Safe to keep coins on exchanges?

[jusplayin]

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

[1715536144]

1715536144

[1715536144]

1715536144

[maydna]

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

if you have bitcoin and altcoin then i think you are safe, but for bitcoin, i think its better to save in offline wallet, but if you still want to save in kraken and bittrex then i am sure that it will be fine too. but for me, beside i save it in exchanges, i am installed multi wallet in my android and my pc and i sending my half coins in that wallet, just in case to make sure my coins is safe. for using multi wallet, i can send it to another exchanges if the coin is increase.

[deadsilent]

For me. 50/50 because we still dont know what will be the outcome of bitcoin hardfork. So 50% in case the price grow up. You still get profit in case bitcoin surges. And 50% in fiat. It's for the safety and make sure you won't feel guilt whatever happen. Anyway, it's still safe to store your tokens to bittrex and Kraken. Unless someone attack their site and take all your credits.

[HabBear]

Depends who you ask.

It's as safe as leaving your fiat in the bank...it's practically the same thing. When you leave your fiat money in the bank you give it to the bank, you no longer physically own it but instead you're given an "i owe you" for that balance.

The same concept and reality applies with bitcoin exchanges.

The only difference is that most countries make it easy to sue a bank if they steal off and don't honor paying you the money you have credited in your account. This infrastructure doesn't exist as much with bitcoin.

The guy that owned Mt. Gox (the first bitcoin exchange, yes?) has just started trial following the hack and wrong doing he's accused of that resulted in the loss/theft of a lot of people's bitcoin. Justice may be found (for Karpeles or the bitcoin community) but those balances will never be restored.

One of the core tenets of bitcoin is that it allows you to be your own bank. You don't engage in that feature when you leave your balance with an exchange.

Think about our current monetary system, the transaction you can participate in that doesn't require a 3rd party to get involved (and therefore charge a fee) is receiving a tip from someone. You can't even give a tip to someone without having to pay a fee to a bank to get actual paper money in your hand. It's f*cking ridiculous.

[LilibethSantos]

No exchange should be trusted. Mt. Gox was a trusted exchange that was comparable to Kraken yet they suddenly ran off with our coins. Use the exchanges to trade and then send the coins to your own wallet.

[HabBear]

No exchange should be trusted. Mt. Gox was a trusted exchange that was comparable to Kraken yet they suddenly ran off with our coins. Use the exchanges to trade and then send the coins to your own wallet.

Shit, at least let Karpeles get through the trial before you vilify him as the thief. There are some exchanges now that offer vault storage and/or insurance.

Recognizing the failures of the past is wise, though, especially in this world of no refunds/returns!

[freedomno1]

It's relatively safe but not ideal the question is do you think the exchange is competent and will be able to transition or get bogged down and confused.
This is either a Y2K event or a chaotic situation ahead so a personal wallet is still the best option control the private key park the coins and avoid above all else confusion, just leave fiat for trading if you want the cash won't be affected.

Assume a worst case scenario precaution ^^.

[ice18]

The safest thing to do on your bitcoins before Aug. 01 is to withdraw it into your own desktop/mobile wallet that you controlled your own private key.

[jusplayin]

Thank you all for your valuable insights
Kraken and Bittrex are nice, but as many stated it is only as safe as MTgox and weird things always happen.

Any recommended desktop wallets? (which are also easy to withdraw and deposit again back to kraken/bittrex when needed?)

[Panda Trump]

Thank you all for your valuable insights
Kraken and Bittrex are nice, but as many stated it is only as safe as MTgox and weird things always happen.

Any recommended desktop wallets? (which are also easy to withdraw and deposit again back to kraken/bittrex when needed?)

Yeah, get the Trezor Wallet. It's a decently secure Bitcoin wallet. I'd also save your wallet as a paper wallet for full safety.

Get your trezor wallet here: https://trezor.io/

Regards,
Trump

[jusplayin]

Yeah, get the Trezor Wallet. It's a decently secure Bitcoin wallet. I'd also save your wallet as a paper wallet for full safety.

Get your trezor wallet here: https://trezor.io/

Regards,
Trump

Thanks, i also noticed the Nano S - https://ledgerwallets.net/
Any experiences on it?

Things are sold out though and by the time i get one in the mail it is already too late

[savecoin]

Yeah its actually safe and secured too.
 All the best!

[jusplayin]

Yeah its actually safe and secured too.
 All the best!

Is that what many said about MTGox before too?

[khaled0111]

no one can answer that question. we have to wait and see what will happen in 1st of august.

[Mindin]

I would say the bigger the exchange the safer it is, would be more unsure about small and newly started exchanges.

[Blastful]

Never store your bitcoins anywhere you don't have access to the private keys. Anything can happen and with the current weak laws on virtual currencies, it will be next to impossible to get justice. Why wait to go through all that hassle when you can store them safely and freely in a wallet that you fully control?

[Mindin]

Never store your bitcoins anywhere you don't have access to the private keys. Anything can happen and with the current weak laws on virtual currencies, it will be next to impossible to get justice. Why wait to go through all that hassle when you can store them safely and freely in a wallet that you fully control?

That depends. If you only have a tiny amount that isn't worth much, why bother?

[wealthium]

No exchange should be trusted. Mt. Gox was a trusted exchange that was comparable to Kraken yet they suddenly ran off with our coins. Use the exchanges to trade and then send the coins to your own wallet.

yea..... Mt. Gox was one of the biggest exchange at that time... I also prefer to keep coins to your own wallet.

[MBrandoeye]

Until the exchange works is safe. The problems come when exchanges close!

[Hoho29]

to keep all of what owned money or bitcoin in one place is too risky and lead to total loosing , so it is better to divided into different wallet exchange , online and local offline wallet controlled only by you .

[Mkmanik]

to keep all of what owned money or bitcoin in one place is too risky and lead to total loosing , so it is better to divided into different wallet exchange , online and local offline wallet controlled only by you .

well said.if anyone attacked by the hacker,then he might be lost all of his Coin. Its a huge lose. i will keep your speech in my mind.I am alwasys think about my wallet,so i set up 2FA and google authonicator.i feel safe now.no one can hack my wallet easily.

[Webb.Char23]

Not safe at all. You're trusting the exchange to keep your coins safe and give them back to you when you ask for them. We've seen exchanges run off with Millions of $$ in coins.

Also, if you want to take advantage of the BCC/BTC split I think Kraken is your best best. They will honor the BCC for every BTC you have. I don't believe Bittrex will. Good luck friend.

[Mindin]

Not safe at all. You're trusting the exchange to keep your coins safe and give them back to you when you ask for them. We've seen exchanges run off with Millions of $$ in coins.

Also, if you want to take advantage of the BCC/BTC split I think Kraken is your best best. They will honor the BCC for every BTC you have. I don't believe Bittrex will. Good luck friend.

They are mostly safe, in particulare the biggest that trade the highest volume are very solid exchanges that will not "run off with millions of dollars". Have faith in the system.

[ibuddy122505]

You should not believe any exchange, web wallets at all, it's completely dealing with high risk.  On August 1, if you want to keep your bitcoin safe, feel free to use the secure wallet, which has Private key assure you that they'll definitely keep your BTC safe.

get the better idea you may check out this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2017191.0

[marvinmtz]

It is always good to know....

[Prem.Soorajpaul]

Go to the Bitcoin Cash official website here:

https://www.bitcoincash.org/

They have listed all the exchanges and wallets which are supporting BCC. If you are using any of these exchanges or wallets, then you don't need to worry.

[maeusi]

There is besides the security aspect another reason, which could be argued against  keeping the coins with an exchanger: some exchangers like for example poloniex don't like that and demand customers to actively use their services. So, before you keep your coins at an exchanger for a longer period without activity, you should first read their tos.

[Mindin]

You should not believe any exchange, web wallets at all, it's completely dealing with high risk.  On August 1, if you want to keep your bitcoin safe, feel free to use the secure wallet, which has Private key assure you that they'll definitely keep your BTC safe.

get the better idea you may check out this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2017191.0

I would preferably stay away from webwallets, unless it is your only option. Take notice.

[apolok]

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

exchanger is always risky.Hold your coin in core wallet.And if you have private key then your coin is safe.your exchanger wallet can be hacked or stolen.You heard btce.com? that exchanger shutdown their website.There are many reason why they shut it down.But many people lost their coin.Now they can not do anything.So try to keep your coin in core wallet

[Pumpkin]

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

Hey!  Just be aware that while they are on Poloniex you don't actually have Bitcoin. You have a promise by Poloniex to give Bitcoin to you, when you ask. They might be better than you and keeping them safe. So evaluate the risks and decide for yourself, Bitcoin is all about the power to decide and the responsibility to decide well. Hope that helps!

[Blackmoon Crypto]

Hey Pumpkin, well said. In the conditions of anonymity and decentralization, everyone is responsible for himself.

[Pumpkin]

Hey Pumpkin, well said. In the conditions of anonymity and decentralization, everyone is responsible for himself.

Hey Blackmoon and thanks for your response..don't you think that the new frameworks could be a catalyst for cryptocurrency?

[Blackmoon Crypto]

Hey Pumpkin, well said. In the conditions of anonymity and decentralization, everyone is responsible for himself.

Hey Blackmoon and thanks for your response..don't you think that the new frameworks could be a catalyst for cryptocurrency?

It's still hard to say. The financial crypto market is very young and small. Let's monitor events and announcements.

[vfrcbv91]

I used to think that, Yes, but in light of recent events.... If you are an active trader, I advise you to move all the coins to their own wallets, so it's more reliable.

[LifeOfDoge]

Since I lost the most of my coins on Cryptsy exchange I dont believe to any exchange no matter what and I advice you the same.

[Pumpkin]

Hey Pumpkin, well said. In the conditions of anonymity and decentralization, everyone is responsible for himself.

Hey Blackmoon and thanks for your response..don't you think that the new frameworks could be a catalyst for cryptocurrency?

It's still hard to say. The financial crypto market is very young and small. Let's monitor events and announcements.

Hey Blackmoon. What are the best resources for monitoring and understanding the market?

[Blackmoon Crypto]

Hey Pumpkin, well said. In the conditions of anonymity and decentralization, everyone is responsible for himself.

Hey Blackmoon and thanks for your response..don't you think that the new frameworks could be a catalyst for cryptocurrency?

It's still hard to say. The financial crypto market is very young and small. Let's monitor events and announcements.

Hey Blackmoon. What are the best resources for monitoring and understanding the market?

I use news resources like Coindesk and social media feed of projects interesting to me. This is enough for me personally.

[babygun]

for the moment i only have 0.02 BTC , so i leave these coins at kraken.
For higher amounts i would use Trezor, like mentioned already here.

[bitcoinstress]

Trusting the exchanger to keep your coins isn't wrong but you shoudl think about the risk of saving coin in the exchanger because the control isn't under you.

[malikusama]

We can't say with surety that specific platform is risk free and safe because everywhere online risk involves. Better to keep your coins on exchanges just for trade and then transfer it to your own wallet, keeping coins in exchanges for long time is not safe at all.

[manchester93]

Better to keep your coins on exchanges just for trade and then transfer it to your own wallet, keeping coins in exchanges for long time is not safe at all.

No exchange is safe, so they should only be used for short term trading/withdrawing -- this is true. However, I feel comfortable holding funds on Coinbase. The USD I keep there is FDIC-insured. I also think that in a major hack of the exchange, that their investors could bail them out. Their brand is much more valuable than Bitfinex (who had to crowd fund from their own customers to recover the losses).

[in00]

yes but with 2 factor authentication enabled

[Kemarit]

It has been told time and again that funds on exchanges are not safe because you don't hold your private keys. It you want to put all your funds in an exchange, that is your risk. So I advise that you only kept fund in there enough for you to do your trading activity. We have seen what happened to BTC-e, who would have expect that this exchange would be take down by authorities? Then we see a lot of their customers crying out because they have a lot of funds in that exchange. Some as big as $100,000 or even more. And hackers are targeting exchanges now because of the huge amount of bitcoin that they can get. Lessons should have learned here already from Mt. Gox to BTC-e events.

[Mindin]

Better to keep your coins on exchanges just for trade and then transfer it to your own wallet, keeping coins in exchanges for long time is not safe at all.

No exchange is safe, so they should only be used for short term trading/withdrawing -- this is true. However, I feel comfortable holding funds on Coinbase. The USD I keep there is FDIC-insured. I also think that in a major hack of the exchange, that their investors could bail them out. Their brand is much more valuable than Bitfinex (who had to crowd fund from their own customers to recover the losses).

There would be some red flags and time to pull your funds before an exchange tanks. I would not worry too much about that on the major exchanges.

[IAMYOURLEADER]

yes but with 2 factor authentication enabled

Maybe for now but what if hackers made another breakthrough on bypassing 2FA? I would say that cold storage is still the best so let's just hope for 100% safety for our coins when we are trading.

[Error 522]

Only exchange I recommend is btc-e I keep all my coins there, those guys will always do the right thing.

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

[Mindin]

Only exchange I recommend is btc-e I keep all my coins there, those guys will always do the right thing.

Hello all,

Hereby a newbie question (again)
I have coins on Kraken and Bittrex and would like to know if it is 'safe' to keep them there before/after the 1 august date as well.
I did read that cold storage and paper storage are the best, but what if i keep my coins and fiat on those exchanges so i can more easily buy/sell during fluctuations?
How would you keep the coins secure yet flexible to move around?

Thank you

There are many better exchanges than that, why would you recommend such a thing.

[erk]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

[Mindin]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

Not true at all, if an exchange goes belly up, there is normaly some red flags way ahead before that happens.

[erk]

nothing is safe unless you own your private keys

Very true, if you let someone else control your money, there is a good chance they will run away with it, that's why we have this massive global infrastructure to stop people running away with money. It works sometimes.

[manchester93]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

Not true at all, if an exchange goes belly up, there is normaly some red flags way ahead before that happens.

Where were the red flags with BTC-e? They were in business for six years and had a reputation as one of the most reliable major exchanges in the industry. They had the most reliable trade engine and API, access to MetaTrader4, PAMM. They continued to have working fiat withdrawal options after Bitfinex lost all fiat capabilities in March or April of this year. They were a monument to what an exchange should be.

If there were red flags with BTC-e, I didn't see them.

[1Referee]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

It surprises me that you made use of a large list of exchanges that time on time again messed up big time. I have been using Mintpal, Cryptsy and MCxnow as well back in the days, but I stopped using these exchanges after a few red flag moments that made me leave these exchanges for ever. If I look back, I did the right thing as they all went down with user funds being lost as result. The only exchange that got me to swallow losses, is the very recent shut down of BTC-E. Regardless of the exchange is properly registered or not, as trader you have to keep a certain number of coins on-exchange, and thus they are always at risk, unfortunately.

[manchester93]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

It surprises me that you made use of a large list of exchanges that time on time again messed up big time. I have been using Mintpal, Cryptsy and MCxnow as well back in the days, but I stopped using these exchanges after a few red flag moments that made me leave these exchanges for ever. If I look back, I did the right thing as they all went down with user funds being lost as result. The only exchange that got me to swallow losses, is the very recent shut down of BTC-E. Regardless of the exchange is properly registered or not, as trader you have to keep a certain number of coins on-exchange, and thus they are always at risk, unfortunately.

It seems that the days of the "wild west" are ending for cryptocurrencies. Now traders are faced with the increasing risk not just of hacks, but of actions against unlicensed exchanges. That means, increasingly, choosing between identity verification with reputable exchanges (and paying your taxes in full), or having your funds increasingly put at risk of loss.

[Mindin]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

It surprises me that you made use of a large list of exchanges that time on time again messed up big time. I have been using Mintpal, Cryptsy and MCxnow as well back in the days, but I stopped using these exchanges after a few red flag moments that made me leave these exchanges for ever. If I look back, I did the right thing as they all went down with user funds being lost as result. The only exchange that got me to swallow losses, is the very recent shut down of BTC-E. Regardless of the exchange is properly registered or not, as trader you have to keep a certain number of coins on-exchange, and thus they are always at risk, unfortunately.

It seems that the days of the "wild west" are ending for cryptocurrencies. Now traders are faced with the increasing risk not just of hacks, but of actions against unlicensed exchanges. That means, increasingly, choosing between identity verification with reputable exchanges (and paying your taxes in full), or having your funds increasingly put at risk of loss.

Your private wallets at your home computer can in theory be hacked if you download or click on some link with a coinstealing virus in it. So you are not safe anywhere unless you keep all your coin in cold storage.

[Yuhee]

I have lost coins on Mt Gox, coinex.pw, mcxnow, Cryptsy, mintpal, and most recently BTC-e.

So I would have to say that it's not safe to keep coins on exchanges unless you are in the process of trade.

It surprises me that you made use of a large list of exchanges that time on time again messed up big time. I have been using Mintpal, Cryptsy and MCxnow as well back in the days, but I stopped using these exchanges after a few red flag moments that made me leave these exchanges for ever. If I look back, I did the right thing as they all went down with user funds being lost as result. The only exchange that got me to swallow losses, is the very recent shut down of BTC-E. Regardless of the exchange is properly registered or not, as trader you have to keep a certain number of coins on-exchange, and thus they are always at risk, unfortunately.

It seems that the days of the "wild west" are ending for cryptocurrencies. Now traders are faced with the increasing risk not just of hacks, but of actions against unlicensed exchanges. That means, increasingly, choosing between identity verification with reputable exchanges (and paying your taxes in full), or having your funds increasingly put at risk of loss.

Your private wallets at your home computer can in theory be hacked if you download or click on some link with a coinstealing virus in it. So you are not safe anywhere unless you keep all your coin in cold storage.

Well for me i store small amounts of money in any of my private wallets. I directly put it to withdrawing sites if ever i get incomes then transfer it to my bank account. Vie versa also if I'm going to transfer it to exchange sites. That is the most safest way for me to store my btc because I know it's much safer if you have small amounts. It's not garuanteed invulnerable but it lessens disappointment.

[RodeoX]

NO. I don't know what the last 3 pages say, but the answer in no. Unless you have complete and exclusive control over your private keys then you do not even own any bitcoin.