2026-07-10 · tangem
Tangem published a new cold storage guide centered on SHIB, but its broader message is about custody risk: exchange storage is fine for active trading balances, not for long-term reserves. The article uses recent theft and compromise figures to underline that point rather than treating self-custody as abstract ideology. For backup and security planning, this is the most practical takeaway in the whole post. If an exchange is hacked, freezes withdrawals, or fails operationally, users who never moved funds into offline-controlled storage are left depending on someone else's recovery path.
Tangem's guide says users should keep only active trading funds on exchanges and move the rest into wallets they control. It cites recent loss data, including multi-billion-dollar crypto theft totals and major wallet and exchange incidents, to argue that custody risk is not hypothetical.
When assets stay on an exchange or exposed hot wallet, a compromise can mean frozen withdrawals, stolen balances, or permanent loss with little control over the recovery timeline. Even if the chain itself remains fine, the user can still be locked out because the custodian or software layer failed first.
Cold storage changes the model by keeping private keys off the internet and under the holder's direct control. With properly separated backup media and offline recovery practices, a user is less exposed to exchange failures, browser-wallet incidents, and remote credential theft that would otherwise wipe out both access and confidence.
Read Original Post →