Where to keep BTC if I don't want to keep in exchange?

[streetlaw]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

[boyknightvn]

So you can try to search in google: Hardware Wallet
I think this is a most security now, but you have to pay for it, is not expensive.
Hope it help you

[Mpamaegbu]

Keep in a safe wallet. You can get simple but highly trusted wallets like Coinomi or Blockchain even from a Google playstore app on an Android phone. All you must do is ensure you have your passphrase copied out and tucked somewhere safe. I have used these two for over a year now and haven't had any issues with them.

However, you can get other wallet types here through this link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1628282.0

[mocacinno]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

i guess allmost *any* wallet is more secure than either an online wallet or an exchange wallet. If you don't controll your own private keys, you don't controll your funds...

Here's a list of wallets to chose from:
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

As for your concern about the durability of your hard drive: if you have a HD wallet (like 90% of the desktop and hardware wallets available), you can write down the recovery seed on a piece of paper, laminate it and store it in a safe place... Otherwise you have to take regular backups of your wallet file.

Just make sure your PC is clean, use a strong password to secure your wallet file and have a backup of your seed phrase or wallet file...

Offcourse, if you hold a lot of BTC, you should go for a hardware wallet, a properly generated paper wallet or an airgapped desktop wallet instead of a regular desktop wallet.

[talkbitcoin]

use the link mocacinno gave you above to find the trusted bitcoin wallets that you can use based on their platform. and also make sure to search about cold storage https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage since that is the most secure method of storing your bitcoins and away from getting hacked.
you can use any of the desktop wallets above for cold storage on an offline computer and you can use any wallet to create a paper wallet which is another form of cold storage but bitaddress.org is easier to use.

[Thirdspace]

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange?

i guess allmost *any* wallet is more secure than either an online wallet or an exchange wallet. If you don't controll your own private keys, you don't controll your funds...

as mocacinno pointed out, any wallet that lets you control private keys is secure enough
if you use online wallet (even that gives private keys) you are still essentialy depending on its service, so less secure
desktop/hardware wallet is recommended

I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

with bitcoin core you can backup wallet.dat, but make sure re-backup whenever you change passphrase
for other (HD) wallets you can easily have backup by writing down the mnemonic seed

[interestinglie]

You can try hardware wallet. I am using it and see that it is really helpful and safe. Believe me

[Airbuxf]

Search for offline hardware wallets like Trezor or Ledger Nano S. Ledger goes for around 50 euro and is a great device, because it supports a lot of other altcoins and is being constantly updated.

[Juggy777]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

Hey you should never leave your funds on an exchange, most of the times they'll get hacked and you'll loose your funds. I would suggest you to download electrum wallet, it's free and highly secured, you can use it on desktop or download it's app. Then you could also make a paper wallet, as you have stated you are not using them regularly. If your amount is pretty big, then you could invest in a Trezor wallet, it's the highest level of security you can get. Also i do hope you had raised a complaint at the exchange, questioning how your password was hacked.

[LogitechMouse]

Putting BTC on an exchange especially if it is a huge amount is very risky because there are some exchanges that are prone to hack. There are news that some exchanges are being hacked. I suggest you use hardware wallet as a storage of your BTC as it is the safest wallet to use. For more information about it just go here: HARDWARE WALLET

[cryptocrusher]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

Some hardware cold storage is best but that costs some money so may not be worthwhile if you only have a small amount. I would use an encrypted memory stick and store it somewhere secure. Also make copies, perhaps give one to a trusted family member.

[Gozie51]

If you don't controll your own private keys, you don't controll your funds...

I like this catching sentence and this is usually what it is. If you don't have access to your password, then you don't have access to your coins. Likewise if you forget it and can't recover it, no matter the wallet you are using, just forget all the coin inside the wallet.

[r32godzilla]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

The best thing which you could do is to store in desktop wallets like Electrum which I have been using for years and haven't encountered any problems.But you should ensure that you download such wallets from their official websites for example in this case,www.electrum.org.Otherwise your bitcoins might get compromised.

[131tc01n]

I think many companies engaged in blockchain provide online wallet services for free, such as blockchain.com which I think has a fairly large level of security. You can add some two-step verification to your wallet.
if compared to online wallets and offline wallets, the security level is better online wallet

[mocacinno]

I think many companies engaged in blockchain provide online wallet services for free, such as blockchain.com which I think has a fairly large level of security. You can add some two-step verification to your wallet.
if compared to online wallets and offline wallets, the security level is better online wallet

I don't agree with this statement.
Even if you pick a strong, unique password and add 2FA authentication, this will NOT help against any security flaws introduced by the operators of the online wallet/exchange.

If the exchange has a bug, you can lose everything
If one of the exchange's employees is dirty, you can lose everything
If the exchange goes bancrupt, you can lose everything
If the exchange turns scam, you can lose everything

No type of 2FA authentication can save you from these issues... And these issues are not neglecitible nor are they marginal... Above issues happened dozens of times before, and they'll happen dozens of times in the future.

Next to these attack vectors, you're also more vulnerable to phising (if you're not using an online wallet, you're not vulnerable to a mail urging you to sign in to a phising site) and if your pc gets compromised, the level of vulnerability of an online and a desktop wallet are about the same.

I just don't get why people insist on using thirth parties to store their BTC, and in doing so are fine with all the extra attack vectors they expose themselfs to...

[muslol67]

I think we have two options here. The first is to throw in a paper wallet and store it in a safe environment. The second option is to buy a Ledger.

[NeuroticFish]

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange?

If you plan to keep them longer, paper wallet is the safest and cheapest solution, as others already said.
I want to add that if you go this path make sure you generate it safely, meaning you download the script/page locally (the proper ones have link to github or a zip), generate and print while your internet is off, maybe clean up and reboot before restarting the internet connection.

[Gadhoh]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

you can try it on COINOMI an application that can store your coins, there is no exchange in the application but only send and receive, if you save it there I think your bitcoin will be safe.

[cloudbleron18]

A few weeks ago I got an email telling me that my password had been changed by someone on my poloniex account. So, I suppose therefore my account was hacked. Immediately I went to freeze the account and changed my password. But the thing is, I don't want to risk that happen again with a large amount stored in the exchange.

Where would be the best place to keep my BTC while I'm not trading with it in an exchange? I don't feel as if storing it on my own hard drive is very secure as hard drives can fail, and what can you do if that happens..?

i think you can keep your BTC for other wallet so get some another wallet to keep your bitcoin for your sake and your bitcoin safety.

[mocacinno]

I think we have two options here. The first is to throw in a paper wallet and store it in a safe environment. The second option is to buy a Ledger.

Yup, these 2 wallets are perfectly fine... However, IMHO, the absolute safest way for anybody to store their BTC is by offline installing an up-to-date version from linux on an airgapped PC, don't install the network drivers.
Next, install the latest version of bitcoin core, and create an encrypted non-HD wallet.

Now, you have completely random private keys being generated by the latest version of the reference client on a machine that has never been online.

Offcourse, this airgapped cold wallet is not easy to work with... You need to make regular backups of your encrypted wallet.dat, you have to create unsigned transactions on an online machine and transfer them to the offline machine, sign those tx's, transfer them back to the online machine,... It's a drag, but IMHO it's the absolute safest option.