TL;DR
Liana is a free desktop wallet where your normal key can always spend, and a recovery key, for example for your heirs, can only spend coins that haven’t moved for a set time. That means you have to refresh your coins before the timelock runs out. It works with Ledger and BitBox02, but Trezor isn’t on its list. I haven’t used Liana myself; this is based on the developer’s own documentation, checked October 2026.
The big question with any self-custody setup is what happens if you’re no longer around. My inheritance article solves it with a sealed letter: your family gets two of the three seed backups and the instructions. Liana takes a different route. It lets you write the inheritance rule into the wallet itself, enforced by the Bitcoin network.
What Liana is
Liana comes from Wizardsardine. The wallet is open source and free; there’s also a paid Liana Business service for organizations. The latest release when I checked was version 15.0 (August 1, 2026), for Windows, macOS and Linux. It talks to the Bitcoin network through a Bitcoin Core full node (pruned, under 20 GB according to its documentation) or through an Electrum server.
Under the hood Liana uses miniscript, a standard way to write spending conditions that wallets and hardware devices can read and check. A Liana wallet has two kinds of spending paths:
- Primary path: the key or keys you use every day. It can spend at any time.
- Recovery path: one or more other keys that can only spend a coin after it has sat unmoved for a number of blocks you choose.
Either path can itself be a multisig. Liana’s own example: the owner’s key spends any time, and any 2 of 3 family keys can spend after a year of inactivity.
How the timelock works
Liana uses a relative timelock. The clock starts per coin, when that coin confirms in your wallet. It’s counted in blocks, roughly one every ten minutes, so a year is about 52,560 blocks. The Bitcoin rules for relative timelocks allow at most 65,535 blocks, a bit over 15 months.
A simplified version of the spending rule looks like this. A real Liana descriptor is longer and has the full public keys and a checksum:
wsh(or_d(pk(PRIMARY),and_v(v:pkh(RECOVERY),older(52560))))Read it as: the primary key can sign, or the recovery key can sign once the coin is 52,560 blocks old. As with any multisig, this descriptor is essential. Liana’s documentation is blunt about it: without the descriptor you won’t be able to recover from your backup.
Refreshing coins before the timelock expires
This is the part that needs discipline. If a coin is older than the timelock, the recovery key can spend it, whether you’re alive or not. To keep the recovery path closed, every coin has to move at least once per period. Liana has a shortcut for this: it sends the coins to a new address in your own wallet. Each refresh is a normal transaction with a normal fee.
Pick a timelock you’ll actually keep up with. A year with a reminder on your calendar is easier than three months. And treat the recovery key as a real key: whoever holds it can take the coins as soon as you forget a refresh.
Which hardware wallets work
Liana needs signing devices that understand miniscript. Its list of supported devices, in the developer’s documentation:
| Device | Native SegWit (P2WSH) | Taproot |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger (Bitcoin app) | 2.1.0 and later | 2.2.1 and later |
| BitBox02 | Firmware 9.15.0 | Firmware 9.21.0 |
| Jade and Jade Plus | Firmware 1.0.30 | Not yet |
| Coldcard | Edge firmware only | Edge 6.3.3 and later |
| Specter DIY | 1.5.0 and later | 1.9.0 and later |
| Krux | v25.03.0, via SD card | v25.03.0, via SD card |
| Trezor | Not listed | Not listed |
So of the three devices in my setup, the Ledger Nano S Plus and the BitBox02 are supported, and the Trezor Safe 5 isn’t. If you use a Coldcard, first read the July 30, 2026 Coldcard alert: seeds made on affected firmware were generated with weak randomness and should be replaced, Liana or not.
Compare with a plain 2-of-3
| 2-of-3 multisig (this guide) | Liana with a timelocked recovery key | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can spend today | Any two of three keys | The primary key(s) |
| Heirs need | Two seeds + descriptor + instructions | The recovery key + descriptor, after the timelock |
| Upkeep | A yearly check | Refresh every coin before the timelock runs out, plus a yearly check |
| If you forget | Nothing happens | The recovery path opens |
| Software | Sparrow, Nunchuk, Electrum and others | Liana; Bitcoin Core 25.0 and later can also recover it |
| Hardware in my setup | All three | Ledger and BitBox02; not Trezor |
| Connects through | A public Electrum server or your own node | Its own Bitcoin Core node or an Electrum server |
The plain 2-of-3 is simpler and nothing changes if you stop paying attention. The weak point is the human part: the letter, and the people who have to find two seeds and follow the steps. Liana trades that for a rule in the wallet, at the cost of regular refreshes and newer, less widely supported software.
My pick
I stick with the 2-of-3 from the setup guide and a sealed letter, because it works with all three of my devices and doesn’t depend on me remembering to move coins. Liana is worth a look if you want an heir to need only one key, and only after a long period of inactivity. Try it on testnet or with a small amount first, and rehearse the recovery path the way step 10 does for the multisig.
Common mistakes
- Setting a short timelock and then missing a refresh. The recovery key can spend from that moment.
- Backing up the seeds but not the descriptor. Without it, a timelocked wallet is very hard to find again.
- Giving the recovery seed to an heir without a sealed, safe place to keep it. They hold a real key.
- Expecting a Trezor to sign. It isn’t on Liana’s list of supported devices.