Understanding the context for self custody is a critical aspect of mitigating some of the most pervasive risks involved with Bitcoin, as the saying goes: "Not your keys, not your coins." Trusting third parties like exchanges with your bitcoin introduces several risks that have the potential to leave you vulnerable to theft, seizure and unrealized capital gains taxes.

Many of these risks can be mitigated by taking self custody. The trade off is that you are taking the personal responsibility of securing your bitcoin. You and you alone are responsible for your bitcoin. There are no "1-800" helplines to reverse your transactions and nobody can help you recover a lost or forgotten seed phrase. Luckily there are many tools available to help you achieve safe and private self custody.

SeedSigner is one such tool that combines general-purpose, inexpensive hardware with free and open-source software to provide you with a DIY signing device so you maintain unrestricted, permissionless access to your bitcoin.