Introducing the Evento Wallet (Beta)
A couple of weeks ago at Btrust Developer Day in Mauritius, we quietly introduced something we’ve been building for a while: a simple, open source, self custodial bitcoin lightning wallet inside Evento. More than 80 people set up their wallet for the first time, and it was magical to watch how naturally it fit into the flow of an actual event.
We were able to zap attendees directly from the guest list of our event, and people used their new lightning addresses to earn sats playing Mario Kart Double Sats, with rewards going straight into their Evento Wallet in real time. Seeing it work in a real environment, with real people, was exactly the kind of testing we hoped for.
The public beta is now open, and this work is also part of our submission to the Time2Build challenge by Breez and Spark. The challenge pushed us to bring this feature forward sooner and to refine it into something that feels intuitive for people who might be new to bitcoin.
Why we built it
Adding a wallet to Evento felt like a natural next step. People already use the platform to gather, collaborate, and build community, and value often moves right alongside those interactions. Someone contributes to a cost, someone tips a host or speaker, someone earns sats for participating, someone needs support from the group.
Until now, all of that happened outside the app across a lot of different tools.
The wallet gives people an option to handle these interactions in one place, in a way that works globally and keeps them in control of their funds. Self custody was important to us from the beginning - we don't want to get in the way of you accessing your money!
The wallet is also fully open source because transparency matters here. If we’re saying the wallet is self custodial and that your funds remain yours, then you should be able to verify that for yourself. Open sourcing the code is the clearest way to show exactly how it works!
Evento was built by bitcoiners after all ;)
What the wallet can do
We've used every bitcoin lightning wallet under the sun for years, so we wanted to make this one our dream wallet. One that can do it all. It even works on mobile and desktop!
With the Evento Wallet, you can...
⚡️ send and receive lightning and on chain payments
🧡 zap people across Evento - on profiles, guest lists, comments, event pages
🤝 buy or sell bitcoin through recommended exchanges
✨ earn small amounts of bitcoin through trusted partners
🔁 convert between sats and fiat amounts
🛍️ spend sats through Bitrefill gift cards
We’ve also prepared clear guides for people who are new to bitcoin so they feel comfortable using their new wallet!
Spend bitcoin with Bitrefill
When you earn bitcoin as a host, what do you do with it? What if you don't want to have to send it to an exchange and go through the hassle of selling it and transferring to your bank account? What if you need to use the funds right now? This is a major issue a lot of people face when earning bitcoin. Since most businesses don't accept bitcoin (yet!) it makes it very difficult to use on everyday items. That's where our Bitrefill integration comes in!
Without leaving the Evento app, you can spend bitcoin on gift cards, mobile top ups, or everyday items without needing an exchange. For organizers, this is especially practical. You can receive sats from your community and use them right away for anything your heart desires.
Thank you to the Bitrefill team for setting us up for success! 🫶
How we built it
The wallet is built with the Breez - Nodeless (Spark) SDK. The SDK allowed us to support a self custodial design while keeping the experience straightforward for users. It manages the complex parts of lightning so the wallet can feel simple.
Our team built the wallet in a month, which is pretty crazy to think about. We had been wanting to build a wallet inside of Evento for a while, but wanted to do it the right way which felt daunting. But then in October, I spoke with Roy Sheinfeld, the founder of Breez, and he told me to give the SDK a shot. He said it would be pretty simple even for someone who had never built a wallet before. And he was absolutely right about that!
“The Breez SDK gave us the foundation to build a self custodial wallet that stays easy to use. It handled the infrastructure so we could focus on the user experience.”
— Aaliyah Junaid, Fullstack Developer @ Evento
The wallet code is fully open source so anyone can review how it works.
How to try it
You can now request an access code at app.evento.so.
From those requests, we will select 21 beta testers. This group will join a small Telegram chat with our team, try early features, and share feedback that will shape the next phases of development. We’ll choose the testers over the next couple of weeks.
For direct questions, you can reach me at brianna@evento.so.
Why this fits the Time2Build challenge
Time2Build encouraged developers to explore new ways to use the Breez SDK. Bringing a self custodial lightning wallet into a community-focused platform like Evento felt aligned with that spirit. It connects social coordination with a global payment layer in a way that supports the kinds of gatherings people already create on the app.
The wallet is still early, and feedback will play a big role in how it evolves.
2 years of Evento 🥳
Shipping the Evento Wallet is a meaningful milestone for us. I started Evento two years ago with the intention of creating a warm, accessible events platform that I would genuinely enjoy using as a host myself. Since then, Evento has grown far beyond what I imagined. We’ve now powered thousands of events across the world and become home to so many iconic bitcoin meetups, conference satellite events, hackathons, workshops, and community spaces. We've received a grant from the Human Rights Foundation's Bitcoin Development Fund (a huge honor!), started Hack4Freedom to bring more female developers into the freedom tech space, and created the Evento Bitcoin Social to create a beginner-friendly bitcoin space in Kaduna! Watching people take this platform and build real communities with it has been the most rewarding part of all.
The wallet is a new layer that supports what people are already doing on Evento. As we move into 2026, I want to keep building tools that strengthen the communities you’re creating and make it easier for anyone, anywhere, to gather, learn, and connect. Thank you for being part of this journey and for helping shape what Evento is becoming 🫶
Onwards!
Brianna Honkawa d'Estries
Evento Founder
