How to keep your crypto safe in 2023: A few tips from an analyst

James Check, the Lead on-chain analyst at Glassnode, explains why self-custodying your private keys has become more important than ever and how to do it in a few simple steps.

There is no excuse for not putting a few hours of research into how to properly custody your crypto, according to Glassnode lead on-chain analyst James Check. Joining the latest debate around self-custody, the analyst pushed back against the notion that managing private keys is too complicated and risky for the average crypto user. 

“If you have gold in your vault, if you have cash in your wallet, it’s the same concept: You need to exercise a level of responsibility,” said Check in an interview with Cointelegraph.

Check argued that while third-party custody and semi-custodial solutions such as collaborative custody may appear more user-friendly for the average user, they also have their own, even bigger, risk vectors.

To the analyst, when it comes to custody, “there are no solutions, only trade-offs.” His position is that being in full control of one’s own crypto and eliminating third-party risk is well worth the effort of learning how to keep a wallet’s 12-word seed phrase safe.

Ultimately, Check believes that the amount of time and effort put into learning self-custody should be scaled proportionally to the size of one’s holdings. 

“If you’re not willing to put more than five minutes into it, then don’t put more than $5 into it. If you're willing to do 100 hours now, you can start talking about doing your significant sums of savings,” he said. 

To find out more about Check’s approach to self-custody, check out the full interview on Cointelegraph’s YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subscribe!