Self-Custody

How Bitcoin is Stored: A Break from Tradition

When you own traditional assets like dollars or stocks, you're not truly holding them yourself. They're often just digital entries in a ledger maintained by banks or financial institutions. These custodians act as middlemen, and your "ownership" relies entirely on their trustworthiness and competence. If they fail—or decide to block your access—you lose your assets.

Bitcoin revolutionizes this system. It allows you to hold your wealth directly, without intermediaries. When you own Bitcoin, what you actually control is a private cryptographic key—a unique, secure password that gives you access to your Bitcoin on the decentralized Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin Ownership: You Are the Bank

This private key is the equivalent of a key to a vault, but instead of a physical lock, it unlocks access to your Bitcoin, wherever it exists on the blockchain—a global, decentralized ledger that no single entity controls.

There are no banks, no custodians, and no need to trust anyone but yourself. If you hold your private key securely, only you have access to your Bitcoin. No government, bank, or hacker can take it from you unless you give them your key.

Types of Bitcoin Storage: Custody is Your Choice

Bitcoin can be stored in various ways:

  • Hot Wallets: Convenient for transactions but connected to the internet, making them less secure.

  • Cold Storage: Hardware wallets or offline storage solutions, ideal for long-term safety.

The key principle is this: Not your keys, not your coins. If you entrust your Bitcoin to an exchange or custodian, you reintroduce the risks Bitcoin was designed to eliminate. True Bitcoin ownership means holding your private keys yourself.

Bitcoin as Sovereign Wealth

This self-custody feature aligns with Bitcoin's philosophy of financial sovereignty. It returns power to the individual, enabling anyone—no matter where they live or their circumstances—to hold and transfer wealth without reliance on third parties.

With Bitcoin, you don't need a bank; you are the bank. This is not just a technological shift; it’s a profound economic and philosophical revolution.

The only way to access and move your Bitcoin is with your private key—a long string of letters and numbers, much like a highly secure password. Think of it as the key to your home: without it, no one can enter; with it, only you have access. This is the essence of self-custody: you control the private key, and in turn, you control your funds. There is no need for a middleman—no banks, no custodians, just you and your money.

Self-custody means owning and securing your Bitcoin in your personal Bitcoin wallet, completely independent of exchanges or third parties. It’s financial sovereignty in its purest form.

‘If you don’t have your keys, you don’t have your coins.

They are being stored with someone else.’