Keeping crypto safe
Who holds your keys, how a hardware wallet works, how to back up a seed phrase so that fire, thieves or forgetting do not take it, and how to plan for the day you are not around.
4 modules · 12 lessons · 42 min
Risk warning
This course is educational and is not investment advice. Trading crypto is highly risky – you can lose all the money you put in. Read the risk warning
Who it is for
People who own some crypto – or plan to – and want to keep it safe without becoming security experts.
What you will learn
- Decide what to keep on an exchange and what in your own wallet
- Set up and use a hardware wallet safely
- Back up a seed phrase so it survives fire, water and thieves
- Leave instructions for your family and recognise attacks on wallets
Course outline
Module 1Who holds the keys
- 1.Exchange or your own wallet?What it means when an exchange holds your crypto, what happened to customers of FTX and Mt. Gox, what risks self-custody brings and how to decide what to keep where.4 min
- 2.Keys, seed phrase and addressHow a private key, an address and a seed phrase relate, why one phrase opens all your accounts and what exactly you have to back up.4 min
- 3.Types of walletsMobile, desktop, hardware and paper wallets: where the keys live, what each protects against, what it costs and which to use for what.3 min
Module 2The hardware wallet
- 4.How a hardware wallet worksWhy the key never leaves the device, why you trust only its screen, what the PIN and the secure chip do and what is known about physical attacks.3 min
- 5.Buying and first setupWhere to buy a hardware wallet, how to spot a tampered device, how to set it up step by step and why to test a recovery right at the start.4 min
- 6.Sending and receiving safelyHow to verify an address on the screen, why to send a test payment, what a poisoned address is and why never to sign blind – using the Bybit hack as an example.3 min
Module 3Backup
- 7.Backing up the seed phrase: paper or metal?What a seed phrase backup has to survive, when paper is enough and when metal, where to store the backup, how many copies to keep and why never digitally.3 min
- 8.Passphrase (the "25th word")What a seed phrase passphrase is, what it protects against, why no one will report a mistake with it and why to back it up separately from the seed phrase.3 min
- 9.Split backups and multisigWhy not to cut a seed phrase in half, how a backup split into shares works, what multisig is and when the complexity pays off – and when it is a risk in itself.4 min
Module 4For the long run
- 10.Inheritance: what if something happens to youWhy crypto without instructions for your loved ones often disappears, what to write in a letter for your family, what does not belong in it and why a seed phrase does not belong in a will.4 min
- 11.Attacks on walletsPhishing after manufacturers' data leaks, fake apps, SIM swaps and physical extortion: what attacks on crypto holders look like and how to defend against them.4 min
- 12.Your security planThe whole course in one checklist: what to do now, what within a month and what once a year – and where to go next.3 min