Is Your Bitcoin SAFE!? Here’s How To Self Custody It NOW!!

The second sort of category of things you 
need to consider when you're holding your   Own cryptocurrencies by yourself is how will 
you retrieve and use it do you need a hardware   Wallet do does that Hardware wallet require its 
own battery power or does it require a separate   Device is that something that you want to have be 
part of a retrieval and use mechanism or do you   Want it to be something that can very easily be 
passed on and I brought some visual aids for that   Got a device here that's by elliepal called the 
Titan mini right it's it they say it's mini but   You know it's not tiny exactly it does have its 
own battery though and it can be operated without   The use of a secondary device or a computer same 
with the foundation devices passport too Bitcoin   Only but if that describes a member of your 
audience it's absolutely Best in Class nothing   Comes close and uh has its own battery has its 
own operating system has its own encrypted backup   System that would allow you to make backups make 
backups of your backups and store those in various   Places which we'll talk about in a minute and 
then of course they're The Usual Suspects between   Ledger and trezor um they're they're trusted 
by millions they are battle tested and there's   So much documentation on how they work [Music] 
your cryptocurrency is at risk if you leave it   On an exchange or with any kind of centralized 
third party there are ways to protect your   Cryptocurrency but you have to take responsibility 
there are a lot of questions how do I do that   Where do I start well today we are joined by 
Seth mind your Biz he is a tech trainer former   Microsoft Google Samsung Dell besides Satoshi 
Nakamoto himself this is the guy to talk to to   Learn everything we need to know about how best to 
protect your valuable cryptocurrency Seth how are   You doing today I'm doing great thank you so much 
I I am going to ask you to walk back that comment   About me being second only to Satoshi I think 
that uh Craig Wright would take exception to that   Just throwing that out there Seth Seth Seth for 
the folks at home can you please give our audience   Your background I've known you for a while but 
for the folks at home tell us about your Tech   Background absolutely so as you mentioned before 
uh last major Tech Fortune 50 company that I   Worked for was Microsoft and my job role there 
was a senior National trainer um I ushered in   The era of Windows 10 if you remember when that 
was all being rolled out and so in some small   Way I feel responsible for all of the Telemetry 
and and frankly spying that these companies do   On people because I I worked with these sales 
people who made it seem like a convincing thing   To adopt in our lives so since that time I've 
really gone head first into the free and open   Source software movement the digital personal 
identifying information encryption movement I   Love what the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 
groups like it are doing in the space and so I   Fancy myself not only a privacy Advocate but now 
a cryptocurrency educator and like you mentioned   A still just a tech trainer but that I've really 
focused on those technologies that help empower   The individual and a lot of them well they're 
free and open source but they're also Priceless so  

Yeah that's that's where I'm at now I love it so 
let's jump right into it I mean first of all Seth   Why is self-custody so important self-custody is 
everything in a world where the cloud makes it   Convenient to just leave all of your photos 
with them convenient to leave all of your   Contact information with them and convenient to 
sometimes even write your personal Communications   Like you know when you're in Gmail having an 
email Auto drafted for you and auto completing   Your sentences if we don't watch ourselves and we 
don't start to take a little more accountability   For owning all these things we may find that that 
even our very brain power and our own identities   Are being taken over by some kind of an AI or 
algorithm somewhere so it is in part it's being   A sovereign individual it's being a person 
that can grow and and has the opportunity to   Make mistakes along the way too during that that 
growth period and that requires that you not be   Canceled over making dumb mistakes or saying dumb 
things or maybe spending on something that you   Didn't want somebody else to know that you spent 
something on because you view it as a mistake   And uh and yeah if we don't know how to properly 
take care of our own uh Speech and our own spend   Then we can't have that future that's taken away 
from us so too much convenience is a bad thing   So I want to know how to solve custody there's 
so many different you know things I don't know   Where to begin Seth help me understand how 
best I can do this All right so I'm using   A free tool at diagrams.net this is free and open 
source and there is a desktop application if you   Wanted to just write notes like this and save 
it to whatever cloud storage or locally if you   Felt like it this is a written out guideline and 
the very first step Aaron is threat modeling and   Most people ask what's thread modeling well 
very simply it's paying attention to every   Possible attack surface that you have in terms 
of your self-custody for cryptos right to ensure   Your speech and your spending specifically um not 
necessarily in that order but but you're spending   With crypto and you've got to pay attention 
to the minute threats that are social you   May live in a place where for whatever reason 
people around you just view owning your own   Cryptocurrency and holding your own cryptocurrency 
as a problem and so they may be willing to create   Additional issues for you in holding your own 
cryptocurrencies it may be political you may   Live in a territory of the world where there's a 
shifting landscape in the regulatory environment   And you're not really certain what that's going 
to look like from from one day to the next here   In the United States I think I mentioned this 
to Austin the last time I was on your Channel   From one day to the next we were able to recommend 
tornado cash without any concern at all and the   Following day it was totally illegal we would have 
been committing a an act of treason against our   Government based on the U.S treasury's mandate 
not to use this tool and so that can change we   Need to factor that in when we're figuring out how 
to custody our crypto assets and then Financial   Threats would be such as a bank or other lending 
institution any other financial services that you  

Interact with on a regular basis who might make 
your life difficult as you transition from letting   Somebody else custody your crypto to holding it 
yourself in addition that threat model needs to   Include succession planning Aaron I don't know 
if anyone's told you lately but um at the end I'm   Going to give you a spoiler for life at the end 
everybody dies and yeah what there's yeah there's   No avoiding it that's a spoiler right it's like 
it's like if you ever watched that Titanic about   Sinks in the end we all like all of our boats 
sink in the end and so knowing what to do with our   Cryptocurrencies at the end if we're not careful 
we can take it with us or we can functionally do   What's called a coin burn and there are millions 
of Bitcoin already that have been lost because   Of this people not making sure that anyone else 
could use their crypto after they died and having   Those coins no longer be retrievable are there 
people that I want to make sure have access if   So who's on that short list and how do I share 
that with them so asking the question is the   Very first step you will find Solutions there 
are there are many I'm not going to mention any   Of those by name right now but multisig is just 
one that I'll mention early on partial custody   Would be such as a multi-sig it may be for the 
purpose of wealth preservation uh vis-a-vis and   Ira or a living trust or something else where 
there needs to be a third party executor based   On the way that those instrument governments are 
set up today for other asset classes you would   Need to ensure that to be compliant that you have 
partial custody of your cryptos with that person   Or with that executor and I know it doesn't fit 
perfectly the ethos of the cyberpunk only the you   Know Sovereign self-custody but there are some 
people for whom that's the only option there's   Some people who have special circumstances or 
special needs in their family literally somebody   Who may not be uh who may be aging out of their 
ability to custody their own their own cryptos   And so knowing how how that looks that's where 
compromise May been and you need to pay very close   Attention in that first step of threat modeling 
to any potential threats in that partial custody   Scheme that you choose so just know estate 
planning is messy in the best of circumstances   It's messy but with crypto it's actually even 
more difficult so so tackle those hard questions   As early as you can and have that you know be 
formulating that plan while you do that those   Are all things that the audience at home needs 
to think about when doing this themselves they're   Not going to get into specifics for those right 
here but when you're doing this yourself these   Are all things you need to think about 100 and 
if you need to include the advice of a certified   Financial planner or a certified financial advisor 
somebody who has those credentials by all means in   The end they're probably worth their fee go find 
somebody who has expertise with cryptocurrencies   And then work with them because they will 
save your family a lot of Heartache in the end   Um Aaron I know that you've been in the space 
long enough that you and I both we have edge   Cases and in our friends and family where there 
has been tragic loss of life and associated with  

It tragic loss of their cryptocurrencies with 
no ability to take care of those who are left   Behind so this is an important question to tackle 
early on the second sort of category of things you   Need to consider when you're holding your own 
cryptocurrencies by yourself is how will you   Retrieve and use it do you need a hardware wallet 
do does that Hardware wallet require its own   Battery power or does it require a separate device 
is that something that you want to have be part of   The retrieval and use mechanism or do you want it 
to be something that can very easily be passed on   And I brought some visual aids for that got advice 
here that's uh that's by elliepal called the Titan   Mini right it's it they say it's mini but you 
know it's not tiny exactly it does have its own   Battery though and it can be operated without 
the use of a secondary device or a computer   Same with the foundation devices passport to 
bitcoin only but if that describes a member   Of your audience it's absolutely Best in Class 
nothing comes close and uh has its own battery   Has its own operating system has its own encrypted 
backup system that would allow you to make backups   Make backups of your backups and store those in 
various places which we'll talk about in a minute   And then of course they're The Usual Suspects 
between Leisure Ledger Ledger and trezor   Um they're they're trusted by millions they are 
battle tested and there's so much documentation on   How they work that uh that it's easy to know how 
those will work for you but could a third party   If they needed to and they were authorized by you 
could they pick up that device could they use it   Plan for that and then of course being able to use 
multiple signatures to secure your funds between   Maybe yourself and a uh an executor of your estate 
or yourself and a trusted loved one loved one or   A family member a friend that's something you 
have to figure out in terms of retrieval and use   Could you do this alone could you do this or could 
somebody else do it if you were incapacitated or   Unavailable and how many people would it take 
so those are questions again that I don't have   A hard answer to anybody in your audience but that 
they'll have to ask themselves and figure out for   Their situation I like it dude very helpful I 
think when people come in they just they hear   Ledger or treasure but they don't really think 
about some of this other stuff yeah it it I've I   Mean part of what I do right now is I've helped in 
uh working with the compliance the finance and the   Executive as well as operations teams of a uh of a 
a talent management agency that needed to custody   Its own crypto and had to work with all those 
four departments to gain mind share in coming   Up with a proper threat model and the proper 
procedure for accepting cryptocurrencies paying   Out cryptocurrencies accounting for them this 
can look very different between institutions and   Individuals but the questions are the same so yeah 
appreciate that the last part is the one that most   People jump into and like you said they're like oh 
cool well I see a referral Link in the description   Which it's a good idea to have these tools right 
but they are just tools until you have a plan   And they normally jump to this one and that is 
your plan is really just a preemptive response  

To threats and if you haven't thought through 
those threats you're not really working through   A plan you're just grabbing another tool you 
need to figure out how to use it with that plan   So yeah maybe get a hardware wallet maybe 
get an offline seed phrase backup it can be   A metal plate or it can be one of these resin 
dipped paper you know devices or it can be uh   Still in folio or block yeah the stonefolio 
where you write in it with glow-in-the-dark   Ink or something what or yeah there are so many 
different solutions there but again based on your   Threat model you'll know what's right for you so 
don't get hung up on the exact like how figure out   Like what you're defending against and why and 
then the how becomes a lot more obvious for you   Um and then what I will say is these last two 
points Aaron these are very near and dear to   Me because a lot of people they don't know it 
yet but they they get to that final test maybe   Somebody in their life is passing away maybe they 
themselves don't know that they're about to to   Face the ultimate test of their security model and 
it fails because they don't have a backup in the   Data security of the infosec communities there's 
this joke that one equals zero and two equals one   That has to do with backups if you only had one 
uh one device that contained everything without a   Backup then that means that if this is broken you 
don't have anything at all if you had two right   Two wallets that mirrored the same seed phrase 
or that had the same information on it then all   Of a sudden if you're if one gets destroyed or is 
missing or compromised you still have actually one   So backing up your backups is essential that's why 
I like for the bitcoiners in the audience that's   Why I'm I'm so happy that the foundation device is 
uh crew send me this for evaluation and I love the   Way that it works because it actually has a full 
backup that is encrypted so you could put this   Say in a safety deposit box without concern um 
which brings me to the last point encryption   Is not a crime at least not yet um not here in 
the United States it depends on no no you're if   You're a ham radio operator right if you're you're 
a shortwave radio operator actually encryption is   A crime don't do that like there there are some 
limitations to encryption just like how there's   Some limitations to to free speech you can't 
walk into a theater and say certain things   Really loud right you will get arrested um if you 
if you try that out can't walk into an airport   Or onto an airplane and just and just Shout 
Whatever words you want some words will get you   Forcefully ejected but with that with encryption 
you can take the backups of your seed phrase you   Can take the backups of your wallet information 
and you can just know that if this fell into   Somebody else's hands you could hand it straight 
over to whoever you you view your adversary to   Be maybe it's your mother-in-law but uh hand it 
to your mother-in-law and she says oh finally I   Have your crypto wallets okay good luck with that 
it's encrypted so it gives you a lot more options   For how you create those backups of your of your 
backups and all of a sudden what was just a very   Simple security plan you now got backups of your 
your crypto the way that you know Voldemort has  

Horcruxes you're just you know you got to lock 
down you're good and I think that's probably the   The most important thing that I hope anybody from 
your audience takes away Aaron is that encryption   Working from that direction up helps to protect a 
lot of your other plans and helps you to protect   A lot of the uh the speech that you have while 
you're making those plans and a little anecdote is   My my accountant used to hate me I would encrypt 
my tax papers right when I'm emailing with my my   Accountant I mean back in 2009 2010 um because 
he would say like okay well this is so annoying   Why do you why do you encrypt the attachment of 
you know these filing documents and then why do   You text me the password separately well 
because it's two factors of Authentication   Um but I'll tell you this I've never had anyone 
fraudulently intervene uh with my taxes I've   Never had anyone commit wire fraud on real estate 
that I purchased and I've never had any kind of a   Major knock on wood major problem with any 
other Financial or cryptocurrency data of   Mine because I use encryption religiously and 
I back up my backups and it's not a crime yet   Yeah knock on wood if you do ever see anything 
like that like I would ask your audience just very   Much consider that what you lose if you vote for 
any kind of a political measure that allows for   Universal back doors on encryption because things 
that you think should be sacrosanct right uh Love   Letters from your significant other that you want 
to put into a time capsule photos of your children   Innocently bathing as as children that are 
intended just for you and and their other parent   Right uh thing things that would have not even 
been considered controversial in an analog world   Now being considered suspect and only because a 
third party was able to gain unauthorized access   To it I I don't want to live in that world and I 
don't want to live in the world like that I didn't   Even think about it like that dude you're right 
though that's crazy you know people want to use   Centralized exchanges to do trading people might 
want to use products like Celsius to get yield   What do you say to those people is it not worth 
it or how should somebody go about interacting   Well I think that when it comes to high promised 
yield it's always very tempting but 30 of zero   Is still zero and unfortunately my heart goes out 
to members of your audience that had their funds   Locked up on Celsius but they found out the hard 
way that the highest available yield from any of   The pairs that they that they offered there or 
any of the assets that they offered staking and   Interest on have resulted in zero gains so yeah 
it's I think we should be very suspect of anything   Like this we should be very wary of any kind of 
a centralized yield product and any centralized   Platform that claims that there's great Alpha 
right you know great gains available we've seen   It too many times especially in this last cycle 
we've been burned three times how many more times   Do we need to be burned before we stop touching 
the hot stove of centralized yield that that's a   Question I guess only you can answer true you take 
on the risk it's up to you do your own research   Understand the risks I encourage everybody to go 
subscribe to Seth follow them on Twitter as well  

I'll leave links to that in the description 
final thoughts for the altcoin daily audience   Just that encryption is not a crime yet use it 
download free and open source tools like signal   And ask your loved ones to start using it make 
encryption and make privacy tools normal they're   Not a crime right now and if you just use them 
to communicate with your loved ones then you   Know the the stigma is gone it's not just for 
drug dealers and bad people frankly it never   Was but you can help generalize it cool thanks 
so much for coming on today Seth my pleasure