Crypto self-custody

In a bear market your crypto often sits still and quiet like a sleeping dragon, and that is the exact moment to check where you keep its heart-the private keys; self-custody means you hold those keys yourself and no third party can wake the dragon and claim your hoard. Start by taking inventory of every wallet and account you own so you know what needs guarding. Prefer offline hardware wallets or air-gapped setups for long-term storage because they keep keys off the internet where most thieves live. Use a passphrase in addition to your seed phrase to add a hidden door to your vault, and back up recovery seeds in durable, fire- and water-resistant form on metal plates stored in separate, secure locations so a single disaster cannot erase your access. Consider multisignature setups if you want shared control without ceding custody, because splitting authority between devices or trusted people reduces single-point failure risk. Never leave large sums on custodial exchanges where you are essentially renting access to your own money and exposing yourself to hacks, insolvency, or sudden policy changes. Test your recovery plan with small amounts to prove you can restore access before you need it for real. Keep firmware and wallet software updated via official channels to patch security holes, but verify update sources to avoid fake packages. Protect the endpoints you use to interact with wallets: secure your phone and computer with strong passwords, biometric locks, and basic hygiene like anti-malware and isolation of untrusted files. Watch token approvals and smart contract interactions carefully and learn how to read basic contract permissions so you do not accidentally give a contract unlimited access to drain a wallet. NFTs need the same care as coins because their uniqueness makes them irreplaceable; store metadata and provenance records and keep wallets that hold them private and secure. Use the quiet time to build skills: learn dollar-cost averaging to tame FOMO, practice fundamental analysis so you can judge projects instead of headlines, and study signing flows so you know what you approve. Avoid writing recovery seeds in cloud notes or sending them over chat because those are invitations to thieves. Finally, treat security as a living habit and not as a single heroic act; review your setup periodically, reduce complexity where possible, and remember that owning your keys is both freedom and responsibility, which is to say it feels like being given a sword and a manual at the same time.