# Self-Custody ### Your Keys. Your Coins. DEX is a fully non-custodial platform. Unlike traditional exchanges, DEX does not hold user funds, control withdrawals, or take custody of assets. Instead, users maintain ownership of their assets through their own wallet while accessing the full DEX trading experience. Your assets remain yours at all times. ### What Does Self-Custody Mean? Self-custody means you remain in control of your funds. DEX never has access to: * Your private keys * Your seed phrase * Your recovery phrase Only you can authorize transactions from your wallet. ### Why Self-Custody Matters Traditional exchanges require users to trust a third party with custody of their assets. If withdrawals are paused, accounts are restricted, or a platform experiences operational issues, users may lose access to their funds. With DEX, assets remain under user control while trading activity is facilitated through decentralized infrastructure. Your funds stay in your wallet. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://about.dex.org/self-custody.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.