What’s the safest option to hold BTC ?

[bitbit97]

What about security measures? Who is more secured, a single user who has an antivirus program, and a brain, that (I hope) will send signals and prevent from doing stupid steps. Or an exchange who has more advanced security than user. That does not mean that non-custodial or cex are preferable and are the only place where to hold funds, but each option has its pros and cons.

People like to scare everyone with "not your keys, not your crypto" or with "exchange will take your funds and you wont be able to do anything about it". Lets take a top exchange, Binance for example, how many real stories when Binance took someones money for nothing, scammed or disappeared with funds we know?

We can also say about the amount of funds in question - would top CEX, KYC or not, be interested in freezing such a minuscule amount of funds? Highly unlikely.

In addition, a good and reputed CEX will always warn before that they plan to close or make account withdraw only. Of course, if user plans to hold there hundreds thousands and millions, he should be prepared to be questioned for funds origins, but I dont think that CEX is least safest place to hold money than on a hardware wallet or on own pc. At least numbers of CEX hacks are far less than number of individual hacks.

However, there is no one and only best place to hold funds. Each option has pros and cons. Diversification is users best friend.

[tequilla_sunset]

In addition, a good and reputed CEX will always warn before that they plan to close or make account withdraw only. Of course, if user plans to hold there hundreds thousands and millions, he should be prepared to be questioned for funds origins, but I dont think that CEX is least safest place to hold money than on a hardware wallet or on own pc. At least numbers of CEX hacks are far less than number of individual hacks.

However, there is no one and only best place to hold funds. Each option has pros and cons. Diversification is users best friend.

Agreed.

If one place goes to smitherins, then others would be still there (probably).

[snowpega]

It never did, and will never be. Anything that related in crypto holdings must be held on non-custodial wallet on safe environment especially if its yours anything than that will be considered as risky. You should only put your money on CEX for trading and be considered to deposit what you can afford to lose.

Well said, mate. Actually, we have seen two big incidents of CEX exchanges, Binance, I think, a year ago and the most recent one of the Bybit hack. I still remember that when the Binance FUD was at its peak, people started to fetch their funds out of the Binance exchange, and that really affected the market sentiments at that time.

For the recent one, Bybit Exchange handled the situation very well! and this did not affect the market that much, if I am not wrong here! Well, the best part for long-term holding is that we should always put our funds in non custodial wallets.

[tequilla_sunset]

It never did, and will never be. Anything that related in crypto holdings must be held on non-custodial wallet on safe environment especially if its yours anything than that will be considered as risky. You should only put your money on CEX for trading and be considered to deposit what you can afford to lose.

Well said, mate. Actually, we have seen two big incidents of CEX exchanges, Binance, I think, a year ago and the most recent one of the Bybit hack. I still remember that when the Binance FUD was at its peak, people started to fetch their funds out of the Binance exchange, and that really affected the market sentiments at that time.

For the recent one, Bybit Exchange handled the situation very well! and this did not affect the market that much, if I am not wrong here! Well, the best part for long-term holding is that we should always put our funds in non custodial wallets.

Bybit was just having some of their devices injected with malicious software, that's how they got the details / ability to do something on their wallets.

But it's still a good example of what can happen..

[Stuart]

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.

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.

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

[tequilla_sunset]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

This hack was only on the ears temporarily, and although it had its effect, it wasn't that big by the community backlash, the situation was resolved quickly. 

So I agree, exchanges should be used for trading mostly.

[Vx1]

If we have no intention of trading it, then it is better if we store BTC in a private wallet. Whatever the wallet is as long as we can keep the private key I think it will be safe. But if we want to trade it then we send it to Cex, of course in the official Cex and once again we must protect our account with double security. Although hackers will always find a way, at least we have protected our account as best we can.

[bitbit97]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

When was the last time you have lost funds that you hold for some moment on exchange wallets? Or had troubles with your account. Imo people are afraid to hold cryptocurrency on exchange, because they are afraid 1) exchange will get robbed - but like with example of ByBit and ETH you have given, users havent lost anything, they still funds on their balances. So is it really such big problem? 2) exchange will get into troubles or disappear - such thing can happen, recent example is FTX, if we look among reputed and large exchanges. But are such scenarios so often to happen?

I am reason from my own experience. I have crypto on exchange, on hardware wallet, MetaMask wallet. I have lost crypto only once, someone stole crypto from my ethereum address.

[Stuart]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

When was the last time you have lost funds that you hold for some moment on exchange wallets? Or had troubles with your account. Imo people are afraid to hold cryptocurrency on exchange, because they are afraid 1) exchange will get robbed - but like with example of ByBit and ETH you have given, users havent lost anything, they still funds on their balances. So is it really such big problem? 2) exchange will get into troubles or disappear - such thing can happen, recent example is FTX, if we look among reputed and large exchanges. But are such scenarios so often to happen?

I am reason from my own experience. I have crypto on exchange, on hardware wallet, MetaMask wallet. I have lost crypto only once, someone stole crypto from my ethereum address.

Truly, these bad news doesn't happen often, but being on a safe side is better, as it is said, Prevention is better than cure. I have some funds in exchange, and this fund if for quick entry to trades or purchasing of coins when prompted to do so or cashout to native fiat, when there arise a need through p2p. I use reputable exchanges to safe keep my trust issues, not using non-reputable exchanges that might not be able to maintain their trust with its users could prompt the act of not leaving your assets on their platform for too long.

[tequilla_sunset]

If we have no intention of trading it, then it is better if we store BTC in a private wallet. Whatever the wallet is as long as we can keep the private key I think it will be safe. But if we want to trade it then we send it to Cex, of course in the official Cex and once again we must protect our account with double security. Although hackers will always find a way, at least we have protected our account as best we can.

Or a DEX, to be sure that these KYC people in ties won't be interested in how much BTC we accumulated, but the amount usually is low anyways from an ordinary person..

[doc]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

When was the last time you have lost funds that you hold for some moment on exchange wallets? Or had troubles with your account. Imo people are afraid to hold cryptocurrency on exchange, because they are afraid 1) exchange will get robbed - but like with example of ByBit and ETH you have given, users havent lost anything, they still funds on their balances. So is it really such big problem? 2) exchange will get into troubles or disappear - such thing can happen, recent example is FTX, if we look among reputed and large exchanges. But are such scenarios so often to happen?

I am reason from my own experience. I have crypto on exchange, on hardware wallet, MetaMask wallet. I have lost crypto only once, someone stole crypto from my ethereum address.

Truly, these bad news doesn't happen often, but being on a safe side is better, as it is said, Prevention is better than cure. I have some funds in exchange, and this fund if for quick entry to trades or purchasing of coins when prompted to do so or cashout to native fiat, when there arise a need through p2p. I use reputable exchanges to safe keep my trust issues, not using non-reputable exchanges that might not be able to maintain their trust with its users could prompt the act of not leaving your assets on their platform for too long.

for security we must be able to choose a trusted exchange so that our crypto assets are safe. for global I usually use the top exchange.
I usually use binance for global exchange and Kucoin, I haven't tried other exchanges because I am more comfortable using the two exchanges.

[Blaze]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

When was the last time you have lost funds that you hold for some moment on exchange wallets? Or had troubles with your account. Imo people are afraid to hold cryptocurrency on exchange, because they are afraid 1) exchange will get robbed - but like with example of ByBit and ETH you have given, users havent lost anything, they still funds on their balances. So is it really such big problem? 2) exchange will get into troubles or disappear - such thing can happen, recent example is FTX, if we look among reputed and large exchanges. But are such scenarios so often to happen?

I am reason from my own experience. I have crypto on exchange, on hardware wallet, MetaMask wallet. I have lost crypto only once, someone stole crypto from my ethereum address.

Truly, these bad news doesn't happen often, but being on a safe side is better, as it is said, Prevention is better than cure. I have some funds in exchange, and this fund if for quick entry to trades or purchasing of coins when prompted to do so or cashout to native fiat, when there arise a need through p2p. I use reputable exchanges to safe keep my trust issues, not using non-reputable exchanges that might not be able to maintain their trust with its users could prompt the act of not leaving your assets on their platform for too long.

It is only proper that an people has control over the money in as much as dealing with digital assets is concerned. I think that the experience speaking about its own company, I sometimes found that having more liquidity can in fact provide greater flexibility in case of an emergency or some good investment opportunity. It is advisable to use a recognised exchange to ensure that your money is secure because trust has to be granted to some unknown exchange. It is good that you are not keeping your assets idle for too long in an unidentified platform since the issue of security prevails in the space.

[BlockCipherX]

It is an always being said that you invest what you can afford to lose, and when it comes to exchanges, it is what you are using to trade or maybe buy some coins for holding that will be traded sooner or later that is advisable to leave in exchanges, otherwise, there is/are wallets for storing one's crypto holdings for as long as one wish.

Exchanges are for trading, while wallets are for holding, storing BTC, ETH or other coins in exchanges is regarded as risky and anything can happen to the exchange and your holdings in the exchange as well.

ETH that was hijacked from the Bybit exchange is a huge one for sure, I believe there is an insider on such act, and this should be always looked out on to avoid being a victim if the exchange is not able to foot the loses.

When was the last time you have lost funds that you hold for some moment on exchange wallets? Or had troubles with your account. Imo people are afraid to hold cryptocurrency on exchange, because they are afraid 1) exchange will get robbed - but like with example of ByBit and ETH you have given, users havent lost anything, they still funds on their balances. So is it really such big problem? 2) exchange will get into troubles or disappear - such thing can happen, recent example is FTX, if we look among reputed and large exchanges. But are such scenarios so often to happen?

I am reason from my own experience. I have crypto on exchange, on hardware wallet, MetaMask wallet. I have lost crypto only once, someone stole crypto from my ethereum address.

Truly, these bad news doesn't happen often, but being on a safe side is better, as it is said, Prevention is better than cure. I have some funds in exchange, and this fund if for quick entry to trades or purchasing of coins when prompted to do so or cashout to native fiat, when there arise a need through p2p. I use reputable exchanges to safe keep my trust issues, not using non-reputable exchanges that might not be able to maintain their trust with its users could prompt the act of not leaving your assets on their platform for too long.

It is only proper that an people has control over the money in as much as dealing with digital assets is concerned. I think that the experience speaking about its own company, I sometimes found that having more liquidity can in fact provide greater flexibility in case of an emergency or some good investment opportunity. It is advisable to use a recognised exchange to ensure that your money is secure because trust has to be granted to some unknown exchange. It is good that you are not keeping your assets idle for too long in an unidentified platform since the issue of security prevails in the space.

I totally feel you on trying to figure out how to keep your crypto safe but still easy to trade, I've been down that road myself. A while back, i used to leave all my coins on exchanges since it was so convenient for buying and selling but then I saw what happened with bybit getting hacked and ftx totally crashing. It freaked me out, honestly, because I realized even the big names can get hit with hacks or just go belly up. So now I only keep a little bit on the exchange for quick trades and I've got the rest tucked away in a hardware wallet, it's one of those where i'm the only one with the keys which makes me feel way better. I also set up multi factor authentication to lock it down and I sleep a lot easier knowing my stuff isn't just sitting out there where it could disappear.

[bitbit97]

I totally feel you on trying to figure out how to keep your crypto safe but still easy to trade, I've been down that road myself. A while back, i used to leave all my coins on exchanges since it was so convenient for buying and selling but then I saw what happened with bybit getting hacked and ftx totally crashing. It freaked me out, honestly, because I realized even the big names can get hit with hacks or just go belly up. So now I only keep a little bit on the exchange for quick trades and I've got the rest tucked away in a hardware wallet, it's one of those where i'm the only one with the keys which makes me feel way better. I also set up multi factor authentication to lock it down and I sleep a lot easier knowing my stuff isn't just sitting out there where it could disappear.

Only in FTX case people lost everything. ByBit hack hasnt affected users balances at all. Lets not forget, that those who have lost money in FTX slowly getting them back. Have you though on following - when CEX got hacked or owners try to scam, there are always resources, lawyers that will try to get your money back. If same thing happens to your own wallet, you are on your own to try to catch hacker.

[tequilla_sunset]

Only in FTX case people lost everything. ByBit hack hasnt affected users balances at all. Lets not forget, that those who have lost money in FTX slowly getting them back. Have you though on following - when CEX got hacked or owners try to scam, there are always resources, lawyers that will try to get your money back. If same thing happens to your own wallet, you are on your own to try to catch hacker.

Yeah, Bybit went a different route and their situation went differently.

And we count on our fingers how often such a thing happens.