What’s the safest option to hold BTC ?

[Trongduy]

Cexes were never safe to hold one's coins, this hacks such as bybit's are just timely reminders, thankfully bybit reimbursed it so there is no loss to users.

Regarding safe place to hold, hws are safest choice available, not perfect but safest.

I don't think that answer applies to everyone. I agree that CEXs aren't perfectly safe, but many investors would rather trust CEXs with their BTC than manage their own private keys.

They're just regular investors, they lack basic blockchain skills, they see CEXs as a typical stock exchange, and they think BTC is just a financial tool like tech stocks. They'll choose CEXs and buy BTC there to trade. I know many successful traders who have never self-custodied BTC in a personal wallet.

[libert19]

Cexes were never safe to hold one's coins, this hacks such as bybit's are just timely reminders, thankfully bybit reimbursed it so there is no loss to users.

Regarding safe place to hold, hws are safest choice available, not perfect but safest.

...

They're just regular investors, they lack basic blockchain skills, they see CEXs as a typical stock exchange, and they think BTC is just a financial tool like tech stocks. They'll choose CEXs and buy BTC there to trade. I know many successful traders who have never self-custodied BTC in a personal wallet.

Sure they may be successful traders, but what if one day calamity strikes, exchange is wiped out, and they ain't going to reimburse funds?

[God Of Thunder]

Following the recent situation surrounding some exchanges, it seems BTC is not safe to be held in CEXs wallet anymore. Take for instance, the recent Bybit hack which happened unexpectedly, billions of Ethereum was moved even though it was able to recover it through reserves and institutional loans.

Not safe anymore? Could you please tell me when it was safe to hold your cryptos on exchanges? It was never safe to hold your Bitcoin in an online account since you do not hold the private key of your Bitcoin wallet. The exchanges hold private keys, and they are under their control. Not your key, not your coins.

The safest way to hold Bitcoin is to use an air-gapped hardware wallet. If you cannot buy a hardware wallet, try using a software wallet that provides you with private key/seed phrases. But make sure to download them from the official sources. The most popular Bitcoin software wallet is electrum.

[omori]

Sure they may be successful traders, but what if one day calamity strikes, exchange is wiped out, and they ain't going to reimburse funds?

It's a problem of tomorrow for them, that's why they discard such a possibility.

[taufik123]

We must be careful in storing our crypto assets in the wallet and we must always guard our wallet.
because there are many hackers and fraudsters who will take our assets.
I do not store large amounts of crypto assets in the exchange wallet, I only use it for trading. because it is too risky

Yes, always be vigilant and careful with the wallets you hold, especially those that do not have double security.
But it's better to use a hardware wallet as a storage wallet that is more secure and not easy to hack because there is double security and you only need to store the seed phrase.

And exchanges are indeed only as trading accounts and not for storing assets for the long term, very risky.

[Innocant]

This would have been another story entirely if the hack had been done to a Bitcoin reserve but in order to avoid future losses, i’ve been curious to know what the safest option to store BTC could be.

Here are steps you can take to ensure your bitcoins are not lost. Always try to avoid cex and hot wallet. If you are very concerned about the security of storing your bitcoins, I would definitely recommend using a non-custodial or hardwallet at all times. Hardware wallets are the most secure way to hold Bitcoins.
Your hardware wallet will not only stay offline, you have to store its secret phrases offline.  This hardware wallet is free from hacking by hackers.

If someone puts a phishing or board in your wallet, no one can remove it from your wallet until you approve the transaction from your hardware wallet.  A hardware wallet costs between $50 and $200.  I think you can spend that much for your safety.

[God Of Thunder]

If someone puts a phishing or board in your wallet, no one can remove it from your wallet until you approve the transaction from your hardware wallet.  A hardware wallet costs between $50 and $200.  I think you can spend that much for your safety.

Unfortunately, there are people who put their hardware wallet's seed phrases on phishing websites. In such a case, the hardware wallet has nothing to do. Once you lose the seed phrase, anyone can steal your crypto from that wallet. A Bitcointalk veteran forum member lost his entire crypto holdings from a hardware wallet because of phishing. Sometimes people fall for traps and lose their money. So, even a hardware wallet is not safe if you do not have basic knowledge and don't know how to maintain it. Never ever put your seed phrases anywhere.

[tequilla_sunset]

If someone puts a phishing or board in your wallet, no one can remove it from your wallet until you approve the transaction from your hardware wallet.  A hardware wallet costs between $50 and $200.  I think you can spend that much for your safety.

Unfortunately, there are people who put their hardware wallet's seed phrases on phishing websites. In such a case, the hardware wallet has nothing to do. Once you lose the seed phrase, anyone can steal your crypto from that wallet. A Bitcointalk veteran forum member lost his entire crypto holdings from a hardware wallet because of phishing. Sometimes people fall for traps and lose their money. So, even a hardware wallet is not safe if you do not have basic knowledge and don't know how to maintain it. Never ever put your seed phrases anywhere.

Seems legit.

A good option (in my view, of course), would be to have the phrases only on something physical and in different places, presumably on a hard and durable material (if possible, that is), and that way, you would be a bit safer than to allow the chance of getting your phrase from your device / via some interaction with something fishy, as you said.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

Cexes were never safe to hold one's coins, this hacks such as bybit's are just timely reminders, thankfully bybit reimbursed it so there is no loss to users.

Regarding safe place to hold, hws are safest choice available, not perfect but safest.

I don't think that answer applies to everyone. I agree that CEXs aren't perfectly safe, but many investors would rather trust CEXs with their BTC than manage their own private keys.

They're just regular investors, they lack basic blockchain skills, they see CEXs as a typical stock exchange, and they think BTC is just a financial tool like tech stocks. They'll choose CEXs and buy BTC there to trade. I know many successful traders who have never self-custodied BTC in a personal wallet.

       -      Even though Dexe's platform is not perfect, it is really up to us to choose which one we will use as well as the Cex platforms. That is why as a user of exchangers we must be critical before we come to the point of entering funds into their platform.

Then as a user or trader we must accept to ourselves that the funds we will enter are ones we are ready to lose because of the risk that we may face in the future, that is really because we are entering the crypto trading business.

[tequilla_sunset]

       -      Even though Dexe's platform is not perfect, it is really up to us to choose which one we will use as well as the Cex platforms. That is why as a user of exchangers we must be critical before we come to the point of entering funds into their platform.

Then as a user or trader we must accept to ourselves that the funds we will enter are ones we are ready to lose because of the risk that we may face in the future, that is really because we are entering the crypto trading business.

DEXes may be convenient in some cases, whereas CEXes - too, and for general new crypto enthusiast, they would use the latter.

It's a question of whether a person wants to be in custody of their funds or not at full 

[JoyMarsha]

If someone puts a phishing or board in your wallet, no one can remove it from your wallet until you approve the transaction from your hardware wallet.  A hardware wallet costs between $50 and $200.  I think you can spend that much for your safety.

Because of these phishing links that are being sent to crypto wallets to manipulate them, it is advised to cross-check your crypto wallet address to see whether it matches before approaching any transaction with yourp hardware wallet.

The common mistake people make is not to properly cross-check and reconfirm their wallet address whether it matches before they confirm a transaction sent.

If you learn about what causes Bybit hack, is because they didn't reconfirm the wallet address whether it is manipulated before confirming the transaction sent

[omori]

If someone puts a phishing or board in your wallet, no one can remove it from your wallet until you approve the transaction from your hardware wallet.  A hardware wallet costs between $50 and $200.  I think you can spend that much for your safety.

Because of these phishing links that are being sent to crypto wallets to manipulate them, it is advised to cross-check your crypto wallet address to see whether it matches before approaching any transaction with yourp hardware wallet.

The common mistake people make is not to properly cross-check and reconfirm their wallet address whether it matches before they confirm a transaction sent.

If you learn about what causes Bybit hack, is because they didn't reconfirm the wallet address whether it is manipulated before confirming the transaction sent

Wasn't it also because they got their devices injected with some malicious code beforehand? (which allowed to transfer of funds at all).

[SmartGold01]

       -      Even though Dexe's platform is not perfect, it is really up to us to choose which one we will use as well as the Cex platforms. That is why as a user of exchangers we must be critical before we come to the point of entering funds into their platform.

Then as a user or trader we must accept to ourselves that the funds we will enter are ones we are ready to lose because of the risk that we may face in the future, that is really because we are entering the crypto trading business.

DEXes may be convenient in some cases, whereas CEXes - too, and for general new crypto enthusiast, they would use the latter.

It's a question of whether a person wants to be in custody of their funds or not at full 

No one is secured and if you must know there are also hack from Dex that is why it's always advisable to usually have alternatives wallets where you move the funds you want to trade to other address to enable connect to account you only have the coin/token you want to trade than having your wallet compromised due to trying to use the Dex with the hope that since is Dex they wouldn't scam you.
My dear, whenever a hacker or criminal has made their decision to scam or hack a specific exchange on their mind you would see that coming so easily.

[TryNinja]

Because of these phishing links that are being sent to crypto wallets to manipulate them, it is advised to cross-check your crypto wallet address to see whether it matches before approaching any transaction with yourp hardware wallet.

The common mistake people make is not to properly cross-check and reconfirm their wallet address whether it matches before they confirm a transaction sent.

If you learn about what causes Bybit hack, is because they didn't reconfirm the wallet address whether it is manipulated before confirming the transaction sent

Wasn't it also because they got their devices injected with some malicious code beforehand? (which allowed to transfer of funds at all).

Actually the third party they used (Safe vault multisig) was the one invaded. Somehow they managed to get hold of their (aws?) account and injected javascript on the page, focusing Bybit's wallets specifically. If they had looked at what they were confirming on the device, it would be impossible to lose their funds. But also, blind signing is pretty common when dealing with eth smart contracts because nowadays Ledger doesn't support decoding what you're signing.

Basically you should be able to see: "signing TX calling function X on smart contract Y"

But they see just a random hex and can't actually know what they're signing. Terrible for security and makes the hardware device pretty much useless.

[God Of Thunder]

Seems legit.

A good option (in my view, of course), would be to have the phrases only on something physical and in different places, presumably on a hard and durable material (if possible, that is), and that way, you would be a bit safer than to allow the chance of getting your phrase from your device / via some interaction with something fishy, as you said.

Yeah, that is one of the safe methods. But there are some other safest methods such as securing it with a steel washer by writing the seed phrases on it and storing it somewhere safe. There is a tutorial on another forum where a veteran forum member explained how you can do it yourself. If you have a large amount of money, you should be careful with your money. Writing it in a piece of paper is a good idea as well, this is most used method I guess.