A bitcoin wallet is an app on your phone or other device that lets you hold, send, and receive bitcoin. Think of it the way you think of your banking app, except there's no bank behind it.
Until now, Club Orange has held your bitcoin in a custodial wallet that works the same way a bank does: you deposit your money, and the bank keeps it safe. You trust the bank with your funds. In our case, you have trusted Club Orange.
That model made sense as a starting point. It meant you could download the app, receive your first sats, and start GeoZapping without worrying about keys, backups, or any technical setup — low friction by design.
Now your wallet can do more.
With the latest app update, your Club Orange wallet is self-custodial. That means the bitcoin in your wallet is held by you, on your device, under your control. We can no longer access, move, or freeze it. The keys belong to you.
No one stands between you and your money anymore.
If you've heard the phrase "not your keys, not your coins," this is what it means. Your Club Orange wallet now hands you the keys.
If you're happy with how Club Orange works today, nothing changes for you. This is a security upgrade. We do, however, recommend everyone save the seed words from your Club Orange wallet and keep them in a safe place.
The app looks the same. Sending and receiving work the same. GeoZapping works the same. You don't need to understand any of the technical details to keep using Club Orange exactly as you do now.
Two things changed behind the scenes.
First, there are no more sending limits. We previously had a limit on how much you could send in a single transaction (for compliance reasons under the old custodial model). With self-custody, those limits are gone.
Second, you now have seed words. This is the important one. Your seed words are a set of words that act as the master key to your wallet. Anyone who has these words can access your bitcoin. That is both the power and the responsibility of self-custody.
One thing to know: Club Orange currently works on Lightning only. On-chain support is coming.
Open Club Orange, tap the wallet icon, and you'll find a lock icon in the top-left corner of the app. Your seed words live there.
![[Pasted image 20260413180051.png]] ![[Pasted image 20260413181741.png]]
Write these words down. On paper. In order. Store them somewhere safe (not a screenshot, not your phone's notes app, not a cloud document).
Why does this matter? Because your seed words live only on your device. If you lose your phone or log in on a new device, your balance will not appear unless you restore it with your seed words. There is no "forgot password" button. That is the tradeoff: nobody else can take your bitcoin, but nobody else can restore it for you either.
If you choose not to write down your seed words, your wallet still works normally. You can send, receive, and GeoZap as before. But if something happens to your device, your bitcoin goes with it. Take two minutes. Back up your Club Orange wallet.
Your seed words aren't locked to Club Orange. Any wallet that supports the same technology will recognize them. Import your seed words into a compatible wallet, and you'll see the same balance.
You're never locked in. Your bitcoin is portable. Club Orange is where you use it, but the bitcoin itself is yours to take anywhere.
Compatible wallets that support Spark include Wallet of Satoshi, Cake Wallet, Deblock, and Primal. More wallets are adding Spark support regularly.
Note: importing seed words into Club Orange from another wallet is not yet supported. We're working on it.
One practical note for Nostr users: NWC isn't available directly from the self-custodial wallet. If you use NWC, import your Club Orange wallet into Primal instead. Same result, and it's safer.
Update the app. That's it!
The migration to self-custody happens automatically when you update. Your existing balance carries over. Everything works as before.
After updating, find your seed words in Settings and write them down. Beyond that, keep using Club Orange the way you always have. GeoZap a city. Tap-zap a friend's message. Find a merchant on the map. Same app, same features, same community. Now with better security.
If you run into questions along the way, let us know!
