Holding your own crypto.

A software wallet on your phone or laptop is free and quick to set up, but the keys live on an internet-connected device. A hardware wallet keeps keys inside a separate device that signs transactions without ever exposing them. For balances held long term, many users choose hardware for exactly that reason.

Only use wallets with a long track record and open source code, and buy hardware from the manufacturer or an official reseller. Second-hand or marketplace units can be tampered with before they reach you.

On setup you receive a recovery phrase, usually twelve or twenty-four words. Those words are the asset: whoever holds them can move everything. Write them on paper or stamp them into metal, in order, and store them in at least two physically separate places.

Never photograph them, never screenshot them and never store them in cloud notes or a password manager that syncs online. Never type the phrase into a website; a legitimate wallet never asks for it in normal use.

Move a small amount first, then restore the wallet from the recovery phrase on another device or after a reset. Only once that works do you know your backup is valid. This is the most skipped step and the most common route to permanent loss.

For every transfer, verify the first and last characters of the receiving address on the device screen itself, not only in the browser. Malware that swaps clipboard addresses is a well-documented attack.

Update firmware through official software and keep track of the networks and tokens you use. Periodically revoke the approvals you granted to smart contracts; stale, unlimited approvals are a common source of theft.

Consider too what happens if you are no longer around. A sealed instruction with a notary, or a split backup held by trusted people, prevents assets being lost forever without giving any single person the ability to take everything.