Ledger Start — Your Secure Journey Into Self-Custody
A practical, privacy-first guide to initialize your Ledger device, protect your recovery phrase, and perform safe transfers with confidence. Clear steps, human language, and next actions you can follow now.
Why self-custody matters: holding your private keys reduces counterparty exposure and gives you direct control over your digital assets. Ledger Start breaks down the essentials so you can own your crypto without guesswork.
What Ledger Start guides you through
- Safe device setup — unboxing checks, firmware validation, and secure initialization.
- Recovery phrase protection — why never to store it digitally and recommended physical backups.
- Secure transfers — verifying addresses on-device, signing transactions, and small test sends.
- Advanced security — passphrases, multisig, and device redundancy when you scale.
Everything is explained with short checklists and visual confirmations so you leave each step with one clear next action.
Start the guided setupPractical tips for immediate protection
- Verify device authenticity and firmware on first use.
- Never type your recovery phrase into a computer or phone.
- Keep multiple physical backups in separate locations.
- Test a small transaction after setup to confirm everything works.
These are lightweight, high-value actions that dramatically reduce typical onboarding risk.
Common onboarding scenarios
New users: follow the guided steps and test with a small amount. Migrating users: generate a receiving address and verify it on device before sending. Power users: explore multisig and hardware-backed signing.