Self-custody

Buying bitcoin on an exchange is still someone else’s IOU. This page is the short version of why that matters, what keys actually are, and why we currently point people at a Blockstream Jade. A guide, not a ritual.

The exchange is still a bank

If the coins sit on an exchange or an “earn” platform, you have a claim, not the coins. When the custodian fails, that claim is in a queue with everyone else’s. FTX, Mt. Gox and Celsius were not edge cases. They were the same design: someone else held the keys, until they didn’t.

That is the whole point of this page. Not a history of scandals. A reminder that an account balance is not self-custody.

The backup is the wallet

Bitcoin is controlled by a private key. A wallet usually shows that as a 12- or 24-word backup — a seed phrase. Whoever has those words can move the coins. If you do not hold that backup, you do not hold the coins. The app, the device, the exchange login: none of those are the wallet. The words are.

Write them on paper or steel. We will not paste an example seed here. Treating a dummy phrase as harmless is how people lose real coins.

Why a hardware wallet

A hardware wallet is a small signing device. The seed is generated and stored on the device, not on your laptop. When you send, you approve the transaction on the device screen. The computer can be full of junk; it still does not get the seed.

USB into a hot computer is the common setup. An air-gapped device that talks in QR codes is a step further: the signer never has to plug into the machine that browses the web. Jade can do that — scan and display QR codes with no USB or Bluetooth required.

Blockstream Jade

We currently recommend Blockstream Jade: fully open-source firmware and hardware, air-gapped QR for sends and address checks, and built for Bitcoin (it also supports Liquid). Buy it from Blockstream’s official store, not a random marketplace. A used device, or one from a third-party listing, is a different product with a different risk.

Jade is a signing device, not a vault with a helpdesk. Follow Blockstream’s own documentation for setup and to confirm the device is genuine. We are not going to recap firmware versions or features we did not verify on the store page.

A practical sequence

High-level, not a lab manual:

1. Buy from the maker — the official store, not a marketplace listing.
2. Check Blockstream’s official docs that the device has not been tampered with. Skip random “unlock” videos.
3. Initialize on the device. Write the seed on paper or steel while the screen is in front of you.
4. Confirm the receive address on the device screen, not only in the companion app.
5. Send a small test amount first. Wait for it. Then send the rest.

Never type the seed into a computer, a phone, a website, or a “support” chat. Never take a photo of it.

What not to do

• Do not treat exchange custody as the plan. It is a waiting room.
• Do not screenshot the seed. Do not store it in cloud photos, notes apps, or email.
• Do not hand the words to anyone in a DM who claims to be support.
• Do not buy a used hardware wallet.
• Do not keep the only backup in one place that can burn, flood, or get thrown out.

Self-custody is responsibility. Lose the backup, lose the coins. There is no desk that can print them back.

This page is educational, not financial advice.