Bitcoin Forum

Their is no doubt about non custodial wallet as the best wallet to invest bitcoin for long-term but their are lots of responsibilities that that is required to use a non custodial wallet.  I think it is a wallet designed for specific kind of people that are willing to take responsibilities. The wallet won't be suitable for those that are not ready to be discipline and to learn to have understanding of wallet management. 
Using non custodial wallet you are your own customer support, it is expected that users are to resolve issues by themselves and this will be problem for one that is not ready to learn and understand how this wallet works.
Users must take their own security measures that can be susceptible to mistakes and attacks.  I must say non custodial wallet is a good one but one must be ready to take responsibilities privacy, wallet security,  protection against fraud.

Perhaps all of the responsibilities that comes with a non custodian wallet is the price paid for ones security. If you want the best you have to pay more for the extra satisfaction that makes it the best, which is taking full responsibility of everything that happens within and outside your wallet.

It's worth knowing that one does not invest in a non custodian wallet rather one stores or saves his or her assets in a non custodian wallet.

Custodial wallets can seem easy and convenient, but you gotta ask yourself - do I really wanna hand over control of my hard-earned crypto to someone else? That don't sit right with me.  Non-custodial wallets put you in the driver's seat, but they take some work to set up and understand properly. 

I get why that might turn some folks off.  It's a hassle no doubt.  But for those of us that care more about true ownership and security versus just convenience, non-custodial is the way to go.  It just comes down to personal preference I guess and  if controlling your own crypto matters to you, then yeah, take the time to learn how to use a non-custodial wallet.  Itll pay off in the long run when no one can lock you outta your funds but you.

Noted. Correction taken

I see that noncustodial wallet have easy mentainance and doesn't demands frequent updates of wallet, with noncustodial wallet one can mentained high privacy in the sense that, you can hold alot of bitcoin in a single wallet address without the fear of a wallet address change as long as you have your wallets keys which gives you ownership of the wallet and can be used to recover the wallet on any device.

Bitcoin is designed for people who are willing to take responsibility, non custodian wallets are just tools to achieve that. If you're not interested in being your own bank, then stick to a regular bank.

- Jay -

You make a fair point - non-custodial wallets do require folks to step up and take on more responsibility.  And I get it, probably not for everyone.  But like un_rank said, Bitcoin's whole idea is about people willing to own their choices and  so if keeping your own keys feels like too much hassle, maybe you gotta ask yourself what you really want outta crypto in the first place. 

You have said it all, buddy. Most people happen to hear about crypto without asking about the responsibility part. For people who don't want to take responsibility for their own holdings, ETF has made it easier for them. Now they can go ahead and purchase through ETF and don't have to worry about taking responsibility for its safety. After all, ETF offers them custodial service.

While there are truly people who struggle with technology, there are some who are just lazy as well lols.

The good thing about learning how to keep safe your bitcoins is you also get to check in with your personal cyber security in general. TBH, before crypto, mine was shit lol. For instance, i was saving sensitive information on a goddamn notepad lol and has installed relatively unknown programs on the same device I do important tasks lol.

You are trying to mislead newbies. If you don't understand a thing properly, don't write about it. Just try learn, and practice yourself before writing an article like this. A custodial wallet gives you nothing except potential risk. You have to keep saving your wallet credentials for both kinds of wallets. So why do you need to choose a custodial wallet? For customer support? Why do you really need it when a decentralised system doesn't have centralised customer support? Using a non-custodial wallet means you are your own bank. You don't need any kind of support. Because everything you are controlling. Support systems suit only custodial services. 

From the day you decide to store your coins in a wallet that you control all by yourself, without any third-party, you bear full responsibility of anything that happens to your funds.
Why should anyone not protect their valuables ? Shouldn't it be incumbent on you to do so? I feel so secured and safe having the thoughts that my coins are in my own custody.
I really don't think he meant it that way though.
I think he was more of like - having a feeling that it becomes way too cumbersome to deal with, at some point. (col)

This is one of the most interesting features on using a non custodian wallet. The fact that you are your own bank and and customer service when even you encounter any issue. One of the reason a Ike a noncustodial wallet is that, it's difficult for someone to run into any problem without resolving it your self easily. All you need is to get few basic knowledge and you are good to good, unlike traditional banks that you could be delayed for only trying to upgrade your account transactions limit. Aside mempool congestion that increases the transaction in all transactions, the non custodian wallet is far better than a traditional fiat bank, all it takes is your security consciousness to safe keep you seed phrase properly.

Not at all. I'm not trying to give reasons why people need to choose custodial wallet over non custodial. I'm just trying to say it is a wallet people don't need to toll with, because its possible to  take wallet privacy granted. I'm only trying to let people to do the needful.

I agree with you, that's why I would never take the responbality to advise a non custodial wallet to a beginner I know personally. Too many errors can be done and I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for the loss of large amounts of funds from someone I know personnally. It's better to invite them to DYOR and to learn how it works by themselves than to use a rather dangerous tool.

You are following a strange line and suggesting that people might be safer having someone else keep their money than they themselves.
So the problem is that you are your own support (always available), and it is not a problem when the support is on another side and puts you on hold for weeks. In most cases, there is no big difference when using custodial and/or non-custodial wallets, equal knowledge of transactions is required. I don't know where the fear of managing your funds comes from.

You can't be a customer support all the problems, bugs and any technical issues must be reported to their GitHub page because most of the users don't have developer skills to fix bugs or issues.

Also, even if you use a non-custodial wallet if you don't know how to protect your wallet you are still vulnerable to online attacks. That is why it's recommended to have cold storage for non-custodial wallets to avoid online attacks.

It is not that hard, so stop making newbies feel that way. Being your own bank comes with responsibilities and you ought to be ready to take all that up before buying bitcoin, using a non-custodial wallet is as easy as backing up your seed phrase in a secure place and running your wallet in an offline device.

Quite a lot of newbies might think keeping their assets in a custodial service is "convenient", but you should always place security above convenience and the benefits of being your own bank outweighs whatever you think you gain when you use a custodial platform.

Taking full responsibility of your asset, knowing how to secure and protect it is the price you pay for having a reputable investment in bitcoin. Bitcoin investment actually requires your total interest and concentration to be able to achieve big from the investment. If you’re just focused on how to make more money through the investment and not applying the due process to make that dream come true, then you’re not ready and can lose everything with just one mistake.

 In as much as you don’t need to do any extra work after investment in bitcoin unlike other investment that requires physical strength or deep thinking to bring about innovative ideas to help grow the investment, bitcoin is distinct to that. So you have to sacrifice something and that is the responsibility aspect of securing your funds, and if you can keep to that, you’ll enjoy big time when your investment begins to yield profits.

There's nothing as beautiful as a man having to be in charge of his own life, and having absolute control over what would happen to his future. Thais is just how it is with using non custodial wallet,  I see no much of a responsibility in using a non custodial wallet other than the safe keeping of ones secret key phrase.

We live in a world where people have become so lazy that they leave almost everything including their privacy and financial security in the hands of a third-party to to take charge for them therefore risking their power and right to make choices and determine how things should be for them. 

Ownership and control imply responsibilities. Full ownership and full control imply full responsibilities. The responsibilities associated with self custody are not to be underestimated. As a matter of fact, your responsibilities go beyond your wallet and your backup. You also have to adopt a certain attitude in dealing with other things that may seem irrelevant.

You'd have to be more circumspect in dealing with social media, for example, or emails or browsers, extensions, connections, or even personal relationships. You are already bank. You can't afford to commit a mistake. One false move and everything may be gone.

Using non custodial wallet doesn't mean you have a privacy, when you link your coins from CEX to your wallet, they already know the coins belong to you.

Security either in non custodial wallet and CEX are nothing different, if someone know your email, password, 2FA, phone number, seed phrase, PIN, pass phrase etc, they can access your coins.

Protect against fraud, still nothing different, if you send your coins from CEX to phishing wallet, you will lost your coins.

I remember when I was a newbie, some people were willing to keep their digital assets in the hands of centralized platforms, like Coinbase, I know some people in the United States who said keeping coins on Coinbase is safer than relying on some random words, until after a bull market where some of them can't withdraw or similar problem.

People don't know the difference at times, they just give up their trust in any company they find, that was how many people got hurt in the FTX bankruptcy years ago, traders should be those who are caught in the trap but I found out that many used FTX as a wallet.

---

There is nothing better than taking control of your own life and everything, you can't entrust your money in the hands of bank alikes, crypto assets are best safe in a non-custodial wallet, and there are two types, some are non-custodial but closed source, they are not reliable as the open source wallets, they can run a code in the back and no one will know.

Choose a open source non-custodial crypto wallet.

Your level of responsibility should be a determining factor in your level of security. I see that you were able to identify privacy, protection, and security terminologies, but what are you applying these things to?. Knowing these words doesn't make your funds 100% safe, but the ability to use them to protect what controls your wallet (seed phrase) makes those words important.

The protection of your seed phrase should be your responsibility whether you are using a private hot wallet or a private hardware wallet (cold wallet). Writing it down on paper or trying to memorize it is strictly forbidden. Even copying it to your devices such as mobile phones and laptops is not encouraged either.

This is quite a responsibility that should be taken seriously, though not a big deal for those who know how to keep their things in order and don't lead a careless life.

Nothing is so perfect like excess perfect, we just have to choose the best among different options and honestly speaking, non custodial wallet is not so difficult as people view it. I will prefer to learn and use non custodial wallet rather than storing my coin with a third party, bitcoin initially has to do with privacy and security so seeing any investor running form responsibilities is not ready yet as the best option is privacy and gaining control of your coin. Sometimes I wonder about third party wallet cause from my opinion third party service is similar to bank service meanwhile bitcoin is freedom from third party so what’s the point.

If a user is afraid to have their own self custodial wallet for the reasons you listed above then to me i don’t think the user is in need of bitcoin network at all because those features above are the core principles of bitcoin. The only advantage left is that bitcoin can generate ROI and also an asset against inflation for the user even if they are stored on the centralized exchanges but at the detriment of what? Losing it one day if the platform it is hold collapses. You might as well just save in banks as they are even registered than CEXs.


Saving or writing seed phrase on paper isn’t bad aside the fact that you need to regularly back it up due to the fact that papers do not have long durability ability. The paper back up is one of the best back up to me because it is an offline back up.

Self custody is not that complicated. The most difficult part is keeping your seed phrase safe. Using a wallet is pretty straightforward and intuitive.

People do sometimes fall for scams or get infected with malware but these risks can be mitigated to a great extent by not installing cracked software on the same device as your wallet, verifying GPG signatures, and using a hardware wallet for significant amounts.

Inasmuch as every platform is concerned, not only crypto platforms or non custodial wallets, hacks, attacks and some other security issues can erupt at any time but you sounding as if using non custodial wallets isn't too safe for newbies is not a good idea moreover, no matter how a system guarantees you of security but you should also know that the highest security you can get is from yourself and no one else. The reason why non custodial wallets are advisable is for adequate security of one's assets not necessarily for long-term hodlers. How about choosing an exchange wallet address isn't that more riskier because should anything happen to the exchange platforms all your cryptos are gone for life but in a non custodial wallets, everything is under your watch and control without an intruder so it makes you feel more secured because you can access your cryptos whenever you want to because it's all in your custody.

Anyone wanting to use a non custodial wallet ought to know the risk involved and since the concept of bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general is to maintain privacy, I think non custodial wallets serves that very purpose of not getting a third party involved in your crypto affairs.
Just as the first user who responded already told you, I have to agree with him that, anyone wanting the best would have to pay an extra cost and price for the best and I also agree with op that non custodial wallet isn’t for the weak but rather fit people who are willing to up the game with the privacy.

You are right, non-custodial wallets for storing crypto are a type of wallet that is usually meant for more advanced users, this is why today, some new companies launching new wallet now have a feature that allows a user the ability to choose between two setup types while their are creating their wallet.
They either chose the fully non-custodial way which provides them with their seed phrase or private key for them to write down and store in a safe place.
Or they choose the partial non-custodial way which requires them to enter their email address, and using the finger print scanner on their phone, their wallet seed phrase or private key is automatically kept and stored for the user in the cloud, which they can only gain access to with the help of the wallet company's customer care support.

Overall, partial non-custodial wallet is a type many crypto newbies have become used to, since it doesn't require them writing any thing down and looking for where to keep it that it won't be access3d any one else, while the fully non-custodial wallet is one that is prefered by the OGs who already understands the number one rule of crypto, which is, "not your keys, not your crypto".

What do you mean here, long term hodlers have to a use non-custodial wallet that is open source, but they have to use it offline. That being said, using a non-custodial wallet does not mean your money is safe/secure, there are non-custodial wallets like Atomic and Trust wallet, but it is not advisable to use either of them, because they are both closed source. Your non-custodial wallet is only safe if it is open source, so the code can be reviewed, and if you use it offline.

It does not take any technical knowledge to write down a seedphrase and store that securely in a location. Having a diary is as easy to do as writing down your backup phrase. The general misconception around it is what scares many users away and the fact that they are not used to actually having the full responsibility of securing their funds.

There is nothing like partial non custodian wallet, the alternative here is a custodian wallet.

- Jay -

What I mean is that non custodial wallets are not only meant to be used for long term hodling alone, even a short term hodler can still use the non custodial wallets and I no that assets in a closed source is not guaranteed of security and you have stated on the need to use an open source wallets and that is the more reason why I said it is important to make sure that you protect your wallets by making sure that your seed phrases are kept safe where it cannot be accessible to anyone.

You are right, but that isn't only about non-custodial wallets this applies to a lot of things in this industry, including trading or investments where once you have done something, it is all your responsibility and there will be no one to rectify your mistakes, or make things right. This is why it is essential for everyone to first gain knowledge about anything they are getting into and then they should start using it so that they don't face any problems with it.

Newbies who aren't knowledgeable enough about wallets and how they work can barely be able to set up a wallet in the first place, so they need to learn the process first, understand what is custodial and non-custodial and how they can use them, what are the advantages and disadvantages of both, etc.

I think a noncustodial wallet Is a little bit different to use if we compare it to the ordinary wallet that we use in our daily life. It focuses more on our security then the ease of usage. If you want some extra layers of security you have to pay some expense to it.

It's just the difference that android users and Apple users have. Due to extra security apple is not that much easy to use and operate. Same is the case with custodial and noncustodial wallet.

honestly, i would rather face these difficulties than having to entrust all my assets to the cex wallet. because with a non-custodial wallet it allows me to manage all my assets and will not allow other parties to regulate what i should do with my assets. i can make transactions, store assets easily, etc., and it's all in my control. different from cex wallet, where all your activities are monitored and regulated by cex.

The best wallet that has a private key or seed phrase as a control over coins and public addresses to send and receive coins that are purchased or accepted. Something like that.
Using a custodian wallet is not recommended to store assets in the long run because the managing custodian wallet is managed by a third party and is different from non -custodian which is controlled by the owner's person who has the right to coins.

Using a custodian wallet makes it easy, but the assets available in the custodian wallet can be said to not belong to our third party.
In using non-customary wallets, we have great responsibilities and that is true because if we do not store properly and correctly private key or seed phrase, then the risk of losing our own assets that bear it. Make no mistake, by using non-custodian wallets we are satisfied with full control.

My key, my coin. It's not good if our money but belongs to a third party and we cannot claim the money is ours because we don't hold the key.

If one isn't ready to be disciplined with their hard earned money they should not invest, you can't say because you lack discipline it is a good move to give your assets out to third party for safety keep and you believe that your assets will be safe with them?

I always recommend air gapped wallet because the most common issue with crypto wallets even if they are non custodial is the internet connection, some non-custodial wallets are always online, like Electrum mobile and Trust wallet for example, if your not wallet is always offline all you need to avoid won't be as much as the wallets that are always online.

For someone who have an air-gapped wallet, all they have to worry about is keeping the recovery seeds safe, and they should never connect the wallet to any platforms.

But for non custodial wallets that are always online, you will be worried about other things like phishing links, fake tokens, fake add in history and other, even permissions that looks legit but could be dangerous.

Offline wallets are the best.

Of course non-custodial is the best wallet and is under your own control. remember that it's not your coin if you don't have the freedom to manage everything.
not your keys, nor your coins.
There have been many cases where CEXs have closed and the coins of thousands of people inside cannot be taken because they don't have the keys. So even though it's a little complicated, non-custodial is still the best.

This is probably the first lesson that I learnt in this forum as a newbie, and it's still evergreen, that I should not leave my coins in an exchange, that if it's not your keys it's not your coins, that we should store our coins in a none custodial wallet, where you're the sole custodian of your keys and coins. We can not overemphasize the importance of this advice, also it comes an enormous responsibility, you must protect and secure your seed phrase, it's lose or theft could mean losing your coins forever