ZEUS

An AGPL-licensed mobile Bitcoin and Lightning wallet that either runs a node on the phone or drives a node the user already owns.

Most mobile Lightning wallets ask you to trust their server. ZEUS was built the other way round: it started as a remote control for a node you already run.

The repository dates from February 2019 and the licence file carries "Copyright (C) 2019, Evan Kaloudis" under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3, with a contact address for anyone wanting a dual-licensing arrangement. The app is written in TypeScript and React Native, and ships on Android through Google Play, F-Droid and Zapstore, and on iOS through the App Store.

The connection model is the interesting part. ZEUS talks to LND, to Core Lightning, and to LNDHub instances, so a person running their own node at home gets a phone interface to it without handing the keys to anyone. It can also run an embedded node on the device itself, with both LND and LDK backends in the tree, which covers the person who wants self-custody but does not want a machine at home. The same app therefore serves two quite different users, and channel management, routing and on-chain operations are all exposed rather than hidden.

The commercial side is documented on the app stores and on the project's website. Both listings give the developer as Atlas 21 Inc., the site's footer carries the same company's copyright, and the app's privacy notice names Atlas 21 Inc. as the author. The company also sells an enterprise service, ZEUS White, under its own terms. Its place of incorporation is not published, so no jurisdiction is recorded here.

The tradeoff of the design is real and should be named. A wallet that runs the node gives the user the keys and also the entire responsibility for backups, channel state and recovery. That is the cost of nobody else being able to freeze the funds.

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