If you forget your private keys, which is common, you will be unable to access your cryptocurrency ⁠- no exceptions. When using a non-custodial wallet service, you're fully responsible for remembering your private keys and maintaining security measures to protect your funds. With a non-custodial, or self-custody, wallet, you are in control of your private keys and you own your cryptocurrency holdings.

It's a choice that's dependent on your personal preferences, both with pros and cons. If you decide to buy cryptocurrency, you can use a non-custodial wallet or a custodial wallet to store your funds. To protect your crypto from hackers or any outside threat, it's important to understand the type of wallet options available and how to secure your private keys.įirst, it's important to understand the different types of wallets out there. That is more than 10 times the amount from the same period the year before, the FTC reported. 'The only way that funds can be moved is if you have the private key, and that's why securing private keys is so important.'Īccording to the Federal Trade Commission, nearly $82 million was reported lost to crypto scams during the fourth quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021.

'Anybody, anytime, that gets a private key can move funds,' Parker Lewis, head of business development at bitcoin custody and loan firm Unchained Capital, tells CNBC Make It. In turn, it's extremely important that your private keys remain undisclosed to the public. Private keys, or a string of letters and numbers similar to a password, are used to unlock access to a holder's cryptocurrency. Though it isn't exactly clear how it was done, experts say the FBI's ability to retrieve the bitcoin ransom was due to the criminals' storage of their private keys, rather than any vulnerability with the cryptocurrency itself.

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