October 12, 2026
Rethinking Joint Bitcoin Wallets with Fedi Multispend
People have been managing money together for much longer than joint bank accounts have existed.
In Kenya, chamas bring people together to save and invest. South Africans have stokvels. India has a long tradition of chit funds. Similar arrangements exist worldwide under different names and with different rules, but they all share the basic idea of people pooling money and agreeing on what happens to it.
Banks eventually gave us a formal version of shared money in the joint account.
With Fedi, which is built on the Fedimint community custody protocol, groups can save together using Multispend. Multispend lets groups save and manage money together with members voting to approve withdrawals.
What Would a Joint Bitcoin Wallet Look Like?
If five people contribute bitcoin to a shared fund but only one person controls the wallet, the money might belong to the group, but one person still controls it.
In this case, what’s the best way for several people to manage funds together?
Bitcoin already has a way to distribute control over funds: multisig.
With a multisig wallet, spending bitcoin requires multiple cryptographic signatures. A 2-of-3 multisig, for example, requires two of three key holders to sign before the bitcoin moves.
That makes sense when the problem you are trying to solve is shared control over keys.
But a group saving together has a different problem.
They want members to contribute to a common fund, see what is happening with that fund, and collectively decide when money should leave it.
Multispend lets members of a Fedi group create a shared fund. Members can contribute bitcoin that they moved into their stable balance wallet, while the group chooses designated voters and decides how many approvals a withdrawal requires.
Rather than giving one person control of the group's money, the group establishes the rules for spending it.
How Does Multispend Work?
Imagine seven friends saving bitcoin together.
A Multispend lives inside a Fedi group chat. When they create their Multispend, they choose who gets a vote and how many votes a withdrawal needs. They might decide that five approvals are required.
Members then contribute to the shared balance. When someone wants to spend from it, they submit a withdrawal request. The designated voters approve or reject the request.
Multispend supports up to 21 voters, so the same model can extend beyond two people sharing money.
Since Multispend lives within the group chat, the conversation and decisions about the money happen in the same place. Members can discuss what they are saving for, consider a withdrawal request and then vote on it.
How to Create a Multispend Group on Fedi?
Step 1: Create a Group and Enable Multispend
To enable a Multispend group, you first have to create a chat group.
Click on the chat icon at the bottom of the home screen and then click the “+” icon at the top right corner of the screen.
Next, Click “Create a group” and name the group, then click the “Save changes” button. Make sure you leave the “Broadcast only” and “Public” options toggled off.
To invite members into your group, click the “Invite to group” button and enter the user names or scan the QR codes of those you’d like to invite to the group.
Click the name of the group at the top of the screen.
Under chat settings, click “Multispend” and then choose the Federation you’d like to spend from.
Click on “Assign Voters” and select all of the people from the group you’d like to have as voters. The maximum number of voters is 21. Next, click “Confirm”.
In the “Approval Threshold” field, select the voter threshold and click the “Submit” button.
You will receive a message in the chat stating that you want to upgrade the chat to a Multispend group. You will have to wait until the other members of the group approve this.
The other group members will have to accept the invitation. Their status will read “Pending” until they do.
Once the group members have accepted the invitation, you’ll see a green “Active” sign in a bar at the top of the chat. To access the Multispend function, click that bar.
Step 2: Deposit Funds into the Group
Once your group is set up, any member can add funds:
Open the Multispend group from the app.
Tap “Deposit”.
Enter the amount of bitcoin or ecash you want to contribute.
Confirm the transaction.
The group now holds the deposited funds collectively.
Step 3: Request a Withdrawal
Members cannot spend directly from the Multispend wallet. A member must first withdraw funds to their own wallet, then spend them from there. Follow the steps below to withdraw funds from the Multispend wallet to your own wallet:
Open the Multispend group.
Tap the black “Withdraw” button at the bottom of the screen.
Enter the amount you'd like to withdraw and optionally add a note explaining what it's for.
Submit the request and other group members will be notified.
Once members have accepted the request, their status will change from “Pending” to “Accepted”, and the withdrawal will occur.
Step 4: Vote on a Withdrawal Request
When another member requests a withdrawal, you'll need to approve or reject it:
You'll receive a notification in the app about the pending request.
Open the Multispend group and find the request under “Pending”.
Review the amount and any notes from the requester.
Tap “Approve” or “Reject”.
Once enough members approve (based on the group's required threshold), the withdrawal is processed automatically. If the threshold isn't met, the funds remain in the group.
So, is Multispend a joint Bitcoin wallet? Not exactly.
A conventional joint account starts with an account and gives more than one person access to it. Multispend starts with the group.
A "joint Bitcoin wallet" doesn't have to mean recreating a joint bank account with bitcoin. It can mean giving a group a way to pool bitcoin and establish its own rules for spending it.
