What is safest: Binance/exchanges or online software wallets?

[yhiaali3]

It is not difficult to hack Exodus / Samourai, and it is also not difficult to hack Binance, all wallets or online exchanges connected to the Internet are not 100% secure, there is always the possibility of hacking but for me if I had to choose I would choose to store my currencies on Binance for two reasons firstly that I can trade while I would like to do that, and the second thing is that Binance has a very strong protection and will compensate users for losing their money in the event of it being hacked, as happened in the past.

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[Alucard1]

I have nothing to choose between Binance/exchange and software wallets for storing my bitcoin, both are prone to attacks or hackers because both can access online. You may still store in exchange but not all of your money just enough money only for buy and sell, when talking about storing our bitcoin or saving our money for the future then you may use Ledger Nano.

[The Cryptovator]

If you decide to choose a noncustodial wallet, then any true noncustodial wallet would be safe to store your coins since you know better about the key quote. If you already decide to keep your assets in a centralized exchange, then you must choose a well-reputed exchange. And I agree Binance would be better than other web wallets. Because I notice during withdrawal that Binance requires me to input 3 step verification like mail, phone, and 2FA. So, it's quite impossible to hack all at the same time. But again, I will discourage you to use any custodial wallet service including exchange. Keep it mind, everything on the web is hackable.

[virasog]

Yes, I know hardware wallets are the safest options, "not your keys not your coins" etc...
But if I'll leave some coins in a "software", what is the safest option? Leave it in an exchange like Binance or trust a hot wallet like Samourai?
The reason I'm skeptical about about other software wallets like Exodus/Samourai etc is because I'll have to trust that their software wont be hacked, nor my mobile phone. While in Binance/other exchanges, they have a whole team dedicated to that.
Why is it harder to hack/attack a software/hot wallet than it is to hack Binance/exchanges?

Keeping your funds in exchange is never ever safe. Even though binance have a good history and also they have SAFU funds to cover the loses in case of a hack but still you never know that some day any big hack may happen which binance is unable to recover  the loss. So if you are not trading that there is no point keeping the funds in binance.

[abderrazak belkhir]

Of course hardware is safest than any centralized exchange but exchanges offer many good deals like staking and i think its better to keep them in exchanges because some offers are limited and maybe you may miss one of them easily if you keep in hardware

[Bitcoin_Arena]

Of course hardware is safest than any centralized exchange but exchanges offer many good deals like staking and i think its better to keep them in exchanges because some offers are limited and maybe you may miss one of them easily if you keep in hardware

I would not even risk $10K in an exchange in the name of staking. it's not worth it.

For your information, we do have some hardware wallets that allow you to stake some coins like Tezos, Tron, Cosmos, Algorand and Polkadot  while keeping  them safely like ledger hardware wallets via Ledger Live - https://www.ledger.com/staking or even through an external wallet app.

[sunsilk]

Of course hardware is safest than any centralized exchange but exchanges offer many good deals like staking and i think its better to keep them in exchanges because some offers are limited and maybe you may miss one of them easily if you keep in hardware

If your purpose is to use their staking and interest earning feature then you really have to keep it to the exchanges. But it still applies that if you don't hold the keys, you don't own your coins.

What's with the small interest that you're going to earn yearly if your coins at risk. Even if you tell that it's from the most known exchanges, still, they're always vulnerable to attacks and might affect your funds if the unexpected comes.

[StartupAnalyst]

You definitely can leave some your crypto on Binance/other exchange, but only if you want to trade with them (not for long time holding), but you should be ready that your exchange wallet  can be hacked, all the assets moved and no one won't give you those crypto back. Digital wallets like Ledger/Trezor are the best for long-term holdings because no one can connect with that wallet remotely if it isn’t connected to your comp, but just laying somewhere.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

But when you store your coins in Binance, they manage your private keys, and in a event of hack just like I mentioned above, your coins are in jeopardy of being stolen.

Binance has survived a huge hack before, but there are other reasons why an exchange may not let you have access to your funds--they could get caught up in a sting or some law enforcement agency might freeze everyone's coins or some crap like that--you just never know with any of these exchanges.  Not your keys, not your coins.  Learn that.

The question being asked in the title here is kind of a ridiculous one.  Both options are too risky to be seriously considered when there are much safer alternatives out there.  Don't store your coins on an exchange and don't use online wallets where the website owner is the custodian of them.  It's just not worth the risk when you could use Electrum or a hardware wallet and sleep easy at night knowing your crypto is safe.

[Darker45]

Between Binance and Samourai, I'd easily choose Samourai.

I'm more than sure that right at this very moment there is an ongoing plan or even attempt to break Binance's security. There is indeed a whole team dedicated to protect Binance but there are also a lot of teams trying to get into it. It's always a race. And a lot of times, attackers gain the upper hand and billions are lost from exchanges. Binance have had its share of this. Tens of millions were lost when Binance was successfully hacked a couple of years ago.

Furthermore, there is the fact that Binance might suddenly freeze your funds. Other than that, they might also ask for your personal information all of a sudden. Moreover, regulations might suddenly go very strict against the company making its future uncertain. But most of all, your funds in Binance is not yours.

At least with Samourai, you've got your 12-word seed and a significant amount of privacy.

[pooya87]

It is ridiculous to limit yourself to a bunch of options and then force yourself to choose bad instead of worse.
Bitcoin is not like other currencies which you are limited to what wallet you can use for example  because of jurisdictions limits in PayPal.
You can choose any wallet type that you like and there are already secure options such as paper wallets (the cheapest), self made cold storage using Linux (still cheap but more flexible), hardware wallets (have to buy), desktop wallets,... You can also always use multiple options for multiple purposes each wallet with a different amount in it.

[Findingnemo]

Yes, I know hardware wallets are the safest options, "not your keys not your coins" etc...
But if I'll leave some coins in a "software", what is the safest option? Leave it in an exchange like Binance or trust a hot wallet like Samourai?
The reason I'm skeptical about about other software wallets like Exodus/Samourai etc is because I'll have to trust that their software wont be hacked, nor my mobile phone. While in Binance/other exchanges, they have a whole team dedicated to that.
Why is it harder to hack/attack a software/hot wallet than it is to hack Binance/exchanges?

If you want to keep your funds in the exchange itself because you are afraid that your device might get hacked then you are just doubling the risk when holding it on exchange because normally you used to save the email and password in your device which is also used for registering on exchange then having the authentications apps installed on phone then your are going to lose the money now as well because simply the hacker can access funds and withdraw to their wallets.

[santiPOGI]

Take note, Binance has been hacked multiple times already and that's already a red flag if you want to treat Binance as your main wallet. I don't know about Samourai but people's vouching for it so it's probably a good wallet. Just don't even consider storing your asset in an exchange, especially when you aren't a trader.

But even Binance had several times that has been hacked before, still a lot the community in this field of business industry are continuously suing the platform to trade their assets for believing that they can grow it more and more using this exchange. I wouldn't choose online software wallets in my own opinion.