Blink Wallet Imposes Inactivity Fee on Dormant Custodial Accounts

Blink Wallet has begun charging a $1 monthly inactivity fee on custodial accounts that have not been accessed for over 12 months, a move the company says is accelerating a user migration to self-custody.

The fee, enacted via a September Terms of Service update, is designed to offset the ongoing costs of maintaining inactive accounts, including ledger infrastructure, compliance monitoring, and support. According to the company, these costs are otherwise borne by active users through standard transaction fees. The first charges were levied in mid-October, and fees will be refunded if users log back in within a year.

A source told Bitcoin Magazine that approximately 100,000 accounts were categorized as inactive at the time of the first charge, holding an aggregate balance exceeding $800,000. The initial fee run reportedly generated about $45,000, primarily from accounts holding small ‘dust’ amounts of bitcoin. These figures have not been independently verified.

The policy change comes as Blink, like other custodial wallet providers such as Wallet of Satoshi and Alby, navigates a shifting regulatory landscape and pushes users toward its recently launched self-custody option. The wallet, which grew out of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Beach project and is now based in Honduras, faced a security incident in September where hackers withdrew 6.61 bitcoin from custodial accounts via compromised admin tools.