Bitcoin Forum

I just got my hands on a brand new mobile wallet for bitcoin called Aqua wallet.

Aqua wallet is non-custodial wallet created by Jan3 company and it is using Liquid and Lightning layer two in addition to regular Bitcoin main net.

After selecting Layer 2 Bitcoin option I can click Receive button and choose between Lightning and Liquid:

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/03/sH8Uo.jpeg

I think this could be useful wallet especially in time when fees are high, and I would much rather use this when I need to receive stable coins USDT or EUR in more private way.
One more interesting is that you can accept payments from other chains like ethereum or tron and receive them as USDT.
If we compare fees we can see that transactions are much cheaper than most other alternatives available today, and transactions can be confidential:

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/03/sHvf2.jpeg

I don't see any links for github, so I don't know anything about license but I would love to see this being open source soon.

Aqua wallet is not yet approved and available on g00gle play and app store, but APK file is available for testing on their website.
Just make sure to backup your seed words in safe place after wallet creation.
I think there is a space to improve this wallet, maybe with adding Tor switch, dark theme, releasing source code, but it's not a bad start for first version.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/03/sHBIN.jpeg
https://aquawallet.io/

Important note:
Aqua wallet is using BIP84 derivation path for Bitcoin and BIP49 for Liquid_BTC.

Have you tested Aqua wallet and what do you think about it?

I just installed it and received some lightning bitcoin sent from muun wallet.

I think the aqua lightning wallet is also on the liquid network, so not sure of the mechanics going on in the background, but it seems like sending lightning from regular lightning wallet to one on liquid network is no problem. I did get hit with a $6 transaction fee on the Muun wallet side, but that was expected because of the way they do lightning transactions and was a reason for me moving my balance to a new wallet with cheaper fees. I dont think the high fee was because of liquid network, but maybe someone else has more info on that.

Yes it has LN, Liquid and Bitcoin onchain.
I think they are using something similar like Breeze wallet for lightning, and for swaps they are using Boltz and Sideswap.
Good news that source code for Aqua wallet will be open source and released in public soon, but let's wait for confirmation of that.

So far I am really impressed with this wallet and how easy and simple is to use it, but expect to have few bugs in first few releases.
This could easily become one of my main spend mobile wallets... and no more need to use other wallets for stable coins.
Few improvements I would like to see is hardware wallet support, desktop app, and showing sats and or mbtc value.

I wonder how they do it and where the liquidity comes from? If I receive USDT on Tron and can spend it without owning any Tron tokens, someone must pay the network fees for me in TRX, while there is a conversion in the background of some of my assets in an equivalent amount. I have never owned any assets on Liquid layer.
The link to the App Store for AQUA Wallet is working now with a notification that the app is only available for iPhones.

Liquidity is coming from Boltz and Sideswap.

You are going to pay some fees when using USDT from tron blockchain, but you would do the same thing even if using tron crap, unless you are messing around with staking, voting, and energy bullshit.

It's available for Android with APK file, until g00gle play store approves it.

Nice video to watch with Samson Mow and Prince Filip talking abotu Aqua wallet:
https://youtu.be/yi7a2n6VMH4

Short video review by theBTCcourse:
https://youtu.be/9b_VYjKAc-s

I guess the fees are deducted from the currency you are sending, similarly to how centralized exchanges do it. You send a certain amount of USDT tokens and pay the fees in USDT. When we are on the topic of Tron, all addresses have a certain amount of daily energy they can use to move TRX for free each day. That means free transactions with 0 fees. But since USDT tokens are considered smart contract interactions, they require more "energy", which is usually not enough for free transactions unless you have a significant amount of staked coins. 

Isn't aqua wallet an old blockstream wallet?

There is a 2020 topic here.

Maybe they broke apart from blockstream? But they are still using Liquid, like green wallet.

Aqua is not in blockstream.com website anymore.

Edit:
I need to receive an LN payment.. downloaded this wallet to give a try
Aqua wallet LN is a bit frustrating.

It says "don't leave screen until payment is received " when I generated the invoice.

We are still so far from mass adoption...

Closed source is a non starter for me.  The fiat shitcoin integrations show their priorities are way off. 

Also, what's up with people posting self moderated topics?   

You are right, it is.
Here is a press release (https://blockstream.com/press-releases/2020-09-28-blockstream-launches-aqua-a-new-bitcoin-liquid-wallet/) announcing the wallet back in September 2020. It's a wallet created by the Blockstream and Blockstream Green developers, probably meant to popularize the Liquid network. Even the logo is almost identical. Same style and font, but with the addition of a new color.

As the name suggests, to self-moderate them the way they think is right without having to report unwanted spam to mods, hoping they will remove it. There is no controversy with self-moderated topics unless they are opened in boards like Reputation or for the purpose of preventing the truth.

The last few days, BTCSessions (Ben Perrin) had been talking about Aqua Wallet, and in his latest episode of "Why Are We Bullish?," (https://overcast.fm/+WzSoxtOwA) he had Samson Mow as one of the guests who had been involved in Aqua Wallet from the start (during time that Mow was still at Blockstream - as is shown in that above 2020 press release), and seems to still be involved with Aqua wallet, and Mow mentioned that the source code would be released as open-source within a few days, a week or at least a relatively short-period of time^tm - even though Mow seemed to be poo-pooing the importance of open-sourcing (and usually I like Mow - but I found his poo-pooing comment to be kind of irritating and patronizing).

I still have not used Aqua Wallet, yet I downloaded it and created a wallet - and I was looking at the Aqua assets page.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/06/sFLL8.png

It shows three kinds of Tether (Liquid, Ethereum and Tron), and I am wondering what is "Liquid Tether"?  Is Liquid Tether the same as BTC Tether?  or is there something different about Liquid Tether as compared with BTC Tether?   Maybe it is just naming and I have to play with some of it more and I might be able to answer this particular question.

When you say BTC tether, I assume you mean the asset on the Omni layer, right? Both Omni and Liquid are layer 2 solutions for Bitcoin that allow the creation and transfer of different tokens (in this case the tether token). They are not the same protocol. I think Omni layer was the first network where the tether token resided. The Liquid network came later.

If by BTC Tether you mean Tether on Omni layer, you have to know that Tether is discontinuing its support and it might be hard or even impossible to exchange them after next September. So it's better to use Tether from other blockchain/network for now, you can find the current balance of each ones(currently 14) here : https://tether.to/en/transparency/#usdt

https://tether.to/en/supported-protocols
And as Pmalek said above it's not the same protocol and not the same token as the Liquid one.

I guess that is what I meant, and you answered my question because I did not realize or consider what layer I might have had been on in the past.

I have never transacted in Tether in any kind of way except being on the exchanges.. although I think that when I had a Bitfinex account between about 2016 and 2017, I had Tether on that account, but I don't know what form of Tether, because when they forced all USA users off of their platform, I am pretty sure that I just converted all of that to BTC to transfer my BTC off of that account.

From about 2018 to 2021, I had a Binance account that used Tether (but I don't recall which type), and when they forced me to stop using their service in 2021, and per their recommendation, I decided to move all of my then Binance balances over to a new account that I created on their BinanceUS branch, and I am pretty sure that I transferred the Tether, but I had not remembered whether that was on Ethereum, even though it appears that the Tether that I currently hold on BinanceUS is ethereum based.. that seems to be the default.    But if I go to withdraw Tether it gives me the below six options

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/06/sE2n9.png

Note: Avax C-Chain, BNB Smart Chain (BEP20), Ethereum (ERC20), Polygon (unavailable), Solana and Tron (TRC20).  There is not even a Bitcoin option of apparently Omni or Liquid.


By the way, I recall that BinanceUS made me switch from Tether to dollars in 2021 (or maybe I did it on my own), and then earlier this year, they discontinued dollars, so I chose to switch to Tether, and I have been using Tether on BinanceUS ever since, even though I had not realized it was the Ethereum based on. .or maybe it does not really matter which one of the bases it is since they are holding it.. but if I am going to transfer it, then I have options to use either the ethereum or the tron version if I were going to move it over to Aqua... since neither Liquid nor Omni seems to be available with BinanceUS... which is all news to me.. if I am not repeating myself a bit too much on this point. hahahaha

As of now, it seems that only few exchanges are offering deposits and withdrawals for Tether on Liquid network actually, and except Bitfinex they are mostly small or local. I hope some bigger exchanges will accept it soon, otherwise we will need to open another account on another exchange with likely another KYC requirement to address if we want to deal with it.
https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/articles/900005355626-How-do-I-get-Liquid-based-Tether-USDt-
Fortunately, it seems that there are more exchanges supporting Liquid BTC https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000629383-Which-platforms-support-the-Liquid-Network-

I think omni is not exactly a second layer. They are on chain transactions.

They are more likely 1st layer token, like ethereum tokens.

Liquid Tether is probably some 2nd layer (liquid) token.

Tether on omni were on chain transactions

https://www.omnilayer.org/

This is how I understand it, I might be not 100% correct but I think it is different than 2nd layer  transactions.

Thanks for that further explication (or explanation). 

With that, I am thinking that Aqua Wallet is going to need to be added to Blockstream's list of places to get or swap into or out of Liquid Tether and/or Liquid BTC. 

With so many different tokens (or seeming tokens), no wonder some of us (maybe just me?) get(s) confused about which things are shitcoins (or attached to shitcoins) and which ones are more pegged to bitcoin and bitcoin principles (even if there tend to be various centralizing tendencies in some of the ways that we might want to interact with Tether, versus Liquid versus Lightning Network.. in contrast to how many layers we might be away from bitcoin's main chain).

You gave us a summary what we should expect when we download the new Aqua wallet. But you forgot one thing. How have they increased security in the Aqua wallet app. I see that the main focus of the team is to improve the speed of transaction and ease the process of using mobile wallet. However, its essential we to place security as priority. Since the App is on testing i would a little amount and see how it works tomorrow.

Absolutely. This is what i have been thinking. It seems they rebranded from Blockstream and changed a few of the UI, Colors and functionality. Of which they introduced some new features in the App. This is because I noticed they use the same codebase. In conclusion it's just a product under the Blockstream company that was excluded to be a product on its own.

Oh i see its closed source  :o

Just checked on x now and saw this reply
https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/07/sE5Eo.png

Exchanges like Binance allow you to decide the network you want to use when you withdraw your USDT. Regardless of what type you deposited, you can withdraw a different one. They don't care. What's important is depositing the correct type of asset into the right address. The Omni layer USDT has lost its importance because you have blockchains like Tron and Ethereum that are quicker and cheaper to use. I didn't know that Binance doesn't even list the Omni layer one, but that tells you everything you need to know about its popularity.   

According to a review (https://stacker.news/items/376639) published on Stacker News, they originally had terms which stated that Aqua Wallet had the right to collect KYC information.


That has since been removed and replaced with the following: ”AQUA Wallet does not collect, process or store any personal information or documents.”

The target audience for this wallet seems to be USDT users on altcoin blockchains and people who want to use Lightning with minimal risk. By the looks of it, Liquid still has a long way to go in convincing users they should adopt it.
https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/07/sI9SP.jpeg (https://www.talkimg.com/image/sI9SP)

I sill have not deposited any value onto Aqua, yet part of my curiosity also includes how they might allow for swapping between assets, and it appears that the "market place" has not gone live yet, and I was wondering if that was the main place to swap between assets, and then if there were local laws, then they might have initially been considering ways to comply to various local jurisdictions, but maybe they are still trying to figure out how they might want to activate some of the swapping features that might cause some regulatory attention from various jurisdictions.

We can see that their marketplace interface includes:  "coming soon" announcements for buying, swaps, paying bills and debit cards.^**  

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/07/s3ZrZ.png

**Note that for illustrative purposes, the App allowed me to choose El Salvador  (you can see by the flag on the upper right corner of the screenshot) as my jurisdiction.  I chose with the consideration that maybe El Salvador might not have any jurisdictional regulatory obstacles.... but still I am not actually in El Salvador at the moment

I cannot see any other place to carry out the swaps (for example to swap from BTC or from one of the forms of Tether into lightning network tokens) that are actually active rather than in the "coming soon" category.  

Maybe one of the shortest term objectives would be trying to figure out ways around (or to minimize) various kinds of onchain bitcoin fees during periods in which it is experiencing high fees, yet to attempt to do so without necessarily giving any support to shitcoins.. .. so maybe once BTC is on the Aqua wallet, then it could be converted into lightning network tokens for way less fees than it might cost to do so through other onchain ways during high fee times?

Perhaps the original idea was to make the wallet custodial. A non-custodial wallet has no way to enforce KYC on a user who can simply ignore their requests and take their coins elsewhere if they don't want to comply. Only a custodial service can freeze your assets and ask you to verify your identity to regain access.

There was an old Aqua wallet from Blockstream, but Jan3 took over development from them.

They are totally different company but they cooperate and they are both part of federation system for Liquid network, with other companies around the word.

Not at all, even grandmas can use this wallet, it is that simple.
However, this is not meant to be LN-only wallet, but it uses seed words so it is much safer than custodial LN wallets.

I watched it, very good show.
Guys from Jan3 confirmed that Aqua source code will be released as open source in one or two weeks max, they are currently cleaning the code from junk.

L-USDT is the same as Tether but not using any altcoin blockchains.
You can easily swap L-USDT for L-BTC, and fees are much lower than on-chain.

This is only for third-party partner services, like upcoming debit cards or similar stuff they are going to offer.

---

Aqua wallet just got approved and released on g00gle Play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.aquawallet.android

As promised Aqua wallet developers just released code as open source on their github page with latest update v0.1.19.
With new update there are some improvements, bug fixes and they finally added new dark theme mod.
You can download new Aqua wallet on github as apk, on g00gle and apple store, and F-droid release is coming soon.

Official github:
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.1.19

Read more information on Aqua blog page:
https://jan3.com/blog/aqua-wallet-now-open-source-software/

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2024/01/23/kQ0RP.jpeg

Good news.

I am already using aqua wallet in my phone.

I will soon add L-BTC to bitcoindata.science  (in donations page and in the balance Checker tool).

But I also found something interesting about liquid.

Ledger Nano S model (the old one) supports liquid network, while new models doesn't

Good to hear that you started drinking some of the Aqua Liquid ;)
They are also working on desktop wallet, so keep an eye on that.
Also make sure not to keep all your fortune in Liquid assets, move BTC on-chain when fees are lower.

Thanks!

I knew that ledger nano s supports liquid, but I don't understand why would they remove support for other models, another strange decision from ledger team.  :P
Anyway, Jade hardware wallet would probably be better, and you can also use Green wallet and Specter desktop wallet for Liquid assets.
I was talking with Satochip team and they think adding L-BTC and L-USDT could be an interesting idea.

After reading your info here I have installed  Aqua  on my iPhone and tested it during couple of weeks.

Yesterday iOS flavor of this  wallet was elevated to v. 0.1.22 .

The most noticeable feature (brought by the latest 0.1.22 update) is support of available  swaps on Marketplace.

So far so good, I go on with testing.

I had to update twice.. and then now I see the ability to swap.. I was kind of waiting for this feature because it could allow some ways to be able to use lightning network when the onchain fees have gone up but channels had not been created in advance.. even on Phoenix I had seen 40k to 60k satoshi ($25-$40) channel creation fees, but now they seem to have had come down into the 8k to 9k satoshi ($2.50 to $4) arena.. at least somewhat temporarily.  So yeah testing out some sending and receiving but also testing out some swapping might give some ideas regarding the competitiveness of the fees..

And frequently I am concerned about how poor people (or even people who engage in a lot of smaller amount transactions) manage their fees when they sometimes are creating a lot of very low value (such as less than $100) UTXOs, and there sometimes will need to be routes around how to maybe create some intermediate levels of holding coins.. so maybe if there is skepticism of holding coins with 3rd parties or holding on some of the lightning network services, this aqua could serve as a kind of intermediary.. but still likely not good for storage, but if someone might be building up his UTXO amount to get it to be in the $500-$1k range prior to creating a UTXO and sending to a private wallet, then this Aqua wallet might be a good intermediary way to accomplish such task.

Swap feature was always available for android version, and only reason why it wasn't available for iPhones is because of strict terms their store have for approving apps.

Not good for storage YET, but support for hardware wallets is coming soon. ;)
I would say that it is much safer to keep L-BTC on Aqua wallet or in Jade hardware wallet, than to keep anything in Lightning Network.
This wallet is not meant for large amount of coins, it should be used for spending and/or for consolidation, you swap to Bitcoin and move to cold storage as savings.

It's not as clear-cut, though. Lightning is fully permissionless, way closer to the Bitcoin ethos than a permissioned sidechain. On L-BTC you do have that dependence on the 'Liquid Federation':

They say it themselves; the trade-offs are different, not necessarily better or 'much safer'.

If you run your own Lightning node and / or use watchtowers, I'd say that Lightning is safer, since I can close channels on my own terms whenever I want, and there is no federation or anyone else who could prevent me from doing so. I have full control over my channels and what I do with them, at all times. In that sense, you could say it's more safe, because there is no risk of getting my funds locked by an external party.

On the other hand, if you use something like a mobile Lightning wallet that's offline most of the time and your channels have too short lock times, your channel partner (usually the developer of the wallet) could steal your funds, though.

The real, definitive answer to what's more secure is: 'it depends'.

That is a lot of IF's, and let's face it Lightning Network alone will never be so popular and easy to use for the masses.
I heard many issues people had with channels and bunch of different wallets, than you also have to pay transaction fees each time you open and close channels.
I didn't say Aqua is better for everyone, it's better for me and it has LN integrated, so I can send and receive LN payments also if I want.
And yes, I know Liquid is federated network, that is why I said it's not meant to be used for keeping savings.

I am interested in knowing more about the Liquid aspect of Bitcoin.

I have tested it with Blockstream Green and I liked it so far, but I need to study more about Liquid Bitcoin.

Has anyone ever used Green? I am interested in comparing these 2 wallets (Green and Aqua), but only for the Liquid Bitcoin and not the other features. Are there any significant differences?

Perhaps dkbit98 can help me? I see that you point out Green above.

I did use both Green and Aqua wallet.
Green desktop wallet is better if you want to use BTC and L-BTC with hardware wallets (Jade or ledger s), so it's much more secure, but you can use it standalone also.
Aqua mobile wallet is more used for spending and accepting smaller payments in LN and L-BTC, this is something in between Lightning and on-chain bitcoin, but you have all of them supported.
Advantage of Aqua wallet is that it has integrated swaps, and it can accept USDT from other chains and convert it to Liquid.

All wallets currently supporting Liquid assets (L-BTC, L-USDT, etc):

• Aqua wallet (https://aquawallet.io/)
• Green wallet (https://blockstream.com/green/)
• Specter wallet (https://specter.solutions/)
• Jade HW (https://blockstream.com/jade/)
• Ledger HW (https://github.com/LedgerHQ)

Thank you. As far as I know, Green wallet doesn't support LN payments, but only on-chain and Liquid.
I think Aqua also supports buying BTC, but Green doesn't.

Anyway, have you concluded which one is best for you (as a mobile wallet only)?

Aqua wallet released new version v0.1.30 few days ago so please update when you can:
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet

Liquid network released updated open source explorer version that has much more information about live federation audit system.
Design is very similar like well known mempool.space explorer for mainnet bitcoin:

https://i.ibb.co/QcyT1QD/pic597.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)
https://liquid.network/

I just received my first lightning network transaction using aqua wallet.

Very straight forward.  No need to open a channel. Very simple to use and Very efficient.

The easiest implementation of LN I have seen so far

I have no balance to check it, so please can you tell me if the wallet supports coin control for on-chain transactions? I could just fund my wallet and then try to see if I can choose coins, but I can't fund it at the moment, so I would appreciate it. Thanks.

I have only LN balance, so I can't confirm.

It doesn't look like they do. I see no option for that in the app menu

Yeap I thought so. It's better than WoS though because of it supporting Liquid and also being non custodial. I will give it a try and I will let people know. To be honest I am more interested in the LN aspect of the app.

The LN implementation is very good imo. The best I have ever seen.

I am surprised by the fact that so few mobile wallets support coin control. Such a basic feature, missing in basically every wallet. I miss coinomi  :-\

For android I would suggest BlueWallet and Electrum. If you want to have the best features in a strong open source wallet. But the topic is about Aqua. I believe they should add coin control. Perhaps the should be told that in a feature request. But as I said, I am not entirely sure I will use it, so I won't request this feature for the time being. I think about sending some funds and using it strictly as an LN wallet. But I use Phoenix which is good so far and WoS for smaller amounts which is also good despite being custodial.

Aqua wallet doesn't have coin control yet, but you can easily move coins or import keys to Blockstream Green desktop wallet and use coin control.
This wallet should be mainly used for L-BTC and L-USDT, and I suggest moving to hardware wallets for on chain Bitcoin.
For me Aqua is great wallet for situations like this when fees on chain are high.

If you only want to use Lightning Network I think that Phoenix wallet is better for that, and it will have cheaper fees.

any desktop version ?

1)If I do a swap L-BTC to L-USDT, what kind of liquidity is there? How much can i change so that the exchange rate does not change?
2)What is the exchange rate? How close is it to Binance for example?
3)Where can I withdraw the L-USDT? how to change them to USDT erc-20 ?

it looks to the be a little smaller exchange rate

Right now is its L-BTC=69,906 USD
Coinmarketcap BTC =$70,265.27



You can send any chain USDT to aqua, it will convert automatically

i mean if i what withdraw L-USDT from aqua. Where it can be swaped to simple USDT ?

Not yet, but they are planning to release it.
Meanwhile you can use other alternatives like Blockstream Green wallet (https://blockstream.com/green/) and Specter wallet (https://specter.solutions/).
Green wallet recently added coin control for Liquid assets, and you can also use it with jade hardware wallet or ledger nano s.

Go and look for yourself.
I think they are using decentralized SideSwap and Boltz, but you can download app and check there, it's free.
https://sideswap.io/
https://boltz.exchange/

You can send to erc20 shitcoin address but I would never do that because of high fees.

It's more complicated, not simple.
https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&category=16926860509083&query=usdt

Inside the wallet you can send to other blockchains.

You need to choose if you want to send Liquid USDT to another Liquid USDT wallet, or to ETH or TRON chain.

https://i.ibb.co/285jRZ7/Screenshot-20240314-165746.png

Are there any restrictions on exchanges? What is the maximum exchange amount at one time?

What's the liquidity like and how many assets can be swapped? Is this an internal exchange developed by the Aqua wallet team or have they partnered with something like Changelly or ChangeNOW to offer the swaps? I am asking because it will hopefully be a no-KYC and no AML-check swaps, and not a semi-scam service as the services I mentioned offer.

What's the fee for this conversion?

Fee is 1% (sideshift fee)  plus miners fees on both chains.

https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/22600605854747-Understanding-Tron-and-Ethereum-USDt-fees-in-AQUA

Correct.
Just watch out when you are using sideshift exchange, scammers started creating fake Tether tokens and they already scammed some users.
Real Tether is issued by tether.to (official domain) and scammers created their own fake tether with tether.rip  :P
This fake domain is still active but there is no website associated with it.

https://www.whois.com/whois/tether.rip

That's acceptable. But considering the Ethereum fees when engaging with smart contracts, the total fee is going to be much higher than 1% especially for smaller amounts. Seems like Aqua Wallet isn't taking a cut. Maybe they have an agreement with Sideshift which is outside of the scope of the article you provided.

Are you saying that the scammers found a way to get their fake tokens onto the Sideshift exchange? I have never heard of that before. Usually when someone receives fake tokens, it's a P2P deal involving two private wallets and not from centralized exchanges. 

This isn't directly related to the Aqua wallet, but then again, it could be in the future. Boltz exchange has drastically lowered the network fees for swaps between Lightning and Liquid Bitcoin. The fees have dropped from around 400 sats to 40 sats. They explain this change by saying that they are beta testing a liquid protocol upgrade which makes it possible to send transactions with fees of 0.01 sat/vByte instead of 0.1 sat/vByte.

There are some comments and discussions about it here:
https://twitter.com/Boltzhq/status/1782801788762026244

a new release of the aqua wallet has been published.
with the new 0.1.51 version (under the name 'bravo') there is now, among other things, the function of sending compatibility with lnurl pay and ln addresses
you can see the complete changelog here: https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.1.51 (https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.1.51)

Let me convey that the new release version 0.1.52 of Aqua Wallet has been published.
In the v0.1.52 release, Aqua Wallet now 1. adds mempool.space for Bitcoin fee estimates, with fallback to blockstream.info.
2. Bitcoin can now be sent with custom fees.
3. Added deposit addresses to the Transaction Details for swaps.

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/05/12/1n1Ea.jpeg

Source: https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.1.52

I noticed that if you click in the Marketplace button,  it is already working.

You can buy bitcoin with credit card or bank transfer from inside the wallet. It looks to be working in Brazil, but I didn't test it.

I hope the "pay bills" button starts working sometime , that would be quite useful for me if it is kyc free.

There are multiple ways to look at that. Aqua wallet will not know that John Smith paid his bills in bitcoin. But, of course, if you pay your phone bill with BTC, your service provider will know it's you who used bitcoin to pay the bill. Also, buying bitcoin with your credit card doesn't help you maintain your privacy through this wallet or any other.

That's not big deal to me... I seek privacy, not to be fully anonymous.

As Eric hudges said:


I don't want to reveal all about myself all the time. But I can selectively reveal a few of my utxo to my phone provider.  This is what paying with bitcoin is about.

I think it is a nice alternative to always use a cex/fiat to pay for your bills

Yes. That is functioning. Only the Pay Bills feature is still coming soon!

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/05/13/1M9cH.jpeg  https://talkimg.com/images/2024/05/13/1M8Jd.jpeg


I have tried to test the Buy Bitcoin feature with a credit card and bank transfer on the Aqua Wallet Marketplace button.

For my region, I still do not fully understand how I can do it successfully in making a purchase because on select your payment provider there are two choices and both are still confusing.

Confusing as in there services are unknown to you? Those are just financial and cryptocurrency service providers that you can buy bitcoin with.

I am guessing this is Onramp > https://onrampbitcoin.com/
It's a custodial service.

This is TransFi > https://www.transfi.com/
It allows you to buy crypto with card payments and different e-wallets. It's a fiat to crypto and vice versa exchange, among other things.

I am sure both require KYC as they deal with fiat payments.

Ooo ... I don't need to continue if possible both need KYC in terms of purchasing Bitcoin. I think if using this feature can facilitate purchases without having to complete KYC.
Okay. Thank you for this.
Besides, what for the onramp and transfi services for me to use.
It is better for me to choose to use local exchanges like Indodax and Tokocrypto to buy because both of them have finished KYC.

I haven't checked if they require KYC, but such services do 99% of the time. Being an on-ramp to bitcoin and a bridge between the fiat and crypto worlds, it's only natural that you can't use their platforms and remain anonymous. They comply with whatever regulations their regulating authorities demand from them. So, expect KYC and SOF.

When I try to test the purchase of Bitcoin on the site
https://www.transfi.com/, there is a fiat currency of my country of origin, but because I have not been registered there, so I have to register first.
With curiosity to find out whether it requires KYC in making a purchase, it turns out that transfi does not require KYC. But make no mistake, I did not continue the purchase until successful by using mobile wallet as a payment method.
It could be that for the next process it is required to complete the KYC.

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/05/15/1Tlfg.jpeg

This picture shows that I did not do until success.

---

Yesterday, the release version 0.1.53 was published.
Fix a bug on USDt sends via SideShift
Source: https://github.com/aquawallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.1.53

Perhaps it will let you start the exchange, but then to actually finalize it, you will have to submit your documents. Maybe it's one of those typical "we don't require KYC unless it's necessary", and it always turn out to be necessary.

Here is just a small part of their Privacy Policy dealing with the AML and KYC procedures that confirms identity verification is necessary:

https://www.transfi.com/policies#aml-kyc-policy

Some folks refer to that as "shotgun KYC," and surely such practices could be referred to in a variety of ways, including maybe creeping KYC - and maybe it is not even the companies purposefully engaging in such potentially higher level of requirements as they go.. and they might well start to realize that they could get in trouble, or they might even get some contacts by agencies that might be interested in their KYC practices.

My concern for services related to Fiat currency at the end will require us to complete the KYC process even though I do not continue when doing a test through transfi.
I also listen to the opinions of some of my seniors locally about the possibility of this process.
In the sentence you quoted in my opinion it's reality. And what I underlined was that it was the right answer about KYC.


I think that from a small part of the privacy policy related to AML and KYC it further strengthens that the buy Bitcoin process in Aqua Wallet using Transfi requires KYC.
Moreover, they out there are very sensitive to transactions without KYC. So that's it.

a new release of the aqua wallet has been published today
with the new 0.1.57 version, some bug fixes have been released and delayed boltz reception claims have been made more robust
you can see the complete changelog here: https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases (https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases)

I just made my first SWAP in AQUA wallet.

It was very smooth. I converted 252 USD in Lightning Network for 251 USD in mainchain, both inside the Aqua wallet.

This was fast, and cheaper than exch.cx, which was my first choice at first, but I had problems with exch.cx invoice, as Aqua wallet requires an invoice with amounts.

The confirmation was fast, and the feerate was great (4 sat/vB)

I know about this, but how did you actually solve this problem with invoices?
Aqua wallet swap was working very good whenever I used it, and I think they offered very good rates, but I don't remember exact amounts.
I think they announced support for hardware wallets is coming soon for Aqua wallet, but I dont have any details about it.

Inside Aqua wallet you can make the Swap from Lightning network to bitcoin directly, without any invoice.

This wallet can potentially be used to swap your coins to enhance your privacy.

You can send BTC mainchain > BTC LN > BTC mainchain

low fees, and you will most probably get other coins.

new release of the aqua wallet has been published some hours ago
the new 0.2.1 version, some bug fixes have been released. you can see the complete changelog here: https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases (https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases)

How effective would this method be for swapping coins? Compared, say, to the now-defunct coinjoin method?

The swap is made by an exchange called sideshift. It doesn't require KYC
https://sideshift.ai/

The method is effective, however, as any centralized exchange, some trust is involved

Coinjoins are not exchanges, they are a tool enhance bitcoin privacy

Thanks, this is a good option to know about

Coinjoin is not defunct, and you can't really compare coinjoin with Liquid network and LN because Liquid is federated and Lightning Network is tracked and monitored by Chainalysis.
However, Liquid network transactions are confidential and that is enough if you want to hide transactions and amounts from most people.
Note that I wouldn't hold large amount of bitcoin on Liquid Network, and some bugs could happen with swaps.

Thanks for this info. What are the current options for coinjoin, after the arrests and all that? I've been avoiding Wasabi, anything else that has decent volume?

You can use mixers. They are banned here, so we can't recommend them directly.

You can use bitmixlist.org  to consider a few mixer options.

Thanks, I'll check those out. I thought coinjoin was different from mixers, but I guess it depends on the implementation.

They are different  implementations which serve the same purpose: increase privacy.

Mixers are usually more centralized, as coinjoins try to implement more decentralized solutions. However,  they can also have centralized coordinators which may lead them to become centralized as well

So some trust is always involved

Sideshift doesn't require KYC by default, but they can ask for it anytime. They monitor transactions and can block and freeze coins they consider "dirty" or "tainted", according to the definitions of whatever partner helps them to determine that. Sideshift also logs your data and can share it with 3rd-parties and government bodies who ask for it. How often that happens in practice is a different question altogether.

https://kycnot.me/service/sideshift.ai

Ask that question about Coinjoin in different topic, we are talking mostly about Aqua wallet and Liquid related stuff here, so please stay on topic.
I dont suggest using of wasabi wallet coinjoins for different reasons and issues with backends, coordinators, etc.

Got it and thanks.

If you are using Aqua wallet make sure to download latest update that has some improvements, bug fixes and support for more blockchains for USDT tether.
You can now send and receive USDT from Binance chain, Ton, Solana, Polygon and Ethereum with Tron blockchain was already supported.
Fees when sending L-USDT remain minimal, according to latest comparison from GasFeesNow website, but more important that you can quickly swap it to L-BTC and than to Bitcoin mainnet.
Latest version is v0.2.9:
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/0.2.9

with or without permissioned mechanisms ?

EDIT:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5393585.msg65025369#msg65025369

I saw some more information about the upcoming VISA prepaid debit card that AQUA Wallet is planning to launch. They say it will be KYC-free, which I find quite surprising to be honest. Users will be able to load it with liquid BTC and USDT. I am not sure at this point if it will only support L2 tokens or if people will also be able to deposit real BTC to it. The monthly balance is $4,000. The card can be reloaded but not for US and Canadian citizens.

Here is a video where this is mentioned briefly:
https://x.com/AquaBitcoin/status/1902818346980003884

do they intend to make a desktop version ?

I think it's in the pipeline and it should be ready at some point in the future. But as Samson Mow said in the video that I shared above, they are now focusing on some other things before switching their attention to releasing the first version of their desktop application. Before they do that, I think it's better to implement coin control. It's 2025 and quality wallets should have that by now.

I thought KYC-free cryptocurrency debit card no longer possible due to either government law or VISA rules, so i wonder how they make it possible.

I am following them and waiting for this release, I really hope cards remain KYC-free, that probably means it's going to be virtual only.
This is another good reason to start using Aqua wallet and playing with L-BTC and L-USDT.
And for people from Brazil adding LATAM payments like PIX could also be interesting news.

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/03/27/lTDnz.jpeg

I don't think so, I never heard them talking about Aqua wallet for desktop devices.
You can use Android emulators to kind a use on desktop.

I don't see any issue with that.
Several no-kyc virtual crypto cards already exist and works fine.

You're right. I just revisit [V2] Big List of Crypto Debit Cards (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5473572.0), where it list few no-KYC card. I guess i had outdated information about it. Although it also means their card will have few competitor.

You are right, that's the only thing that would make sense. I don't think they would go to the length of trying to set up a KYC-free physical card service and ship the cards around globally. The image on their website (also the one you posted) does look like a physical card but that could just be marketing and for show. I hope the country support for these cards will be as wide as possible and not just a handful of rich western countries.

I saw a new video a few hours ago released by the AQUA team that briefly mentions their upcoming crypto card. They are talking about a VISA prepaid credit card that you can get after creating a Jan3 account. It should support all assets that work with the AQUA wallet. It will be a virtual card in the beginning but eventually they will also ship physical cards to customers.

https://x.com/AquaBitcoin/status/1911449304591684025

Some more information has become available about JAN3's and AQUA's upcoming crypto debit card. Apparently, they are calling it Dolphin Card.
It's close to being released and the company is now looking for 50 testers to try it out. Citizens of most countries are welcome to apply, besides the US and Canada. There will be a separate card for these two countries that is not ready yet.

If you are interested in testing this card, you can apply. You will need to deposit liquid BTC or USDT on it and use it to pay online.

https://x.com/Excellion/status/1911968931679703288

Aqua Wallet and JAN3 seem close to releasing their VISA credit card called the Dolphin Card. Some more information has become available about the card.

As mentioned earlier, card holders will be able to deposit and spend Bitcoin, Liquid Bitcoin, and Tether anywhere where VISA cards are accepted. The virtual card will not require KYC. The card can be reloaded with BTC, L-BTC, and USDT via the Lightning or Liquid network. The monthly spending limit remains set at $4000. US and Canadian customers will receive a different card, which is not yet available.

Some information about fees has become available.
- No additional fees will be charged by the wallet for payments besides the standard Bitcoin and Liquid network fees.
- Extra fees may apply for lightning payments and swaps.
- Sending via lightning: 0.1% + network fees
- Receiving via lightning: 0.25% + network fees
- Currency swaps: between 0.6% and 0.9% + network fees
- Converting between BTC and L-BTC: 0.1% + network fees

Aqua Wallet uses third party providers that charge network and swap fees. Those include SideShift, Changelly, and Boltz. I don't know how Changelly fits into the no KYC argument. Not only does the exchange have a bad reputation, they are also known for freezing crypto and requesting KYC, AML and SoF checks. Even if Aqua Wallet won't require KYC, Changelly sure as hell might.

Sadly, the Dolphin card will not be available to citizens in several countries. The usual suspects and sanctioned nations are on this list, but also some other countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Ukraine.

The Dolphin card will not work with merchants in a long list of countries. For instance, Bosnia, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, etc. Basically, the entire Balkan region and many African countries are cut off from using the card if they wanted to. Too bad.

Here are all the restricted countries and territories where the card won't work:

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/04/27/U2Nui1.jpeg

Source: https://x.com/criptomike94/status/1916080112342098063

note: prepaid and credit cards are somewhat converse things....

what is JAN3 ? another company ?

You are right. It was an oversight on my end. I will edit the post and change it. In their older videos on X, the Aqua team talked about the card as being a credit card, not a debit card. So, I will refer to it as such. There is no mention of either debit or credit in this latest announcement. JAN3 is a technology and financial company. Aqua Wallet is their creation. Samson Mow is the company CEO and an Aqua Wallet developer.

Latest information I have is that Aqua Dolphin card is first going to start as a virtual prepaid card, but they also plan to release physical card in future.
Good thing is that this is going to be no-kyc card, but there will be some limitations.
To enable you will have to go to Marketplace tab, select country, and than click on Card (when released).

You can find more information about Aqua Dolphin card on official website:
https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/36037146197019-Dolphin-Card-AQUA-Visa-Card

I really doubt this card will remain kyc free for long. Specially with those partners mentioned above, changelly, sideshift, etc..

But that is a nice tip. I will try to create one and use it


I found this faq

https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/36109018383515-Can-I-withdraw-funds-from-my-Dolphin-Card

Those ''partners'' have nothing to do with Aqua Dolphin card, it's just exchanges that support some of Liquid Assets like L-USDT and L-BTC.
Changelly or SideShift is used only for USDT swap transactions, not for L-USDT or L-BTC.
SideSwap is decentralized and used of Liquid swaps, so just keep everything as L-USDT connected with card.

Update your Aqua wallet to latest version 0.3.0, and get ready for new Dolphin virtual card beta testing.
New features added, bugs fixed and more details can be found on Aqua wallet github page:
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases

https://www.talkimg.com/images/2025/05/16/UUxnH5.jpeg

That is because the banks can't issue cards in your name without KYC.

Unless it's a no-name card or nominees are involved, which doesn't seem to be the case here.


Credit cards = cards not tied to a particular bank balance, but to a credit (borrowing) limit at some credit union.

Since Aqua Wallet also supports deposits in USDT on Tron and Ethereum networks (I think it's only those two), you could in theory have issues during the swap process from USDT into a liquid asset. Changelly is the party that facilitates the swap. We know their history of freezing coins and selectively scamming customers. If they tried something like that with Aqua Wallet users, the JAN3 team can always say it's not us that did it, it was Changelly that requested KYC and froze your money.

i assume those swaps needs KYC, is it true?

Potentially, yes. If a swap goes through Changelly, then we are talking about a service that may conduct AML and SoF checks and ask the user to undergo KYC. This is done on a case by case basis. If the analysis of your coins determines a connection to 'illegal' and 'undesirable' actions, you may be asked to explain yourself.

The fight isn't against criminal activity only. Institutions are fighting privacy and anonymity. So, everything you use that improves the two will be considered suspicious and is unwanted.   

I saw the card in the app.

They charge 1% fees and ask just for your email address.

Looks interesting,  it is handy for small values.

That is a good framing of the dilemma, Pmalek.

Various institutions and governments are proclaiming that they are interested in hindering criminal activities, yet there seems to have also been an equating of privacy and/or anonymity with criminal activities. 

These do not seem to be easy battles since many of us likely realize that privacy and anonymity remain important to us on an individual level and likely that many folks would end up fighting for privacy and/or anonymity if they were able to recognize and appreciate how extensively privacy and anonymity are being infringed upon in current times in the name of supposed policing of supposedly bad people.

Just look at the prosecution of developers of privacy software. They are trying to make writing code they don't like illegal. The Samourai Wallet devs have been in prison for over 400 days. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion about the wallet and the people who created it. You can love them or hate them. It doesn't matter. But they shouldn't be in prison for creating a piece of software that someone somewhere uses for a particular purpose. 

This comment is really thoughtful and it is pointing out the real tension which is between crime fighting and infringement on individual rights like privacy and anonymity has gotten blurry.
Governments and institutions mostly claim their purpose is preventing money laundering or terrorism, while I practice equipment that enhances user privacy—like coin mixers, privacy coins, or basic pseudonymity—mostly receives suspicious treatment by default.
Not as though people are against preventing crime—but we want safer systems—but when privacy-enhancing tools are lumped together with criminal attitude, it sends the message that wanting privacy is on itself suspicious which can discourage users from protecting their own financial information
It is not just about fighting crime—it involves control, surveillance, and how much freedom individuals are allowed to maintain in digital spaces. This is a complicated fight and awareness is the key

today the new 0.3.2 version of the Aqua wallet was released
the 0.3.2 contains some bug fixes for the dolphin card and the Misty Breez ln addresses are now correctly resolved to L-BTC addresses

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/06/27/UuBZZC.jpeg
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.3.2

yesterday the new 0.3.3 version of the Aqua wallet was released
this version comes with numerous bug fixes, and a specific fix for the dolphin card top-up button causing a grey screen to appear.

https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.3.3

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/07/17/UAPEkG.jpeg

yesterday the new 0.3.4 version of the Aqua wallet was released
this version comes with some bug fixes, and a new future for the dolphin card owner

https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.3.4

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/08/26/UZh9Hc.jpeg

Did any of you manage to receive Aqua Dolphin card and test it with actual purchases?
I applied long time ago but I never received anything, and I even tried multiple times to enter my email address without result.
It just shows me I have been added to the whitelist, but I never received email when cards becomes available for use.

I see tweets on X from time to time from people who claim to be testing the cards, so the testing stage is already in full swing. You not receiving the card could be related to your location. The virtual card doesn't work in many territories. I can't remember where I saw the list of banned countries, but most of the Balkan nations and our ex-YU territories are banned. It's a shame because it sounded interesting. What good does it do if it comes with many restrictions, though!?

Edit: I managed to find the source. I think that's the one I saw a few months ago.
https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/36143527953435-Which-Countries-Will-the-Dolphin-Card-Be-Available-In

This could be one of the issues, but I am sure I was not located anywhere in Balkan region when I applied for Dolphin card.
Even if this was the case, they should reply and say that card is not currently available in that location, or give some explanations.
I know this is the list of countries that are not supported:

Don't forget about the other list I linked to in my previous post as well. The one with the countries in which the card may not be used with merchants. That one is even longer. The wording here is problematic. They say the card "may not" be used. Does that mean that the card may work with some merchants but not with others or that you can't use it at all? It could be both.

I've also been on the waiting list for a long time. But I applied for the card without any expectations. I have a Russian passport, and if a crypto card has even the slightest citizenship restrictions, my passport almost always puts me under those restrictions.

But today, when I checked this thread, I found out that the Dolphin Card is one of the rare cases where citizens of many countries can't get the card, but I can? Incredible!

Unfortunately, my problem is the same as dkbit98's: the application is there, but the card isn't.

Russia isn't on the first list that dkbit98 shared. But it is on the second list I quoted that contains countries where the Dolphin Card may not be used with merchants. Maybe the company hasn't sent cards for testing to applicants from both lists if they already know it's not going to work or that it will only work partially. It's also possible that they picked a different tester from Russia and not you.

this past weekend the new 0.3.5 version was released
in this version the options for the dolphin card were optimized, some bugfixes were released and much more

https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.3.5

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/09/29/UQBtoW.jpeg

Tweeted 10 hrs ago for UK iOS users in case anyone missed it.

"UK iOS users, please read.

We had to make a temporary change to AQUA's availability in the UK App Store.

If you have the app installed, it still works, but you won't get updates for now.

This only affects iOS users.

We are working to restore it asap"

Samson Mow, the CEO of JAN3, the company that has created Aqua Wallet and is developing the Dolphin Card, has tweeted that they have sent out a new batch of 1,000 invites to applicants to beta test their cards. I remembered that you said you applied for a card but never received anything. Check the email you applied with. Maybe they put you on the new 1,000 beta testers list.

I think they should work on creating web version as alternative that can work on all devices.
This would fix most of the problems with apps.

Yeah, I received the email and I already tested the Dolphin card, I wrote about it in different topic for crypto cards.
Experience was very smooth so far, but I suggest ready everything in details to reduce fees as much as possible.

Good to know. I didn't come across that post. I guess I will eventually whenever I head over to that part of the forum.
In their most recent announcement, the Aqua Wallet team said they will approve and send Dolphin Cards to 1000 new applicants every day. So those who applied but weren't selected yet still have a chance to get their turn. I wonder how many people applied for this beta phase.

Has anyone else on Bitcointalk applied?

Over the past 6 or 8 months it seems like straight BTC (mainchain) transactions had been increasingly hit-n-miss with this wallet.  For the past month or two they don't seem to work at all for me.  Earlier signs were that it was rejecting QR codes even from other Aqua wallets.  Now it seems like it just kind of stalls.  No error messages or anything like that.  L2 always seems to work fine.

I've never installed via playstore, but a lot of my friends have.  The last time I updated I went to 3.4.0.  I'm not sure it is worth the bother of trying 3.5.0 or whatever the latest is because their are other options, and I've had to use them in order to use Bitcoin itself so I know they work.

Has anyone else noticed issues along these lines?  Is there a better thread for this on the forum?

Strange to hear that from you, but I never had any issues with Aqua wallet, and I had some Bitcoin mainnet.
You should have the latest updated version for sure, but you could also create support ticket and talk with Aqua team.
If you ask me I would not use Aqua wallet as my main bitcoin wallet, but it's more than fine for liquid assets and for new Dolphin cards.

This never happened to me.

I am receiving sats in bitcoin main net without problems.

The problem is sometimes with LN QR codes. Aqua wallets LN has some limitations, but it works most of the time. But I already had problems with its QR Codes.

Thanks both of the above for your notes.

I know first hand of at least four instances of phones with Aqua installed not working well.  Two are mine, and two are friends who I've recommended the wallet to since it was fairly new.  Various versions but I don't have time to assess and collate them.  One time the guy updated on-the-spot to try to fix the problem (QR code generation/acceptance) and it did not so it could have been an issue with QR code (unless this code is integrated into Jan3's binary.)  I use APK's downloaded from jan3's github and the other two install from Playstore.  Of course I also tried using the BTC address instead of QR, but lately that simply doesn't work (stalls) as well for the phones I have.

I did note that in a fairly recent upgrade (to 0.3.4) it was frustratingly difficult to NOT use Playstore which everything was shoving me toward, but I did manage to find an APK on what is supposed to be one of Jan3's properties, and was able to upgrade with that.

I do wonder if Jan3 has different operating latitude and/or agreements with authorities in different regions.  I don't bother with trying to do VPNs, TOR, etc.  I use mainnet mainly to avoid various conversion fees (and for a period of time, Aqua users were getting hosed pretty badly due to a fee-finding 'deficiency' which they didn't seem in a big hurry to rectify.)

Certainly Aqua isn't my 'main' wallet.  I appreciated the quick-n-easy nature of the solution (and still do), but it lacks support for more sophisticated transaction types.  And for me now it lacks the reliability.  Also, in my mind, Mow did himself no favors in the recent OP_RETURN wars so it's not worth the bother of helping improve their product (via careful support interaction.)  Just finding out if the current problems are extensive or not is good enough info for me.  I'll have a peek at some of the other options for stone-simple solutions that even my Grandmother can use (and I can use for pocket change.)  Or use something slightly less simple.  Probably I'll try the Blockstream thing which I see is out now.

Now this card is present in my wallet app. I see its number and can top-up. The BTC/USD conversion rate for top-up is 1% lower than in the wallet itself (currently 105700 vs 106750).

But without Google Wallet and without 3DS it's almost useless. I know very few websites which allow card payments without 3DS. Actually, I know only Digital Ocean. But "Cloud hosting providers" is a restricted category for Dolphin Card: https://jan3.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/41557683220891-Why-was-my-Dolphin-Card-transaction-declined

So I don't even know any merchant where I could use such a card.

It's not useless because you can manually add numbers and pay for things online, and support for g00gle wallet is coming soon.
If you really need 3ds support than you have other cards in the market, but you are going to pay a lot more fees for that.

I literally used the card on two websites myself without any issues.

PS
Note that recent AWS issues could affect card functionality.

For the record, I just sent an on-chain transaction via a scan of a simple QR, and it worked fine.  This with the same install which had caused me trouble a month or two ago.

If nobody is noticing similar problems, I have to consider network blocking issues or the continuing flurry of upgrades which the phone vendor is pushing out these days.

Most of the time updating to latest version of Aqua wallet fixes things, but sometimes it could be some issue with their nodes.
I think Aqua should add in settings option to manually select bitcoin nodes, something like Cake and few other wallets have done long ago.

today the new 0.3.6 version of the Aqua wallet was released
the 0.3.6 contains improved performance and important security upgrades to be prepared for the latest and future ddos attacks

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/11/07/U6cfpo.jpeg
https://github.com/AquaWallet/aqua-wallet/releases/tag/v0.3.6

Aqua is always adding new features. I liked it.

A few months ago they added dePIX, which is a local brazilian real stable coin

https://talkimg.com/images/2025/11/07/U6ofIl.png

this is probably available only for those who are in Brazil location.