To put it simply, hardware wallets, multisig, and social recovery all look pretty high-end—but you still need to see how much “stuff” you actually have in your own wallet. For small-fund users, like me—someone “planting crops”—don’t rush into a hardware wallet first. A hot wallet with a whitelist, and not clicking random links in your day-to-day life, is enough. If you really do end up going for a hardware wallet, the cost is higher than your principal—better to save up your seeds first.

If you have a bit more assets—say, a few tens of thousands of U—then hardware or social recovery is really worth it. I’ve seen people set up a 3/5 multisig for “security,” only to find that when it’s time to transfer funds, they need to gather people to sign, and they end up so stressed they jump out of their skin. If you ask me, if your funds are small, go light; if they’re bigger, then consider layered custody and locking things up in tiers.

Lately I’ve been looking at that whole mess about miners’ income and MEV, and the more I look, the more pissed off I get—retail folks move bricks to earn a little hard-earned side income, and it all gets eaten up by MEV bots and tips. Fairness in ordering? Don’t make me laugh—big players get to eat the meat, and we can’t even have the soup. Forget it. Anyway, I’ll keep “planting crops,” focus on protecting my little stash of seeds so I don’t get reaped. I’ll wait and squat on a cheap hardware wallet—new listings? I’ll go for that later!