If you read the first article in this section you’ll be familiar with the concept of custody, which is central to cryptocurrency ownership. Custody refers to how you manage responsibility for the one critical piece of information that enables control of your crypto – a Private Key or Seed.
As cryptocurrency works without a central authority like a bank, possession is ownership, and simply boils down to one of the most important ideas you can learn: ‘Not your keys, not your coins’
Custody simply refers to the two options for ultimate responsibility of those keys; you can assume full responsibility yourself, or trust someone else to look after it.
- Look after crypto yourself – non-custodial
- Trust someone else to look after your crypto – Use a custodial service
It is up to you to decide which option is best for you, understanding the threats to loss and theft specific to the two options – Custodial & Non-Custodial.
Your decision will also be dependent on how much crypto you own, which in turn will relate to the severity of potential risks to its security..
| Threat | Relevant to Custodial or Non-Custodial |
| Loss of data/access details | Both |
| Phishing | Both |
| Brute Force Attack | Custodial |
| SMS Hijacking | Custodial |
| DNS Spoofing | Both |
| In person attack | Non-Custodial |
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