{"id":154267,"date":"2025-12-18T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=154267"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T22:29:04","slug":"dana-criswell-hold-my-keys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/dana-criswell-hold-my-keys\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana Criswell: “Hold My Keys”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When bitcoiners say \u201chold your own keys,\u201d we\u2019re not being cute\u2014we\u2019re describing ownership in plain English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201ckey\u201d is just a very long private number (a 256-bit secret) that unlocks your bitcoin. From that private key, software derives a public key and address\u2014the place your coins sit on the blockchain. Because that long number is impossible to memorize, wallets back it up as 12 or 24 random words (a \u201cseed phrase\u201d). Those words recreate the same private number if your device is lost. Whoever controls that private key\u2014or those words\u2014can move the coins. If an exchange or ETF holds the key, you don\u2019t own bitcoin; you own a promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-custody is the antidote. It means you secure your savings with keys you control, not keys someone else \u201cmanages.\u201d And here\u2019s my advice\u00a0(but, do your own homework because I\u2019m not your mamma and take zero responsibility for your actions or decisions)<\/em>: buy a\u00a0Bitkey<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bitkey is Block\u2019s self-custody wallet built around a simple but powerful 2-of-3 multi-signature design: one key on your phone, one on the Bitkey hardware, and a third key held by Bitkey\u2019s service that can\u2019t move funds without one of your keys. Any two approve a spend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lose your phone? You still have the hardware and the service key to recover. Lose the device? Your phone and the service key get you back. You stay in charge; middlemen don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mississippi\u2019s\u00a0Joel Bomgar<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0has been crystal clear on this point: stop trusting luck and move off exchanges. His plain-English write-ups and videos about Bitkey emphasize the same thing I\u2019m saying here\u2014self-custody with a sane recovery plan beats hoping a platform will be solvent on the day you need your money. Bitkey\u2019s defaults make that easy for normal people without watering down sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Bitkey over a single hardware wallet? Single-signature puts everything on one secret; if that seed phrase is lost or exposed, game over\u00a0(ask me how I know, it was painful)<\/em>. Bitkey\u2019s default multi-signature kills that single point of failure. It also smooths the two places most people mess up: recovery and inheritance. Recovery is guided and doesn\u2019t require you to be a cypherpunk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For inheritance, you can provide a clear path so your spouse or executor can access funds without turning your estate into a scavenger hunt\u2014and without giving any one party enough power to drain the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the playbook: Order a Bitkey. Set it up, practice a small test send, and walk through a recovery drill while the balance is low. Withdraw from the exchange. Store the device securely, keep your phone locked down, and write plain-English instructions for your heirs. Review once a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want freedom, hold your own keys\u2014your own long number, backed up by your own words\u2014and make it simple enough that you\u2019ll actually do it. Bitkey makes that practical. Bitcoin gives you sovereignty. Don\u2019t hand it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When bitcoiners say \u201chold your own keys,\u201d we\u2019re not being cute\u2014we\u2019re describing ownership in plain English. A \u201ckey\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124494,"featured_media":154268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32635],"tags":[33358,33357,5,4],"class_list":["post-154267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dana-criswell","tag-bitkey","tag-joel-bomgar","tag-mississippi","tag-oxford"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Bitkeys.jpg?fit=1080%2C811&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/124494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154269,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154267\/revisions\/154269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}