Bitcoin Forum

How do you take care of your cryptocurrencies not being stolen?

Most of us know that keeping your funds on exchanges isn't safe by any means. Now online wallets that you can access via web browser or even smartphone aren't safest as well. Hardware wallets can be probably hacked (although you can encrypt the wallet.dat file, is that enough for hackers to not stole your money?).

The best way to keep cryptocurrencies is physical wallet like Trezor / Ledger Nano S. But if you connect them to your PC are you surely safe? Let's say that your PC is infected with some sort of malware that's focusing on stoling your private key or something like that. Are you still safe?
Even your wi-fi can be compromised and infect your devices connected to the network.

I want to secure my funds, so what is the best way to make sure your cryptocurrencies are safe and sound?

The best way is to keep them stored offline, on a paper, but then again, one tornado, one flood, one burglary, and your bitcoin might be gone..

However for alot of people this isn't something they want, as your funds are pretty much inaccessible.

You need to find a balance between Security & Convenience.

Also, even if your wifi gets hacked, it shouldn't result in the loss of coins. I'm pretty sure most data is heavily encrypted, don't quote me on that though.

The safest wallets against theft are hardware wallets such as Trezor, KeepKey, Ledger, etc. You can use them on an infected computer because they never reveal their private keys and they ask you to verify the address that you are sending to.

You don't have to worry about connecting your hardware wallet into a infected device because they are made to let you do that. Your private keys will never leave the hardware wallet since and all the proccess from signing your transaction is made inside the device.

The Trezor/Ledger wallet software used to "manage" your wallet is just a client to prepare transactions and send them to the hardware wallet, where the transaction will be signed and sent back to get broadcasted. This is just like a normal cold storage that has a online watch-only wallet and an offline wallet that will never be connected to the internet and it's responsible for signing your transactions.

you are right man.now a days i am also facing this problem. every time i feeling unsafely for my wallet.but now i took a decision, i print out my private key and delete all of keys from my computer.now its safe i think.I am using antivirus also, and regular i am using windows defender.so why i am feeling safe now.

On my opinion the safest way to store coins is to use hardware wallets as you mentioned in post. The good thing about them is that even if you use them with infected PC with all possible viruses, trojans, malware your coins will be safe. As private key never leaves hardware wallet. So you do not need to worry about that. There were just recently some security issues with Trezor and KeepKey, not sure have dangerous they are, but at the moment I'd recommend you to use ledger wallets

I basically would want to hodl my cryptocurrencies in a safe spot.
The funds I'd like to spend on something  I will send to my secondary wallet which will be more convenient but less secure obviously.

I'm planning to buy hardware wallet as a haven for my money. But which one is the best?

Recently, I was confused about hodling for the long term along with the flexibility to spend. I received a useful suggestion from another Bitcointalk member, jackg. He says,


This is a good idea to store Bitcoins or even altcoins in my opinion. You can keep your main fund safe as long as you want without touching it, you still have some coins in your hardware wallet which is flexible yet secure and still, if you need more flexibility then you can go with web wallets or exchanges with a comparatively low amount.

P.S - Hardware wallets are safe even if your pc or smartphone is infected because your private keys are never exposed so even you won't be able to see your private key (other than seed phrase for the first time).

I use Ledger Wallet S and that's really good, you can link it with a few wallet like myetherwallet.com

I think you don't need to overdo it to be safe. Paper wallets or hardware wallets are a good idea if you're really afraid of losing your coins but if you're planning to store coins for a long time you can make an address offline using one of the available generators, rewrite the key to a text file, rename it to something like a *.dll or *.sys mix with some program files and store it on 2 separate flash drives. It's a cheap and relatively safe way to store a key if you're afraid of being hacked.

I too think hardware wallet is the safest method. I havent used paper so I cannot comment if thats better or worse than a hardware wallet, they both probably have their pros and cons.

Other than that the only thing you can really do is put your hardware wallet in a safe in a bank or elsewhere(if you dont plan to day trade that is).

I agree. Every wallet has its pros and cons so the only choice I have sometimes is choosing what's more convenient to me for cash in and cash out.

if you keep your private keys in a safe, your wallets are safety.

I did not keep my private keys in my computer because im afraid of hackers and thieves but instead i printed in the paper and a copy to my two USB which are both hidden in my room. Plus the two USB was put in the steel box with a combination just in case of fire in the house i could still retrieve it.

Well just use bitcoin wallets where you can have the private keys then write your private keys manually and put it a safe place, it cant be hack as long as nobody will have it .

I'd say you basically have 2 choices.

Either buy the TREZOR, or the Ledger Wallet S

LEDGER, https://www.ledgerwallet.com/

Ledger reviews, https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/ledger-nano-s/

TREZOR, https://trezor.io/

Trezor review, https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/trezor/

TREZOR VS LEDGER, https://99bitcoins.com/trezor-vs-ledger-hands-hardware-wallets-review/

The article basically says there is no real difference between either wallet in terms of security, only in the design and User interface. It's all personal preference.

They're both good choices, Although ledger is 30$ cheaper as of right now.

hardware wallets and paper wallets are safest way to protect your bitcoin. other online wallets always have risk.

30% of my cryptos i keep in exchanges for trading and rest I just store in hardware wallet. So far no problems with security.

Me too, I putting all my bitcoins in my bitcoin trading/exchange account protected with 2fa, pin and password, instead of holding it in a web or hardware wallet. If ever I need some of my bitcoins,  I will  withdraw it and change it in a fiat currency and ready to spend.

I you have big amount you better use a hard wallet.

I think the best is an ETH wallet or MEW because the wallet has no history/ saved data on their system so even the creator of the wallet can't access their wallet if they don't have the file, so it is hard to get in your wallet if you lost the file.

there is a saying  : no pain, no gain.

let me rephrase it : no btc, no pain  ;D
just sell this s*it and put all earned $$$ to the bank. now they are safe.

but seriously, man, do you have quite a lot of BTC to ask questions how to hold it?  I'm sure that if you'll choose to keep your crypto on exchange - just use the google auth for  your safety, and those idea for splitting - is just wise. Put some of your BTC to PC without internet and back it up often , the rest for trading on exchanges

I guess that is good enough

I'd recommend using offline wallets, or paper wallets

the loss of funds is greatly reduced that way and hacks are not possible, the disadvantage is that you might lose your physical wallet, so be careful

I'm keeping my currencies in ledger nano s, quire satisfied, the inly bad thing about ledger is that you can not have installed all wallets of each coin on your pc at the same time. only 3-5. but with ledger blue u can install 5-8 apps.