Here's the reality: if you don't control the private key, can you truly say you own your crypto? It's worth thinking about.

Platform-based wallets make life easier—trade faster, manage multiple assets in one place, sleep soundly knowing there's customer support. But here's the trade-off: someone else holds the keys to your kingdom. They decide when you can withdraw, what happens if there's a security breach, whether your account gets frozen.

Self-custody flips the script entirely. You're the sole owner. Complete control, complete transparency. The downside? Complete responsibility too. Lose your seed phrase, and there's no recovery team. Make a wrong move, and there's no safety net.

So what matters more to you—convenience with conditions, or independence with accountability?