Start with Bitcoin: hold it yourself
Bitcoin was designed so that you can hold it yourself, with no bank or company in between. When your coins sit on an exchange, the exchange holds the keys and you hold a promise. When you hold the keys, nobody can freeze, lend out or lose your bitcoin, and nobody can recover it for you either.
Holding it yourself is a responsibility, but it is not hard. These steps are the whole of it.
I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.
Satoshi Nakamoto, announcing the whitepaper on the Cryptography Mailing ListRead the original →
The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work.
Satoshi Nakamoto, on the P2P Foundation forumRead the original →
With e-currency based on cryptographic proof, without the need to trust a third party middleman, money can be secure and transactions effortless.
Satoshi Nakamoto, on the P2P Foundation forumRead the original →
1. Pick a wallet that fits what you hold
For small amounts, a free app on your phone is fine. For savings, use a hardware wallet: a small device that keeps your keys off your phone and computer and asks you to confirm every payment on its own screen. For larger amounts, consider multisig, where more than one key is needed to move funds.
2. Back up your recovery phrase, offline
Every wallet gives you a recovery phrase, usually 12 or 24 words. Anyone who has it has your bitcoin, and without it a lost device means lost coins. Write it down by hand and store it safely. Never photograph it, type it into a website, or keep it in email or the cloud.
3. Practise with a small amount first
Send a small amount to your new wallet, check the receive address on the device screen, then send some back out. If you can, test your backup by restoring the wallet before you move savings into it.
4. Move your savings, and keep it simple
Once the test works, move the rest. A simple setup you understand is safer than a clever one you might get wrong.
5. Stay informed
Keep your wallet's firmware and app up to date from the maker's official site, and check our wallet security alerts: wallet makers sometimes find and fix serious bugs, as Coinkite did with Coldcard in July 2026.
Safety rules
- No one legitimate will ever ask for your recovery phrase: not a wallet maker, not support staff, not us.
- Buy hardware wallets only from the maker's own store, never second-hand or from marketplaces.
- Always check the receive address on the device's own screen before sharing it.
- Download apps and firmware only from the maker's official site or official app store listing.
- Be wary of anyone promising to double your bitcoin, recover lost funds, or help you "validate" your wallet.
Next steps
Hardware, software and multisig wallets compared: prices checked weekly, open source, secure element, air-gapped, and security alerts.
Back up your walletHow to store your recovery phrase safely, when to add a passphrase, and how to test your backup.
Security alertsSecurity problems wallet makers have announced, with what to do. We check makers' posts every week.