets you hold your own keys for both Bitcoin and Lightning, well-designed and easy to use.

381 sats \ 1 reply \ @benwehrman 6 Sep

What is the biggest challenge you've faced building on and around Lightning?

124 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Implementing LDK before they shipped ldk-node, getting it all working consistently across LND and all of the other pitfalls of the LN protocol in general.

LN itself is kind of like lightning in a bottle. It's beautiful when it works, but designed to break.

221 sats \ 3 replies \ @benwehrman 6 Sep

Which Bitkit widget(s) are you most excited to build + ship in the future?

192 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Most excited about seeing other apps and services taking advantage of it. We mocked up some ideas and will be sharing with friends these coming months.

I think the better question is what kind of widgets would YOU want to see!?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 9 Sep

Some kind of self custodial lightning powered derivatives platform other than lnmarkets because the ui is trash, if anyone could create that, that would be Great!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 11 Sep

Haha that isn't a widget that is a whole application! That said, it is possible for LNM to make an account widget where you could see all your important stats or trades.

312 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 6 Sep

Who is the smartest person you ever met?

94 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I have met a lot of people smarter than me at various sciences, and a lot of people that are simply precision instruments that are smart by process or diligence...

I don't know man! I don't think about stuff like this. Like who I wanna have dinner with or whatever. haha

102 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b 6 Sep

Fair! lol

292 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

Is it hard to find good talent willing to work on startups like yours?

113 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Yes and no. It is time-consuming, but you eventually do find great people. We are taking a break from hiring and seeing how long we can cruise at 21 people.

232 sats \ 1 reply \ @jakoyoh629 6 Sep

Thanks for your service!

169 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Thank you for your appreciation!

232 sats \ 1 reply \ @03b739f8de 6 Sep freebie

Is Lightning only "the best we have" or is it really "a great solution that will keep improving" until we can onboard everyone there?

233 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

It's both. LN is limited by Bitcoin's onchain scaling, and its security model falls apart when blocks are too full. But it works otherwise, and it is at least less retarded in design than all other proposals I know of.

222 sats \ 1 reply \ @036e999b2c 6 Sep

Given your history of working first at Bitrefill and then going on to create Bitkit. Is it easier or harder than what you first imagined to develop a Bitcoin Wallet with On-chain and Lightning capabilities?

242 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

It was all harder than I thought, but I also could have made it a lot easier by compromising at many stages.

We could just be another lndmobile app, or make Liquid shitcoin app, or experiment with LN cloud nodes, etc etc.

222 sats \ 1 reply \ @Wumbo 6 Sep

How does Synonym generate revenue?

Will the apk file be available for direct download?

258 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Synonym is not focused on revenue at the moment, but we do make some modest fees through the channels we provide via Blocktank LSP, which is integrated with Bitkit, Bitfinex, and our web app at https://blocktank.to/#connect.

Bitkit is open-source and apk's are always made available with each release: https://github.com/synonymdev/bitkit/releases

222 sats \ 1 reply \ @BlokchainB 6 Sep freebie

What is the status of pear credit?

66 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

The research was made, the development was not.

It is out of my hands for the most part, but I have since conceived of other designs we may pursue instead.

231 sats \ 1 reply \ @amaluenda 6 Sep

What do you think about cashu?

87 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

That it should work more like this: https://github.com/pubky/atomicity

Generally, I like the idea of separating trusted credit from any blockchains, but I don't like the idea of banks as a scaling method.

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

What is your view on Bitcoin and privacy? Should we have some mweb on Bitcoin like Litecoin or base chain will be enough with lightning and coinjoins?

87 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

99% of people do not give a shit. So, if you give a shit use what those 1% use, I guess, but you probably don't actually give a shit, right?

If you don't like Bitcoin, you don't have to use it, right?

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

Tell us your current biggest concern around Bitcoin (protocol) and your current biggest concern about Bitcoin (Culture) :/

143 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Progressives.

The potential utility of most proposals is wildly overstated, while the risks are unmeasurable.

Our governance process is currently too centralized and trusted.

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 6 Sep

Would you support a hard fork to remove data carrying from bitcoin?

138 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I wouldn't support any hard fork for any speculative reason, nor for any reason meant to negatively affect an existing user space.

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 6 Sep

How did you find your way to design?

Are there any designers you look up?

Where do you find inspiration?

63 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I have been designing all my life, and I am old. I have a process for when I do design. It does involve some research, but I always have my eye on design in various ways, following brand design accounts, etc.

But Synonym owes most of its shine to Aldert. I imagine our dynamic is uncommon, as most of our competitors have, and are effectively led by, CTOs.

221 sats \ 3 replies \ @7ac5aafdeb 6 Sep

Why do you call Bitkit a wallet when it’s not? Isn’t 'wallet' merely a bad analogy? What happens when regulators ask you to treat Bitkit as what you call it?

134 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Everything about Bitkit is trying to speak in "user terms." So "wallet" just makes sense for managing your money.

I know it is a keychain/keysigner. You know it is. We are both okay despite it being also a wallet.

Terms won't protect you from regulators.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @7ac5aafdeb 6 Sep

I don’t understand that. You also use the term ‘money’ to describe Bitcoin, and there are laws that apply to money. Since Bitcoin is not money, why would you promote it as such? Using the wrong words to describe something can cause serious problems in the future.

Why invite unwanted attention?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

This is my only unwanted attention at the moment.

221 sats \ 1 reply \ @7ac5aafdeb 6 Sep

You are funded by the likes of Tether; do you plan to add their coin to your app?

129 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Tether has no notable influence on our roadmap aside from budgeting.

We have no plans of our own to "add their coin" to any of our current or planned products.

To be more topical, we also have no plans to directly support any "token" tech on any blockchain.

If you want my thoughts on credit, they are here: https://github.com/pubky/atomicity

232 sats \ 1 reply \ @JoeNakamoto 6 Sep

Who is your favourite guilty pleasure person in bitcoin?

someone you know you probs shouldn’t enjoy following but you still follow them.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Coinfessions

101 sats \ 1 reply \ @jbschirtzinger 6 Sep

What's the biggest breakthrough you are waiting for that would make you excited for the future of crypto?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

Humans that think more critically. We don't really need any technological miracles to make the internet do amazing things for us, we need humans to wise up.

Otherwise, I think breakthroughs in data storage and transmission are more meaningful than cryptographic constructions, currently.

101 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

Where do you see more opportunity for Lightning..

A) As a payment method with merchants? B) As a way to transfer money between 2 people (no merchants)? C) As a micropayment way to transform the current kind of social web / apps?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

Payment channels primary utility is for high-frequency transacting, so the core use case is with B2B.

91 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitalion 6 Sep

I would like to know if there is any problem that prevents users of the Cuban Bitcoin community from accessing the wallet services, something that happens with other wallets.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

Cuba is a sanctioned country, so any business outside of Cuba is likely to prohibit use.

91 sats \ 1 reply \ @ca 6 Sep

Would you have approached the Blocksize War differently in hindsight?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

I think hypothetical alternate realities are a trap. It happened the way it happened.

I am much more experienced now, so yes, I would handle something similarly differently today. I have much less trust in protocol devs now.

91 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 6 Sep

What is one cool or fun LN powered app than can be created right now but no one has and you'd love to see/use?

Congrats on Bitkit :)

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

LN is a payment protocol, so you can build into any app use case that needs payments.

I always liked the "crowdwall" concept, and we'll bring it back someday. https://thebiz.pro/about#crowdwall

71 sats \ 3 replies \ @sudocarlos 6 Sep

How have you integrated nostr or what are your plans for future integration? The contacts seems obvious

87 sats \ 2 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

We don't have any nostr features planned for Bitkit.

I'm generally skeptical of the tipping/zaps use case (i suppose that is blasphemy here!)

I also think nostr needs to convert to pkarr before we could reasonably support it in our other plans. https://pkarr.org/

231 sats \ 1 reply \ @sudocarlos 6 Sep

Pkarr looks interesting. Have you suggested it to or discussed it with any nostr devs or considered writing a NIP?

84 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Have suggested it to Fiatjaf. I find it difficult to suggest things to nostr devs generally, so we don't bother.

41 sats \ 1 reply \ @sudocarlos 6 Sep

How many users do you think read the terms of service

87 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

What I think about that isn't actually important, right?

31 sats \ 2 replies \ @anon 6 Sep

Who is the best karaoke singer at bitkit?

73 sats \ 0 replies \ @coreyphillips 6 Sep

🙋

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

No idea!

354 sats \ 4 replies \ @DarthCoin 6 Sep

More than 1 year and you (and Bitkit team of 12 people !) still didn't have an explanation for this post... #155848 These 2 issues are still NOT fixed:

102 sats \ 3 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

I think I recall you not following up with support at the end?

Either way, that version of Bitkit is an ancient beta. Feel free to test the latest app.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @DarthCoin 6 Sep

I always update it. Never works as it should be (and I expect). I was always responding to the support emails, until they closed those issues, without fixing them. Restoring that old node never worked with any of the Bitkit versions. I was always trying to help the Bitkit team with more testing but you consider my help a threat to Bitkit. Wrong. You better have me as your friend than keeping me away. You lose, not me.

87 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Please contact support if you have an issue with the current app.

121 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 6 Sep

LOL I am waiting for support answer for more than a year! In fact the issue is from 2022 and was never fixed, but ignored !

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @DeltaClimbs 7 Sep

Is BitKit a reliable daily driver app yet? I was using the beta and found it too unusable, even though I really liked the approach and design to having contacts that support push payments and even wanted to get some friends on it with whom that would be a great feature.

I was using Phoenix for reliability, but as an American, I am not sure if the app might suddenly stop working? They say they no longer support America, but the app still seems to work so I am confused about this.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

I think Bitkit is at a point where you could use it daily, but that the Lightning Network itself still faces many challenges that will affect self-custodial usage. Every LN payment is a unique situation that can go wrong in many ways.

All complex software has bugs, so use what works for you and submit feedback when you find something off.

Regarding the USA and Phoenix, it probably still works because all they did was remove it from the app store, not block US people (yet?)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @longlifelearner20 8 Sep

i do think that bitkit is a good wallet so far since it changes the basic key concept of money and proudly stating that money is the value and everybody has to own it in different ways by proposing each for their own keys, your keys your coins they are the best so far .

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @flat24 8 Sep

Why use Bitkit? What makes it different from other popular wallets of the moment?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @sangekrypto 7 Sep

Building self-custodial wallets, apps

Can confidentiality be guaranteed and is the lock strong?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

Not sure what you are specifically referring to. We do not collect your personal info, and we do not store your bitcoin for you.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bitsats 7 Sep

I missed it 😟

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

I'm still alive.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Cowboy 7 Sep

Is it Available on play store or app store?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

Yes! https://bitkit.to/

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satoshi__Nakamoto 6 Sep

Lighting + on chain wallet I am shocked. This will be the great wallet. Can we use this wallet right now

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

You can try it at https://bitkit.to

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 6 Sep

So many wallets out there. What makes Bitkit unique? What excites you about your roadmap?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 7 Sep

There aren't that many mobile wallets that have a Lightning node inside, nor many that are well-designed. Bitkit is one.

As for our roadmap, it includes things like new widgets, ways to spend, hardware wallet support, and of course, integration with our next product ;)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @03c53b08d4 6 Sep freebie

What’s the ultimate goal of launching Bitkit given the current low user interest in transacting with Bitcoin? What needs to change for Lightning to achieve mass adoption and become widely used across the internet?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @03c53b08d4 6 Sep freebie

What inspired Synonym to create yet another Bitcoin wallet (Bitkit) when the market already has various options?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @benwehrman 6 Sep

deleted by author

203 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinErrorLog OP 6 Sep

Bitkit is built and maintained by the most dedicated team working on making the best Bitcoin wallet app by rethinking the UX from the ground up.