Why it’s important to avoid telling everyone about your crypto holdings

[1miau]

At first glance it doesn’t sound bad to tell other people that you own Bitcoin, but there are some details to keep in mind:


Telling all of your friends might not be a good idea

Even if they are your friends you should be very careful if you tell them about your crypto holdings.

As always, there are also those who quickly become jealous, especially if they think that you are rich (but you aren’t) and start begging that you could give them some of it. This can lead to distrust and a previously good relationship can be permanently damaged.

Or in opposite, we all know some of them can’t keep a secret and tell it others and they are telling it others again. Then, it’s possible that people get to know about it, who are jealous / have a bad relationship to you / or are just criminals and plan a robbery to get your crypto.

After all, the more people in total know about your holdings, the more likely it gets bad people find out about it.


Linking your identity on the Internet to your real identity can be very dangerous

It’s generally not a good idea to use real names on the Internet, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. This applies to forums, public social media accounts related to cryptocurrencies as well as for all services, where we have to use an email address or similar.

Since an email address is always required to register various accounts, you should use a newly created email without your real name. This protects against spam and also against scammers who want to find out your real name and address.

Using social engineering, scammers could draw conclusions about the person, how much crypto they own, find out where they live and plan a robbery.


KYC can also reveal your identity to people that shouldn’t know about it

There’s a big misconception between the purpose and the result of a KYC-procedure.
It’s very important to be extremely careful and know the risks of doing KYC. Better avoid it if you can and don’t want to have bad surprises. It’s possible that the KYC-Scammers / Hackers use your stolen / hacked personal information to gain knowledge about your personal address or location / sell it to others and they can plan to rob you at home and steal your crypto. Even Coinbase was caught selling user data.

Here are a few more reasons why doing a KYC puts you on a big risk: Why KYC is extremely dangerous – and useless


Overly careless handling of personal data increases likelihood of being victim of a $ 5 wrench attack

There are various attacks from which you can lose your cryptocurrencies: scams, phishing sites or hacked wallets. Another avoidable attack is the famous $ 5 wrench attack:


https://xkcd.com/538/

It can be avoided effectively if the attackers don’t know the personal data and where you live.


Finally, it's up to everyone to care for their own data and who will gain knowledge about your crypto holdings. As a basic rule, it is always advisable to be careful when in doubt. This also applies to all actions on the Internet that pose a possible threat to privacy.
Once information is revealed, we can’t make it unhappen including all (bad) consequences.


Translations:

Language	translated by	Title
___________________________	_____________________	_______________________________________________________________________
Nigeria (Naija)	Mia Chloe	Why E de important to avoid to de tell people about crypto way you get
Română (Romanian)	GazetaBitcoin	De ce este important să nu spuneți nimănui despre cât crypto dețineți
Pakistan	Compromise me	اپنی کرپٹو ہولڈنگز کے بارے میں سب کو بتانے س&

Reserving new translations is currently not available.

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[Upgrade00]

I agree, when it comes to cryptocurrencies we act as our own bank, and we should take extra precautions when divulging information about our crypto investments, especially if you carry your assets around on your mobile phone, this increases the risk of getting robbed.
A thief is less likely to force you to make a transfer from your bank as this would give away their identity, but a Blockchain transaction can be mixed and the trace would be lost.

Once information is revealed, we can’t make it unhappen including all (bad) consequences.

Even if one deletes their account on a website after submitting personal information, that information is not deleted. The best security is to keep your data private.

[BIT-BENDER]

When I tell my clicks, buds or fellow students about bitcoin, they start asking how much of bitcoin have I bagged, how much is the fiat equivalents of my bitcoin, what I do is always use an imaginary person to explain to them -for example Mr x transferred x bitcoin to......- I take not easy steps when securing my self, an no one should,

Don't explain to people directly using your wallet as a process of -transaction- don't illustrate with anything private

[Kakmakr]

Do people walk around and tell people how much money they have in the Banks? NO ..... Do people walk around telling them how many Gold coins are in her or his home vault? NO..... So...why would you walk around telling people how many bitcoins you have?

How many people registered at a online casino with their Social media account? Did you withdraw bitcoins to your Bitcoin address? Well, if you did... then you are theoretically f@#%ed. (Now the hackers know you and also the people operating the casino and also the government if the site is regulated and licensed.)

Use mixer services before you use any of these third party services and split your main hoard from the addresses that you use at these services.  

[gentlemand]

You can say that same about you cash money, whats the different 

Not many people have the equivalent of thousands of dollars or more lying around in cash. Many Bitcoin fans will. People get murdered over a few hundred dollars so it's something you want to keep a lid on.

What's more annoying is that as soon as you mention the word Bitcoin people will assume you were there in 2009 and have trillions. More than likely most will have less in it than the person asking has in their savings account, not that they'll be capable of taking that on board.

If it ever does get to the $5 wrench stage you're better off splitting it so there's one readily accessible amount with the rest hidden properly. You can do the same with hardware wallets, have a second password protected wallet with a much lower balance on the initially accessible one.

[20kevin20]

I have an even worse scenario: being tortured for Bitcoin. And it's not the only case: The Netherlands had one too, so did other countries as well (but can't find the links right now).

But isn't it quite logical that by publicly shilling BTC people will know that you most likely do have some coins yourself? Like.. I talk about BTC very often and I usually chat with my friends about it too. I've never mentioned whether I do or do not have any BTC though.

The torture/hostage scenario could be avoided by having a Ledger with only $50-200 on the main account and the rest of your money on a temporary password. If someone ever forces you to give them your money, just unlock your ledger and let them take the small amount - they'll never know you have a secret wallet inside your.. brain.

[1miau]

You can say that same about you cash money, whats the different  

If it ever does get to the $5 wrench stage you're better off splitting it so there's one readily accessible amount with the rest hidden properly. You can do the same with hardware wallets, have a second password protected wallet with a much lower balance on the initially accessible one.

Regarding the 5$ wrench attack d5000 linked a good article evaluating how to avoid such an attack: https://cryptosec.info/wrench-attack/

2. Prevent getting unwanted attention

Bitcoin or cryptocurrency stickers in your car, on your laptop, having bitcoin and cryptocurrency related license plates, those things.

As bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investors, Bitcoin and crypto stickers and license plates are cool and all that, but unless you work in the cryptocurrency industry and is quite well-known anyway, It’d be best to prevent flaunting your affiliation with cryptocurrencies especially in public.

Having these public gimmicks is one of the best ways to attract attention if you want to be followed by criminals on your way home.

There are some more basics and also strategies.

You can say that same about you cash money, whats the different  

There are a few similarities but I think also very big differences. When People hear someone is owning Bitcoin, they think very often such people are rich, especially when they don't know much about Bitcoin. Many nocoiners still associate Bitcoin holders = rich.
And the most important difference is because Bitcoin is almost everytime digital (besides Casascius Coins etc.). All digital goods give some more opportunities to draw conclusions, like Kakmakr explained here:

How many people registered at a online casino with their Social media account? Did you withdraw bitcoins to your Bitcoin address? Well, if you did... then you are theoretically f@#%ed. (Now the hackers know you and also the people operating the casino and also the government if the site is regulated and licensed.)

Same when you buy coins on an exchange and someone gets access to your name.
There are much more examples.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

So...why would you walk around telling people how many bitcoins you have?

I guess it'some sort of stupid excitement. Some Crypto YouTubers do so mostly when they are trying to shill a coin, an exchange or a service. But what they don't know is that they are usually making themselves a target

Perfect example was Ian Balina, back then when he had Millions USD worth of shitcoins. He would take screenshots of how much profits he made not knowing that he was digging a grave for himself. He got hacked and things have never been the same for him

[Nellayar]

It isn't good idea to avoid telling everyone if you are an influencer like John McAfee. But if you are a normal person (without a name in other industry), it is good to be anonymous.


When I first glanced this forum, the first thing that my mentor told was to hide my identity. I thought before that it was good also to put my real name in username since there is no one that knows me.

I thought that by hiding my name means this is illegal sites and I could be a suspect for a crime. LOL. But when I studied everything about anonymity and security, I understood that I should use a pseudonym whenever I will log in (in all sites).


Just like what OP said, I am really careful in sharing this stuff to my friends. In fact, I graduated already but they don't still know that I am earning money online. My colleagues thought that I was ignorant in tech, specially that in my province blockchain technology term is not yet popular.

Though I am hiding my real identity, there are still people knows my name. And of course, those who are I really trust.

[LTU_btc]

When I tell my clicks, buds or fellow students about bitcoin, they start asking how much of bitcoin have I bagged, how much is the fiat equivalents of my bitcoin, what I do is always use an imaginary person to explain to them -for example Mr x transferred x bitcoin to......- I take not easy steps when securing my self, an no one should,

Don't explain to people directly using your wallet as a process of -transaction- don't illustrate with anything private

Yeah, same. Many of my friends, family members know that I have Bitcoin and they often ask how much I have, how much it's worth in fiat. But obviously, I don't it them. I'm not too much concerned about my security, but it's just some common sense. It's same that they don't need to know how much money I have in my bank account.
But I don't agree that's something wrong to show in public that you use Bitcoins. I doubt that having Bitcoin logo on your car or T-shirt can make troubles for you. If you have Bitcoins, it doesn't neccessary means that you're rich. While I think it's more risky to show that you have lot of money in fiat.
And by the way, in my early days on forum, I posted in topics such as "how many BTC you have" many times and I didn't even thought that's something wrong .

[gentlemand]

I doubt that having Bitcoin logo on your car or T-shirt can make troubles for you. If you have Bitcoins, it doesn't neccessary means that you're rich. While I think it's more risky to show that you have lot of money in fiat.

Hmm. Not sure. One of Bitcoin's prime problems is still the ignorance of people who haven't bothered to look beyond the odd headline. In many a mind 'Bitcoin' equals 'rich' even though most owners don't have a lot of it.

The stories they've heard in the news are about people making outrageous gains. Or drugs.

Realistically a fiat rich person is going to have most of it in assets that can't be liquidated easily whereas the perception is that someone Bitcoin heavy could be cleaned out in a few minutes, though hopefully they have some things in place like multi sig or whatever. That might inform the behaviour of dodgy people.

[Rikafip]

Hmm. Not sure. One of Bitcoin's prime problems is still the ignorance of people who haven't bothered to look beyond the odd headline. In many a mind 'Bitcoin' equals 'rich' even though most owners don't have a lot of it.

To be honest, my experience is quite the opposite. When they heard that I am into crypto, huge majority of people somehow assume that I bough BTC at the ATH, and they think that I am at the loss now. Might be because I wasn't into crypto back then at the beginning, so my life didn't change dramatically, I didn't start driving lambos or buying villas. I made some money, but not a life changing amount, not even close, and I guess it shows.

I am not hiding from my family and friends that I am into all this, but one thing I avoid is talking people into buying. If they ask, I will say pros and cons and let them decide for themsleves (I even talked few out of it as I knew that they are not kind of people that will keep being cool when BTC goes down) but for sure won't sell them moon stories, as that can ruin relationships.

[xxjumperxx]

Finally someone says it.

I mean yes, my friends ask me if I hold Bitcoin. But I always brush it off as. "Bitcoin is a great investment and I would tell you about it so you can create an opinion yourself about it".
Questions such as "How many do you have etc.?" I brush aside telling them I wouldnt tell how much money I have on my Bank Account.
It might not be FIAT, but its still considered value.

Just keep it private, no good can come from telling anyone about the Bitcoins you hold.

[DdmrDdmr]

It’s rather a paradox really, that we presume that people with BTC could be targeted by ruffians, yet we can also assume that everybody (ok, many people) will have fiat and jewels stores at home and/or the bank. BTC perhaps has this (semi-false) aura of pseudo-anonymity, but that goes just as well for the other personals one may have, that could be stolen and used or sold with anonymity. Perhaps the question resides in the potential that one may have stored in BTC, I don’t really know.

When I made a poll here (modest in results, non-conclusive, and recently closed – not by me) on B&H, on how people found out about Bitcointalk, 32,6% responded through a friend or acquaintance, and (only) 2,9% through a relative. One does not presume that people here necessarily store Bitcoin in significant amounts (as of today) in general terms, but there is a fair share of potential cases where one tells another, and thus the risk surfaces through 1:n propagation of the gossip, never knowing who will eventually find out.

The risks is larger though, if one’s identity and BTC addresses become known to a third party, since the quantities could also be known (even if to a partial extent, depending on how one manages his portfolio distribution amongst  different wallets/addresses).

[masulum]

It seems like the community in my country is different, there are many people who share their balances openly with other people in the group with the aim of getting referrals or for other purposes like give a phishing/malware sites or apps. Although I do not know whether it is real or not they are have that balance, from here I actually think otherwise, that every time someone shares his crypto balance, I will judge that 90% of people like this are just trying to commit fraud and not interested to join. I don't know, maybe I was thinking too negatively on someone 

[Coyster]

Telling all of your friends might not be a good idea

I second that, and the situation could be worse for people who do not know how to create strong passwords, anyone who doesn't know how to create strong passwords, read: How to create strong/secure passwords. If you use weak passwords like your name, date of birth or something personal to you, definitely your close friends would have those information about you, and if they think you're rich and get jealous, they can try to attack you if they get access to your device; they could even try to hack your bitcointalk account, if you've also told them about that.

As a university student (like myself) it's even more difficult, sharing a house with other kids, it's also hard to stay personal with lots of friends (knowing you need to write out seed phrases, private keys etc) I'm sure i would have lost a lot of my funds in cryptocurrency if i wasn't on bitcointalk (where you can learn how to safely store your coins, create strong/impenetrable passwords, stay anonymous etc).

[stadus]

The very reason is it's very dangerous, maybe not your relative going to ask your for money or borrow money, but what I'm afraid of is the evil minds who think of hurting you just to get your bitcoin, so I am always secretive about my holding and even what I have now since people can see with the property I acquired, I still don't tell them what really my job and how I acquired it.

[pakhitheboss]

I guess they forget cryptocurrency has a currency which means money and no one should reveal or discuss the amount they hold in their banks or in their wallets.

Because, if you do you will be in trouble.

They KYC part is very critical as there are many exchanges where it is mandatory to complete KYC. It is very hard to skip it as most local exchanges will always ask for KYC

[fillippone]

I think this is a way undervalued concept.
I personally had more than a few people telling me exactely how many satoshi they had in their account and where. Something no one would ever do with their bank account.
This is some weird logic displacement in my mind. A lot of people are still thinking to BTC like they weren't real money.

In this situation I always rely to the king in topics relating Bitcoin Privacy: Jameson Lopp.
His lopp.net webite is a great place of inspiration when looking for privacy-related resources.

Known Physical Bitcoin Attacks

How to Protect Your Bitcoin from $5 Wrench Attacks

[OcTradism]

Some people make lots of status on their Facebook accounts. So attackers do know they are crypto investors and sure they put themselves under future attacks because of their self disclosures. Careful people do not disclose to the others that they are crypto investors that in turn minimize risks of attacks on their privacy, and their crypto funds.