←Stage 51 · Premium
Crypto

Custody, Counterparty & Scams

The fastest way to lose crypto isn't a bad trade. It's losing the keys, or trusting a venue that fails, or signing something you didn't read. This stage is about keeping the money. You'll learn what an exchange balance legally is, where a holding should live once it grows, and what a token approval quietly lets someone do months later. Eleven lessons, and the scams in them all really happened.

Stage 51 of the TradeWize crypto track: keeping the money. What an exchange balance really is, seed phrases, hot against cold, token approvals, and the scams built for this asset class.

0 / 11 done
StartLesson 1 · Not Your Keys — What an Exchange Balance Actually Is
What you’ll leave with11 lessons · 9-line playbook
  • A balance on an exchange is a claim on that exchange.
  • My seed phrase never touches a screen, a photo or a cloud.
  • The size of a holding decides where it lives, and I review that as it grows.
  • I hold on a venue only what I am willing to lose to that venue.
  • Reserves without liabilities is half a balance sheet.
  • I review my standing approvals on a schedule, not after something happens.
  • Nobody legitimate ever needs my seed phrase. There is no exception to this.
  • The tells are on-chain before they are on the chart, and I look there first.
  • I decide what I would do in a halt before there is one.

All lessons

  1. 01Not Your Keys — What an Exchange Balance Actually Is
  2. 02The Seed Phrase — Twelve Words That Are the Whole Account
  3. 03Hot, Cold and Hardware — Custody Chosen Against an Amount
  4. 04When the Exchange Is the Trade
  5. 05Proof of Reserves — What It Proves and What It Doesn't
  6. 06Token Approvals — The Permission That Drains You Later
  7. 07Phishing, Support Scams and the Fake App
  8. 08Rug Pulls — The Anatomy, Before the Chart
  9. 09Reading the Red Flags on a Project You Don't Know
  10. 10The Day Withdrawals Stop
  11. 11Security Capstone