Reminder Everyone: If You Don't Have The Keys, Then It's Not Your Crypto

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Hi gentlemen of this beloveth forum, I wanna remind you guys to try as much as possible to never leave your bitcoins or any other crypto on an exchange except you are ready to loose them.

I just lost 78.82 usd worth of bitcoins I left on one of our local exchangers here, the exchange was not hacked, nothing happened, i just logged in this morning to discover that my bitcoin are no where to be found, I quickly navigated to the withdrawal history section to see if my account have been hacked and the hacker withdrew it, but surprisingly, there was no new withdrawal history except for the ones I've previously made which the last one was about 3 weeks ago, my bitcoins disappeared just like that.

I thought of withdrawing this coin a day before but decided not to bcus I knew I will be using them soon, so to avoid paying a withdrawal fee and in 2 or 3 days time, pay transaction fee to deposit them again, i decided to leave them there, now they are gone and i cant even trace where or how they went out.

I contacted support and they claim they are investigating the issue but whatever the result turns out to be, i dont have any hope of ever seeing my 78.82 usd in bitcoin again, bcus I think they know the worst am gonna do is stop using their exchange and as well discourage people around me from ever using them.

So the point of this message/post is if you value your coins, always keep them in a wallet you have the keys.

[tbct_mt2]

Newbies - Read before using exchanges or investing
Electrum wallet - Update safely and avoid phishing wallets?
How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum
Verifying Bitcoin Core (theymos does not update the topic but you can read to get ideas and steps, then search to do it with newest version).

Those topics can help newbies know why they should choose a good non custodial wallet to use.
[General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?
Custodial vs. Non Custodial Wallets - "Not your keys, not your coin" Explained.

Be cautious with blockchain.com wallet if you don't back up your seeds, you can not recover it.

[Charles-Tim]

In my opinion, you can not just blame this on exchanges, men must trade also. You need to let us know the name of the exchange. Normally, without private key, then the bitcoin is not directly ours and not our own on bitcoin blockchain. That is why it is very good to use a very reputed, trustworthy, reliable and a very safe exchange, trading is not easy or nearly impossible on wallets, that is why people prefer to use exchanges to trade.

Binance Dex exchange still provide customers with private keys, which can be a good alternative, but this kind of exchange have low trading volume.

[mk4]

Unfortunately if you're doing trading, you have no choice but to actually leave some coins on exchanges so in some cases people have no choice. In your case though? It seems to be the case of using a shitty exchange more than anything. Have you tried contacting customer support?

[NavI_027]

Are you sure the local exchange you are using is old and legit or just a new one and proclaiming that they are legit? Because that most probably be the root of your problem. The point you told us that there is no trace of transaction in the history makes me thought already that it is sort of inside job. That was very unusual.

Once you get your money back (hopefully), the best thing to do is to withdraw it once and for all and then shift into bigger reputable exchanges like Binance in order to avoid this instance. God bless you .

[Yaunfitda]

That is very strange if you lost your money without any making any withdrawals, so it's not a hack either. And the only one that can answer to you is your exchange. I do agree that you 'not your keys, not your coins', philosophy, but it's not even that safe anymore. You should also learn how to protect your private keys, not just mere having them.

[DdmrDdmr]

<…>

You can cite the Exchange you used if you wish. Some Exchanges may be buggy, and render a balance that is incorrect and inconsistent with the TXs, especially if they don’t allocate enough resources. Certainly not a good proffesional sign. This could be your case, and the support team you’ve contacted should inform you of what’s going on. On the other hand, there are some scam Exchanges around, and you may have fallen for one.

Sidenote: You’ve made the same exact post on Serious Discussion, which goes against this:

<…> 12. No duplicate posting in multiple boards (except for re-posting it in the local language boards if it's translated). <…>

[tyz]

I just lost 78.82 usd worth of bitcoins I left on one of our local exchangers here

Everyone who get into crypto should first learn that the holy grail of your crypto fortune are your private keys. If you lose them you lose everything. No third instance will help you.
To be honest, your loss is acceptable compared to many other losses out there which partly go into millions of dollars. Take it as a (cheap) lesson to not leave your coins on a centralized exchange not matter how legit the exchange may seem like.

[arwin100]

Hi gentlemen of this beloveth forum, I wanna remind you guys to try as much as possible to never leave your bitcoins or any other crypto on an exchange except you are ready to loose them.

I just lost 78.82 usd worth of bitcoins I left on one of our local exchangers here, the exchange was not hacked, nothing happened, i just logged in this morning to discover that my bitcoin are no where to be found, I quickly navigated to the withdrawal history section to see if my account have been hacked and the hacker withdrew it, but surprisingly, there was no new withdrawal history except for the ones I've previously made which the last one was about 3 weeks ago, my bitcoins disappeared just like that.

I thought of withdrawing this coin a day before but decided not to bcus I knew I will be using them soon, so to avoid paying a withdrawal fee and in 2 or 3 days time, pay transaction fee to deposit them again, i decided to leave them there, now they are gone and i cant even trace where or how they went out.

I contacted support and they claim they are investigating the issue but whatever the result turns out to be, i dont have any hope of ever seeing my 78.82 usd in bitcoin again, bcus I think they know the worst am gonna do is stop using their exchange and as well discourage people around me from ever using them.

So the point of this message/post is if you value your coins, always keep them in a wallet you have the keys.

Best to provide the name of the exchange you are using since people are so curious about this case and want to avoid the site since you are compromised by using it as you said. But also try to wait for their investigation since there are so many factors possibly happens and the developers can answer you if they are done with it. For now best to wait and also always activate your 2FA,set-up a strong password and don't install any unfamiliar links to avoid being hacked.

[NeuroticFish]

if you value your coins, always keep them in a wallet you have the keys.

I would also add that even if you have the keys, if you are not keeping them safely (hence it's not only you who get access to the keys), you'll also lose the coins.
This means that the keys or seed should not be kept online (mail, cloud) and should also not stay on a computer that goes online. I advise paper and/or hardware wallet, with the mention that big amounts of Bitcoin should not "stay" on the hardware wallet you use daily, instead they should be tied to a cold storage.

[rexxarofmoknathal]

I understand that you might not want to disclose the details about which exchange you was using but unfortunately for all of us here this is a crucial information, so maybe in the future if you're not too worried about the details share them.

As for your money have gone missing, this is weird and if you're new to crypto might I suggest the possibility of you having used a stop-loss feature to buy in or something which might have resulted in your money going missing? To be honest, this can happen to anyone so best to check all possibilities and for the future remember to always keep your guard up.

[Rengga Jati]

First, about leaving coins in exchanges, it will depend on what it is for. If you are holding it, better not to use an exchange wallet.
but, if you are trading them, as what @mk4 said, you should leave the coins on the exchanges. But of course, before trading the coins, it is important to know whether the exchange is:
- reliable,
- trusted, and
- secure or not.
And some other factors should be also thought before choosing the exchange, such as its display, transaction fees, and more others.

But here about the security of the coins (especially BTC as in your case), nothing to do, you must wait for the information from their CS, you may follow up the question day per day until you get a clear explanation about where your coins gone. They will commonly provide data if the coin is missing. But, if it is about the system error, your BTC will be back to you.

About the crucial data of the exchanges such as password/pin/keys, phrase, it is always noted that we must store them carefully, not to forget or even lose the data.

[milani]

 Personally I am surprised that some people still believe that keeping even a small amount may give the guarantee that this amount will not be stolen or disappear because of some reason. The most safe place is good wallet that is strongly secured. And of course secured not only by your seed words but secured by your following of simple rules of using your assets - good old and simple rules, that very often are forgotten by lots of users. It is better to use separate gadget where you use your wallet, and this gadget you should better not use for searching something in the Internet, watching films or working with your social profiles. Cold wallet is even better.  And of course everyone should be ready to lose because there is always such a risk. It is said not only about the exchanges, but it is said about the assets and every direction of investments or trading.

[sheenshane]

This is served as a lesson to everyone, not to leave their valuable crypto assets on exchange for a longer period of time. If you don't do trade, then pull out your asset, isn't safe if you will leave on exchange. Even in any local custodial wallets, they aren't also safe for storing your Bitcoin, and yes, not your key, not your Bitcoin.

important to know whether the exchange is:
- reliable,
- trusted, and
- secure or not.

This, these are very important characteristics of the exchange, before you will pick, make it sure these 3 should be there.

Op didn't disclose the name of the local exchange, it might be good if you will tell us and to serve us as a warning of not getting use.

[nelson4lov]

I know some users will quickly jump in on the discussion to chirp in why keeping coins on centralized exchanges is bad. When the funds are not actively been traded, that's when it should be kept in a private wallet but we can't say the same for people who make trades on these exchanges. It would be unreasonable to send your assets back and forth from private wallets to exchanges just to make trades because fees will eat up the profits you could have had.

If the funds are used for trading, Its advisable to pick an exchange with a top notch security, otherwise things might go bad in the long run.
@OP, Sorry about your loss. I do hope that you recover it soonest.

[BrewMaster]

we can't say the same for people who make trades on these exchanges. It would be unreasonable to send your assets back and forth from private wallets to exchanges just to make trades because fees will eat up the profits you could have had.

that is very true and it would be very good if both traders and exchanges started using lightning network because the user can still hold their coins locally (in their own channel that they control) and send the coins back and forth without having to worry about high fees since LN fees are near zero anyways.

If the funds are used for trading, Its advisable to pick an exchange with a top notch security, otherwise things might go bad in the long run.

there is no such thing as "top notch security", not for exchanges anyways with their horrible history.
but that doesn't matter because you and I have no way of knowing the level of security the exchanges have. they just give us fake promises to look secure.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

<…>

You can cite the Exchange you used if you wish. Some Exchanges may be buggy, and render a balance that is incorrect and inconsistent with the TXs, especially if they don’t allocate enough resources. Certainly not a good proffesional sign. This could be your case, and the support team you’ve contacted should inform you of what’s going on. On the other hand, there are some scam Exchanges around, and you may have fallen for one.

Sidenote: You’ve made the same exact post on Serious Discussion, which goes against this:

<…> 12. No duplicate posting in multiple boards (except for re-posting it in the local language boards if it's translated). <…>

well, am sorry I didn't know about this rule, and thank you for bringing it to my notice, I've tried deleting my duplicate post on serious discussion session but looks like I can't, each I click delete, am always greeted back with "erro, you can't delete your post on this session"

So I guess I will just leave it there


And for those asking to know what exchange it is

First, what i will let you guys know is that, it's a local exchange as I've said before, what I mean by local exchange is that other countries can't use it cus it operates within this country alone, and also it can't be used to day trade cus there's not enough liquidity for that, I meanly use them to convert my local currency to bitcoin or ethereum which ever, and also to convert my bitcoin or ethereum to my local currency and withdraw to my local bank account if need be.

I don't want to disclose their name just yet, I want to first of all read from them, I Want to know what happened and if am gonna get my money back and the update now is that am still waiting for them to reply my mail. The whole issue might as well be a result of a glitch in their system which is what am suspecting.

But my message here to everyone most especially newbies is to not just leave their coins on exchanges when you know you don't day trade or use exchanges in place of a private wallet, its very risky, i lost coins worth over 287 usd on Cryptopia when they got hacked, i didnt get a dime of that back even though they claim to have paid some people.

[carter34]

, what I mean by local exchange is that other countries can't use it cus it operates within this country alone,

I don't want to disclose their name just yet, I want to first of all read from them, I Want to know what happened and if am gonna get my money back and the update now is that am still waiting for them to reply my mail. The whole issue might as well be a result of a glitch in their system which is what am suspecting. 

After your findings and you see your coin was stolen, you can disclose the name to your country people, like it is restricted in your country and your people will know not to fall victim.

[hatshepsut93]

Using your own wallet doesn't make you immune to hacks, just as your account got hacked, your computer can be hacked too, there's malware in the wild that targets crypto users by stealing and decrypting their wallet files, or stealing private keys from memory, or using keyloggers to steal seeds, and so on. You need to be quite good at cybersecurity to not lose your coins in the long run, one misstep and potentially all your coins will be gone, no matter if it's 0.001 BTC or 40 BTC.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

, what I mean by local exchange is that other countries can't use it cus it operates within this country alone,

I don't want to disclose their name just yet, I want to first of all read from them, I Want to know what happened and if am gonna get my money back and the update now is that am still waiting for them to reply my mail. The whole issue might as well be a result of a glitch in their system which is what am suspecting. 

After your findings and you see your coin was stolen, you can disclose the name to your country people, like it is restricted in your country and your people will know not to fall victim.

of course yes, if anyhow, they don't tell me what happened and refund my money back to me before tomorrow evening, am gonna go public with their name, but I know they won't allow that happen cus they are definitely gonna loose far more than they've stolen from me or any other person, they will be out of business in no time if they don't refund my money.

Using your own wallet doesn't make you immune to hacks, just as your account got hacked, your computer can be hacked too, there's malware in the wild that targets crypto users by stealing and decrypting their wallet files, or stealing private keys from memory, or using keyloggers to steal seeds, and so on. You need to be quite good at cybersecurity to not lose your coins in the long run, one misstep and potentially all your coins will be gone, no matter if it's 0.001 BTC or 40 BTC.

All you said is true bro, and this is why i think it's gonna take a very long time before cryptocurrency finally goes mainstream, by mainstream, i mean become a general currency like our local fiat currencies, though i wish this can happen sooner, but i doubt our old ones who aren't as tech savvy as we young ones are will let it, cus to them, bitcoin and cryptocurrency is still a subject they don't think they would ever understand