The dominant way people lose funds from a self-custodial wallet is not a compromised key. It is a permission they granted deliberately, months earlier, to a contract they have long forgotten — and which never expires.
◆ Emily Volker· Editor-in-Chief· 8 MIN· OCTOBER 7, 2026
Every self-custody guide teaches you to make your seed impossible for anyone else to use. Almost none address what happens when the one person who could use it is no longer available, which is a certainty rather than a risk.
Olivia Bennett · October 5, 2026→
Every signing device has to receive an unsigned transaction and return a signature. How that data crosses the gap decides what a compromised computer can attempt, and the three common answers differ more than the marketing suggests.
James Park · October 3, 2026→
The passphrase is the most misunderstood feature on a signing device. It is genuinely powerful, it is the only defence against someone who has found your seed, and it is responsible for a large share of permanent self-custody losses.
Emily Volker · October 1, 2026→
Robinhood Puts $25M of Bitcoin on Its Balance Sheet as BTC Slips Below $84K
⌁ Oct 7
SEC Clears 3x Bitcoin and Ether Products as Crypto Lobby Bets Big on U.S. Midterms
⌁ Oct 5
SEC Unveils Crypto Custody Framework as Weak Jobs Data Lifts Bitcoin Toward $87,000
⌁ Oct 2
Daines Unveils Crypto Tax Bill as Bitcoin ETFs Snap Nine-Day Inflow Streak
⌁ Oct 1
Goldman Sachs Opens $100B Treasury Fund to Crypto Firms as Bitcoin Holds Near $84K
⌁ Sep 29
Bitcoin ETFs Attract $2.4 Billion as SEC Delays Crypto ETF Options Decision
⌁ Sep 28
Chainlink Joins BlackRock, Vanguard at Fed Panel as Bitcoin Holds Near $84K
⌁ Sep 26
Bitcoin Braces for $15.9 Billion Options Expiry as Senate Revives CLARITY Act Push
⌁ Sep 25
People say seed phrase as though it were one thing. It is three separate standards doing three separate jobs, and almost every case of a correct phrase restoring an empty wallet is a mismatch at one specific seam between them.
Olivia Bennett · September 29, 2026→
Multisig is sold as strictly safer than holding one key, which is not what a threshold scheme does. It trades one failure mode for a different set, and whether that trade is good depends on which failure you are actually trying to survive.
James Park · September 27, 2026→
Open source is treated as the end of the security argument for a signing device. It is the beginning of one. Between published source and the binary on your device sits a compilation step, and only a reproducible build closes it.
Emily Volker · September 25, 2026→
A secure element is one of the few genuinely strong components in consumer crypto hardware, and its certification is a real, audited claim. It is also a claim about a narrow question, and the marketing that surrounds it routinely stretches it to cover things it was never about.
Olivia Bennett · September 23, 2026→
Depositing into a yield vault outsources a decision, and the thing most depositors miss is which decision. You are not buying a rate; you are underwriting a portfolio you did not select and cannot see, assembled by someone who can change it while your capital is inside.
James Park · September 21, 2026→
A liquidation cascade is not simply a lot of liquidations. It is a feedback loop in which the mechanism designed to protect the protocol becomes the thing driving the price down, and it has a recognisable sequence with identifiable points where it can be broken.
Emily Volker · September 19, 2026→
Start at 10.0, lose points for documented losses on their watch, win part back for post-mortems and payouts.
FULL TABLE + LEDGER →