What is cashu.me?

Cashu.me is a free and open-source wallet for the Cashu ecash protocol, a Chaumian blinded signature system for private Bitcoin payments. The wallet runs entirely client-side in the browser (PWA) with keys and tokens stored in IndexedDB. It supports Lightning payments via BOLT11 and BOLT12, on-chain deposits and withdrawals, multi-mint management with discovery and ratings, multinut payments (NUT-15), deterministic seed phrase backup (BIP39), Nostr integration for encrypted backups (NIP-60) and Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC), P2PK locking, and payment requests. The UI is available in 14 languages. You can self-host it via Docker Compose (served by nginx on port 80), or run it in development with Node.js. Native mobile apps exist for Android and iOS via Capacitor, a desktop app via Electron, and a browser extension. The project is licensed under MIT.

Should you self-host cashu.me?

cashu.me scores 49/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #25 of 42 in Cryptocurrency. It has 219 GitHub stars.

It shipped 2 stable releases in the past year. The latest, 0.3, came out on 11 June 2026. New versions land roughly every 3 weeks.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Typescript.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Freqtrade (86/100, 56 088 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See cashu.me vs Freqtrade side by side.

Features

Cross-platform
Internationalization
Lightning Payments
Multi-mint support
Multinut payments (NUT-15)
Nostr Integration
On-chain Bitcoin
P2PK locking
Payment requests
Private by design
Seed phrase backup
Send & receive ecash

FAQ

Can I back it up?

Three ways: 12-word BIP39 seed (like Bitcoin wallets), encrypted export of mint URLs and settings, and experimental iCloud backup (new and unproven). Ecash is a bearer instrument — possession of backup means possession of funds.

How is this different from an account-based (custodial) wallet?

Account-based wallets hold a database balance tied to your identity and can rate-limit, suspend, or geofence you. Cashu mints issue blinded bearer ecash instead, letting you swap mints, send peer-to-peer, or withdraw to any Lightning address without permission.

What if a mint disappears?

You lose the ecash minted there. The protocol does not solve this. Mitigate by choosing mints with known operators, holding small amounts per mint, and redeeming regularly to a Lightning wallet you control.

How private is this?

The mint signs ecash blindly without seeing what it's signing, so it cannot link withdrawals to later spends. Peer-to-peer sends over iMessage, NFC, or chat never touch the mint. Minting or melting to Lightning reveals amount and timing.