# Phoenix review: KYC policy, privacy and safety grades > Phoenix is a wallet operating since 2019. Its terms put it at KYC level 0 of 4: ID never required. NoKYC Score grades it 8.6/10 for privacy (excellent) and 8.5/10 for safety (excellent). In its favour: no account needed, no email needed and no phone number. No incidents are on record. Source: NoKYC Score, "Phoenix review", reviewed 22 Oct 2026, https://nokycscore.com/service/phoenix-wallet ## Key facts - **Category:** Wallets - **KYC level:** 0 of 4: ID never required - **Grades:** Privacy 8.6/10, Safety 8.5/10 - **Sign-up:** No account needed - **Custody:** non-custodial - **Fees:** Sending via Lightning 0.4% + 4 sat; receiving with existing liquidity free; receiving with insufficient liquidity or requesting liquidity 1% + mining fees; channel creation 1,000 sat; on-chain sends pay user-chosen mining fees. - **Limits:** By default incoming payments are rejected if the fee exceeds 5,000 sat or 50% of the amount (adjustable). - **Jurisdiction:** France - **Incidents on record:** 0 - **Last reviewed:** 22 Oct 2026 - **Official website:** https://phoenix.acinq.co ## What it is Phoenix is a self-custodial Bitcoin Lightning wallet for iOS and Android developed by ACINQ SAS, a Paris-registered company. The app runs a Lightning node on the phone; its 12-word seed stays on the device and ACINQ states it cannot access it. Channels are opened only with ACINQ's own node, which also calculates payment routes, so ACINQ learns each payment's final recipient and amount; the FAQ says Phoenix currently offers no privacy advantage over custodial wallets in this respect. On-chain deposits and withdrawals use swap-in and splice-out with ACINQ's node, and inbound liquidity can be bought from it; there is no built-in purchase of bitcoin and no account or identity step. Connections to ACINQ and Electrum servers can go through Tor, and users can point the app at their own Electrum server. Wake-up notifications use Apple or Google push services. The terms exclude unnamed restricted jurisdictions and sanctioned countries. Source code is public under the Apache 2.0 licence. ## What the terms say about ID Self-custodial wallet with no account; the terms and FAQ do not request any identity information, and the seed never leaves the device. ## Features and warnings - **Identity:** ID never required: yes; No account needed: yes; No email needed: yes; No phone number: yes - **Payment:** Accepts Monero: not stated; Accepts Lightning: yes - **Access:** Tor onion address: not stated; Works without JavaScript: not stated - **Trust:** Never holds your funds: yes; Open source: yes; Independent audit: not stated; Company named: yes; 5+ years operating: yes - **Warnings:** May ask for ID: not in terms; Screens deposits: not in terms; Holds your funds: not in terms; Email required: not in terms; Phone number required: not in terms; Closed source: not in terms; Nobody accountable: not in terms ## Questions ### Does Phoenix require KYC? Phoenix is rated KYC level 0 of 4 on this site: ID never required. Self-custodial wallet with no account; the terms and FAQ do not request any identity information, and the seed never leaves the device. ### Is Phoenix safe to use? Phoenix has a Safety grade of 8.5 out of 10 and a Privacy grade of 8.6 out of 10. No incidents are on record. Evidence level: documentation reviewed. ### Is Phoenix legit? Phoenix is a working wallet that has operated since 2019. It publishes the company that runs it, in France. Being real is not the same as being safe: its Safety grade here is 8.5 out of 10, built from custody, liquidity, track record and incidents. ### Is Phoenix a scam? NoKYC Score does not label services as scams; it records documented incidents with their sources and outcomes. No incidents are on record for Phoenix. ### Do I need an account or email to use Phoenix? No account needed. ### What fees does Phoenix charge? Sending via Lightning 0.4% + 4 sat; receiving with existing liquidity free; receiving with insufficient liquidity or requesting liquidity 1% + mining fees; channel creation 1,000 sat; on-chain sends pay user-chosen mining fees. Fees were recorded from Phoenix's own pages and can change; check before you send. ### What are Phoenix's limits? By default incoming payments are rejected if the fee exceeds 5,000 sat or 50% of the amount (adjustable). ### Does Phoenix have a Tor onion address? No official onion address was found on Phoenix's own pages. ### Which cryptocurrencies does Phoenix support? Phoenix supports BTC. ### Can I use Phoenix over Tor? Phoenix does not publish an official onion address. ## Sources - https://phoenix.acinq.co/terms - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/terms.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/privacy - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/privacy.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/faq - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/faq-1-general.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/faq-2-trustnprivacy.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/faq-3-lightning.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/faq-4-onchain.md - https://phoenix.acinq.co/content/faq-6-limitations.md - https://github.com/ACINQ/phoenix How grades are calculated: https://nokycscore.com/methodology