Custody Maintenance as an Undefined Concept
Ongoing Maintenance for Self-Custody Systems
This memo is published by CustodyStress, an independent Bitcoin custody stress test that produces reference documents for individuals, families, and professionals.
Custody System Unchanged
A person has held bitcoin in self-custody for some time. Months or years have passed since initial setup. The custody system continues to function. Nothing has changed. The person encounters or thinks of the concept of custody maintenance. They wonder what maintenance involves, whether they should be doing it, and what happens if they are not. The word "maintenance" implies ongoing action, but what that action would be is unclear.
This memo looks at how the idea of ongoing custody maintenance emerges without clear signals of what maintenance means. The custody system sits unchanged. No alerts indicate maintenance is needed. The concept of maintenance is borrowed from other domains where it has clear meaning. Applied to bitcoin custody, the concept becomes ambiguous.
Custody System Unchanged
The custody system has not changed since it was set up. The wallet is the same wallet. The backup is in the same location. The keys have not been regenerated. The addresses remain the same. Everything about the custody arrangement is as it was when first created.
This lack of change is not a problem. Bitcoin custody does not require change to remain functional. The keys do not need to be refreshed. The addresses do not expire. The wallet does not need updates to continue holding bitcoin. Stasis is a valid state.
The unchanged nature of the system raises questions about what maintenance would mean. Maintenance implies doing something to keep a system functioning. If the system functions without any action, what is there to maintain? The concept seems to require an object, and the object is not obvious.
The person may feel they should be doing something because valuable things usually require upkeep. The feeling conflicts with the reality that the custody system asks nothing of them. The conflict is between intuition about how valuable things work and how bitcoin custody actually works.
Maintenance Inferred From Other Domains
The concept of maintenance is familiar from many areas of life. Cars require maintenance: oil changes, tire rotations, inspections. Homes require maintenance: repairs, painting, system checks. Bodies require maintenance: exercise, nutrition, medical visits. Valuable things need ongoing attention to remain valuable.
People bring this intuition to bitcoin custody. The bitcoin is valuable. Valuable things require maintenance. Therefore, bitcoin custody must require maintenance. The logic feels sound because it applies in so many other contexts.
But the logic may not apply here. Cars degrade through use. Homes weather through exposure. Bodies age through time. The maintenance counteracts degradation, weathering, and aging. Bitcoin custody does not degrade in the same way. The keys do not wear out. The addresses do not weather. The bitcoin does not age.
The inference from other domains may create a false expectation. The person expects maintenance requirements that do not exist. They look for maintenance tasks that are not there. The concept, imported from elsewhere, does not map cleanly onto bitcoin custody.
No Maintenance Signals Exist
The custody system provides no signals that maintenance is needed. No warning light illuminates. No reminder appears. No notification says "time for your annual custody check." The system is silent on the topic of its own maintenance.
In domains where maintenance is required, systems often signal the need. Cars display maintenance reminders. Software prompts for updates. Service providers send renewal notices. These signals tell the person when to act. Without signals, the person must decide for themselves when or whether to act.
The absence of maintenance signals could mean maintenance is not needed. It could also mean the system is not designed to signal needs that exist. The person cannot tell which interpretation is correct. The silence is ambiguous.
This ambiguity is uncomfortable. The person wants to know if they should be doing something. The system provides no answer. The person is left to interpret silence, which can be interpreted multiple ways.
What Maintenance Might Mean
If maintenance applies to bitcoin custody, it might mean several things. It might mean checking that the backup is still accessible and readable. It might mean verifying that the hardware wallet still functions. It might mean confirming that the person still remembers passwords and passphrases. It might mean updating documentation to reflect life changes.
These activities are not maintenance in the traditional sense. They do not repair or service the custody system. They verify that the system remains in a usable state. They are checks rather than fixes.
The activities might also include responding to external changes. Software updates become available. Security vulnerabilities are discovered. Best practices evolve. Responding to these external changes could be considered maintenance: adapting the system to a changing environment.
The ambiguity of what maintenance means makes it hard to know if one is doing it. A person might be performing maintenance activities without calling them that. Or they might be neglecting maintenance without knowing what they are neglecting.
Scenarios That Surface the Question
A person has held bitcoin for several years. They encounter an article about custody best practices that mentions regular maintenance. The article does not define maintenance clearly. The person wonders what they have been missing. The term triggers concern without providing clarity.
A person notices that they have not interacted with their bitcoin custody in a long time. Other things in their life have required attention during this period. The contrast makes them wonder if their custody has been neglected. The concept of maintenance frames the neglect question: should they have been maintaining something?
A person learns that their wallet software has a new version available. They wonder if updating is maintenance or if it is optional. The existence of an update creates a decision: is this something they should do? The update becomes a maintenance question even though the word was not used.
A person's life circumstances change—a move, a marriage, a death in the family. They wonder if their custody arrangement needs to change to reflect the new circumstances. The changes prompt thinking about whether custody requires periodic adjustment, which is a form of maintenance thinking.
The Ambiguity of Maintenance
Maintenance is an undefined concept in bitcoin custody because custody does not require the kind of ongoing intervention that maintenance implies. The system does not degrade in ways that require repair. The keys do not need to be serviced. The addresses do not need to be renewed.
What does exist is the need for the custody arrangement to remain aligned with the person's life. This is not maintenance of the system but maintenance of the fit between system and circumstances. The system stays the same. The person's life changes. The fit may need adjustment.
There is also the need to ensure that recovery remains possible. This means the backup must stay accessible, readable, and correctly associated with the wallet. This is not maintenance in the repair sense but preservation in the museum sense: keeping something in a state where it can be used when needed.
The ambiguity of maintenance reflects the novelty of bitcoin custody. The concept does not fit neatly. People use the word because it is familiar, but the familiar word does not have clear content when applied to this unfamiliar domain.
Custody Without Maintenance
It is possible that bitcoin custody does not require maintenance in any meaningful sense. The person sets up the custody arrangement. The arrangement persists. The person does not need to do anything ongoing. The custody just is.
This possibility is unsettling for people who expect valuable things to require ongoing attention. If custody requires nothing ongoing, what is the person's role? Are they just waiting? Is passive holding really enough?
For some custody arrangements, passive holding is indeed enough. The bitcoin sits at addresses. The keys exist. The backup exists. Nothing needs to happen until the person wants to move the bitcoin. The maintenance-free nature of custody is a feature, not a bug.
But the maintenance-free nature creates psychological challenges. The person wants to feel they are being responsible. Responsible feels like doing something. If there is nothing to do, how do they demonstrate responsibility? The absence of required action can feel like an absence of responsibility, even when the responsibility simply takes a different form.
Summary
The idea of ongoing custody maintenance emerges without clear signals of what maintenance means. The custody system sits unchanged. It does not signal maintenance needs. The concept is borrowed from other domains where valuable things require upkeep, but those domains involve degradation that bitcoin custody does not share.
Maintenance, if it applies at all, might mean checking that the backup remains accessible, verifying that hardware still functions, confirming that passwords are remembered, or adapting to life changes. These are verification and adaptation activities, not repair activities.
The ambiguity of maintenance reflects the novelty of bitcoin custody. The familiar word does not have clear content in this unfamiliar domain. It is possible that custody requires no maintenance in any meaningful sense, which is psychologically challenging for people who expect valuable things to require ongoing attention.
System Context
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