### Self custody is the most secure method to own and manage your digital assets (crypto). When you use self-custody, you control your private keys. This means you - and only you - can access and control your digital assets for as long as your private key is secure. Keep your private key safe and your tokens, coins, and NFTs will remain entirely yours to access, manage, and control.

#### The Benefits of Self Custody

1. Security. Self-custody means you don't need a third party service to move, control, store, sell, or acquire your digital assets.

2. Pay only network fees. Since you won't be relying on a third party service, you avoid fees that centralized exchanges charge users. Your only costs will be network fees.

3. Sovereignty / Full Ownership. Self-custody means you are the true owner of the digital assets in a wallet.

#### The Risks of Self-Custody

1. Challenges in Private Key Management. It is not easy to remember a private key, or even the mnemonic phrase used to generate it. Therefore, a user must have a system to securely store or remember the private key.

2. Loss of Crypto. Forgetting the private key or losing the recovery method means loss of the funds if the wallet can no longer be accessed.

3. Theft of the private key can lead to loss of all funds. Since the private key is the only necessary tool to authenticate and authorize transactions on your behalf, it can be stolen, resulting in the theft of all funds remaining in the wallet.


If you are looking to own and manage your digital assets using self-custody, you have many options:

**1. Cold Self-Custody Wallets**

A cold wallet is not connected to the internet and they store your private keys offline. Ledger and Trezor are examples of these wallets.

**2. Hot Self-Custody Wallets**

A hot self-custody wallet is connected to the internet, but does not sign or store private keys online. The difference between a hot and cold wallet is a cold wallet will never have internet access. Cold wallets rely on middleware to enable use of decentralized finance applications, while hot self-custody wallets natively allow users to browse and access decentralized applications through the wallet browser.

Metamask and Trust Wallet are examples of hot self-custody wallets.

***Ready to Dive into Self-Custody? Read our [Guide](https://www.cryptoflash.report/articles/how-to-take-self-custody-of-your-crypto).***


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