Four Golden Rules

Four index cards held by colorful magnets on a fridge door, each with a simple drawn icon: a pen on paper, a raised stop hand, an ATM with a big X, a chain link with a check mark.

Four rules cover the most common ways crypto is stolen.

Your seed phrase stays offline and private.^[1]^[2] Write it on paper, store it securely, and never share it with anyone who contacts you, regardless of who they claim to be. Any platform that freezes your funds and demands fees to release them is a scam.

Stop sending money. Any contact that sends you to a crypto ATM or asks you to pay to unlock your own funds follows the same playbook. Before you connect your wallet to any platform and before you approve any transaction, read what you are agreeing to and consider using a second test wallet first keeping your funds safe on your primary wallet. If you do not understand it, do not sign it.

Think before you swipe. None of this means crypto is something to fear. Crypto can be used safely, but it requires habits that reduce the chance of mistakes: protect your recovery phrase, verify where you're sending money, and never approve a transaction you don't understand. Used with the same care you would give your bank, it is just another tool. The habits in this module are what make that safety normal.

This is the S in PAUSE. Stop before you send anything you cannot get back.

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