Security & Self-Custody

Protect your crypto: seeds, phishing, hardware, threat models.

Self-custody is hard because attacks are creative. This collection walks through the threats that actually catch users: phishing pages, fake support DMs, malicious dApps, lost seeds, and how SSP's 2-of-2 model neutralises most of them.

Navy SSP cover for Self-custody checklist for your first $1,000, with wallet, key, shield and fingerprint icons over a dark gradient

Self-custody checklist for your first $1,000 — the concrete starter playbook

Eight ordered steps to set up SSP 2-of-2, write down both seeds, test recovery, and move your first $1,000 off the exchange in one afternoon.

8 min read
Navy SSP cover for Self-custody without going to cold storage, with wallet, key, shield and lightning icons over a dark gradient

Self-custody without going to cold storage — the middle path most users need

Self-custody isn't a single setup. The right point on the spectrum is warm storage — a multisig you actually use — not air-gapped cold storage.

8 min read
Navy SSP cover for What self-custody actually requires of you, with key, shield, fingerprint and CPU icons over a dark gradient

What self-custody actually requires of you — the honest list

Backups, opsec, device management, recovery planning, time and attention — the five-category bill self-custody puts on you, no marketing softening.

8 min read
Navy SSP cover for The 7 failure modes exchanges can suffer, with shield, lock, hidden-eye and lightning icons over a dark gradient

The 7 failure modes exchanges can suffer (and what each one looks like)

Insolvency, hacks, freezes, exit scams, sanctions, KYC locks, withdrawal halts — the seven ways your funds can leave a custodial exchange.

9 min read
Navy SSP cover for Custodial vs. non-custodial wallets, with wallet, key, shield and CPU icons over a dark gradient

Custodial vs. non-custodial wallets: definitions, trade-offs, and the wallets that quietly are one

What custodial vs. non-custodial actually means, the 12-word test that tells them apart, the wallets that pretend to be one and aren't.

7 min read
Navy SSP cover with wallet, key, shield and CPU icons over a dark gradient, opening the Self-Custody Fundamentals series

Not your keys, not your coins: where the phrase came from and why it keeps coming true

Origin and meaning of the most-repeated and most-ignored sentence in crypto, with Mt. Gox, Celsius, and FTX case studies, and when ignoring it is rational.

7 min read
A vault icon shielding a user wallet from an exchange logo, indicating self-custody

Why self-custody matters now

Self-custody means you hold the keys. Here's what custodial failure actually looks like, what self-custody is, and the honest trade-offs.

5 min read
Twelve-word seed phrase printed on a paper card next to a hardware wallet

Seed phrase best practices

What a seed phrase actually is, how to store it without losing it or leaking it, and how SSP's 2-of-2 multisig changes the threat model.

7 min read