Keys, not accounts: notes on self-custody
A short look at what changes when the thing you hold is a key rather than a login, and the habits that come with it.
Most of what we do online starts with an account: a username, a password, and a company somewhere that can reset both. Self-custody turns that around. The thing you hold is a key, and there is no one to call if it goes missing.
That change sounds technical, but it is mostly about habits. Holding a key asks for a different kind of attention than remembering a login.
Objects, not relationships
An account is a relationship with a service. A key is closer to an object: it works the same way for whoever holds it, and it does not care who you are. That is the source of its freedom and of its risk.
“An account can be recovered. A key can only be kept.”
The everyday habits
The practical work is unglamorous: writing a recovery phrase down and storing it somewhere sensible, using a separate wallet for small everyday things, and reading what a transaction asks for before approving it. None of this is difficult. It just has to become routine.
Choosing when a key is worth it
Self-custody is not for every situation, and it does not need to be. But knowing what it asks of you makes it easier to choose when a key is worth the responsibility and when an account is the calmer option.