Bitcoin for everyday Arkansans — stylists, teachers, farmers, musicians, and families.

The graduation step

Keep What You Find

At Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds, whatever you dig up is yours to keep — no middleman, no permission. Self-custody is that same idea applied to your money.

Strike is a great place to start. But an app holds your bitcoin for you. When you hold your own keys, no company can freeze, lose, or block it. Here's the whole path — six steps, in plain English.

Walk the path

No rush, and no pressure. ArkansasBitcoin.org doesn't custody funds or sell hardware — we're here to educate.

The path to your own keys

From an app that holds it → to keys only you hold

You don't have to do this today, and you don't have to do it all at once. But when you're ready, it's a short, well-worn path. Here's every step.

Where you are now

Strike holds your bitcoin for you

Right now, your bitcoin lives in Strike. That's a completely fine place to start — it's a regulated U.S. app, it's convenient, and it's the easiest way to receive your first tips or buy your first bitcoin. Nothing wrong with it.

Here's the one thing to understand: when bitcoin sits in Strike, Strike holds the keys and owes it to you — like money in a bank. That works as long as the company stays open, solvent, and willing to let you withdraw. For small, everyday amounts, that trade is reasonable.

And one thing about privacy. To use any regulated U.S. app, you hand over your ID — that's the law, not a choice the company made. From that point on, the bitcoin you buy there is tied to your name. So is the address you send it to when you withdraw. That's a real trade, and for most people it's still worth it to get started. But this is the step where you're identified, and it's better to know that going in than to find out later.

The decision

Why graduate to your own keys

There's a saying in Bitcoin: “not your keys, not your coins.” When you hold the keys, the bitcoin is yours directly on the network — no company in the middle to freeze it, lose it in a bankruptcy, or tell you no. That's the whole point of self-custody.

There's no magic number, but here are the honest signals it's time:

  • The amount: your balance passes a few hundred dollars — enough that you'd be genuinely unhappy to lose it if an app locked you out.
  • The horizon: you're saving for the long term (years, not this month's bills), so you want to truly own it, not rent it.
  • The peace of mind: “what if the app freezes my account?” starts to nag at you.
You can keep using Strike, too. Many people keep a little in Strike for easy spending and move their long-term savings to self-custody. It's not either/or.

The decision that matters most

How to choose a hardware wallet

We don't name a specific device here, and that's deliberate. Products change, companies change, and a recommendation written once and left alone goes stale quietly. What makes a device trustworthy doesn't change. Learn to judge one yourself and you'll never be at the mercy of someone else's list — including ours.

Here's what to look for, roughly in order of how much it matters.

The essentials

  • Bitcoin-only. Less code doing fewer things means less that can go wrong.
  • Open source and reproducible builds. Open source means anyone can read the code. Reproducible builds mean anyone can check that the code they read is the code actually running on the device. You want both — the first without the second proves less than it sounds like.
  • Your keys never touch an internet-connected computer. The device signs; your phone or laptop only ever sees the result.
  • A published track record. Independent review, and an honest public record when problems are found. Every maker eventually has a bad day. How they handled it is the thing worth knowing.

The one most people skip

  • Let it make your keys from dice rolls. A wallet normally invents your recovery words using randomness generated inside the device — and you simply have to trust that it did that well.
  • Roll dice instead (50 rolls for 12 words, 99 for 24) and the randomness is yours. You supplied it, so you can check the result: write your rolls down, and afterward work out on a separate computer what words those rolls should produce. If they match what the device showed you, it did its job honestly.
  • It takes about twenty minutes, once, for the life of the wallet. It is the only step here that proves something rather than trusting it.
Buy direct from the maker. Never used, never a marketplace. Type the maker's web address by hand rather than clicking a search result or a link in a post — fake versions of wallet websites are common and convincing. When the package arrives, check the tamper seal against what the maker says their seal looks like.

The sovereignty path · ~20 minutes

Two pieces: a device and an app

Every setup on this path works the same way. A hardware wallet holds your keys offline, and a wallet app on your phone or computer shows your balance and lets you send and receive. The app is the window; the device is the vault — the app never holds your keys. Pick the device using the checklist above, then pick an app that works with it.

From box to a working wallet

  • Order direct from the maker. When it arrives, check the tamper seal, then power it on.
  • Install the wallet app from your phone's official app store, or from the maker's own website for desktop. Choose to create a new wallet.
  • Pair them. The app will ask for a signing device; follow its steps.
  • Make the keys with dice if the device offers it — and write down every roll as you go. The device will then show you your recovery words, 12 or 24 of them.
  • Add a passphrase. This is an extra word or phrase of your own, on top of the recovery words. Store it somewhere separate from the words themselves — a passphrase kept next to the words it protects isn't protecting anything.

Those recovery words are the most important thing on this whole page. Don't tap past them. The very next step is what to do with them.

Before you put real money on it, practice losing it. Wipe the device and restore it from your written words. It feels frightening the first time, which is exactly why you do it while nothing is at stake. A backup you've never actually restored from is a guess, not a backup. Then send a small amount, and send it back out — receiving proves less than spending does.

The one real job

Back up your recovery words

Those 12 or 24 words the device just showed you are your bitcoin. Guard them and you can always get your money back — even if the device is lost, stolen, or destroyed. This is the one job self-custody asks of you, and it's simple.

Do
  • Write the words on paper, in order, by hand
  • Double-check the spelling against the device
  • Move them to a fireproof metal backup for the long term
  • Store it somewhere private — a safe, a lockbox, a hidden spot
  • Consider a second copy in a separate secure location
Never
  • Photograph them or save them in your phone's photos
  • Type them into a note, email, or cloud document
  • Put them in a password manager or text message
  • Tell anyone the words, or enter them on a website
  • Keep the only copy where a fire or flood could reach it
Anyone with these words has your bitcoin. A real wallet or company will never ask you to type your recovery words into a website or app to “verify” or “sync.” That request is always a scam.
✓

Backed up. Your keys now survive anything that happens to the device. This is the moment most people never reach — you just did.

You made it

You keep what you find

Now move a little first. In your wallet app, tap Receive to get an address or QR — check it matches what your device shows — then send a small amount from Strike to it and confirm it arrives. Once it does, move the rest of your long-term savings the same way.

✓

You now hold your own keys. The bitcoin at that address is controlled by your device — not by any company. You dug it out. You keep it.

When you're ready for more

Next level: air-gapped signing

You don't need this to start — but when you're securing a larger amount, it's the natural next step.

The step up is a signing device that is fully air-gapped — it sets up and signs transactions without ever plugging into your computer, passing data by microSD card or QR code instead. These have a steeper learning curve, which is exactly why this is the “next step,” not the first one.

We're not naming a single pick here, because the right answer changes. Judge a device for yourself against these:

  • Truly air-gapped — microSD or QR only, never a USB cable
  • Bitcoin-only firmware — less code is less that can go wrong
  • Open source and reproducible builds — anyone can check that the code published is the code running on the device
  • A published audit history — independent review, and an honest record when problems are found
  • Works with the wallet app you already use, so you can grow into it without switching
  • Pairs with multi-signature — requiring two or three devices to approve a transaction, so no single lost device puts your bitcoin at risk

One more worth knowing: a device can generate your keys from dice rolls you make yourself. It's slower, and it means you never have to take anyone's word for how your keys were created.

Same rule as always: buy from the official maker, never used.

When savings get serious

Strong protection with multisig

When your bitcoin becomes meaningful long-term savings, multi-signature is the gold standard — like needing two keys to open a safe.

Multisig means a transaction needs approval from two or three devices instead of one, so no single lost or stolen device puts your bitcoin at risk. Most Bitcoin wallet apps that support multisig will walk you through it.

Use devices from different makers

This is the part people get wrong. Three devices from the same maker share the same software — so a single mistake in that software can affect all three at once, and your multisig protects you from none of it. Different makers means a problem with one is unlikely to be a problem with the others.

Two things worth doing on every key, whatever you choose:

  • Make each one from your own dice rolls, and check the words afterward as described above.
  • Give each one its own passphrase, stored separately from the recovery words.

One more habit: before you send to a new address, check that the address on your device's own screen matches what the app is showing you. The device is the thing you trust; the app is the thing you're checking.

Unchained – Learn (multisig & inheritance)

Clear guides on multisig, inheritance planning, family custody, and protecting larger savings with multiple keys.

The simple progression: an easy app to learn → your own keys for real savings → multisig for the long haul.

Hard money from the Natural State

A diamond you pull from the ground at the Crater is yours — no one can un-give it. Bitcoin in your own custody is the same: scarce, durable, and truly held.

Still need Strike? Start here Keep learning