Venly-managed vs self-custody

When you create an account, Venly also sets up a crypto wallet for it. That wallet is controlled in one of two ways. Which one you use is fixed by your company setup, and it changes a few things in how you build.

The two models

	Venly-managed	Self-custody
Who holds the wallet’s keys	Venly	Your customer
`address` when creating an account	Not needed — Venly creates the wallet	Required — you pass the customer’s wallet address
Moving funds	Venly moves them directly	Venly moves them using a one-time approval the customer signs
Permits & allowances endpoints	Not used	Used to set up and check that approval

What this means in practice

Venly-managed is the simpler path. Venly creates and holds the wallet, so transfers and payments work with no extra setup from the customer. Self-custody means your customer keeps control of their own wallet and keys. Before Venly can move their funds, the customer grants a one-time approval by signing a message — see Approving transfers without gas. The permit and allowance endpoints only apply to self-custody accounts. Calling them on a Venly-managed account returns:

{
  "success": false,
  "errors": [
    { "code": "invalid-request", "message": "Permits are only applicable for SELF_CUSTODY companies" }
  ]
}

A wallet’s type field tells you which model it uses — VENLY_MANAGED or SELF_CUSTODY. You’ll see it in the list wallets response.

Next steps

Approving transfers without gas

The one-time approval a self-custody wallet signs.

List wallets

Read a wallet’s type to confirm its custody model.

Glossary Account verification

⌘I

Overview

Core Concepts

Parties

Accounts

Virtual Bank Accounts

Wallets

Transfers

Payment Requests

Fiat to Crypto Payment Sessions

Permits

Allowances

Reference

Venly-managed vs self-custody

The two models

What this means in practice

Next steps

Approving transfers without gas

List wallets

​The two models

​What this means in practice

​Next steps

Approving transfers without gas

List wallets

The two models

What this means in practice

Next steps