• This opinion editorial is about the importance of financial sovereignty and how Bitcoin can help achieve it through non-custodial wallets.
• The author conducted a Lightning wallet test in rural Zimbabwe to determine the conditions for onboarding people onto non-custodial services.
• The main challenge lies in convincing people to switch from custodial services, as they are resistant to change their habits.

The Importance of Financial Sovereignty

This is an opinion editorial by Anita Posch, the founder of Bitcoin For Fairness who has traveled around the world to learn how the globally unbanked can benefit from sovereign money. In my work as a Bitcoin educator, I help interested people understand why Bitcoin is important for them personally and for the world at large, as well as helping Bitcoin community builders become educators and share their knowledge with their peers. My focus lies on financial sovereignty, which can only be achieved by holding bitcoin in self custody and using additional tools to reach a decent level of privacy.

Lightning Wallet Test in Rural Zimbabwe

To find out if it is time to onboard people onto a non-custodial Lightning wallet, even in difficult settings, I set out to do a Lightning wallet test in rural Zimbabwe with low and erratic internet connectivity on mobile data. I’m not talking about Bitcoin on-chain wallets here: There is really no need at all to use a custodial Bitcoin wallet. I’m talking about Lightning wallets here – non-custodial ones – where users hold private keys themselves without relying on third parties for storage or security purposes.

Resistance To Change A Habit

Over and over again, I hear that newbies need convenient and easy-to-use tools otherwise they would be overwhelmed and won’t use Bitcoin; this however is wrong according to the author. People who are being onboarded onto custodial services are harder to convince into stepping up towards financial sovereignty via using non-custodial tools because there is a big resistance to changing habits once someone has started using a custodial service – believing that they are already “using” bitcoin when actually they’re not taking full ownership nor control over their funds due to lack of access of private keys stored by third parties (i.e., custodians).

Bitcoin Education & Responsibility

As an educator, it’s firstly necessary to teach people about self custody, why it’s important and make them aware of risks taken when relying on custodian services instead – understanding the difference between both types of services before presenting different tools suited for each case along with pros & cons associated with each one so people can decide what route they want take knowing potential outcomes associated with each option while making sure education responsibility does not fall upon educator but rather upon user him/herself when taking decisions based off provided information .

Conclusion

It’s essential for newbies looking into bitcoin usage understand that proper knowledge management regarding storage & security methods must come first before opting into any type service/tool otherwise possible losses could be incurred due lack of awareness where real bitcoin usage stands: lacking full ownership & control due reliance upon third parties (i.e., custodians) instead self custody where user holds private keys himself/herself without requiring assistance from external entities resulting in true financial sovereignty .