Cryptocurrencies and the Importance of Self-Custody

Cryptocurrency solves a lot of world issues. Bitcoin is a revolutionary technology that addresses the double spending issues and allows for the creation of digital value, digital uniqueness, and digital property rights. Cryptocurrencies usually leverage public to private key mechanisms. Private keys define who is allowed to spend the cryptocurrencies held under these private keys. Basically, the one that controls the private keys, also commonly known as the seedphrase to our wallets, has total control over the funds held under that wallet. Public blockchains work in a pseudonymity model, where you can only be identified by your address.

The change cryptocurrency brought to our world is significant and fantastic. We get a form of money that can be used to easily transfer value across the world, with fast settlements, self-custody of the funds, and no intermediaries, and at a very low cost.

However, there are still a lot of crypto-related limitations that prevent mass adoption of the technology and the asset class. At GenWealth we are focused on solving one of these major limitations, specifically related to the self-custody of your assets and the risks and limitations you currently face while self-custodying your assets.

Self-custody is one of the best features of cryptocurrency, as it gives individuals complete ownership and control over the value they create. It empowers the individual and his financial freedom when you have complete control over the value you create and store. You’re no longer reliant on and hostage to intermediaries for your transactions and financial operations.

This is something that does not happen with our fiat currencies, as whenever we store money in the bank, it's the bank that controls the money. If the bank goes bankrupt, we might lose that currency that is rightfully ours, or even in a less extreme case, there are limitations to the amount of money we can withdraw and transfer, and it’s common to be required to ask for permission to the bank and share personal sensitive information to be able to use what is rightfully ours, with that right being occasionally denied.

Having self-custody completely eliminates the barriers and empowers users to have more control over their assets. More than that, it unlocks democratized and permissionless access to financial services, without limitations and enabling you to set fair terms for these financial operations. However, all this power comes with a lot of responsibility, namely the responsibility of being informed and learning how to manage your funds and your private key safely, to avoid losing your assets forever.