Storing on Exchange vs mobile?

[unamis76]

What if you can't find any other place to store your coin? I am not talking about BTC that has wallet support everywhere.

You are in the Bitcoin Discussion section, everyone assumes you're talking about BTC to begin with.

And so far I have not found anyone who have been able to motivated why Mobile wallets are only safe enough to store pocket money compared to Desktop Wallets. They are both essentially computers that both can have problem with malware. But I see no reason why mobile have a bigger problem with malware than regular computers, and there are good virus scanners on phone also. I use BitDefender virus and malware scanner on both my PC and my phone. Please motivate.

There are several factors to this. Most people know how to protect themselves and identify infections on desktop. However this platform is considered more "unsafe" than phones, because there are many computers out there (mainly with Windows), thus hackers have more to gain developing for this platform.

Smartphones are more "recent" and considered safer because there are less viruses out there. However, with the growth of these systems, hackers are "encouraged" to find holes in softwares, and people wouldn't probably recognize if their system was compromised.

Common issues people have with coins on phones is when phones are rooted/jailbroken...

Phones can serve as cold storage too, and be pretty good at it. Except if they're compromised to begin with ex: bad RNG.

exchange... i don't really trust mobile wallets..

popualar exchanges have cold wallets.

Probably. How are you so sure of that? How do you know your coins are stored on those cold wallets and not on hot wallets?

If you have Google Authenticator + 2 step verification (mail code) enabled, isn't that like really good defense vs getting hacked? I have the most important coin (XBY!!!) stored in offline wallet but I feel like my small parts of other coins are pretty safe on Exchanges with those autheticators and such.

They may be safe from hackers that want to access your account, but not from hackers that are aiming for the whole exchange, or the exchange itself.

[1713285629]

1713285629

[1713285629]

1713285629

[1713285629]

1713285629

[1713285629]

1713285629

[1713285629]

1713285629

[1713285629]

1713285629

[Visin]

I will save bitcoin in both of them, mobile wallet and exchange but save in different amount just in case as I don't put all of eggs in one basket. I have small amount of bitcoin, but still divide it into several mobile wallet and very small amount in an exchange too for cash out if I need money. If I have more bitcoin, than offline wallet for cold storage is another option to save my bitcoin for long term, the plan is clear and I'm still learning about it.

Cellphones are very easy to hack, I wouldn’t suggest anyone to store any Bitcoins on their phones without knowing the proper security to defend an attack on their phone. I usually have some Bitcoins on bitcoin exchanges just in case I wanted to send some Bitcoins on the go and that’s about it.

[piebeyb]

I think saving on a trading site has good security to, at least not using too large transaction costs when making a withdrawal

[n691309]

exchange... i don't really trust mobile wallets..

popualar exchanges have cold wallets.

Simply, I don't agree with you. It depends what mobile wallet are  you using because there are many exchanges that have their mobile apps but still the money is in exchanges. For example Mycelium is a good mobile wallet which is safe enough as long as you stay safe. Exchanges of course that have hot and cold wallets but we have seen many times that those "cold" wallets are getting hacked easily.

[Kizaki]

Me in my own point of view in terms of storing bitcoins i would rather choose storing bitcoins from my bitcoin wallet app or hardware wallet on my mobile instead of using exchange sites as medium of storage.I feel more secure on my mobile

[thymeow]

I'm storing all my btc in a mobile app called coins.ph

[hardtime]

If I were you, I would rather go with the mobile exchange based on the fact that those aren't the things in the Bitcoin community that are so 'hacking prone' though I wouldn't recommend leaving it in a place where you're not in the person in control of your private keys. I'd rather use something like BitGo, or one of those Desktop wallets where you're the only person that owns the keys SO you're the person that owns the bitcoin in the wallet itself.

I think saving on a trading site has good security to, at least not using too large transaction costs when making a withdrawal

Trading site, like an exchange, is not going to be secure in the least.  So I would just ignore THIS FELLA as he seems a little dim on the topic.

[freedomno1]

I know none of them are optimal. But if you had to choose, would you store your coins on an exchange or on a mobile wallet?

Mobile wallet as I can make a backup file and store that somewhere safe, for large amounts though a mobile wallet is not really the best option to choose from but is more reliable than an exchange that could run away with my money like a bandit in the night.

[just a man]

I think saving on a trading site has good security to, at least not using too large transaction costs when making a withdrawal

Some Bitcoin exchanges have pretty good security though since it’s Bitcoin there is a chance that the owner of that website will run with the money and you won’t see it again. I suggest that you store only a small amount of Bitcoins on exchanges just so you can send some money here and there.

[bL4nkcode]

I think saving on a trading site has good security to, at least not using too large transaction costs when making a withdrawal

Some Bitcoin exchanges have pretty good security though since it’s Bitcoin there is a chance that the owner of that website will run with the money and you won’t see it again. I suggest that you store only a small amount of Bitcoins on exchanges just so you can send some money here and there.

Exchange/trading site are not recommended to store your coins, but as you said, there are sites also that is using too large of transaction fee, there are many reports I read in this forum regarding this issue. And suggest using a mobile wallet is better than exchanges/trading sites. You don't need to worry when your phone lost or destroy as long you have backups on it, but when the trading sites run and close, then you have 0% chance to recover your funds there.

[wantjokull]

Exchanges might go down over the time as they are versatile and having too much to do with trading stuff. They can be risky for long term holding. I would choose mobile wallet. Because they are specially made for storing your money and doing all the stuff altogether. This makes me focused on my funds, don't get distracted to invest into something that I don't really want. I can withdraw my bitcoin into local currency at and when I required to do so.

[avatar_kiyoshi]

I know none of them are optimal. But if you had to choose, would you store your coins on an exchange or on a mobile wallet?

Both is not really good choice, but if I choose I pick mobile wallet of course, some of mobile wallet have good security features, for example electrum, breadwallet and bitcoin wallet.
Exchange vulnerable to hack and sometimes they will collapse, there are not just 1 accident of exchange got hacked and collapsed.

The important thing for wallet is you hold private key and have full control of the wallet.

[shintosai]

personally i rather place it inside my exchange wallet so anytime that i wanted to sell it out i can do it quickly but just if i don't have any other choice, since its also possible that our mobile can be stolen or can be broken so chances to lose the coin is much bigger unlike exchange where the only problem is when the site itself went down.

[lumeire]

Exchange or mobile wallet, only store an amount you're prepared to lose. IMO still the best way to store your coins is through a hardware wallet.

[LostWords]

Cold storage is the best storage, I believe. There is this WIKI-page: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet where you can read about how to setup a secure offline wallet for your BTC.

[betlord90]

I know none of them are optimal. But if you had to choose, would you store your coins on an exchange or on a mobile wallet?

I would rather hold my coins on my mobile wallet since our wallet provider here since it is goverment registered with physical proofs of legitimacy rather than trusting those random exchange with no reputation around upon holding our money, You may use the Mtgox as example since they are used to be a reputable exchange before but look what happen on them they compromised the money of people who's doing trades on them.

[Wipro]

Cold storage is the best storage, I believe. There is this WIKI-page: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet where you can read about how to setup a secure offline wallet for your BTC.

You can use any kind wallet to store your bitcoin. Until you share the wallet seed or private key to others. Paper and cold storage is preferable for highly secured for the huge amount of bitcoin. I can simply you can keep the fund in exchange wallet and activate the two factor authentication for your security concern. Your fund will be secured.