A wallet as a container of money or exchange?

[Hatchy]

I come to the question when I have to make such an important decision, should I choose the first or the second option, which is better and safer for you people? How long do you leave it on that option?

Storing your funds on exchanges will only leave you exposed to risk of loss. You can't tell what might happen any time. So many exchanges have shut down in the past and taken the funds if it's users along side. So to be on the safer side, always store your funds in a cold wallet or any wallet where you control the keys.

[Cantsay]

There is no institution whatsoever, but you should read about the SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) owned by binance and has raised around $1 Billion which has now been converted into a USDC stablecoin to maintain price stability.
So, Binance has a guarantee for their users in case of some incident that results in the loss of funds without cause or due to Binance's fault etc.

About MT. Gox, they didn't have that preparation in the past, but now Tier 1 exchanges like Binance, already have a clearer backup plan and will think about the safety and convenience of their customers.
But yes I also agree to keep your money only using the bank and not crypto, but that doesn't mean the bank won't commit fraudulent acts because some incidents of customer money suddenly disappearing and they are not responsible.

I haven’t read much about the SAFU but unless Binance keeps adding to it that amount is nowhere near the amount that would be able to settle it’s customers should incase an unexpected event occurs that leads to the exchange crashing.

They currently holds more than $100 billions worth of users crypto so having $1 billion reserve seems very unlikely to be able to handle issues like we mentioned, but it’s still better than having nothing though.

[EluguHcman]

There are variables to be considered when deciding on your funds storage which is termed on your investment plans.
For long term investment, hardware wallets as containers in decentralized motives are best safe and secure of your funds while for short term Investment,  the centralized exchange is better to execute transactions.

[Hyphen(-)]

I come to the question when I have to make such an important decision, should I choose the first or the second option, which is better and safer for you people? How long do you leave it on that option?

Talking about the safety of your cryptocurrency, they should be in your custody than in any other person's custody.

The different between the two is very simple; exchanges are been controlled by the exchange owners, and as such, your crypto assets are in their custody, and if mistakenly the exchange got hacked, you will lose everything you hold with them unless if they decide to pay users back which is mostly reare.

If you hold your coin in a wallet you can control, which means you have the private key with you, it is safer than having them in an exchange, and you access them at anytime you wants.

[Ricardo11]

I come to the question when I have to make such an important decision, should I choose the first or the second option, which is better and safer for you people? How long do you leave it on that option?

Money is always safest to keep with yourself. Keeping money on the exchange is full of risks. It doesn't fully secure your money, since now money is more likely to be hacked. And it won't give you complete control over your money.

For long term holdings you must keep money in a wallet, not on an exchange. And always keep your wallet keys safe. Do not share your important keys with anyone.

[Z-tight]

For long term investment, hardware wallets as containers in decentralized motives are best safe and secure of your funds while for short term Investment,  the centralized exchange is better to execute transactions.

Even for the short term, i do not still recommend storing funds in an exchange, you can use an online wallet for short term needs or if you require a wallet for spending on the go, Electrum or BlueWallet is great for that purpose.

However, if you want to use Electrum for long term storage, then you have to run it in an airgapped device that will be completely disconnected from the internet and never connected to it.

[RockBell]

I think investors are now more cautious about this type of scam because it has been warned everywhere. Checking the link should be done multiple times before we connect our wallet or use information from them. Bookmarks also work effectively in this case to avoid unfortunate mistakes.

People's eye us already opening so they are extra careful in all the transactions they do, and that is the only way they can not be a victim to scam. For the past few years now a lot of people are falling victim to scams and have lost a lot of money because of scam so people that have gotten scammed are sharing experiences for people to be careful and not to be scammed. People are trying to aviod saving anything online, they are actually learning.

It would be terrible if investors had to put real money into the market, trying to spend time and effort to invest and generate profits but end up losing all their crypto assets due to connecting their wallet to a fake site. I usually trust the links provided on Coinmarketcap or Coingecko to avoid fake sites.

When you do a research their are lot off people that have give out their seed phrase just because they were convinced by a scammer, and they also wanted to try it put but now before anybody try anything out they would have ask questions since money is at stake losing money now in this economy is definitely going to be terrible. And their is a lot of fake websites we need to be careful of.

[Yamzakid]

I come to the question when I have to make such an important decision, should I choose the first or the second option, which is better and safer for you people? How long do you leave it on that option?

Exchanges aren't safe places to keep your money, their main function is to convert coins into fiat. All coin-related activities, like trading and P2P platform use, take place within the exchange, and they have access to your money and KYC. The issue is that you never know when something might go wrong and the exchange could be hacked or something else, which would mean you lose all your money. You should only keep coins in exchange for frequent transactions, so in my opinion, keep your assets in standard non-custodial containers (wallets).

[Rubel007]

I come to the question when I have to make such an important decision, should I choose the first or the second option, which is better and safer for you people? How long do you leave it on that option?

The holder must use a secure wallet to store his assets. Any assets should never be stored long-term on an exchange platform, even a top ranked exchange can be susceptible to hacking. And if any such incident occurs, the responsibility will be assigned to the holder himself. Moreover, by leaving one's wealth to others, one's own authority is not right. A holder should never keep his wealth there if he cannot be 100% sure of keeping it in that particular platform. If there is a small amount of assets then it can be kept in any exchange platform but for long term holding it is better to avoid exchange platform and use a secure hardware wallet.

[vegasus]

Storing your funds on exchanges will only leave you exposed to risk of loss. You can't tell what might happen any time. So many exchanges have shut down in the past and taken the funds if it's users along side. So to be on the safer side, always store your funds in a cold wallet or any wallet where you control the keys.

Yes, indeed, if we talk about storing assets in exchange, it will definitely be very risky. Let alone small exchanges, even top exchanges still have high risks, because they are online. Likewise with other online wallets, the risks are actually the same. However, if we only store a few assets in the exchange and use them as trading assets, that's different. It doesn't matter because it is actively used for trading. But if the profit is getting bigger, it would be better to move some of the assets or withdraw them.

People's eye us already opening so they are extra careful in all the transactions they do, and that is the only way they can not be a victim to scam. For the past few years now a lot of people are falling victim to scams and have lost a lot of money because of scam

And scammers will never stop. Moreover, nowadays it is increasingly varied and seems very natural and original, scammers are getting smarter to attract the attention and trust of potential victims, especially for beginners. In must be very careful because if not, our assets can be lost immediately. Clicking phishing links is also very dangerous, so we have to be careful every time we want to click on a certain link.

[Themepen]

It is very important to keep your cryptocurrencies safe by controlling them by yourself. If you leave them on exchange so exchange can freeze your account and if exchange gets hacked you could lose your all money. But if you store your cryptocurrencies in personal wallet especially in a cold wallet or hardware wallet where only you have key you have complete control and can access your money anytime. This way you will have much less chances to lose your money because of something that goes wrong with exchange.

It is just like you are keeping your money safe at your home instead leaving to someone else. When you control your cryptocurrencies yourself you can really say they belong to you and are safe.

[PrivateKayla]

Not your keys, not your coins. It's more secure to put your crypto in your own wallet. A lot of things can happen to exchanges, as most members have pointed out, and it's not advisable to leave a big chunk in them. It may be easier, but a lot riskier. 

[Sim_card]

Not your keys, not your coins. It's more secure to put your crypto in your own wallet. A lot of things can happen to exchanges, as most members have pointed out, and it's not advisable to leave a big chunk in them. It may be easier, but a lot riskier.

As long as you are not trading with your funds there is no need of leaving it in an exchange no matter how small it is, only if it is an amount that you can afford to lose. Exchange should be treated like a market place where you but and sell alone and not like a bank where you keep your funds. You private wallet is the best bank so far for storing your coins.