So, i asked gpt, and confirmed what i suspected. It is yet another dirty patchwork system on top of bitcoin. It requires a different wallet for normal ecash and yet another different wallet for "self-custody" ecash. Imagine asking someone, hey do you support Ark ecash bitcoin payments?
....there are already like 6 different systems that require different wallets in Bitcoin, what a mess.
Honestly there should be only two networks at most: The L1 blockchain, and a sidechain that is faster and cheaper which requires beefier nodes. But no, instead, Bitcoin forked to like 4 blockchains and now the main chain has like 6 different networks that require different wallets and self-custody is crap.
- If you mean Chaumian e-cash, there isn’t a widely used non-custodial version of it on Bitcoin.
- Ark/Arkade is probably the closest match to what you want. It holds BTC as virtual UTXOs, with a path to claim them on Bitcoin L1 if the operator stops cooperating. That makes it distinct from mint-issued e-cash. It is a separate payment protocol, but not another blockchain or coin.
_ So, in practical terms: yes, you need Ark-aware wallet software to hold and spend Ark balances
- The self-custody escape route has real limits: it can require several on-chain transactions and fees that may make a small balance uneconomic to recover.
Runatyr
npub1ua…46f59
2026-09-30 22:19:21 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…0ku6
Author Public Key
npub1uarvhzyugguxjxnqh4hk4fkg93fw5a0e6cfmx5uqt97t230trslq746f59Published at
2026-09-30 22:19:21 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "So, i asked gpt, and confirmed what i suspected. It is yet another dirty patchwork system on top of bitcoin. It requires a different wallet for normal ecash and yet another different wallet for \"self-custody\" ecash. Imagine asking someone, hey do you support Ark ecash bitcoin payments? \n\n....there are already like 6 different systems that require different wallets in Bitcoin, what a mess.\n\nHonestly there should be only two networks at most: The L1 blockchain, and a sidechain that is faster and cheaper which requires beefier nodes. But no, instead, Bitcoin forked to like 4 blockchains and now the main chain has like 6 different networks that require different wallets and self-custody is crap. \n\n\n- If you mean Chaumian e-cash, there isn’t a widely used non-custodial version of it on Bitcoin. \n- Ark/Arkade is probably the closest match to what you want. It holds BTC as virtual UTXOs, with a path to claim them on Bitcoin L1 if the operator stops cooperating. That makes it distinct from mint-issued e-cash. It is a separate payment protocol, but not another blockchain or coin. \n_ So, in practical terms: yes, you need Ark-aware wallet software to hold and spend Ark balances\n- The self-custody escape route has real limits: it can require several on-chain transactions and fees that may make a small balance uneconomic to recover.",
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