Bitcoin Forum

Hello all!

I have BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC balances on Coinbase. The other day I read something about the danger of having balances in Coinbase in case of a hacking attack or in case Coinbase team want to shut down my account for any reasong they deem appropiate.

I remember that I read a post about having the balances in a wallet with a private key instead of having it on Coinbase without a private key but now I can't find that post or that info. I have all my cryptocurrencies amounts on Coinbase because it is convenient to check the balances on the app or on the web (so you know how much you have at all times) but I'm starting to worry and getting paranoid of loosing all my money at Coinbase.

That being said, my questions are:

• Do you know how to move the balances in Coinbase to a wallet in order to have a private key?
• Should I use a cold storage for my cryptocurrencies or can I leave them in the online wallet?
• What wallet do you recommend to keep the cryptocurrencies?

Thank you for your patience and interest on helping me!

You move the balances by sending them, through the Coinbase app or website, to your own addresses that your wallet generates for you. Please be sure to use the correct address for the correct currency. Whether to use ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ storage is up to your own security and usability requirements; please see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage.

The conventional wisdom is you should not leave your coins in online wallets like Coinbase because they ultimately own your private keys.  They are an exchange so money should only be kept there when you are ready to do some trading.  You can move your coins to a desktop wallet like Electrum or hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger.  With those wallets, you control the private keys. 

Thanks a lot to both of you! As Ciscopro200 says, Coinbase owns my private keys and that's not good for what I've read so far... So I'm going to try Electrum and see how it is and later I will use a cold storage. Thanks!

I recommend using a paper wallet so you have a physical backup of the private key. Be sure to generate it using a clean system, such as a Linux live CD. Store this in a safe place, such as a safe or safety deposit box. You can try Ledger or Trezor--Both wallets are 'cold storage' wallets which we highly recommend. Cold storage eliminates counterparty risk and greatly reduces cybersecurity risk. The downside is they aren't free. The truth is that a paper wallet is the best bitcoin wallet for 2018 and beyond because it's the safest, and in the crypto space the value of safety is – or at least should be – placed at a premium.

Thank you very much, MintDice. I'm going to try the cold storage in a paper, because as you said, is the safest method. Thanks!

No problem! Good luck!  ;D

Hello first of all, it is a great move because it means that u are gonna HODL and this is good.
Youcan store cryptocurrencies online or offline, it is up to you but offline is more secure.
The best solution is an hardware wallet, like ledger or trezor.
Read carefully the instructions before buy and setting up the wallet
Never buy an used hardware wallet and always the only one that knows your private key

Make sure to keep the paper safe, you can try to laminate it or put it inside a lockbox.
Other ways to prevent it is by making a few copies of your Paper Wallet and keep it in a different places.
Do your research and understand how Paper Wallet works and see whether it fits your requirements as paper wallets are usually used for long term storage
If you're spending your coins regulary, it'd be better to get desktop based wallet.

Yep, paper wallet is probably the safest option, but it's not convenient if you need to send your coins often. If you are planning to HODL, it's ok.
You also can use combination of paper and desktop wallet. Keep biggest part of your coins on a paper wallet and also smaller part of BTC/Altcoin on a desktop wallet for your daily needs.
Also, hardware wallet can be a good option if you have some spare money to purchase it. And to avoid risks, buy only from official website or official retailer.

I would recommend Cold Storage (Hardware wallet) you could use Portfolio sites that have apps for your phone. and you could insert how many coins you purchased with price. and it will keep you updated and then have the coins in cold storage that would keep away from the internet. If you plan on selling them and not hold for long period of times probably wouldn't be the best answer for you.

I have found the ledger wallet to be user friendly and it's extremely safe! I highly recommend it!

Better to transfer them which is you can hold your private keys.. The best choice would be coinomi for me never had any problem yet and you can hold multi coins. and also if you wanted more safety you should spend to buy hardware wallet like they said Ledger nano s would be the best because they can support more coins than the other Trezor wallet.. other than that i don't see any trusted wallet that can gives you more secured..

For cold storage, I am using the Ledger nano S and it works wonderfully. You can encrypt it as well for higher security.