flâneur

Wallet Security: The ‘Non-Custodial’ Fallacy

a16zfrontier.com · 3,707 words · saved by 1 readers

The commonly cited expression “not your keys, not your crypto” conveys the purist’s philosophy of cryptographic key management. In this wallet security model, only an individual (or a group via “multisig”) has direct and sole control over their own private keys – and, therefore, has true ownership of their crypto assets. Crypto wallets adhering to this hard-line approach are called “non-custodial,

The commonly cited expression “not your keys, not your crypto” conveys the purist’s philosophy of cryptographic key management. In this wallet security model, only an individual (or a group via “multisig”) has direct and sole control over their own private keys – and, therefore, has true ownership of their crypto assets. Crypto wallets adhering to this hard-line approach are called “non-custodial,” meaning no outside parties have access to keys. Except, not so fast. The situation isn’t so simple. A number of high-profile “non-custodial” wallet hacks – including the Slope wallet hack that…

related reading