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I connected my wallet (metamask) to a few dex platforms to buy and sell some tokens and after every successful transaction I always disconnect but yesterday I decided to check the security option and I found a dex still connected.

I'm starting to have this feeling that

1. Dex aren't safer than cex because with cex you only need to send out your token to the cex address, no connection to the platform which I still believe it's easier to lose your funds this way.

2. There can easily be some back code or hack in future that can bypass and steal coins after several connections to trusted dex exchanges before.

3. If you intend to keep tokens for a long time it's safer to stay away from dex, better to send the tokens to cex exchange, your wallet will be safer this way.

I'm nothing saying it's a must to follow my way, these are my thoughts this day, you are free to do anything you like with your assets.

Dex are only dangerous if you connect your wallet to a fake Dex or new Dex that isn't well known, to me dex makes things a whole lot easier for buying tokens.

There are many fake exchange that you may find difficult to distinguish (phishing) where it can put your funds at risk. Honestly if you are used to using dex exchange then you have to make sure your wallet connection must be disconnected with the exchange (not just 1 time, but do 2 or 3 checks). That will make you safer in my opinion.

Also keeping your funds on any exchange in large is totally discouraged because of the risks. Obviously you should consider a secure wallet to store your potential coins/ tokens in the long term and you are not advised to keep them on an exchange.

Make sure you know what you are doing when using a DEX as you might lose your coins.

Actually, I was a victim of phishing before, I connected my wallet to a phishing site and I lost some money, that was a lesson learned and I'm glad I'm not using it anymore as most of my trades now are in CEX, particularly in Binance.

There's always a risk, but knowing the things like phishing or fake website, you'll be able to prepare how to avoid getting hacked.
So I were to choose, I'll go with CEX.

With DEX you can make a big mistake like buying a Copy of famous token! There Is Always a disclaimer that request clearly to check address before make a transaction.
Very similar issue Is related buy a scam coin.
This was very common with waves, I have also described with a blog post here https://www.publish0x.com/bitbollo-cryptocurrencies-blog/scam-tokens-and-scripts-on-waves-dex-xvrldvj
Sometimes we have also on CEX but its a smaller percentage... CEX have a long list of requirements before adding a new Coin.

Even if I trust the decentralized exchange, I wouldn't connect my main wallet to it. Instead, create a new wallet, connect it to the DEX and send the tokens you want to trade to that wallet.
In this way, you only risk the tokens you want to trade, not all the tokens you have in your wallet. This would be same as using a CEX, where you risk the tokens you want trade.

Your wallet being "connected" to the DEX doesn't mean that they can just steal your funds through an exploit or through a bad actor. There's a reason why every time you make a swap, you need to approve the transaction using MetaMask.

There are pros and cons when you use DEX or CEX.

On CEX, as a user, you don't own your private key for your wallet that put your capital under risk of scam exit, hack, exchange seize, shutdown, whatever. In general, without key, you won't be able to control your coin.

On DEX, you own your private key and sometimes, you will have to approve access to your key for swap, trading, etc. When you done, you should revoke such access approval, with tools such as

• https://app.unrekt.net/
• If you receive strange tokens from strange addresses, don't touch them. Just to be safe

However, for people who are bad at security for their devices, passwords, wallets, etc. Using DEX means some risk, even more than on CEX. Because if they lose such information, there is no second, third protection layer for them like on CEX. So their coin will be more easily be stolen than on CEX in such cases.

Why is that so? You hold your tokens on your wallet not on dex cause you just simply interacting with the dex to use it. With regards to safety. Non custodial wallet is still the best to store your tokens. Cex also might be compromise as it is centralized but make surr you only using best one out there like Binance.

Your wallet connected with DEX via smart contacts some exchanges trick the users by getting the access for the contract forever so their wallet will be connected with the exchange forever so it is very important to choose the right DEX and if you're not having intensive knowledge then just better go with centralized exchange but you have to compromise your privacy.

These aren't exactly categorized as DEX though. These are token swap platforms (you can only swap tokens not cryptocurrencies).

That could be seen as the implementation flaw.
You could just ask the devs to add an option to automatically disconnect although I don't think there is any security risk involved here.

The security that DEX provides is that it helps you keep control over your own funds without relying on a third party. That means you are responsible for your own security whereas when you use CEX the company can steal your coins by shutting down your account for any reason they like.

It depends on the credibility of exchange in both DEX and CEX. Let’s assume both exchange has a partly shady credibility, So you will need to deposit only your money on CEX address but you didn’t realized that your fund is already hostage by the CEX throughout the time your funds is in there since you don’t have the private key in an exchange wallet on the other hand you only need to snd your money right after you do transaction on exchange.

Most of the DEX rely on smart contract so if the smart contract of DEX is properly audit then you don’t need to worry since all the action in DEX is through smart contract.

You can freely rate CEX as more secure because it may be used more often than DEX and plus features that have made you almost no mistakes so far. People's experiences are definitely different.

There are certain recognized standards for which DEX can be considered to be safe, such as open source code, audited contracts, or others.

This is your most contradictory thinking, you should read the hacking history of crypto exchanges (eg MtGox) even though they are known to be the safest for most people.

It's a lot safer to send tokens from your wallet to another wallet address either exchange or not but connecting your wallet to a platform is not, it's like revealing what your wallet holds and you can never tell what such a platform could do later.

Both DEX and CEX have pros and cons. If you are not comfortable in using a DEX then better to use a CEX. I have used both and have not faced any issues as I only use those  exchanges that have reputation and have been in the market for quite sometime now. If you keep your tokens on a CEX then you are no longer in control of your crypto assets but when you keep them in your wallet you are in control of them as you have access to the private key of your wallet.

Why?  Long as you do not have an infected computer, which I suppose you do not since you still have your coins in your wallet, there is not much you can fear.  Decentralized exchanges can be built from scratch, verified et cetera.  Anyway, I have a counter argument for you.  CEX's are not safer than DEX's because when you send Bitcoins to a CEX, there is a chance you will have them frozen or seized for a multitude of reasons.  With DEX's, you always have the freedom to move it back and forth between the exchange and your wallet.

This is why you never do day zero updates.  You always wait at least one day before updating your DEX.  If you will, leave a small amount of Bitcoin in the wallet of your DEX and see if after the update it gets stolen or not.

This makes no sense!  Why is it safer to keep your coins LONG TERM on a CEX rather than a DEX?  A CEX can always get hacked.  There are even exchanges which specify in the Terms and Conditions that if you do not move your coins or log in for a long period of time, YOUR coins will become their property.  Storing coins on a CEX long term is nuts!

A DEX is safe as long as there is no malicious update that you have installed and as long as the seed has been backed up properly.  Take Bisq for example.  What could go wrong with the coins stored on Bisq?  You either update to a malicious version, you backed up your seed improperly or you did not back your seed at all.

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Regards,
PrivacyG

It depends on the user, you should connect your crypto wallet to trusted sources only like pancakeswap or uni swap for example, don't go and connect the wallet to any unknown platforms that's where real problem starts from.

In the end, you connect your wallet to unknown program, if you do not trust that program, you may end up losing your money.

 - Not all platforms that claim to be decentralized, are decentralized.
 - If you give permission to sign a message to a scam DEX, you will lose your money.
 - It is best to create a wallet for each token you want to exchange for.

If you send your money to an address generated from a private key that has not and will not connect to the Internet, it is impossible for that coins/tokens to be stolen as long as you generate it correctly/randomly.

In CEXs you trust these currencies 100%, but here it is up to you to protect your money (you have the choice)

Well this is the fact, both of them have pros and cons that are still useful to us as a trader.
CEXs are still good when it comes to trading activity and when also supported coin while DEX is good only for privacy or masking your identity.
DEX is safe? For me --it could be but there is also a CEX that is good to entrust your fund into them, so it means they have a good reputation.
However, we need to decide which one for the sake of profit, why you are in trading just to make a profit, not on privacy.

Your points are actually valid and they're really an important feedback for those that are not aware of these when they use decentralized exchanges.

In the past, there's more hacking that's happening with decentralized exchanges because of contracts. And that's a fact that many funds were compromised because of that technicality.

Actually, you shouldn't be keeping your funds for a long time on both. They're both not safe and shouldn't be used a storage.

That's not true. I feel safer dealing on Dex than on Cex. Wait until you've KYC issue that wasn't there when you registered with a cex, then you will truly appreciate a platform that makes it easy for you to trade freely without the hassles of a KYC.

This is why it's advisable to be sure of what project you're dealing with first by going through their telegram handle and feeling the pulse of other investors on the project. Ask admins for the contract address or search it out on the pinned message. It's always there. Cross-check that address with the one on the project list on CMC or Coingecko. Don't be too hasty to buy any asset without first confirming it. That way, you will be able to save yourself headache and unnecessary stress.

Not convinced. Dex isn't dangerous anyway, fake Dex is dangerous. Don't use Dex if it's not proven. You should use the separate wallet to connect Dex, then buy a token and move to your main wallet if you intend to hold a long time. The reason you are showing to using Dex isn't perfect. Should learn more before making a tutorial thread. This thread would misguide Dex users who aren't much experienced.

Well, personally, I think dexs are actually safer when it comes to security of funds, but this actually depends on some circumstances, for example, dex becomes very dangerous if it's a fake, then this means that scammers will automatically have access to all the funds stored in your wallet, this is why it is always advised to check the web link you are visiting to make sure it's not a phishing link.
The only downside on dexs is that they can hardly be used for day trading due to several reason, and one of those reasons being high transaction fees, most especially when the network is congested, and another reason also is lack of liquidity on some markets.
This are the downside dexs, but like I've said before, security wise, dexs are good if you are not a crypto newbie.

You are liable of your action, if you see a suspicious website yet you still connect your DEX wallet then there is a possibility that you can get scammed. Yes, CEX might be a lot safer than DEX but not every coin is in CEX, there is still a time where you will use DEX in buying tokens. There is a possibility that in the near future someone can decode the backend of the DEX we are using, let us rest assured that the devs can fix this easily and maintain the security and reputation of their system.
I also suggest that diversify your portfolio. Never hold your tokens on one wallet alone, so that if worst time comes, you have a back up.

How did you disconnect? was it just by closing metamask and the web page tab or did you click on "log out" from your account's settings?
If it's the former then the dex is probably using cookies to log you to your account but all it can do is to view your address. So, it's not really a big issue, just clear your browser cache and cookies from your browser and from metamask (Settings -> Security & Privacy -> Clear privacy data)

By sending your coins to CEX you are no longer the real owner of those coins. So no, it's not safer.

As long as you are connected to a legitimate website and check any transaction before confirming it, you should be fine.

The safest way to store your coins for long time is to store them in an offline wallet. You should avoid storing on centralized exchanges at all costs.

To be honest with you. On the internet, nothing is safer especially when it has to do with crypto but it is the user that needs to have adequate knowledge of avoiding human error to keep herself safe.
It's sad the Op didn't mention the DEX name but there's no way you'll choose the wrong DEX and don't expect some foul play.
This is the reason why it is important to understand the honesty of a platform before using it and this is what some gamblers don't do and end up being a victim of scam casinos.

DEX for me is n option for freer exchange when I didn't want to send any of my personal data to to take any KYC and also the exchanges where I commonly find new tokens to trade. But, in my personal thinking also, I still prefer more to CEX and so far, it is okay for me.

It is not only also about the unanimous or not. but CEX commonly offer more security system, moreover the top CEX. although I also don't way about all CEXs, but at least, most of them will try more to make their users more secure enough.

The first time a brother of mine will witness lose of assets in wallet it was through Dex platforms, the funny thing is he never connected to any scam Dex but only use the popular ones through coinmarketcap, till this day it's still a misery but his wallet info says DEX was connected.

Centralized exchanges are safer

1. You have someone to blame if fund go missing or the platform get hacked, if the CEX cares about its rep they will pay back.
2. You have to send your asset out yourself without exposing how much you have in your wallet, the only way to lose asset is getting your private key compromised.

With Dex it's a different path, you expose yourself completely by connecting to it's platform, even if the Devs at the back of those Dexs aren't ready to steal your fund they already know your worth.

In 2021 more Dex are hacked and many contacts are hacked in Dex like uniswap and Pancakeswap which show that Dex is more unsecured than Cex