Further Reading
More detail on the people, places and decisions behind the nine rules.
54 chapters
Start here
Your first priority is to get yourself and your family home safely. Build the financial controls before an incident. During immediate danger, protecting assets is seconda…
Emergency numbers and bilingual card
If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services as soon as it is safe. State the location first. Anti scam and tourist lines do not replace emergency …
Decide how much protection you need
The useful question is not simply whether a place is safe. Ask what someone can learn about you, how easily they can reach you, what they believe you control and how quic…
Map your exposure without creating a target list
Create a private map of dependencies, then keep it restricted. This guide can be shared; your completed security plan should not circulate with it.
Reduce what strangers can learn
Privacy is a daily habit across the household. Removing one post does not remove screenshots or data already copied. Focus on reducing new exposure and dealing with known…
Separate daily spending from long term reserves
Design access around what each person actually needs. The following is an illustrative model to review with a custody specialist, not a recommendation to move assets imme…
Make signing a deliberate activity
Treat signing like authorising a bank transfer or a contract. A familiar logo, a successful simulation or a hardware device does not establish that the underlying action …
Backups and inheritance without new vulnerabilities
A recovery arrangement must survive loss and incapacity without creating an easy route for theft. The right design depends on the wallet and legal structure; do not mix i…
Secure phones accounts and communications
Your phone may combine identity, location, email, banking, authentication and recovery. Treat that concentration as a design problem.
Recognise manipulation before money moves
The strongest warning sign is a request that changes your normal process: secrecy, urgency, isolation, a new destination, an unfamiliar app or a sudden exception to indep…
Give family and staff a usable role
Relatives can be targeted even if they hold no private keys. Include partners, children, older relatives and carers in the protection plan. Keep instructions short, pract…
Make home entry predictable and controlled
Your home deserves the same attention as a major trip. The objective is to notice concerns early, control access and give people time to obtain help. An expensive buildin…
Secure the connected home and everyday routine
The household's security devices also contain sensitive information. Cameras can expose routines; smart locks can expose access; shared accounts can connect former staff …
Prepare the household for emergencies and absences
Create separate plans for intrusion, fire, a medical emergency and a regional disruption. The safest action differs. A place suitable for sheltering from an intruder may …
Prepare a trip before the week of departure
The aim is to remove decisions from the most tiring parts of travel. Use a written trip brief with a clear owner, then recheck the volatile items immediately before depar…
Cross borders with a clear legal and device plan
Border rules depend on nationality, residency, travel purpose and the exact route. They can also differ between mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Do not copy a…
Choose and use accommodation carefully
Choose by operations as well as comfort. A recognizable luxury brand may have good systems, but the actual property, staff practices, access points and event exposure mat…
Move around meet people and enjoy the evening
Keep control of how you arrive and leave. A companion who is entertaining, well connected or introduced by a friend is not automatically a safe transport or financial cou…
Attend conferences and handle private deals
Crypto events bring together identity, professional interests and sometimes visible wealth. Separate networking from custody and settlement.
Plan for illness disasters and disrupted travel
Security includes ordinary emergencies. A road injury, medication interruption or cancelled route can be serious even when no one is targeting you.
Dubai and the United Arab Emirates
Before committing: check regional alerts, flight operations, insurance and the actual legal entity behind any crypto service. A busy business calendar does not settle tho…
Hong Kong
Before committing: distinguish the convenience of a financial centre from the safety of a particular counterparty, private meeting or cross border itinerary.
Singapore
Before committing: verify anyone claiming institutional or government authority and check that your payment access works without an urgent private conversion.
Japan
Before committing: build the itinerary around reliable transport, independently chosen venues and a practical natural disaster plan.
Taiwan
Before committing: verify your entry category, plan for earthquake and typhoon disruption, and keep private crypto meetings within a verified professional process.
South Korea
Before committing: confirm communications and transport, use verified meeting arrangements and learn how to respond to local emergency alerts.
Mainland China
Before committing: resolve legal exposure and planned activity with qualified mainland counsel. Personal safety planning must account for financial regulation, commercial…
Macao and short cross border visits
Before committing: treat Macao as a separate jurisdiction and itinerary segment. Hong Kong or mainland arrangements do not automatically transfer across the boundary.
Europe essentials and city finder
These nine cities extend the guide across business, finance, events and family travel. They are an editorial selection, not a measured ranking of whale popularity or crim…
Paris
Emergency: 112. Say “Paris” and give the street, building number and entrance. Keep the accommodation address in French on the family card.
Milan
Emergency: 112. Save your address with the street name and building number, plus the airport or station used for each transfer.
London
Emergency: 999 or 112. Give the street, building and postcode if known. A contact outside the UK needs a separate plan for reaching the relevant local service.
Zurich
Emergency: 112; police 117; ambulance 144; fire 118. Keep the exact street and building entrance on your card.
Geneva
Emergency in Switzerland: 112; police 117; ambulance 144; fire 118. If staying across the border in France, use the French local plan and 112. Say which country you are i…
Lisbon
Emergency: 112. Keep the street, building number and apartment entrance in Portuguese on your card. Confirm how an ambulance or police officer can reach the actual entran…
Barcelona
Emergency: 112. Give the street, building number and a nearby landmark; do not rely only on an accommodation nickname or an app pin.
Madrid
Emergency: 112. Save the accommodation's full address and a nearby staffed help point. Keep a paper copy with the family contact number.
Vienna
Emergency: 112; police 133; ambulance 144; fire 122. Record the street, house number, apartment or entrance and floor if needed.
Respond to immediate threats and missing people
Life comes first. This page cannot prescribe the safest behaviour in every confrontation. Seek emergency assistance as soon as it is safe and follow the responders' guida…
Respond to a stolen phone or account takeover
First get to safety. Do not pursue the thief or go to a location shown by a tracking app. A stolen device may expose far more than its replacement cost.
Respond to wallet and signing incidents
Stop further approvals and contact your established security or custody support. Work from a known clean device. If physical coercion is involved, secure people before at…
Respond to doxxing blackmail and suspicious officials
Separate a remote scam, a credible physical threat and a real legal process. The response to one should not be blindly applied to the others.
Recover report and avoid secondary harm
Recovery involves people, legal process, accounts and daily life. Assign one coordinator so the family does not have to repeat the same decisions to many providers.
Private trip brief template
Complete one copy per trip and restrict access. This is a working form, not a place for keys, balances or unnecessary identity document copies.
Home and custody review template
Keep household access details and custody details in appropriately restricted records. This form records responsibilities and unresolved issues, not secret material.
Family and assistant quick card
This page can be copied for household use after filling only the appropriate contact details. Keep it separate from custody instructions.
Practise the failures that matter
Use calm tabletop exercises, not surprise confrontations. Tell everyone it is a drill. Do not call emergency services, send live funds, expose recovery material or simula…
Put the guide into practice over thirty days
Sequence improvements so urgent gaps are addressed without creating new recovery failures. Time estimates below are planning allowances, not quotes or a promise that spec…
Add evidence from experts and communities
This edition incorporates four briefing images supplied by a security expert partner and further reading on Reddit, Bitcointalk and V2EX. Receiving case material does not…
Plain language glossary
| Term | Meaning in this guide | | Whale | A person whose real or perceived crypto wealth may attract attention; no fixed balance threshold | | Principal | The person the…
Learn from documented physical attacks
These three cases were identified in the partner material. Separate public sources corroborate the basic facts stated below. Event accounts and this guide's recommendatio…
Community lessons for travel and home
Community accounts are not independently verified. This page extracts situations worth preparing for; it does not establish personal losses, provider liability or local r…
Community lessons for wallets and work
Keep community leads separate from conclusions. These threads help identify questions. Technical conclusions require product specific documentation, official warnings and…
Six household checks from the new material
Choose the two most relevant scenarios and run a short exercise with dummy records. Do not simulate violence, surprise anyone, call real emergency services or use real re…