Bitcoin Forum

Hello guys !

I want to discuss the best way to save and stack our crypto !
As exchanges doesn't protect our anonymity any more and they are being more and more regulated ! It is not any more the crypto philosophy at all !
I was thinking on going on cold wallet as Ledger and stack on protocols like lido or rocket.
I want to know your opinions !

Has there ever been a time when exchanges were protecting our privacy? Centralized exchanges have always been regulated, and they need to abide by the rules of regulators. 


If you need somewhere to store your bitcoin ledger wallet, which is also a closed-source hardware wallet, it should not be an option for you. If you ask me, Trezor should be best recommended.

I believe Trezor Safe 3 and Safe 5 supports stETH

Thank you for your respond.
Exchanges were not asking for KYC in the earlys but they are being more and more regulated it is becoming useless to be on an exchange if you are a bitcoin philosophy lover.

You advice more Trezor then Ledger ?


Thank you bro ;)

Can we stack big amount for years on lido ? And still be unworried ?

Just think of it that the majority of the exchanges are asking for verification(KYC). If there are those that don't ask on it anymore, later on they'll have to do it. We've seen it how binance became like that.

It's better to buy Trezor than a Ledger hardware wallet. Few reasons is that it's closed source and then you might get into their ledger recover for allowing them to know your keys. They're saying that it's encrypted and you even have to pay for that so no.

Exchanges are getting their regulations more strict and making their KYC more severe than ever before. This shows a completely different way we want cryptocurrency to be seen. With this method, we can’t stay true to crypto roots and been anonymous in whatever transactions we’re carrying out on the crypto space.


Ledger is a good option for cold wallet storage. It has a lot of coin options to save with. Since it’s privacy centered, it is good for true ownership and decentralized for your own use. Other good option for cold wallet storage is Trezor, which is an open source to the core. It is also very good in terms of privacy, I’d recommend it too for storage and complete ownership of your keys to the wallet.

Exchanges are never the best place to store cryptos in the first place, the main purpose of Exchanges are for trading cryptos ,that's buying and selling, they provide p2p platform for people to come and trade and not for storage, so some get to understand, but some people think they're there for you to store your cryptos because they provide Apps. Any coin on exchange is as not your own ,I remember platform my friend stored his coins, he just wake up one day to check his portfolio and they're gone till today, and those funds were no way to be accessed even there Apps no longer exist. Not your keys never your crypto. Who holds the key is control.

yes its been widely reported that Trezor trumps Ledger in terms of wallets
and the OP is definitely on the right track with staying clear of exchanges and taking
full custody of their coins.


No need to consider "other coins" the OP should be really only be considering Bitcoin.

A heads up on alternatives to exchanges when buying Bitcoin and without
KYC - I can recommend https://peachbitcoin.com/index.html if you are in Europe and
https://hodlhodl.com

There are still crypto exchanges that pride themselves in being decentralized. I heard that dYdX an ethereum based exchange is one of if not the best decentralized exchange out there. Maybe because the government hasn’t heard of them yet that’s why it’s still decentralized but for now there are still such exchanges.

Maybe best for you not to get afraid on the regulation happened especially if you didn't do anything wrong online.

Also try to adopt on the situation since those KYC thing became normal and this becoming part of the government acceptance of Bitcoin also with other crypto's in the market.

Both wallet you are mentioning is safe, but also it will depends or matter on how you handle your devices. Since after all the best security is to be aware of many potential risk and don't click any random online that can possibly put us on any serious harm.

KYC is definitely a requirement to not be omitted if one intends to hold Bitcoin or any other crypto currencies for long or short term. In the case of using a cold wallet, if is always a good idea for long term investment plan but the important thing to note is the key phrases which should never be forgotten.

I suggest OP starts slow and have a well defined set out plan, because the market scenarios may try to disuade you from maintaining discipline while investing and it is part of risk management practices that is demanded to be successful at saving your crypto currency for great returns.

The whole point of crypto was to stay decentralized and free from unnecessary control. Cold wallets are definitely the best move if you care about security and privacy. Personally, I keep most of my coins offline and only leave a small portion on exchanges for trading. Unless you're trading, exchanges shouldn't be where your coins are kept. As for staking, Lido and Rocket Pool are great but remember that even decentralized protocols come with smart contract risks.

If I'm not mistaken, it seems you've already done so. If you're comfortable with the process there i think you can proceed. By the way, I'm also curious to know if you're confident the protocol will be consistent over the next five years or more, as we inevitably need to independently monitor our assets there, especially given the substantial sometimes the value is quite large too.

You can buy bitcoin in person, direct trades, peer to peer trades or buy bitcoin on non KYC exchanges if you care about privacy and dislike KYC.
https://kycnot.me/?currency-mode=or&currencies=btc&attribute-mode=or&attr-84=yes

It is very right that exchanges don't care about user privacy.
Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5421039.0)
Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5221497)
Events made you scare about custodial wallets, centralized exchanges. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5509759.0)

What is lido or rocket?
I don't know about them.

About cold wallet, don't use Ledger, it's close source and it has big drama with Ledger Recover service years ago.

Choose open source hardware wallets like Trezor and the others in this list.
[LIST]Open Source Hardware Wallets (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0)
[GUIDE] How to buy a Hardware Wallet the right way. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288201.0)

All crypto exchanges are now making KYC requirement a must, I guess regulation is getting the best of them but it changes nothing for us traders and investors, it ruins our privacy, Any centralised exchanges can manipulate the market or even seize your crypto, if you don't want this to happen you, start considering dex or P2P platform.

Trezor hardware wallet are better because they are open source and they have past clean history compare to Ledger that's closed source and Ledger have some annoying past history that is making investors to avoid them, avoid the likes of Ledger wallets at all cost, make sure you go after non custodial crypto wallets that are fully open source.

It has changed many things and have considerable impacts on people who are using centralized exchanges.

The unchanged thing is centralized exchanges don't give users private keys and you know risk of "It's not your key, it's not your coins" with centralized exchanges. This risk exists similarly with no KYC centralized exchanges and KYC centralized exchanges, you are only right about this point.

You are unfortunately wrong about KYC and privacy for users. It has actually changed a lot in a worse direction for centralized exchange users. With mandatory KYC requirements on centralized exchanges recent years, they have no longer had good privacy compares to past years.

DCAing that it buying on every dips and accumulating for a bigger stack. Most investors are profitable on dca. Exchanges offer dca in their program to use their funds to buy on occasions. Hardly there is a day when an investor come up and take profit every hour. Long term investors don't rely on charts to invest their money. Investors seek asylum in crypto friendly countries to make an investment. Bitcoin a fractional reserve asset is hard but banking system ensures people get their fair share of investment back when invested in this accessible and easy to use asset. Crypto by other means is a way to counter government controls and monarchy system in many countries where taxes are high to the commoner.

Big investors though stack and save their bitcoins on industrial grade secure cold storage. Hardware wallets can be hacked but these instituitional grade security ensures bitcoin transactions are secured in the blockchain. Added to scrutiny and daily accounting ensures there is not untoward incident that is not reported to the custody maker.

Nowadays difficult for seeing exchange market not asking for KYC after several exchange have allow regulation from government where exchange build up, I used Kucoin, LBANK, MEXC when regulation not asking for KYC with limited amount for withdrawing but for nowadays asking for KYC for trading, deposit and withdrawing fund. KYC at exchange market is regulated from exchange its self if you won't hold bitcoin or cryptocurrency assets at exchange use wallet and nowadays many kinds of wallet support for every crypto chain.
Recommended save your crypto assets at Trezor or Ledger but most popular using is Ledger, you need purchase of Ledger tool if want save crypto assets there but if you want hold or save at free wallet you can hold at metamask, trustwallet or many kinds of free wallet platform.
Just great secure when holding or saving crypto assets at Trezor or Ledger wallet than using free wallet platform how easily get many kinds of scam sit that wallet its self.

Big exchanges tend to attract customers first few years and then increase practices like KYC when volume becomes stagnant. It is normal procedure for any crypto business. Wallets are mostly free of identification if they aren't offering services like cards or fiat.

The only thing that makes sense to save long-term is Bitcoin, because it’s the best form of money ever created in human history.But from what I can see, you’re talking about saving shitcoins don’t do that, because you’ll end up a loser.All shitcoins are scams created to make the founders rich. They’re highly centralized and fully controlled by those founders. There’s no fixed supply, and the founders can always create more tokens whenever they want.
For example, Ethereum has changed its supply policy seven or eight times. The founders can do whatever they want no one can stop them, no one verifies the total supply, and almost no one runs a full node to verify anything.
So be smart stay away from shitcoins.
Only Bitcoin
If you want to keep Bitcoin, use only Bitcoin-only wallets, without shitcoins, like Coldcard or Blockstream Jade.

Yes, years ago you could use exchanges like bybit, mexc or kucoin without KYC requirement. However, there will be certain limitations, for example you can only withdraw $10,000-$50,000 or < 2BTC per day. But things have changed completely in recent years as governments have increased their regulation of crypto, forcing exchanges to comply with regulations. Most require users to KYC before use.


Trezor, because it is an open source wallet while Ledger is closed source, and closed source wallets are not recommended because they are not transparent.

There are still few centralized account exchanges which offer such a service. I have been using the XT exchange for a long time now without KYC, and their daily limit for withdrawal without KYC is around $200k, but you can do any form of transaction that requires fiat deposit and withdrawal. Maybe this is why some regulators are after the XT exchange. 

Some people said MEXC told them to get verified, but I have not been verified on the exchange. Only what I am not able to do is to convert from crypto to fiat and from fiat to crypto like through P2P and other means, but I can be able to withdraw up to 10 BTC daily. That is over $1 million daily withdrawal without KYC on the exchange.


https://talkimg.com/images/2025/10/14/UMPYiz.jpeg

Have they been by any chance before, oh maybe the decentralized exchanges acts in the best of interest on this, but definitely not with the centralized exchanges


This is one of the most annoying part you may never escape or do without from the use of a centralized exchange, so let everyone using any always be at alert.


If you want to maintain high standard and level of privacy, ledger may not be the sure plug for this, you may try with other hardware wallets, but definitely not on ledger for that same privacy reason.

Right, he's doing a good job in here and also asking the community's tip for that. Because other newbies don't do that very often and they just lean on their research which is fine but not at all times they research everything that clears their decisions.

I think that it's been so long for me since I've stopped using any of these ERC20 based decentralized exchanges. But if they're still around and they're giving that decentralization that the users want, the volume might just sufficient for a few trades. And not just them that are offering decentralization and still remains to be a non-kyc exchange as obvious being a dex, and for those CEX that are still non-kyc, soon they'll be one to ask for docs.

Why do you only say about ERC20-based decentralized exchanges?

Altcoins are mostly copies from Ethereum and many altcoin blockchains are not much different from ERC20 chains. So decentralized exchanges with smart contracts are mostly similar to ERC20-based decentralized exchanges, hence they have nearly similar risks.

When using such DEX, you must use your Web3 wallets and connect them to those exchanges, approve smart contract access and so on there are risks of compromisation on your wallets.

There is warning about this risk as well as recommendation to revoke smart contract approval.
How to revoke token approval. (https://coinmarketcap.com/academy/article/3-minute-tips-how-to-revoke-token-approval-following-opensea-s-latest-security-episode)
How to revoke token access. (https://ethereum.org/guides/how-to-revoke-token-access)

It seems like the OP wants to multiply his assets this way. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's best to only use a portion of your assets, for example, 20 percent, which I think is sufficient. Indeed, cold wallets are often used and are the best option for many Bitcoin investors for long-term crypto storage, away from the internet, making them highly vulnerable to hacker attacks.

It's because he's said about dydx as ethereum exchange and so that I have specified it for erc20.

Yes, there's no question about that most of these new networks or chains that have been taken out or referenced to Ethereum/ERC20. And I agree, DEX needs those web3 wallets like metamask for users to connect which others don't find it convenient. I guess today people have been specific calling it as web3 wallets but before, we just say that it has to be connected to metamask or we need to use wallets like mew.

how much trust should I place in staking platforms like Lido for long-term savings? are there any major risks I need to be aware of?

You need to distinguish between saving and investing, and saving in crypto is not the right decision. Because cryptocurrency is volatile and risky, it is not as safe and insured as banks, and rewards are not guaranteed.

Cryptocurrencies are suitable for investment and investing is risky, so you should only invest money that you can afford to lose. Don't use your life savings or money you can't afford to lose and think you can earn steady rewards by investing your savings in crypto.

Regarding Lido, although it is a relatively safe choice, it is not absolute, it can still be hacked, code errors can also lead to loss of assets. Not to mention the reward you get will be ETH. So another risk you will face is that the price of ETH will drop and you will not make any profit.

Why stake your coin with decentralized body when you can hold?

The disadvantage of staking is that when you are about to sell or when you are in need of urgent money, you need to wait for the agreed duration of the staking reward before you can have access to your money, unlike holding your coin in a decentralized wallet when you can withdraw at any moment you wish.

Staking is the same thing as give some people control over your wealth for some time just to earn additional rewards which most times isn’t worthy of your time.

My personal advice for you is to avoid staking platforms, just buy and hold your Bitcoin for long.

Well if I understand correctly, talking about exchange not being a safer place to save or stock our crypto, exchange can never be such a place because is more less a market place where different buyer operates saving your crypto there is more risky than any thing else, that is main reason any one who have intentions to stock crypto for long term must see self custodian wallet, as the first protection need given to such stocking.

While investing in cryptocurrency, your topmost interest should be the security of your investment, and once the security of your asset is compromised, you will likely loose  all your money.

Keeping your cryptocurrency in a centralized exchange is risky, because sometimes an exchange can decide to shutdown in a country for one reason or the other, and once an exchange closes operation in a country you are likely to loose your cryptocurrency.

Storing your cryptocurrency in decentralized exchanges is the best, there are decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges that you can store your cryptocurrency, such as metamask, uniswap, trust wallet etc, this cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet can help secure your money appropriately, all you have to do is just to keep your private keys safe to avoid loosing you wallet

There are still some cryptocurrency exchanges that incorporated cold wallet inside of them , that is an advantage for investors making use of such exchange.

There are a lot of people who do not trade in centralized exchanges. So on that note, it is very possible to avoid using them, i understand that most people do, because of convenience and liquidity, but there are p2p options. And this is a good place to find them: https://kycnot.me/
The problem with Ledger is not so much of a privacy one. I understand that they have at one point lost their customer database. But i believe the biggest problem with them is that they are closed source and they introduced ledger recover (opt-in service), a feature that has no place in a hardware wallet.

Hard question to answer but LIDO already outlined their risk, there's smart contract security risk, slashing, and depegging risk.

Basically your coin is in custody when you're staking and also, LIDO doesn't accept BTC, so I'm wondering if you're actually asking about altcoin question.