Is it worth taking BTC off an exchange to a hardware wallet?

[James Watson]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

[mk4]

Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins

You gotta learn from history sir: https://cryptosec.info/exchange-hacks

As for hardware wallets, they can be fairly cheap if you go for the budget options:

• https://shop.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s
• https://shop.trezor.io/product/trezor-one-white
• https://coldcardwallet.com/

P.S. We wouldn't be heavily shilling hardware wallets left and right if exchanges were "fairly safe".

[Dave1]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

"Safe" is an understatement is crypto, even the best exchanges out there have been hacked already. Extra money? buying hardware wallet, which cost less than $100 is worth instead of trusting your coins to an exchange, a third party which you don't have control, because you don't hold the private keys.

[OcTradism]

"Safe" is an understatement is crypto, even the best exchanges out there have been hacked already. Extra money? buying hardware wallet, which cost less than $100 is worth instead of trusting your coins to an exchange, a third party which you don't have control, because you don't hold the private keys.

$100 is not big if compares it to the capital of account on exchange of many people. I know there are people have small crypto capital but many of them have capital is much bigger than $100. $1000 or $10000 capital is not unpopular among crypto investors.

Big surprise to see they hesitate to consider to use non custodial wallets (free) or hardware wallets with $100 cost.

[acener]

"Not your Key's , Not your coin" , So yes it is worth it to take your coins to put in your hardware wallet.
I trust the exchange but I would be more comfortable knowing that I control my own wallet.

[xSkylarx]

As long as you don't have the private key to access your bitcoin then you are not yet safe even if they are a reputable exchange. There are many reputable exchanges in the past that went bankrupt or made an exit scam taking all the cryptos of their users, Mt.Gox is one of them. Having a hardware wallet or a software wallet like coinomi, trustwallet, metamask is a better option. You just need to make sure that you write its passphrase and keep it somewhere safe so you can access it on any device you want.

[777Jolami]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

A hardware wallet is just one option for making sure your BTC funds are as safe as possible. If you really don't move a lot of BTC for long-term usage and planning then a hardware wallet is the best option. If you are really satisfied with the security on Coinbase and Gemini then it is not necessary to invest in a hardware wallet. At Asia we use Binance and Huobi, it's just too cool, and there's no need to think about hardware wallet options.

[Reatim]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

"Safe" is an understatement is crypto, even the best exchanges out there have been hacked already. Extra money? buying hardware wallet, which cost less than $100 is worth instead of trusting your coins to an exchange, a third party which you don't have control, because you don't hold the private keys.

The famous saying about " Not your Keys , Not your Bitcoin"

Buying Hardware wallet if you are going to Hold Good chunks of Bitcoin or other altcoin will Save your ass from a possible hacking or even scamming.

But the problem is how much are we talking about here? if OP is Going to buy Hardware wallet that costs 100$ and will only Hold another 100$ worth of crypto , i think this is not practical at the moment.

But this will always depend on how much He will hold and how much he can risk.

[Upgrade00]

At Asia we use Binance and Huobi, it's just too cool, and there's no need to think about hardware wallet options.

The reality is you do not truly own your coins, besides the risk of hacks, you could be restricted from using your funds by the exchange, just as the last time binance suspended ER -20 withdrawals - (https://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/105918/binance-suspends-ethereum-and-erc-20-token-withdrawals-quickly-reversing-course) or the time they limited Bitcoin withdrawals due to price spikes.
Having to wait minutes to access your funds is not true decentralization, reason why most say; ''if it's not your key, it's not your coins''.

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

You could start off with a non custodian wallet on a secure airgapped device, it presents more safety and security than centralized exchanges and allows you complete access to your keys. A hardware wallet is however the best option.

[davis196]

It depends of what amount of coins you want to store.
If you are talking about a small amount of coins,then it's OK to store them on cryptocurrency exchanges.
If you want to store a few BTC somewhere,then a hardware wallet is the best option.
I wouldn't be concerned about crypto exchanges being hacked.Some crypto exchanges might directly scam you.Others,like Coinbase,might block your account for any reason,which isn't a scam attempt,but it sucks to know that you can't withdraw your coins.

[TheNineClub]

The first reply says it best, hardware is the way to go. They are the safest option right now, and with the ever-fluctuating bitcoin prices, today's loose change could turn out to be a substantial amount in no time so there is really no reason to cheap out on security and on your investment. I myself own Ledger and can say that it's a great reasonably priced tool that does the job.

[Oasisman]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

It's either the exchange will play tricks on you, or someone from the outside hacks the exchange and take all of your cryptos, or worse an inside job connivance from the outside hacker and the exchange. Yeah, these are all possible. Not your keys, not your coins. Simple logic right there.
Nothing is better than storing your Btc from an offline wallet that will be kept by you.
Now, is it worth the extra money you use to buy a cold wallet rather than lying your crypto susceptible to any kind of harms?

[Charles-Tim]

Hardware wallets are one of the safest means to hold cryptocurrencies, but if the amount to hold is not much, you can use recommendable noncustodial wallet like electrum, but you will need to be able to protect your wallet from attacks just like you are protecting your exchanges from attacks, no wallet is safe until you protect it from both online and offline attacks. To download electrum, you can visit electrum.org, making sure you verify the signature too. But for high amount, the best to go for are hardware wallets, you can buy it from a reseller like Amazon, or buy it directly from the hardware company.

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet

I do not think there should be any difficulty about this. You will buy hardware wallet like Ledger Nano or Trezor, you will make sure that it is new, remove the seal and open it. The wallet will generate seed phrase, and also you will need to input pin. You will be able to create new wallet, and get a valid address from the hardware wallet. On your exchange, go to withdrawal and input the address generated from the hardware wallet. The fee on exchanges are way to high, it will be good idea for high amount for the fee not to take most part of the coin you want to transfer.

but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this?

Yes, for certain reasons.

• to have full control
• for privacy
• for flexible and low fee withdrawals

Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins

Exchanges have more attention from online hackers
Exchanges withdrawal can be under maintenance
Accounts can be blocked, which can be temporary, and can cause inconveniences
You do not have full control
It is not your key

but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

Trezor Model One: $59
Trezor Model T: $159
Ledger Nano S: $59
Ledger Nano X: $119

[Poker Player]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

Are you planning to hold? If so, get a hardware wallet. If you are going to trade, leave it there. It also depends on how much you have. If you have a lot and you plan to trade, you may also get a hardware wallet and keep part of your stash there.

[isaac_clarke22]

Just imagine that you bought a house but the keys aren't in your hands but handled by other people.
Those people have the free-will to rob your house and wouldn't even put a notice to you, because you don't even have a key.

Worst case scenario in those type of situations would be freezing your money to their site though I never heard Coinbase freezing accounts just yet.

[Lorence.xD]

I mean yes, if everyone in this thread is advocating that it is worth it then it is worth it because a lot of people have lost their coins in these exchanges when those exchanges got attacked. Plus the added security that you are going to be the only one who will have the access to your wallet whenever you want it. And if it isn't enough for you, there are a lot of stories in this forum about how they got their coins stolen because they stored it in an exchange or online wallets.

[bittick]

the hundred dollars cost of a hardware wallet definitely worth it for a long term. I personally used trezor model one and still as solid as brick until now and maybe you consider saving up money in exchange safe based on your perspective but it's better safe than sorry not to mention if it's not some small amount but instead a huge one, you want to be fully in control of your wallet just like me just to make sure.
But itf it's just small amount maybe saving in exchange is enough, just my 2 cents.

[NeuroticFish]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

It all depends on how much money you have on the exchanges. If you have 100-200$, it may worth the relatively low risk of them getting hacked (for real or pretended), change rules or go bankrupt.
If you have significantly bigger amounts of money there, it really worth buying at least a 60 EUR hardware wallet and sleep better.

Just imagine your coins gets stolen, you stop investing into Bitcoin and in some years they go up 20x or 100x. And imagine how will you be feeling about that.

[yazher]

I currently have crypto on Coinbase and Gemini. I'm not sure how you would go about putting them on a personal wallet, but is it worth taking the extra money and doing this? Those 2 exchanges seem fairly safe for holding the coins, but I also have no idea how much the hardware would cost.

You should do so and those safe exchanges will not be permanently like that in the upcoming months or years. You will be amazed if you managed to save your BTC to some of your personal wallets and found out the exchanges you are talking about know will be somehow get hacked. it has happened before suddenly and it might happen again. You just need to have a second thought about it. because having a hard wallet is very important for every holder out there.

[shoemanpete]

I don´t see any mention of Exodus which is free but apparently has a good reputation.  Any comments?