Bitcoin glossary
Self-custody
Holding your own keys, so no company stands between you and your bitcoin.
Self-custody means holding the private keys to your bitcoin yourself — in a mobile wallet, hardware wallet, or multisig setup — rather than leaving coins on an exchange. Your bitcoin then cannot be frozen, lent out, or lost in a company collapse, because no company controls it.
The trade is responsibility: there is no password reset. The collapses of custodians (Mt. Gox through FTX) are why “withdraw to self-custody” is the most repeated advice in Bitcoin.
The live number
Self-custody wallets compared