Can I trust BTC exchanges?

[Pro_Crypto_Marty]

Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

[jbrnt]

Depends on which exchange you are using. I generally do not trust exchanges. They can be hacked at any time. Your money is not safe there. Do small trades and withdraw all your cryptos to your own wallet as often as possible.

[M28MmickT]

Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

You feel like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone because it is   Never leave you bitcoin on exchanges for longer than you need to it is not safe to not control your own bitcoin there is a saying if you don't control the private key you don't own bitcoin and that is true. Any minute they could up and leave and what could you do?

[notlist3d]

If they have a good reputation then yes you can trust them to trade. But you have to remember they hold a lot of btc so they are targets.

I personally would use cold storage not a exchange for long term holding.  Many good exchanges have lost money from security flaws.

[bitkilo]

You should never trust anyone but yourself to look after your BTC.
Although a lot of people use exchanges daily i wouldn't recomend keeping any amount of btc there for too long, just look at the history bitcoin exchanges have with hacks and others that just run off with everybodys cash.

Bitstamp got hacked to the tune of about 5million of btc a few months back, they did the right thing though and paid everybody back, i think everybody.
Long story short, only keep what you can afford to loose on any exchange.

[KimNam]

Wise thing is don't put your bitcoin on exchange for long time period. Exchange just for trading, if you done trading there, withdraw it immediately to your personal wallet. If you have fiat money there, cash it too.
Many hack attempt happen to bitcoin exchange, and sometimes it is successful. Like mt.gox and bitstamp case, big exchange mean many hacker will try to attack it.

[pooya87]

Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

your feeling is quite right, i feel the same way too. but unfortunately there is no better way, and we have to take this risk if we want to do trading in exchangers.
just try to pick a well known exchanger, this way the risks will be reduced not eliminated.
the most recent hack of an exchanger that i was a user of was bter.com you can search to see the victims

[M28MmickT]

If they have a good reputation then yes you can trust them to trade. But you have to remember they hold a lot of btc so they are targets.

I personally would use cold storage not a exchange for long term holding.  Many good exchanges have lost money from security flaws.

They are targets but it is not usually from hackers it is usually from the guys who are working on the exchange, i would wager it is very rare for someone to be able to hack an exchange but it is not so rare some exchange owner 'pretending' to have been hacked..

Nice and easy it wasn't me we was hacked! (lol)

Then pay my money for 'your' security breach but they don't do they with an exception of stamp recently and bter when the NXT coin was hacked but not often like bter this time with the btc. 

[medUSA]

But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

It is the same for early users of online shopping with credit card and users of paypal. You will get used to the feeling of sending money to the abyss after you have done it a few times. 

[Pro_Crypto_Marty]

Thanks for the replies guys. I kind of figured it was one of those uncomfortable necessities you have to accept as part if the process. And yeah, I always hurried to get my money out of there.

I don't suppose there are any real-world banks/institutions that allow you to do a direct transfer from bank account/cash to wallet and vice versa? Or like an ATM?

[Amph]

big exchange are usually trustable(but sometimes they are hacked lkike bitstamp, they are not immune to that), better to stay away from unknown one

you can try coinimal, they don't hold your money, so you don't need to trust nothing

[bitfancier]

I use shapeshift, some say it's trusted. Is it?.. I mean has it ever been hacked?

[bandana]

all exchanges are not scam....there are a lot of exchanges which you can trust..but don't trust blindly because we never know what will happen next

[jacktheking]

I'm using OKCoin to trade small amount of Bitcoin from time to time. Most of the reputed exchangers is good. However, like what jbrnt said, trade small amount and than send your fiat to bank or Bitcoin to wallet as soon as possible.

[avatar_kiyoshi]

Yes you can trust. But don't store your asset there. Use only for exchange. Most all exchanger is have a problem with their security.

[Frijj]

Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

Well that's exactly what it is and what you are doing. You have to put your trust in these companies when you use them but that doesn't mean you should. If you don't own your private keys then you are relying on that third party to keep them safe from you and this is how a lot of people lose their money. If you're not comfortable using them you should take your money from them but if you want to use certain services sometimes you have to have a little faith but that choice is yours.

[hasiramasenju]

there is no other way if you want to exchange your bitcoin you must trust exchange you choose except you only hold your BTC that is no need to exchange but don't be worry almost every exchange have good reputation and 100% can be trust but,if you still in doubt you can choose big exchange
which has a market volume higher that 500 BTC for 24 hours trading

[1Referee]

I do trust some of them to a certain extent, like Bitstamp and BTC-E, but not enough to leave coins there. However I do have a fiat balance there.

After all the hacking drama it gives me a piece of mind that my coins are under my control.

[btc-facebook]

Howdy,
I've been using one for a couple months now and it's given no reason to mistrust it. But it seems weird to me sending my money to an intermediary that's neither a wallet nor a bank and is entirely online. Feels like the money is hanging out in some nowhere zone that isn't completely under my control...

Dies any one else feel this way or do I just not understand this stuff well enough yet?

Thanks!

Since you're not own private key...then you're put the risk to the bitcoin if you place it on exchanger.
I think you already knew some exchange that had closed or runaway , example : mintpal ( once it was the most safe exchange & well known ) , Bter ( biggest chinese exchanger (CMIIW) , sharex , etc.

To be honest , I'm still save my altcoin on Poloniex and Bittrex ( those exchanger still exist) but I'm aware they might get away or being shut down.
Just don't save more than you can afford to lose.

[poordeveloper]

You can't - ever. Only use them for the minimum time required, then transfer the Bitcoins back to your wallet.