Not your keys, not your coins
In 2014, Mt. Gox—then handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions—collapsed. 850,000 BTC vanished. Users who trusted the exchange with their coins lost everything.
In 2019, Quadriga's founder died, allegedly taking the private keys to $190 million in customer funds with him.
In 2022, FTX imploded. $8 billion in customer deposits—gone.
These weren't edge cases. They were the largest, most trusted exchanges of their time. And they all shared one thing: customers didn't control their own keys.
"Not your keys, not your coins" isn't a slogan. It's a lesson learned in billions of dollars.
Self-custody is a bargain: you accept full responsibility for security in exchange for true ownership.
Custodial wallets (exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Kraken):
Non-custodial wallets (MetaMask, Phantom, Ledger):
Neither is objectively better. The question is what risks you're willing to accept.
Every non-custodial wallet starts with a recovery phrase—typically 12 or 24 random words generated when you create the wallet. This phrase is the master key. Everything else derives from it.
Recovery phrase → Private key → Public key
The math is one-way: you can derive a public key from a private key, but you can't reverse it. This is what makes the system secure—and what makes losing your keys permanent.
An estimated 3-4 million Bitcoin are permanently lost—about 20% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist. At current prices, that's over $200 billion sitting in wallets no one can access.
Some of these are early miners who didn't think Bitcoin would matter. Some are people who threw away hard drives, forgot passwords, or died without sharing their recovery phrases.
This is the price of true ownership: there's no "forgot password" link. No customer support to call. The blockchain doesn't care about your excuses.
Being organized from day one can save you millions. Or cost you millions.
The clearest case for self-custody isn't ideological—it's economic.
In 2017, migrant workers sent $466 billion in remittances to low and middle-income countries. Global fees averaged 7.45%—$34.7 billion extracted by intermediaries. Banks charged even more: 11.18% on average.
For perspective: the entire US non-military foreign aid budget that year was $34 billion. Remittance fees alone exceeded it.
7.45% of a worker's income going to fees means roughly 27 days of labor per year just to move money home.
Crypto fixes this—but only with non-custodial wallets. A Solana transaction costs a fraction of a cent. No bank required. No KYC. No permission. Send money anywhere, anytime.
The remittance industry exists because moving money across borders traditionally requires trusted intermediaries. Self-custody makes them optional.
With a non-custodial wallet, you're not just storing assets—you're accessing an ecosystem.
None of this is possible with an exchange wallet. Custodial platforms restrict what you can do with "your" assets because, legally and technically, they're not fully yours.
Self-custody isn't for everyone.
If you're not confident you can securely store a recovery phrase for years, an exchange might be safer—despite the risks. Losing access to your own wallet is more common than exchange failures.
But if you understand the tradeoffs and take security seriously, self-custody offers something no bank or exchange can: assets that no one can freeze, seize, or lose on your behalf.
For the first time in history, individuals can hold and transfer wealth without any institution's permission. That's new. Whether you use it depends on whether you trust yourself more than you trust intermediaries.
Most people haven't had to answer that question before.
Not your keys, not your coins
In 2014, Mt. Gox—then handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions—collapsed. 850,000 BTC vanished. Users who trusted the exchange with their coins lost everything.
In 2019, Quadriga's founder died, allegedly taking the private keys to $190 million in customer funds with him.
In 2022, FTX imploded. $8 billion in customer deposits—gone.
These weren't edge cases. They were the largest, most trusted exchanges of their time. And they all shared one thing: customers didn't control their own keys.
"Not your keys, not your coins" isn't a slogan. It's a lesson learned in billions of dollars.
Self-custody is a bargain: you accept full responsibility for security in exchange for true ownership.
Custodial wallets (exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, Kraken):
Non-custodial wallets (MetaMask, Phantom, Ledger):
Neither is objectively better. The question is what risks you're willing to accept.
Every non-custodial wallet starts with a recovery phrase—typically 12 or 24 random words generated when you create the wallet. This phrase is the master key. Everything else derives from it.
Recovery phrase → Private key → Public key
The math is one-way: you can derive a public key from a private key, but you can't reverse it. This is what makes the system secure—and what makes losing your keys permanent.
An estimated 3-4 million Bitcoin are permanently lost—about 20% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist. At current prices, that's over $200 billion sitting in wallets no one can access.
Some of these are early miners who didn't think Bitcoin would matter. Some are people who threw away hard drives, forgot passwords, or died without sharing their recovery phrases.
This is the price of true ownership: there's no "forgot password" link. No customer support to call. The blockchain doesn't care about your excuses.
Being organized from day one can save you millions. Or cost you millions.
The clearest case for self-custody isn't ideological—it's economic.
In 2017, migrant workers sent $466 billion in remittances to low and middle-income countries. Global fees averaged 7.45%—$34.7 billion extracted by intermediaries. Banks charged even more: 11.18% on average.
For perspective: the entire US non-military foreign aid budget that year was $34 billion. Remittance fees alone exceeded it.
7.45% of a worker's income going to fees means roughly 27 days of labor per year just to move money home.
Crypto fixes this—but only with non-custodial wallets. A Solana transaction costs a fraction of a cent. No bank required. No KYC. No permission. Send money anywhere, anytime.
The remittance industry exists because moving money across borders traditionally requires trusted intermediaries. Self-custody makes them optional.
With a non-custodial wallet, you're not just storing assets—you're accessing an ecosystem.
None of this is possible with an exchange wallet. Custodial platforms restrict what you can do with "your" assets because, legally and technically, they're not fully yours.
Self-custody isn't for everyone.
If you're not confident you can securely store a recovery phrase for years, an exchange might be safer—despite the risks. Losing access to your own wallet is more common than exchange failures.
But if you understand the tradeoffs and take security seriously, self-custody offers something no bank or exchange can: assets that no one can freeze, seize, or lose on your behalf.
For the first time in history, individuals can hold and transfer wealth without any institution's permission. That's new. Whether you use it depends on whether you trust yourself more than you trust intermediaries.
Most people haven't had to answer that question before.