Bitcoin Forum

Hi gentlemen of this beloveth forum, I wanna remind you guys to try as much as possible to never leave your bitcoins or any other crypto on an exchange except you are ready to loose them.

I just lost 78.82 usd worth of bitcoins I left on one of our local exchangers here, the exchange was not hacked, nothing happened, i just logged in this morning to discover that my bitcoin are no where to be found, I quickly navigated to the withdrawal history section to see if my account have been hacked and the hacker withdrew it, but surprisingly, there was no new withdrawal history except for the ones I've previously made which the last one was about 3 weeks ago, my bitcoins disappeared just like that.

I thought of withdrawing this coin a day before but decided not to bcus I knew I will be using them soon, so to avoid paying a withdrawal fee and in 2 or 3 days time, pay transaction fee to deposit them again, i decided to leave them there, now they are gone and i cant even trace where or how they went out.

I contacted support and they claim they are investigating the issue but whatever the result turns out to be, i dont have any hope of ever seeing my 78.82 usd in bitcoin again, bcus I think they know the worst am gonna do is stop using their exchange and as well discourage people around me from ever using them.

So the point of this message/post is if you value your coins, always keep them in a wallet you have the keys.

Newbies - Read before using exchanges or investing (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5178747.msg52263795#msg52263795)
Electrum wallet - Update safely and avoid phishing wallets? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5178675.msg52260225#msg52260225)
How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.msg54223763#msg54223763)
Verifying Bitcoin Core (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1588906.0) (theymos does not update the topic but you can read to get ideas and steps, then search to do it with newest version).

Those topics can help newbies know why they should choose a good non custodial wallet to use.
[General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0)
Custodial vs. Non Custodial Wallets - "Not your keys, not your coin" Explained. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5173370.0)

Be cautious with blockchain.com wallet if you don't back up your seeds, you can not recover it.

In my opinion, you can not just blame this on exchanges, men must trade also. You need to let us know the name of the exchange. Normally, without private key, then the bitcoin is not directly ours and not our own on bitcoin blockchain. That is why it is very good to use a very reputed, trustworthy, reliable and a very safe exchange, trading is not easy or nearly impossible on wallets, that is why people prefer to use exchanges to trade.

Binance Dex exchange still provide customers with private keys, which can be a good alternative, but this kind of exchange have low trading volume.

Unfortunately if you're doing trading, you have no choice but to actually leave some coins on exchanges so in some cases people have no choice. In your case though? It seems to be the case of using a shitty exchange more than anything. Have you tried contacting customer support?

Are you sure the local exchange you are using is old and legit or just a new one and proclaiming that they are legit? Because that most probably be the root of your problem. The point you told us that there is no trace of transaction in the history makes me thought already that it is sort of inside job. That was very unusual.

Once you get your money back (hopefully), the best thing to do is to withdraw it once and for all and then shift into bigger reputable exchanges like Binance in order to avoid this instance. God bless you :).

That is very strange if you lost your money without any making any withdrawals, so it's not a hack either. And the only one that can answer to you is your exchange. I do agree that you 'not your keys, not your coins', philosophy, but it's not even that safe anymore. You should also learn how to protect your private keys, not just mere having them.

You can cite the Exchange you used if you wish. Some Exchanges may be buggy, and render a balance that is incorrect and inconsistent with the TXs, especially if they don’t allocate enough resources. Certainly not a good proffesional sign. This could be your case, and the support team you’ve contacted should inform you of what’s going on. On the other hand, there are some scam Exchanges around, and you may have fallen for one.

Sidenote: You’ve made the same exact post on Serious Discussion, which goes against this:

Everyone who get into crypto should first learn that the holy grail of your crypto fortune are your private keys. If you lose them you lose everything. No third instance will help you.
To be honest, your loss is acceptable compared to many other losses out there which partly go into millions of dollars. Take it as a (cheap) lesson to not leave your coins on a centralized exchange not matter how legit the exchange may seem like.

Best to provide the name of the exchange you are using since people are so curious about this case and want to avoid the site since you are compromised by using it as you said. But also try to wait for their investigation since there are so many factors possibly happens and the developers can answer you if they are done with it. For now best to wait and also always activate your 2FA,set-up a strong password and don't install any unfamiliar links to avoid being hacked.

I would also add that even if you have the keys, if you are not keeping them safely (hence it's not only you who get access to the keys), you'll also lose the coins.
This means that the keys or seed should not be kept online (mail, cloud) and should also not stay on a computer that goes online. I advise paper and/or hardware wallet, with the mention that big amounts of Bitcoin should not "stay" on the hardware wallet you use daily, instead they should be tied to a cold storage.

I understand that you might not want to disclose the details about which exchange you was using but unfortunately for all of us here this is a crucial information, so maybe in the future if you're not too worried about the details share them.

As for your money have gone missing, this is weird and if you're new to crypto might I suggest the possibility of you having used a stop-loss feature to buy in or something which might have resulted in your money going missing? To be honest, this can happen to anyone so best to check all possibilities and for the future remember to always keep your guard up.

First, about leaving coins in exchanges, it will depend on what it is for. If you are holding it, better not to use an exchange wallet.
but, if you are trading them, as what @mk4 said, you should leave the coins on the exchanges. But of course, before trading the coins, it is important to know whether the exchange is:
- reliable,
- trusted, and
- secure or not.
And some other factors should be also thought before choosing the exchange, such as its display, transaction fees, and more others.

But here about the security of the coins (especially BTC as in your case), nothing to do, you must wait for the information from their CS, you may follow up the question day per day until you get a clear explanation about where your coins gone. They will commonly provide data if the coin is missing. But, if it is about the system error, your BTC will be back to you.

About the crucial data of the exchanges such as password/pin/keys, phrase, it is always noted that we must store them carefully, not to forget or even lose the data.

 Personally I am surprised that some people still believe that keeping even a small amount may give the guarantee that this amount will not be stolen or disappear because of some reason. The most safe place is good wallet that is strongly secured. And of course secured not only by your seed words but secured by your following of simple rules of using your assets - good old and simple rules, that very often are forgotten by lots of users. It is better to use separate gadget where you use your wallet, and this gadget you should better not use for searching something in the Internet, watching films or working with your social profiles. Cold wallet is even better.  And of course everyone should be ready to lose because there is always such a risk. It is said not only about the exchanges, but it is said about the assets and every direction of investments or trading.

This is served as a lesson to everyone, not to leave their valuable crypto assets on exchange for a longer period of time. If you don't do trade, then pull out your asset, isn't safe if you will leave on exchange. Even in any local custodial wallets, they aren't also safe for storing your Bitcoin, and yes, not your key, not your Bitcoin.

This, these are very important characteristics of the exchange, before you will pick, make it sure these 3 should be there.

Op didn't disclose the name of the local exchange, it might be good if you will tell us and to serve us as a warning of not getting use.

I know some users will quickly jump in on the discussion to chirp in why keeping coins on centralized exchanges is bad. When the funds are not actively been traded, that's when it should be kept in a private wallet but we can't say the same for people who make trades on these exchanges. It would be unreasonable to send your assets back and forth from private wallets to exchanges just to make trades because fees will eat up the profits you could have had.

If the funds are used for trading, Its advisable to pick an exchange with a top notch security, otherwise things might go bad in the long run.

---

@OP, Sorry about your loss. I do hope that you recover it soonest.

that is very true and it would be very good if both traders and exchanges started using lightning network because the user can still hold their coins locally (in their own channel that they control) and send the coins back and forth without having to worry about high fees since LN fees are near zero anyways.

there is no such thing as "top notch security", not for exchanges anyways with their horrible history.
but that doesn't matter because you and I have no way of knowing the level of security the exchanges have. they just give us fake promises to look secure.

well, am sorry I didn't know about this rule, and thank you for bringing it to my notice, I've tried deleting my duplicate post on serious discussion session but looks like I can't, each I click delete, am always greeted back with "erro, you can't delete your post on this session"

So I guess I will just leave it there


And for those asking to know what exchange it is

First, what i will let you guys know is that, it's a local exchange as I've said before, what I mean by local exchange is that other countries can't use it cus it operates within this country alone, and also it can't be used to day trade cus there's not enough liquidity for that, I meanly use them to convert my local currency to bitcoin or ethereum which ever, and also to convert my bitcoin or ethereum to my local currency and withdraw to my local bank account if need be.

I don't want to disclose their name just yet, I want to first of all read from them, I Want to know what happened and if am gonna get my money back and the update now is that am still waiting for them to reply my mail. The whole issue might as well be a result of a glitch in their system which is what am suspecting.

But my message here to everyone most especially newbies is to not just leave their coins on exchanges when you know you don't day trade or use exchanges in place of a private wallet, its very risky, i lost coins worth over 287 usd on Cryptopia when they got hacked, i didnt get a dime of that back even though they claim to have paid some people.

After your findings and you see your coin was stolen, you can disclose the name to your country people, like it is restricted in your country and your people will know not to fall victim.

Using your own wallet doesn't make you immune to hacks, just as your account got hacked, your computer can be hacked too, there's malware in the wild that targets crypto users by stealing and decrypting their wallet files, or stealing private keys from memory, or using keyloggers to steal seeds, and so on. You need to be quite good at cybersecurity to not lose your coins in the long run, one misstep and potentially all your coins will be gone, no matter if it's 0.001 BTC or 40 BTC.

of course yes, if anyhow, they don't tell me what happened and refund my money back to me before tomorrow evening, am gonna go public with their name, but I know they won't allow that happen cus they are definitely gonna loose far more than they've stolen from me or any other person, they will be out of business in no time if they don't refund my money. All you said is true bro, and this is why i think it's gonna take a very long time before cryptocurrency finally goes mainstream, by mainstream, i mean become a general currency like our local fiat currencies, though i wish this can happen sooner, but i doubt our old ones who aren't as tech savvy as we young ones are will let it, cus to them, bitcoin and cryptocurrency is still a subject they don't think they would ever understand

Have you ever assured that you have get into a legitimate and reliable exchange before putting your funds in there? Even if we say so that it is a local exchange, still there could be chances that such exchange you have gone through is a shit one and you have been victimized by a scheme. Be sure not just for the OP but as well as to everyone's attention that before engaging into putting up even a small amount of fund in the exchange you have picked, always to check the credibility of the exchange itself for the funds won't be ay loss when there is no one's fault. It could be a human error for transferring or doing transactions unnecessarily causing your account to get hackee or the exchange is the one who have problem with. I do hope the OP could still regain even it is a small amount for it is still money at stake.

If I read the chronology of your lost BTC, it's quite strange, there is no withdrawal history where your BTC is lost. This problem must be
wait for the exchanges to investigate, let them investigate for a few days. If the result is not satisfactory indeed these exchanges are
problematic, and don't use these exchanges anymore. What local exchanges are you using popular and including old exchanges, because
it is risky to use unpopular new exchanges.

You need to question the credibility of the local exchange you are using. If you lose funds, at least there are traces of transactions that can be traced. if they (local exchange) cannot solve the problem of losing your bitcoin, then of course they are not professional exchanges. I also have some bitcoins on my local exchange, until now it's still safe and I always open it every day.

It is very risky to leave assets on the exchange because we don't have full control, but you also have to know the reputation of the exchange you are using, don't use an exchange that has a bad reputation.

It was a bit worrying when you have seen a withdrawal transactions but there is nothing, it might be there is a problem with the site only. We can't still conclude that you have been scammed already ( not possible) because you have visited the same site (not a phishing site) and made transactions before and it works fine.

The support gives you the replies and there a chance that it will get back to you unless if there are no responses coming from them. Better to wait somehow, put yourself at ease. Because if you are using legit exchange, you'll nothing to worry about. This could sometimes be an issue, in fact, I'd experience like this before but it is just resolved if we are asking help from their support team.

This is really quite frightening, this is why i only trade occasionally in exchanges since Binance got hacked, i've lose trust in this exchanges, not only they ignore responsibility towards their customer but also does not refund the money you've lose.
Best way to trade is to keep them in an hardware wallet and only exchange them if you've profited.

Update

I got a mail from them this morning, they apologized and asked several of us affected to be patient, that the issue was caused by a glitch in their system, they claim they are currently working on fixing the problem and should give them between 50 to 72 hours to restore our balances.

Now I know I wasn't the only one affected as they clearly said it affected several of their users. So I wait patiently for them to ruturn my bitcoin and I run away from them forever   ;D ;D

Sorry for your loss but I suppose this could serve us all a lesson to consider using a DEX instead, though I think those DEX's may have low daily volume and prices aren't as attractive as compared to centralized exchange. Imho.

I have never come across a situation like that in my life. Normally, I think the chance of this kind of 'vanishing' is very low. I thought there should definitely be a problem with their system. And there it is. I hope they will restore your coins quickly like they said. :)

It's good for you. But the reminder you give to us is a fact. I already encountered that problem before and lost my altcoins in different exchanges. So the best recommendation is to keep our bitcoin or altcoin in a much safer place than keeping it on exchanges that might endanger our crypto-currency.
The reason why I'm keeping my crypto in exchanges before saves a lot of transaction fees. However, saving fees solution is not worth it if your account is affected by hacking incidents.

Exactly my point, this is exactly what happened to me with cryptopia, though I don't blame myself much cus i was kind of new to crypto then, but I won't say I don't regret it, I stored every of my coins on cryptopia as long as they are listed on the exchange, I heard of exchanges been hacked but I never knew it would soon get to cryptopia's turn, so I never bothered until it happened, that was how i lost everything I had on that exchange till today.

Sorry you lost your bitcoins. It is an important lesson to learn not store too much cryptocurrency on the exchanges. Unfortunately it is a necessary evil for many at this point of time.

There should always be a reason to worry especially if you can't track what happened to the money you stored, it just disappeared. You earned that money so I think I can say that it is yours though, we are just lodging here in digital world so our money isn't 100% safe.  So, the best thing to do next time is to find trusted exchanges and distribute your money, do not just put all your money in one exchange or even in one wallet.

Sad you lost little fund from your exchange account. Trusted exchange services won't get into such issues, because the reputation lost will affect their business. For increased security, it is always good to prefer the leading exchanges. In simple even if some issue took place with the fund, we'll get it resolved on time.

Some suggest to go for decentralized exchanges. With decentralized exchanges the full control will be with the user, but if human makes an error it can't be rectified further. The loss out of the error can't be recovered.

Huh, which exchange was that? If the bitcoins disappeared from your account, that probably was a glitch or a bug maybe since no one withdrew it from your account. Since I am almost sure the coins don't stay on the "wallet" you are given. Look at the transactions, you will see once the coin reaches to the wallet address given to you buy the exchange, it gets moved to another wallet. So, even if the wallets private key has been compromised and the hacker moves the coins,  the balance change shouldn't be reflected on your account since the change will take place only if you withdraw from your account (which according to you no one did). I think the exchange you have joined is fake or a scam exchange.

No mate, they are not scam according to my findings, please read my update above, they had a glitch in their system and that caused balances to disappear in some affected accounts, it happened that I was one of the victims, they are currently working on resolving the issue and restoring balances in all affected accounts, but as I have stated before, as soon as my balance is restored, I will withdraw and never use them again, atleast until they upgrade there system.

Everything should return back to normal by tomorrow

Before starting a new thread I saw this one doing some research. Following OP's golden reminder Not Your Keys, Not Your Coins I would suggest that everyone take a look down memory lane to remember how many failed exchanges we saw during these years.
Mismanagement, theft, hacks etc. can always take your coins away from you.

I was lucky enough to have withdrawn my funds from both Cryptsy and Mintpal before they collapsed. For those of you who don't remember them, those where like the Huobi, Bitstamp, Bitfinex of today.

So, please, learn how to manage your wallet/keys  8)
https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/36-bitcoin-exchanges-that-are-no-longer-with-us

You are right about the DEX exchange which has a small daily volume which has the advantage of being able to fully control our assets.  but centralized exchanges or large exchanges such as Binance, Bithumb, Bittrex and many more, have security that is constantly being improved so that it is not easy to hack.  It is very risky, but as users we also have to be vigilant and not put all the assets on one exchange, you also have to have a secure private wallet such as using a hardware wallet and the like.  security is the responsibility of the asset owner.

Binance also hacked as well so there is no hack proof exchange yet and could be never possible as well so people have to take responsibility of their coins and store on a hardware wallet or paper wallet for long term, desktop and HD wallet for short term.Choose exchanges only when we are going to trade that coins in the near future.

I agree, there is no hack proof system of security, even the cryptography has its limit. But some may ask why there are exchanges that has no reported cases of hacking like Huobi. It does not mean that if it don't happen to you, it will not come after you, though I'm not wishing them a bad luck to get their security be compromised. Still one of the safest way to store crypto is on hardware wallets like Ledger or Trezor.

There is nothing much of a risk when you let your funds sleep in the forum for like a day or two, the risk increases when you just leave it there for a while. Or exactly when they are compromised.

If you use a top exchange, your bitcoins will be found. Once my 500 dollar TRON coins disappeared. The support team helped me. This can take a very long time. My coins were returned to me after a month. When choosing an exchange, you need to be very careful. :-\

Well, speaking about Cryptopia, a lot of people have had a very bad experience using their exchange, including me. Though I didn't lose anything because I consistently follow up on the cryptos that magically lost or got stucked in the process of withdrawing or deposit.
Now, when you're more than a year in crypto space, I assume you've already gain a knowledge about the risks of storing cryptos in any exchange. It's inevitable not to use the exchange though specially when you're trading, but at least do not store your Btc or other alts for a long period of time.

This is how important it is to choose reliable exchanges, so you can avoid bad things like those mentioned in the opening post.
Because popular and trusted exchanges have a good security system, our coins are not easy to hack. Choosing not to store coins
at all on exchanges is not a good choice for traders, if those who usually do day trading are certainly required to save coins on
exchanges. But not all of us store our coins on exchanges, just save the coins that we will use for trading. The rest can be stored
on hardware wallets.

Going for a reliable exchange such as phemex or bybit could be a nice way to store Crypto but on a short term basis. Its really difficult not to store your funds because its useless trading small amount and getting returns in low. I only trust exchanges that has good reputation and has twitter account to communicate with their users. Some decentralized exchange is more decent right now one of these is Uniswap, it has easy GUI and big community for issues you may encounter.

I feel sorry for your loss, I know this is not a huge amount we earn it daily but the point is getting lost your money.
If they can steal such a little amount they can do much more. I never left my bitcoins there instead I use my wallet to keep my money secure and save

You truly don't get the message: the funds you held on ANY exchanges are NOT yours. They belong to the exchange since they control the keys to let you transact with your balance. Right? You only have a balance on the screen which says the exchange owes you something.
But if they are ever lost or stolen, you are done. Say goodbye to your coins!

Again: Not your keys, not your coins