Live Wallet: A Tool for Actively Managing UTXOs and Minimizing Fee Burden

11 Sept

Live Wallet is a desktop application designed to help Bitcoin users actively manage their UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs) and understand the potential fee burdens associated with them. Unlike traditional wallets that passively store UTXOs, Live Wallet encourages users to engage in an ongoing process of evaluation, management, and decision-making to keep their UTXOs “alive” and usable.

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Key Features of Live Wallet

Live Wallet provides several features to help users assess the financial implications of their UTXOs, including:

Fee Burden Estimation: The application displays a wallet’s UTXOs and allows users to estimate the fee burden of spending them. By using a customizable fee rate toggle, users can set hypothetical fee rates and determine how much of their UTXO’s value will be consumed by transaction fees. At high fee rates, the fees may even exceed the UTXO's total value, rendering it effectively unspendable.
Fiat Price Calculation: Another unique feature of Live Wallet is its ability to calculate the cost of spending UTXOs in fiat currency. By adjusting the current Bitcoin price, users can estimate how much USD (or another currency) they would need to spend to use a UTXO under various fee conditions. This is especially useful for those who are price-sensitive or concerned about the volatility of Bitcoin’s price.
Multi-UTXO Transaction Estimation: The wallet also supports the estimation of fees for transactions involving multiple UTXOs. Users can evaluate the total fee burden of combining several UTXOs into a single transaction, helping them plan more efficient spending strategies.

New in Version 0.7.0: UTXO Consolidation Mode

The latest release, version 0.7.0, introduces a new Consolidation Mode feature. This mode helps users consolidate multiple UTXOs into a single UTXO to simplify future transactions and potentially reduce future fee burdens. The tool allows users to choose which UTXOs to consolidate, and compare the consolidated UTXO’s fee burden against the original UTXOs in various fee rate environments.

After evaluating the consolidation, users can create and save a PSBT (Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction), which can then be loaded into any Bitcoin wallet for signing and broadcasting to the network. This feature is especially useful for users who want to optimize their UTXO management while maintaining flexibility with their transactions.

Live Wallet 0.7.0 is available for download, with versions for different operating systems, including macOS (arm64 and standard dmg files). The source code is also available for developers interested in inspecting or modifying the application.

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