are crypto owners naturally paranoid?

[dogu17]

A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on. A psychotic is a guy who's just found out what's going on.
William S. Burroughs

[josephdd1]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

You make a terrible mistake. If you lose your cold wallet, you will not lose your assets because as long as you remember your seed phrase, you can recover your coins in a new cold-wallet. In terms of exchange wallets, it is too dangerous.  Even reliable exchanges can have some vulnerabilities and problems. For example, Binance has blocked the accounts of some users after a technical error caused by the Dogecoin update.

[ancafe]

regarding this, I'm actually thinking the same thing. I would probably feel safer keeping my assets in popular markets like Binance, or Kucoin, because even if they get hacked, I'm pretty sure they'll replace it. it was different when my wallet was hacked.
however, so far, I don't keep my assets in the same 1 place. although I keep some tokens on the exchange, I only keep coins that I am ready to sell. however, for the coins I hold, I keep them in my wallet. maybe the percentage is 50:50. it's just that I'm more paranoid about storing my assets in a wallet because of some cases regarding lost assets and others.

[D-law]

This has to do a lot with by taking preventive measures rather than been paranoid.
When one has a lot of wealth,he/her becomes more cautious and takes caution at every possible time.

[davis196]

Taking care of your wealth doesn't mean that you are paranoid.
I've heard many horror stories about people,who got scammed by centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and online crypto wallets.Not you keys,not your coins.
If you own a small amount of crypto,keeping it in a crypto exchange or online wallet is OK.If you are HODLing a large amount of crypto,then having a cold wallet and keeping your private keys is a must.
I'm "paranoid" even when it comes to keeping my fiat money in my bank account.I've never had any problems with my bank so far,but you never know what's gonna happen.

[cabron]

This has to do a lot with by taking preventive measures rather than been paranoid.
When one has a lot of wealth,he/her becomes more cautious and takes caution at every possible time.

With all the exchanges that suddenly go rogue, a Bitcoin holder can't just ignore the possibility that even a big exchange can also shut down without all of a sudden. There was even a rumor that authorities are looking for the servers of Binance for them to seize. Just imagine how this could change the market overnight.

Even if you only have altcoins like ETH or SOL, you'd rather be keeping that on your wallet where you keep the private key because you just can't say when it all happens. Call it paranoia but its all precautions.

[nelson4lov]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

In my opinion, it depends. Not everyone is paranoid enough to move their assets off an exchange to a private wallet only to misplace the keys. I've said it a couple of times to people that recently joined crypto in my location ~ Since cryptois designed to put the power and full control of our finances, we're supposed to take the safety and security of our assets very seriously because once crypto is lost via a private wallet (misplaced priv keys, mnemonic phrases, etc), it is near impossible to get back.

[KaliLinux]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

I don't think you really understand what having to Hold lots of Bitcoin means. We are not talking about owning a few satoshis in an exchange, but a major amount of Bitcoins. From this chart, you would realize that more Bitcoins are held outside the exchange. the white line is the price of BTC and the Blue line is the amount of BTC held in exchange wallets and it continues to drop meaning more people are storing their Bitcoin in other storage outside the exchange because they understand the risk with the exchange and for those that do this, they should understand the importance of keeping their private keys safe.   


Source:
Bitcoin Exchange Flows

[Rufsilf]

You will become paranoid if you trust your bitcoins to an exchange. Just try it, but it doesn't have to be a small amount. Above there was already a very competent answer, are you ready to trust your money to someone if there are good ways to store it?
The only thing you need is knowledge of storing your passwords. There is a good proverb: "if you want to do well, do it yourself." There is nothing better than to rely on and always trust only yourself.

Yes, exactly! Why do you trust others to hold your funds when you yourself can do exactly the same thing or more safer and secured. It's okay to let those coins rest on an exchange platform but make sure you're ready to lose it or better yet no more than $2,000. Also, keep your passwords, seed phrases or recovery phrases and keys on hardcopy and not on softcopy to prevent from any other malicious intent. It's more safer when you yourself is the one who knows what is it and where is it. Being paranoid is quite okay because that's when you find answers to your questions on where to keep it safe.

[Taskford]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

In my opinion, it depends. Not everyone is paranoid enough to move their assets off an exchange to a private wallet only to misplace the keys. I've said it a couple of times to people that recently joined crypto in my location ~ Since cryptois designed to put the power and full control of our finances, we're supposed to take the safety and security of our assets very seriously because once crypto is lost via a private wallet (misplaced priv keys, mnemonic phrases, etc), it is near impossible to get back.

Not everyone is paranoid but there are certain occassions that experience trader got a fud news which can make the market collapsed and although this feelings might not affect the as a whole but for sure.

Also its really good to have safety nets towards this.

But also experience to know these things will result us a positive output since whatever market moves we will not get panic or do some negative decisions.

[CryptoCraze11]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

I too was great fan of wallets like Electrum until I lost my coins due to some hacking and worst part was I can see my coins going but I cant do anything to stop them. There is no way I can recover them. Exchanges like binance are safe in a sense that they provide features like 2 way authentication that keep your assets safe. Nonetheless, if you can take little bit care of your wallet (be it cold or any other) then go for it. Since you have the keys, you own the coins.

[Maidak]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

It seems you don't have much holding, the lower the holdings, the less important the security. I have been holding a few bitcoins in my old wallet for years, I wouldn't be foolish enough to keep such a valuable asset on the exchange.

You may have heard the name of Bilaxy Exchange, I had some usdt on this exchange, now I can't withdraw it, they have turned off the withdrawal option. So how can you rely on the exchange?

[habebe]

I should just make you paranoid your bitcoin and give you to exchange that anything done for you, there is no better way than to rely on ,, so of course just trust ourselves and keep safe with our bitcoins now make it secured  all so as not to experience a mistake and you will be scammed and that is the beginning of our paranoid, it is only natural that we feel that way, but will you experience that?  so means just be careful.

[isaac_clarke22]

~

Never heard of that exchange, but reading that from your experience scares me to even deal with any exchange.
I never held my crypto coins anyway in any exchange, maybe I had some in a custodial wallet, but mostly they are off for purchasing some goods that I need to buy and others are already held in my Electrum wallet. I have not bought hardware wallets yet, since I am not that big of a holder right now.

[SmokerFace]

Those who don't have enough knowledge about bitcoin tend to be paranoid about uncertainty regarding the hacking attempts.
Another thing to note is that these people also don't always have well protected computers or are overly cautious which is good but not doing research or making mistakes that are already made in past is bad.

[batang_bitcoin]

It's the opposite, having your crypto assets stored on a hardware wallet is much safer than what you're thinking. I've been doing that ever since I've stepped on this market and realized that it's better to have it there than into an exchange. I'm more paranoid when I've experienced a system down to the exchange where I've stored my crypto assets and can't access it in hours. I thought that it's already gone, the life savings that I've got in crypto and that's why it taught me that it's better to hold your own crypto through hardware wallets.

Being paranoid with security isnt really that bad but it turns out that you do end up on that exaggerated way or wrong kind of belief that exchange are good storage for your
coins rather than on storing it on a hardware wallet which i do totally disagree on because nothing beats out when you do store out your assets on a hardware wallet since
you do have the full control of that wallet since you do possess its keys not like when you store up on an exchange then you do really have that control
which it cant really be hacked as long no one really knows about your keys.

Why you disagree but it's like that you're agreeing? Well, anyway having your assets stored into a hardware wallet is one of the safest measure that we can do to protect our crypto assets. The thought of being overthinking is because when there are news about hacks, people tend to think that it can also happen to them in an instant if they're not using a hardware wallet. But be someone who's aware of security measures and you're not the type that just downloads malicious application for which could contain the problem.

[nelson4lov]

~Snipped

~Snipped

Not everyone is paranoid but there are certain occassions that experience trader got a fud news which can make the market collapsed and although this feelings might not affect the as a whole but for sure.

Also its really good to have safety nets towards this.

But also experience to know these things will result us a positive output since whatever market moves we will not get panic or do some negative decisions.

Why would anyone panic on hearing or seeing fud enough to throw away access to their private wallets? I don't really see why though. Whenever one creates a wallet, there's usually a note to safeguard those access methods. This goes to show how important these things are. It's also what pointing out that crypto isn't really for the weak. You have to be able to take on risks and also not come for shitcoin and memecoin pumps otherwise you will be disappointed.

[bekti3]

regarding this, I'm actually thinking the same thing. I would probably feel safer keeping my assets in popular markets like Binance, or Kucoin, because even if they get hacked, I'm pretty sure they'll replace it. it was different when my wallet was hacked.
however, so far, I don't keep my assets in the same 1 place. although I keep some tokens on the exchange, I only keep coins that I am ready to sell. however, for the coins I hold, I keep them in my wallet. maybe the percentage is 50:50. it's just that I'm more paranoid about storing my assets in a wallet because of some cases regarding lost assets and others.

very true as you said especially for binance now I think it is quite safe when we receive unwanted things because it reflects on a case that happened some time ago where the wallet was hacked but can still be tracked with binance and can be returned safely .
On the other hand, storing assets in several wallets can actually reduce the risk of loss and minimize unwanted things.

[Desmong]

It seems to me that it would be safer (and more convenient) to keep your crypto on an exchange (coinbase, blockfi etc) than cold wallet. Wouldn't the odds be greater that you mess up your cold storage than a large exchange being hacked or whatever (even if they are hacked, that wouldn't necessarily mean you would lose any coins, whereas if you are hacked that's a different story). I ordered a ledger nano X but it seems that the exchanges are still the way to go based on probabilities. What are your thoughts?

Whether you are using a cold wallet or an exchange, risks is necessary so we all should get ready for any funny outcome. If you lose the recovery phase of your wallet...crypto assets all gone, but when it comes to exchange, you can recover your account back if you eventually lose your password.
If an exchange is hacked, there is good chances that your funds are gone.

[lovesmayfamilis]

I too was great fan of wallets like Electrum until I lost my coins due to some hacking and worst part was I can see my coins going but I cant do anything to stop them. There is no way I can recover them. Exchanges like binance are safe in a sense that they provide features like 2 way authentication that keep your assets safe. Nonetheless, if you can take little bit care of your wallet (be it cold or any other) then go for it. Since you have the keys, you own the coins.

I have been using this wallet for a long time and have never had any complaints about it. Probably your losses were not the fault of the developers, but due to your inattention and maybe inexperience. I trust more the storage of my assets in the wallet than on the most, as it may seem, a trusted and safe exchange. As you yourself write that, not your keys, not your money, it only says that all responsibility should completely fall on the owner.