Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

i don't know bitcoin very well but i have money in btc on coinbase. I am not sure have money on coinbase is very secure. What do you think about it ? Is there a way for have bitcoin with security because i scared coinbase block my account or give information on how much money i have on it, i think it is not very anonymous

Take your Bitcoins out of Coinbase. Coinbase has been consistently unreliable in terms of their uptime and I'm not sure if you'd want to keep the coins in an unreliable service. Try exploring desktop wallets (Electrum, Bitcoin Core) and hardware wallets if you've large sums of Bitcoin. I know many would argue about 2FA on Coinbase but I don't think 2FA actually adds that much security when you're talking about malware attacks.

Take this as another vote for you pulling out your funds from Coinbase. I assume that you are not a trader since you are frankly admitting that you don't know Bitcoin very well yet. There is, therefore, no reason for your Bitcoin to stay at an exchange wallet. You are not controlling that wallet mind you. And your fear has sufficient basis.

The old adage in crypto always applies, not your keys not your coins. So you take that fund out and move it where you own your private keys. If possible, spend as little amount as $60 for a hardware wallet. That will keep your Bitcoin safe.

You would be better off holding your own bitcoin rather than trusting a company like Coinbase. A hardware wallet like Trezor is not very expensive and will keep your coins safe. There are other measures like using Tor and encrypting your wallet that can also add extra layers of security. You can decide what method of securing your funds is best for your situation but I would advise withdrawing from Coinbase if you own a non-trivial amount of BTC.

Coinbase seems to be one of the "better" types of exchanges as they haven't really been hacked as far as I know. ...yet

If you're smart enough to use a computer, you're probably smart enough to learn how to have self custody over your funds and properly secure them: https://NotYourKeys.org

I think 80% of the members on this forum have already answered about the security against Coinbase.

So, it seems I don't need to answer any more questions about the OP, you can see below.

Topic: Is coinbase safe? and this app this app claim free bitcoin? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2213356.0)

Topic: Coinbase is scammers.. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5223918.0)

Topic: Is Coinbase safe to store currency? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5090802.0)

I hope what is conveyed by the community here can make you think carefully.

In my opinion, make withdrawals as quickly as possible with the Bitcoin you have there, because if you store Bitcoin for a very long time in your coinbase wallet, I'm afraid the account you have there will be closed and cannot be opened again. if you are looking for a place to store Bitcoin and you want to store the Bitcoin that you have, I advise you to use Blockchain or Exodus because both wallets are very safe to use to store the Bitcoin you have there.

You are not safe with that exchange because there are so many claims of having issue to that Coinbase site.

Try to have your own Ledger nano to keep safe your bitcoin and be secured holding that coins of yours.

And please prevent your self from leaving your crypto assets in any exchange because that is not reliable way of investing.

If by security you mean multiple layers of authentication to access your wallet then there are many options depending on what you are using. You can activate it's 2fa and install a 3rd party app (Google Authenticator), enable the email approval for every transaction you made, and you can also put password, pin, or even your fingerprint to access and approve transaction on that wallet.

All in all just don't share with anyone the private details used to access your bitcoin wallet and you should be safe.

Even with all these precautions, it is still a bad idea to use Coinbase. After all, you are using a centralized service and your account is nothing but a record in a database kept at a centralized location. Any malfunction in the database (and backups) and all users lose their money. Moreover, the moment user checks that 'Terms & Conditions' checkbox, he becomes liable to the tyranny of the website. Make a small stupid mistake and your account will get banned and you will lose your money.

Using a non-custodial wallet is far better than using Coinbase with maximum security.

This is the most basic but reliable advice because on a grand scale, bitcoin is secure but the individual is a debatable one because each one is unique on how they handle bitcoin or their finances in general. I had the same advice from my friends and I think that it really helps to know that your coins are secure when it comes to storage.

Regardless of the money, if you have intentions of keeping it for a long time then Coinbase is not the best choice. Even if you activate 2FA, email or authenticator that doesn't make sense if a hacker gets in through their backdoor and steal their funds. Although Coinbase seems to have a strong security but for someone who's security worried and you don't own your keys there. There are free desktop wallets that you can choose which has been suggested like Electrum or Bitcoin Core.

Simple, first you need to document yourself a bit about Bitcoin to understand the basic mechanics. Then what I recommend is to withdraw your crypto from exchanges if you don't plan on actively trading them and put them in a software "hot" wallet, or better in a cold wallet (be it a hardware or a paper wallet). In case you opt to hold your BTC on your smartphone or computer make sure you encrypt the wallet with a password and if possible with extra security measures like 2FA, whitelisted addresses and overall make sure you have a good antivirus, don't click on phishing links and don't let other people access it. I hope my advice is helpful for you! :)

the bigger problem with centralized services such as Coinbase as wallets is when they decide to randomly shut down accounts for whatever reason they see fit. and you have already agreed to their terms and given them permission to do such a thing even if you didn't read the ToS when you signed up. your money can evaporate just like that.

The better choice is to store on offline wallets. Offline wallets are more secure as they aren't accessible via the internet. As these storage is done on the personal computers the private key needs to be kept secure and the exposure to the internet is completely stopped. The system needs to be kept clean, because malware attacks might affect the file. However the chance of such attacks were nil.

I used to call them the PayPal of crypto ( analogy doesn’t work so well anymore  ) because you’re right they will ban you for anything they see fit..their own “moral code”.

I have been banned before (bought allergy meds from a 100% legal online pharmacy) but they did let me remove my coins I had on there.  However I’ve got a buddy (a legendary/very knowledge member here) who’s coins got stolen when they locked his account. No reason for it or explanation at all.

OP- buy a Ledger or Trezor hardware wallet, but make sure to only buy directly from the companies and not eBay/Amazon etc

I suggest that you take your Bitcoin off from exchange or online wallet if you are not aware of the risk of putting your funds online. Take note if you are not holding your Private key, you cannot say that your funds are safe. You can use a hardware wallet or paper wallet, just make your research about it before using it.

Well, it's anonymous as long as you don't really provide your info, you'd just be someone on the internet that owns an x amount of BTC on their exchange. Exchanges aren't the best when it comes to storing, but it's one of the easiest ones since you don't particularly have to buy/setup something. If you want a really secure way to store your coins, follow what others say about hardware wallets. They're basically the best way to store your coins since you're basically the one in control yourself, and not anyone else.

Why Coinbase?

You will have private keys (with Bitcoin Core) or mnemonic seeds (with Electrum) if you use non-custodial wallets. Be your own bank and no one will be able to freeze your wallet, don't allow you to send your bitcoin for non-sense reasons.

Bitcoin Core: https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/
Electrum: https://electrum.org/#download

How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum [Guide] (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.msg54223763#msg54223763)

Well, the 2FA for Coinbase can provide additional security but, -- having a hardware wallet is still the best way to secure your bitcoins because you can have your own private key besides Coinbase is only good for trading which I suppose you are not doing yet. There are lots of hardware wallets that you can use and since you mentioned that you are new in the bitcoin world I may suggest Exodus or Electrum which both are not too complicated to use but if you want to use it also for desktop ^[AFAIK] Exodus is better. Price is wise for a hardware wallet I know Ledger Nano is the cheapest not exceeding $60 for the amount but of course you may still do some research on which hardware wallet can be the best and suitable for you.

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The Biggest list of a hardware wallet that made by @Ratimov ^{[ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5282364.0 ]}, will help you.

Coinbase is a much better wallet for securing bitcoin users use this wallet more than other crypto wallets. Hardware wallets are much better but more expensive than coinbase. If you do not share the private key of your wallet with anyone the chances of being hacked are much less. With the use of coinbase wallet, you can do many things with Bitcoin such as you can pay online with Bitcoin and with Bitcoin you can take mobile recharge, you can also use your earned bitcoin money to develop.

But not all people are willing to learn to secure their funds so don't expect that if they know how to use a computer, they are already knowledgeable about securing their assets.

That's the reason why they are asking us how to secure our coins. The thing that I do is that I use both hardware and software wallets to store my coins so that I can manage and control my coins more compared to using only one platform. By that, I'm more comfortable on accessing my coins because I keep them safe by valuing and maximizing the use of hardware wallets.

Don't trust any wallets that won't allow you to save your own seed or give your private key. Try investing to some devices like Ledger and Trezor for the safety of your Bitcoins. That's I think the highest security you can do on your Bitcoins.

I would suggest that you should take it out of Coinbase and deposit them instead in a more-decentralized trustless Bitcoin wallet like Trust Wallet, Blockchain Wallet, or buying a Ledger Nano S. As the old man said, “Not your keys, not your coins”.

If you want them to be more secured than ever, you should keep your Bitcoin where you control the private key or mnemonic phrase.

I am using coinbase long time ago and yet I am entrusted so much with the coinbase because there is a 2fa that may helps us to protect and secured our wallet and bitcoins in coinbase, but it also be better if you will just try to used the Electrum wallet in which it is more secured *in my own opinion*, but it is your choice on what wallet you will put your bitcoin.

2fa can provide decent security but every security system is designed to protect certain value. If you go to a store with safes, you'll see that each of them has security rating. The toughest ones to crack will be the most expensive so you will not want to buy a 10k USD safe to store 10k in it, because it's counterproductive.
The security that coinbase provides is fine for up to maybe 1 BTC, but if you have 20, don't hold it on Coinbase. Get a hardware wallet.

I do believe that you already got a lot of good replies but at the same time I do believe that you have to actually consider taking care of the personal security too, which usually includes the mobile and cyber security. If your mobile is bugged you won't be able to do anything about it. Yes the coinbase is a good platform and I do believe that you can move to other amazing wallets too , but for the while you have to be aware of the fact that :

You have to refrain from weird sites or download any content from the internet

Use only trusted sources

Make sure and don't tell anyone about your wallet or keys
Etc..

Personal security is as important as choosing any wallet therefore be careful about it too.

Using a custodial wallet like coinbase is not the best wallet when it comes to security since they are not decentralized they could pretty much do anything to your investment, Just like what you said they could block your account or freeze your account at any moment.

If you really want to secure your bitcoin you should first choose a wallet that offers a private key to it like for example Electrum, Mycelium, etc. and then from that, you could use another layer of security to secure your wallet like hardware, 2FA authentication, etc.

Electrum:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0

Coinbase is good wallet for saving your money and always have notification and email confirmation if your device log in different from last access to your account, don't worry with your assets in coinbase because I ever hold more than two years bitcoin in coinbase keep safety until last week I withdraw to exchange binance wallet, but you should use email confirmation if have different device when log in to your coinbase account and activate with mobile phone number when you try to log in to coinbase.

If you are using platforms such as coinbase, I suggest keeping your device safe first because if you add any extensions like 2fa for additional security, you can't do anything once breached. Coinbase is a good platform for saving BTC and has a lot of users. If you don't have a lot of bitcoin then I think it's enough but if you have a lot of bitcoin then consider buying trezor hardware wallet, it's much more secured since you're the one holding it.

and btw, I'm using electrum for 2 years, nothing unusual happened to my wallet and of course, I keeping my computer a malware-free device.

That depends upon how much bitcoins do you have on coinbase ? Since you mentioned that you are new to bitcoin, you would probably have few satoshi or  500-1000$ worth of bitcoins. If that is the case, you can keep them on coinbase. Once you have a bigger portfolio, it will be better to move the coins to desktop wallet and avoid storing your coins on online wallets where you have no access to private keys.

Such worries are normal, but the best security is having a lot of confidence in yourself when holding bitcoin. Because with you having high self-confidence, at least you will be careful in doing anything related to your bitcoin, so anonymously or not when you are careful and don't act carelessly I think it will be fine. Basically storing money on an exchange is always risky, so to make it more secure you can use a wallet with controls such as private key access or hardware wallet if needed. But I guess it depends on how much you invest, because if it's a big amount then of course you need a wallet to use as storage and not in an exchange.

When you talk about security, I am considering the levels of security to avoid account compromise. For this reason, two level security is always a feature in modern exchanges as it creates a security layer that can not be breached easily just incase their passwords gets compromised, their funds should still be safe.

what I know is you can't add special security for your bitcoin on Coinbase but you can use 2fa and mobile verification but in my opinion it's safer if you store your bitcoins in your own personal wallet, not the wallet of an exchanger

If you have doubt to this wallet you should try another wallet than you can try but I tried before this wallet and It is a good wallet and I did not experienced any trouble to that wallet. But suddenly I used only my country wallet now because I feel safe so I store my bitcoin there. Hackers are there anytime they attacks us so we need to secure our wallet by having strong password and also enabling a 2fa for so for every transaction you made just like in my wallet that I use when you send a coin it will need code before it process.

Isn't coinbase and binance probably the best two exchanges if you want to keep coins there?

Coinbase and Binance are indeed the best exchanges.  But even so, don't entrust all your assets to an exchange, because you don't have full control.  We recommend that you use a hardwarewallet or other personal wallet which is more secure and has complete control.  Asset security depends on how we can maintain the privacy of our keys, not to be exposed to malware or lost, because the private key is the main key to creating your assets.

Both are reputed exchange service providers of the cryptomarket. For the same they can't be completed relied of holding our funds securely. The exchanges won't let our funds go away, but we can't claim if something happens. As we've already agreed to the TOS of their service it is like they don't have any responsibility for our funds.

These service providers never let the reputation get destroyed. For this, they'll work hard in holding user funds securely. Even in a recent hack on Binance, the team recovered the fund and for funds lost from users wallet were settled from their own reserve.

The problem in keeping the coins with third party service providers such as Coinbase is that they can freeze your coins without any warning and then ask KYC documents in order to get back the access. As such there is no need to store coins in third party wallets. You can easily set up a desktop lite wallet or an online wallet and store your coins. It is going to be as secure as a Coinbase wallet. Just remember to take the basic security precautions, such as email confirmation and 2FA.

The security of your Bitcoin entirely depends on the wallet you're going to have, and an exchange wallet is not that worthy of your Bitcoin security. Exchanges are always prone to hacking, unlike using hardware wallets like ledger or trezor, I suggest investing to these wallets if you have extra money to secure your Bitcoin. The next thing of course about security of your Bitcoin depends on you too. For example you already bought a hardware wallet but carelessly gave your private key to someone else, then you just lost your Bitcoin.

In short, the security of your Bitcoin will depends on your knowledge on how to properly store it and guard it. I hope this opinion of mine helps you a little bit.

You don't have a second chance to retrieve your cryptos once they're out of your control. So you pay for your defenses and have the right security procedures in place.

Always make use of 2FA.

Never leave your coins on the exchange for a long time - instead use your wallet.

Do not use the same password.

Triple check addresses before you send cryptos.

Inculcate the habit of logging out of wallets and exchanges once the transaction has been completed.

They are, but if you want to really secure your funds I would suggest to pull out your funds in both sites and transfer it to wallets like Ledger, electrum or Trezor. Just make sure that you activate all layers of security specially the 2FA and back up your wallet seed/phrase in a safe storage it would be better if you'll be storing it on a separate drive or write it down just like what I am doing. The most important part in securing your funds in any wallet/exchange is to be cautious on each of your action and avoid clicking stuff so you'll be safe from malwares.

coinbase is a high profile crypto wallet and exchange . they are secure but you can add extra layer of security in your account by going on to account settings and setting up strong passwords , set up all possible 2fa , set up number and email  . not only that can make you more secure but coinbase will also trust you and you can have a less chance that they will block your account because of suspicious activity . you dont need to be scared to them but be more scared on the wallet and exchange that are not yet making a name . if you want to be anonymous use decentralized wallets but be sure to choose only the high profile ones

Coinbase is one of the famous crypto wallets as of now since they have high security and really keeping your bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency safe. That is why I am also using coinbase since it has a mobile application and I am using my mobile device more than I use my PC. So it is convenient for me to check my wallet if there's something wrong or if I want to buy some altcoin that is worth buying for. It has also a two-factor authenticator in which making your wallet more secure because you will set up that to notify you when you want to open it on the other device.

Coinbase have good security right now when some one else try to log in in your account will verify with device, almost when I try to log in coinbase always need authorize with my computer or mobile phone by sending email notification, later you will need to verify mobile phone code sent by coinbase, then you need to use 2fa for your coinbase account. I think is more enough how to make your coinbase account secure and not worry with how long you save your coin because keep safety,, but why not save your assets in offline wallet because will be more safety when you want hold for long time.

If you use coinbase mainly to store your bitcoins you can just use every security offers that coinbase provides. It's not really a smart move to store bitcoins regularly on an exchange. But If you have a bit of idea you can use non-custodial wallets for you to have full control of your bitcoins and do some precautions like safe browsing and not downloading random files over the internet, also not be baited by some "coinbase impersonators" that offer free bitcoin or whatever. There are many alternative wallets like a hard wallet that I personally used to store most of my bitcoins.

do not take too long to save money on the exchange, now there are many options for saving in offline wallets such as nano ledger or trezzor. so why bet your bitcoin on an exchange if the risk is so big

If you got that ideas and you understand the risk the chance of being hacked is small.

But if you don't have it and you are willing to learn more about it, securing your funds should be more secure using hardware wallet.
Better to invest spre money in buying those hardware wallets than keeping your assets inside centralized exchange. Learn more about it
and keep yourself protected.

I think coinbase is already a safe place to store Bitcoin, because I rarely hear any complaints regarding security on coinbase.
Maybe you can activate the 2FA feature on coinbase, but if you have enough Bitcoin, you should move it to a hardware wallet,
which is much safer than coinbase or centralized exchanges.

The one thing you need to carry your bitcoin securely is a set of twelve words which is called your seed. That seed has a bunch of addresses connected to it which you will always have access to if you keep those 12 words securely. (Not so secure that you fail to retrieve them when you want).

There are different options to generate those words. The most user-friendly and straightforward method is to buy a hardware wallet (from a reputable source, not from ebay resellers).

The next simpler method is to install Electrum wallet from a verified link on your PC and let it make a SegWit wallet for you. That will give you a set of words as well as a file called "wallet.dat" (or whatever you choose to name your wallet). This will have a password associated with it. Generate it on a PC without any malware and use the addresses to receive your funds.

Doing wallets is a bitch in the beginning but as you get practiced, it becomes a breeze and enjoyable. With bitcoin, you are your own bank. That comes with the responsibility to learn and secure yourself.

Bitcoin always well for today  world. Coinbase is secure if you keep it two factor verified. Coinbase don't block any account if you create account right information and verification your id documents.

OP asked a question concerning the security of his/her coins, and I gave a resource on how to do it. Would be quite foolish for OP to ask for opinions but not be willing to learn, right?

Since you have stated that you certainly do not know about Bitcoin yet and it seems like you are not a trader as well, you better do withdraw your funds from Coinbase since it is an exchange and it can be prone for hacks to tell you frankly. Find a storage wallet where you can store up your Bitcoin and transfer it from Coinbase going to that wallet of yours. Exchanges are not storage wallet to start up and there are certain risks associated storing your funds within an exchange. But still it is up to you if you find Coinbase a safe place already because it is reputable and well known to be secured and reliable. Just tighten up your security by doing 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) so you will get notified once someone is trying to access your account. But it will be advisable to store it on a storage wallet rather than keeping it into an exchange if you are still not making use of it in an urgent.

Don't leave your assets on any exchange. Especially not on Coinbase, pull out your assets from the platform and store them in a hardware wallet. This will keep it secure. If you don't want to buy a hardware wallet then go for reputable desktop wallets.