Your money, your choice

Plugging more people into the global financial system requires developing new tools to fit their needs. From self-custody to staking, Proof of Reserves, and more, crypto brings new solutions to the table – adding on to the ones developed in traditional finance, like cash deposits and financial audits. At OKX, we don't think one world stands against the other. What we do think is that crypto extends what you can do with your money, giving you more power to decide:

  • ✅ What to do with your money
  • ✅ How to store it
  • ✅ Who to trust it with

It's your money, so it should be your choice. And the best way to choose, is to know. So here's some material to help you choose what best fits your circumstances. What will be your next move?


💪 Get started 💪

  1. Decide what to do with your money

From depositing cash in a bank to staking tokens on an exchange, there are many different things you can do when you move funds to a financial institution.

As a refresher, here's our quick explainer of what really happens when you deposit money in a bank, and what are the options you get when doing so on an exchange:

💸 From banks to exchanges: What happens with your money 💸

Deposits come with what's called 'counterparty risk' – it's to avoid that risk that Bitcoin was created in the first place! But do you really know what's counterparty risk? Here's our quick explainer, with some (scary!) historical examples:

🚨 Counterparty risk, 101 🚨

We might be a bit old-fashioned, but we think the number one task of a custodian, whether it's a bank or a crypto exchange, is to... store customers' assets safely? Doing that in the context of crypto presents specific challenges, so here's our presentation of the advanced security measures OKX applies in order to secure customers' funds. TL;DR: there's a reason we've never been hacked:)

⛨ OKX's wallet security ⛨

  1. Decide how to store your money

Traditional currencies allow you to keep cash under your mattress, of course, but that's not super convenient – and hard to travel with! One of the big innovations crypto brings is to let people store their digital money themselves, without trusting any one bank or exchange with it.

If you're not sure what self-custody is, here's a quick reminder about what self-custody is and how it works:

⛨ Self-custody 101 ⛨

Self-custody is so core to the crypto culture it even has it's own day, called 'Proof of Keys' day. At OKX we celebrate it every year! Here's what's Proof of Keys and what it means:

🗝️ Proof of Keys?! 🗝️

Keys, keys, keys.... When hearing about crypto in general and self-custody in particular, you'll keep hearing about keys. So here's what you need to know about public and private keys:

🔑 Private vs public keys 🔑

But crypto doesn't just allow you to store spare digital cash here and there. It can also be made available for large, sophisticated investors. And we're actively working on it, in order to offer our institutional clients even more custody solutions:

🛡️ Institutional custody 🛡️

Now, for all its merits, self-custody comes with tradeoffs and isn't a one-size-fits-all solution. Here are the tradeoffs it implies – it's important to keep them in mind when thinking about how to store your crypto!

⚠️ Limits of self-custody ⚠️

  1. Decide who to trust

Whether you want to let your money sit with a custodian or have them put it to work, you have to trust them with your money. On this front, banks and exchanges work differently. Banks typically offer audits of their financial statements while healthy exchanges provide so-called Proof of Reserves.

But first, note that there are different kinds of Proof of Reserves (PoR), varying in frequency and quality:

🔍 Different types of Proofs of Reserves? 🔍

These differences apply for the sort of PoR exchanges do but one of the benefits of crypto is that you can also do PoRs for assets, like stablecoins and wrapped tokens! Here's what the difference is between the two:

🤔 Exchange vs token PoR? 🤔

But there's more! You'll usually hear PoR relies on "Merkle Trees" - but can you really explain what that means, in simple terms? Here's us giving it our best shot:

🌲 Merkle Trees? 🌲

Merkle Trees are great but they don't fully hide the forest of metadata that comes with them. So industry experts agree the future of PoR is to enhance them with what's called "Zero Knowledge Proofs" (ZKP). Do you, also, have zero knowledge about ZKP? We've got a nice and clear explainer for you to get up to speed:

0️⃣ Zero Knowledge Proofs 0️⃣

Finally, you might be curious about OKX's recipe for PoR. Hint: A good piece of Merkle Trees with, soon, a whole lot of ZKP seasoning. Here's how it works now:

🔒 OKX's Proof of Reserves 🔒

And how it'll evolve soon:

⚡️ OKX's ZKP-enhanced Proof of Reserves ⚡️

  1. Your next move

From deposits to staking, self-custody, and everything in between, crypto empowers you with more choice than ever - and the're lots to process in there. To navigate the freedom crypto offers, knowledge is key. So, this year, expect us to empower you, not just with more tools, but with more education. And then it'll be on you to make your next move. Game on?

💪 Take control 💪

NOTHING IN THIS ARTICLE IS A SOLICITATION TO BUY OR SELL DIGITAL ASSETS. OKX DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY PARTICULAR DIGITAL ASSET OR STRATEGY. DIGITAL ASSETS HOLDINGS INVOLVE A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK, CAN FLUCTUATE GREATLY ON ANY GIVEN DAY, AND MAY EVEN BECOME WORTHLESS. YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER TRADING OR HOLDING DIGITAL CURRENCIES IS SUITABLE FOR YOU IN LIGHT OF YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION. OKX DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL, TAX, INVESTMENT, OR OTHER ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR LEGAL/TAX/INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES.

免責事項
本コンテンツは情報提供のみを目的としており、お住まいの地域では利用できない商品が言及されている場合があります。(i) 投資アドバイスまたは投資の推奨、(ii) 暗号資産/デジタル資産の売買・保有の申し出または勧誘、(iii) 金融、会計、法務、または税務のアドバイスを提供するものではありません。暗号資産(ステーブルコインや NFT を含む)の保有には高いリスクがあり、価格が大きく変動する場合があります。暗号資産の取引や保有がご自身の財務状況に適しているかどうか、十分にご検討ください。具体的な状況に関するご質問は、法務・税務・投資の専門家にご相談ください。本投稿に掲載されている情報(市場データや統計情報が含まれる場合など)は、一般的な情報提供のみを目的としています。一部のコンテンツは人工知能(AI)により生成、または支援されている場合があります。これらのデータやグラフの作成にあたっては合理的な注意を払っていますが、ここに示された事実上の誤りや省略に対していかなる責任も負いません。OKX Web3 ウォレットとそれに付随するサービスは OKX Exchange が提供するものではなく、OKX Web3 Ecosystem Terms of Service に従っています。

関連記事

さらに見る
trade-academy-spot-1
DeFi

The 19 best decentralized exchanges in 2025

During the early stages of cryptocurrency, centralization was still a significant aspect of the sector. While crypto projects sought decentralization, users could only trade assets on centralized exchanges (CEXs). Over the years, developers tried to build decentralized exchanges (DEXs), but these attempts were largely unsuccessful. The main issue with DEXs back then was the need for more liquidity.
2025年7月30日
130
seo prompts artical
Web3

Aspecta BuildKey Early Access: How to Get Whitelisted via OKX Wallet

# Aspecta BuildKey Early Access: How to Get Whitelisted via OKX Wallet ## Introduction Aspecta is pioneering a new era of **decentralized identity** and **on-chain price discovery** for illiquid asset
2025年7月29日
1
seo prompts artical
Web3

What is Aspecta and how to obtain early access in $ASP pre-TGE

## Introduction In Web3, reputation is both a trust layer and a gateway. As builders and contributors engage with decentralized ecosystems, the question arises: **how can value be recognized before a
2025年7月29日
endereço de carteira blockhain
Security

Is a paper wallet right for you? The pros and cons of using a paper wallet

When it comes to safely storing your crypto, it’s widely recommended to withdraw your coins from an exchange and store them in a personal wallet, as the crypto industry has a saying — not your keys, not your coins. When it comes to choosing the type of wallet you wish to store your crypto in, there's a wide selection, such as hot wallets or cold storage — which are also known as offline storage wallets.
2025年7月29日
初心者
23
hard wallet
Security
Wallets
Self-custody

A complete guide to 2024's best hardware wallets

Have you ever considered the most secure method to store your cryptocurrency? A hardware wallet provides an essential safeguard solution for your cryptocurrency assets by keeping them offline. Unlike hot wallets, which can be susceptible to cyber-attacks, hardware wallets securely contain the private keys you need to gain access to your digital assets.
2025年7月29日
初心者
29
seo prompts artical
Web3

Bluefin and Sui: Driving DeFi’s High‑Performance Future 🚀

What is Bluefin and Sui The DeFi landscape is rapidly evolving as cutting-edge Layer 1s emerge to support institutional-grade infrastructure. Sui is one such network, offering blistering speed, parallel execution, and developer-friendly capabilities. At the forefront is , a decentralized exchange (DEX) now extending into high-frequency and perpetuals trading. This article explores their joint trajectory-and how the Cryptopedia Season 38 campaign on OKX Wallet is making it easier for users to get hands-on.
2025年7月28日
1
さらに見る