Sling Money is a self-custody wallet, which means you’re in full control of your money. Think of it like holding cash in your pocket: only you have access to it, and no one else can take it, freeze it, or move it around.

In a regular bank account, the bank holds your money for you. They control the account and could freeze your funds or even lend them out to others. But with Sling Money, you are the only one who controls your funds. Avian Labs, the company behind Sling Money, has no access to your wallet or your money. It’s all yours to manage as you like.

When you set up Sling Money, a cryptographic key is created on your phone or device. The key is securely stored on your device, encrypted with a key from the secure enclave on your device and protected with your biometrics.

You use this key to send or receive money, and it’s protected by your device's security features, like biometrics (your fingerprint or face ID).

For example, let’s say you have $100 in your Sling Wallet. To use that money, you would need to unlock your wallet with your fingerprint or face ID. Sling Money can't access or manage your funds, even if something happens to the app.

To make sure you don’t lose access to your wallet, your key is backed up by a third-party service called Evervault. This backup is encrypted, so even if something happens to your phone, you can still recover your key and access your wallet. If you ever need to recover your wallet (for example, if you lose your phone), you can do it by using the backup from Evervault.

The best part about self-custody wallets is that you can take your wallet anywhere. If you want to move your money to another wallet provider, you can export your key from Sling Money and import it into other apps, such as Phantom Wallet. This means your money is always under your control, no matter where you go.