Această pagină are doar un rol de informare. Este posibil ca anumite servicii și caracteristici să nu fie disponibile în jurisdicția dvs.

What is counterparty-risk and how can you protect yourself from it?

In crypto you'll often hear about counterparty-risks and how Bitcoin was built to mitigate them. But can you explain in simple terms what they are and why they matter? Here's our best shot at explaining it all, with some high-profile historical examples.

What's counterparty-risk?

First, a counterparty is a third-party — a person or an organization that isn't you. In the case of financial services, potential counterparties can include banks, custodians, brokers, exchanges, and similar entities. As a result, you're exposed to counterparty risk when you trust a counterparty with some form of access to your money.

For example, if a bank files for bankruptcy, its customers will often lose parts of their deposits – that's textbook counterparty risk. Now, local financial authorities usually provide insurance for some amount of the deposits. However, it's worth checking if that applies to your bank, how much, and under what conditions.

Reducing counterparty risk therefore requires limiting the control counterparties might have over your money. This is one of the main motivations for self-custody. Like having cash sitting in a personal safe, storing crypto in a self-custodial wallet does away with counterparty-risk, since you're the only person responsible for the funds' safety. That doesn't remove every risk though, as there's lots of ways you could mismanage your storage solution.

However, counterparty risk has been and remains a major issue in the history of money. It's arguably one of the main motivations of crypto's existence in the first place. You might think concerns are overblown, so here are some recent examples of counterparty-risk to illustrate the threat.

Enron Bankruptcy, 2001

Up until 2001, Enron was an energy company with various financial transactions involving counterparties, including banks, investors, and other entities. Many of the company's financial transactions included derivatives, swaps, and structured finance products, which were used to manage risk and generate profits.

The counterparties often relied on Enron's financial strength to make sure it would meet its obligations. But little did they know, Enron's accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP embellished and misrepresented Enron's financial health, which caused Enron to declare bankruptcy in 2001.

After Enron declared bankruptcy, the company's various counterparties faced significant losses, which is a prime example of counterparty-risk.

Lehman Brothers, 2008

You might have heard of this one. Lehman Brothers and its collapse is considered the first domino to fall as the 2008 financial crisis and credit crunch took hold. The company was a major financial institution that engaged in various transactions with banks, hedge funds, and other financial firms.

Lehman Brothers was borrowing money and securities, with the promise of repaying its counterparties back. When the company failed to repay, the risk these counterparties were exposed to materialized and led to significant losses.

Cyprus Banking Crisis, 2013

In 2013, Cyprus banks were engulfed in a financial crisis triggered by issues related to the Greek sovereign debt. With this type of risky exposure, if Greece defaulted on its debt, it could lead to massive losses for the Cyprus Banks. This could make it difficult for the banks to repay their creditors, including depositors and other banks, creating a counterparty risk.

In 2012, the value of Greek bonds held by Cyprus banks plummeted, leaving Cyprus in financial peril, with limited capital and high debt to pay back its depositors. To prevent Cyprus Banks from collapsing, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund provided a bailout package to Cyprus. Some depositors with accounts over a certain amount had to take a loss, which led to protests up and down the country. The depositors had multiple layers of counterparty risk, ranging from the health of the Cyprus banks themselves, to the sustainability of their investments (in this case, Greek sovereign bonds).

How to protect yourself against counterparty risk

When the banks collapsed and received eye-watering bailouts, Satoshi Nakamoto was inspired to launch Bitcoin. Being decentralized and built around the novel and immutable technology of blockchain, the asset was designed to minimize the need to rely on trusted third-parties – and therefore to minimize counterparty risk.

Self-custody allows you to further shield yourself from counterparty risk when trading and transacting with cryptocurrencies. Through self-custody, you remain in control of storing and managing your digital assets and the private keys used to access them. Self-custody provides an alternative to leaving your assets on a centralized exchange, for example, where the security of your crypto is in the hands of a third-party.

We recommend learning more about self-custody and how to apply it to your own assets, so you can take full control of your crypto. Start with our insightful guide to self-custody here.

NOTHING IN THIS ARTICLE IS A SOLICITATION TO BUY OR SELL DIGITAL ASSETS. OKX DOES NOT ENDORSE ANY PARTICULAR DIGITAL ASSET OR STRATEGY. DIGITAL ASSETS HOLDINGS INVOLVE A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK, CAN FLUCTUATE GREATLY ON ANY GIVEN DAY, AND MAY EVEN BECOME WORTHLESS. YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER WHETHER TRADING OR HOLDING DIGITAL CURRENCIES IS SUITABLE FOR YOU IN LIGHT OF YOUR FINANCIAL CONDITION. OKX DOES NOT PROVIDE LEGAL, TAX, INVESTMENT, OR OTHER ADVICE. PLEASE CONSULT YOUR LEGAL/TAX/INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL FOR QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR SPECIFIC CIRCUMSTANCES.

Limitarea răspunderii
Acest conținut este doar cu titlu informativ și se poate referi la produse care nu sunt disponibile în regiunea dvs. Nu are rolul de a furniza (i) un sfat de investiție sau o recomandare de investiție; (ii) o ofertă sau solicitare de cumpărare, vânzare, sau deținere de active digitale, sau (iii) consultanță financiară, contabilă, juridică, sau fiscală. Deținerile de active digitale, inclusiv criptomonede stabile, prezintă un grad ridicat de risc și pot fluctua în mod semnificativ. Trebuie să analizați cu atenție dacă tranzacționarea sau deținerea de cripto / active digitale este potrivită pentru dvs., luând în calcul propria situație financiară. Consultați-vă cu un profesionist din domeniul juridic / fiscal / de investiții pentru întrebări despre circumstanțele dvs. specifice. Informațiile (inclusiv datele de piață și informațiile statistice, dacă există) care apar în această postare sunt doar cu titlu informativ general. Deși s-au luat toate măsurile de precauție rezonabile la întocmirea acestor date și grafice, nu se acceptă nicio responsabilitate sau răspundere pentru nicio eroare materială sau omisiune exprimată în prezenta.

© 2025 OKX. Acest articol poate fi reprodus sau distribuit în întregime sau pot fi folosite extrase ale acestui articol de maximum 100 de cuvinte, cu condiția ca respectiva utilizare să nu fie comercială. Orice reproducere sau distribuire a întregului articol trebuie, de asemenea, să precizeze în mod vizibil: "Acest articol este © 2025 OKX și este utilizat cu permisiune." Extrasele permise trebuie să citeze numele articolului și să includă atribuirea, de exemplu „Numele articolului, [numele autorului, dacă este cazul], © 2025 OKX.” Unele conținuturi pot fi generate sau asistate de instrumente de inteligență artificială (AI). Nu este permisă nicio lucrare derivată sau alte utilizări ale acestui articol.

Articole similare

Vizualizați mai mult
Futures generic thumb
Trading basics
Trading tools
Trading

What is a trigger order?

In fast-moving markets, the difference between capturing an opportunity and missing it often comes down to timing. That’s where Trigger orders (known traditionally as buy stops ) come into play.
9 iul. 2025
Începători
7
thumbnail:connect-tradingview-to-okx
Trading tools
Trading guide

TradingView Crypto: A Guide to Trading with TradingView

TradingView has long been a popular platform among traders, offering a comprehensive suite of trading and charting tools that allow traders to make informed decisions and act quickly on market opportu
9 iul. 2025
14
Options trading generic thumb
Strategies

High-Frequency Trading (HFT): What you need to know

Financial markets can be tough to navigate at times, especially those that experience high levels of volatility, such as the crypto market. Although market participants can benefit from volatile price
9 iul. 2025
6
Technical analysis generic thumb
Order Types

What's a limit order?

A limit order instructs a broker to buy or sell an asset at a specific price. When you place a limit order, you essentially set a price limit for the transaction. The order will be executed if the asset’s price reaches or surpasses your limit price. However, the order will not be carried out if the market price exceeds your limit.
8 iul. 2025
38
Generic tokens thumbnail
Futures

Crypto futures fees compared: a guide to cost-effective trading

Futures emerged as a new opportunity for traders to gain exposure to crypto and grow their portfolios. For daily volume, some exchanges now attract higher volume on futures trading than on spot or other markets.
4 iul. 2025
Avansat
11
Generic charts thumbnail
Bitcoin
Options
Strategies

Bitcoin halving price predictions: options strategies for all outlooks

The Bitcoin blockchain underwent a major event in April 2024: the Bitcoin halving. Expected to take place roughly every four years, this mechanism was written into Bitcoin's code during its inception and aims to slow down the creation of new bitcoins and eventually reach a finite supply of 21 million BTC. Similar to huge network upgrades like the Ethereum Merge and , the halving is a highly anticipated event that can significantly impact Bitcoin miners and traders.
2 iul. 2025
Intermediar
38
Vizualizați mai mult