Security & Risk
Also: not your keys, self-custody principle
Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins
The principle that holding crypto on an exchange means the exchange controls it — not you.
'Not your keys, not your coins' is a foundational self-custody principle: if you don't control the private keys to a wallet, you don't truly own the assets in it. Exchange-held funds are IOUs from the exchange — they can be frozen, lost in a hack, or misappropriated, as FTX dramatically demonstrated in 2022. The principle advocates for moving assets to self-custodied wallets for any holdings intended as long-term storage.
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