Aqua vs Wasabi Wallet

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-25

A self-custodial Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt wallet built for people who need cheap dollars on a phone, not only bitcoin.

Wasabi Wallet3.6Bitcoin-onlyWarning

Still a working bitcoin wallet, but the coinjoin coordinator that made its name was switched off by zkSNACKs on June 1, 2024.

No verdict

No verdict: both wallets score 3.6 out of 5 on our rubric, so the rows below decide by what you need.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Aqua: 3.6
Wasabi Wallet: 3.6

Aqua and Wasabi Wallet, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Aqua and Wasabi Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Aqua	Wasabi Wallet
Editorial rating	3.6	3.6
Status	Available	Caution: see the review
Made by	JAN3	zkSNACKs
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android	self-custodial, keys generated and stored on your own computer, never held by zkSNACKs
Bitcoin-only	No	Yes
Runs on	iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, Linux
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	On-chain bitcoin, the Liquid Network, and Lightning through submarine swaps rather than channels of its own	All traffic over Tor by default, compact block filters instead of a server that learns your addresses, and hardware signing through HWI for Trezor, Coldcard, Ledger, Blockstream Jade and BitBox02
Released	2024, by JAN3	2018; the download page serves version 2.8.1 for Windows, macOS and Linux
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-25	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Aqua

What works

Self-custodial, with the seed kept in the phone's own secure storage and no documents required to open a wallet
Bitcoin, Liquid and Tether USDt in one app, which is the point for anyone who is paid or saves in dollars
Aqua's own figures put a $100 USDt transfer at three cents over Liquid against eight dollars over Ethereum
Network fees on USDt can be paid in USDt, so there is no separate gas token to hold
Replace-by-fee support, so a stuck transaction can be bumped instead of waited out
Client source published on GitHub, and Aqua says it collects no personal data or transaction logs

What to watch

Not bitcoin only: a large part of the app is about stablecoins
Liquid balances are secured by the Liquid federation rather than by bitcoin's own mining
Lightning runs through third-party submarine swaps rather than channels Aqua manages
USDt transfers over Tron or Ethereum depend on SideShift's liquidity, as Aqua's own FAQ says
In-app bitcoin purchases are run by outside providers, so the country rules and the support queue are theirs
A prepaid card and lending are advertised as coming rather than shipped

Wasabi Wallet

What works

Bitcoin only and open source under an MIT license, with a public repository that is still actively developed
Self-custodial: keys are generated and stored on your own computer, and zkSNACKs never held funds
Every connection runs over Tor by default, and compact block filters mean no server learns which addresses are yours
Hardware wallet signing through HWI for Trezor, Coldcard, Ledger, Blockstream Jade and BitBox02
Full coin control, transaction labeling and privacy suggestions that name who will learn about a payment
Coinjoin is still in the software: you add a third-party coordinator in place of the one zkSNACKs ran

What to watch

zkSNACKs switched off its coinjoin coordinator on June 1, 2024, so the feature Wasabi was known for no longer works out of the box
Choosing and vetting a third-party coordinator is now your problem, and each sets its own fees and terms
Desktop only: Wasabi's own site states it is not available on mobile
Trezor Suite coinjoin and BTCPay Server integrations that used the same coordinator broke on the same day
Silent payments are send-only: Wasabi cannot yet generate or receive to a silent payment address

Frequently asked questions

Is Aqua or Wasabi Wallet better?

No verdict: both wallets score 3.6 out of 5 on our rubric, so the rows below decide by what you need. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Aqua and Wasabi Wallet free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Aqua is self-custodial, with the seed stored on your device in Keychain on iOS or EncryptedSharedPreferences on Android; Wasabi Wallet is self-custodial, keys generated and stored on your own computer, never held by zkSNACKs.

Is Aqua or Wasabi Wallet bitcoin-only?

Wasabi Wallet is bitcoin-only; Aqua supports other assets too. Multi-asset: bitcoin on chain, Liquid bitcoin, and Tether USDt on Liquid and several other chains

Does Aqua or Wasabi Wallet carry a warning?

Wasabi Wallet: zkSNACKs announced on May 2, 2024, days after US prosecutors charged the founders of Samourai Wallet, that it would discontinue the coinjoin coordination service behind Wasabi's headline privacy feature, and switched it off on June 1, 2024. The wallet is still developed and still works as a self-custodial, bitcoin-only desktop wallet, and coinjoin remains in the software, but you now have to find and trust a third-party coordinator to use it.

The full reviews: Aqua and Wasabi Wallet, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

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