"Not your keys, not your coins"

[dzungmobile]

"Not your keys, not your coins". I don't know since when the saying was born but it has been repeatedly mentioned in cryptocurrency communities.

It's bad idea to put your coins on centralized exchanges with custodial wallets (you don't have access key to that wallet).
It's bad idea to send your coins to centralized lending platforms (like Celcius, 3 Arrows Capital ie.). You don't own key and they can disable withdrawal, apply for bankruptcy anytime.

With this bear market and some disasters recently from Terra to Celcius, 3 Arrows Capital, it is very good time to learn this lesson and act accordingly. It is time to practice this lesson and protect your capital.

"Not your keys, not your coins". Practice it, before it is too late to save your capital.

Security checklist
Exchange hack timeline. Not all of them are real hacks. Some are scam exits.

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[Darker45]

Most especially these days when even the largest exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com are going through hard times, it is really more urgent to not leave funds on exchanges. The risk has gone a lot higher. Even Binance itself had to halt Bitcoin withdrawals due to a large volume of transactions that are stuck. There's an exchange run happening. Things don't look good, now more than ever. Not your keys, not your coins is most relevant today.

[Despairo]

To be honest there are already a lot users always repeating this slogan when it's discussing about security and I'm sure many users already read this. But most of users especially newbies doesn't care anything since they're greedy to earn more satoshi by lend their Bitcoin into centralized exchanges. The word "staking" is also confuse many users since Bitcoin isn't a Proof of Stake, but a Proof of Work where there's no staking features on the pools. Some people leave their coins on exchanges because they're a trader, but they should only leave few % for their trading activity, not all coins.

Advice isn't enough for them, until they will learn a lesson where their coins can't be withdraw anymore due to bankrupt.

[cryptoaddictchie]

but it has been repeatedly mentioned in cryptocurrency communities

Thats actually a good thing to remind everybody what is the real truth out there. Its not a redundancy but a thing we must reiterate to the public for their awareness.

I think 3arrow capital is a VC group and not a lending platform but surely they are a big guy on crypto investment. Their downfall could lead to another messy chaos on crypto.

Advice isn't enough for them, until they will learn a lesson where their coins can't be withdraw anymore due to bankrupt.

This is actually true. Experience lead you to a more sensitive type of guy once its happened to you. The realization is real when you are one of those that the funds had been held or restricted.

[dzungmobile]

Most especially these days when even the largest exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com are going through hard times, it is really more urgent to not leave funds on exchanges. The risk has gone a lot higher. Even Binance itself had to halt Bitcoin withdrawals due to a large volume of transactions that are stuck.

Completely sucks. We can not trust any centralized exchanges with our money. Mt. Gox lesson should be reminded in this relevant time.

There's an exchange run happening. Things don't look good, now more than ever. Not your keys, not your coins is most relevant today.

Exchange run, a creative term which is very relevant for crypto market. Fortunately and unfortunately, with blockchain, runs can happen very fast (if exchanges don't disable withdrawals and chains are not halted) so the Cascade effect from crypto-run is very terrible.

[pooya87]

Most especially these days when even the largest exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com are going through hard times, it is really more urgent to not leave funds on exchanges. The risk has gone a lot higher. Even Binance itself had to halt Bitcoin withdrawals due to a large volume of transactions that are stuck. There's an exchange run happening. Things don't look good, now more than ever. Not your keys, not your coins is most relevant today.

Some exchanges like Binance are naturally shady and the problems they face are more real than others since they may not even have enough bitcoins to pay everyone which could be the reason why they stopped letting people withdraw bitcoin but they still allow withdrawal of shitcoins on alternative chains (like BTC on Binance chain which is not really BTC).
Other exchanges like Coinbase are facing smaller problems since their shadiness is far less than the first group but the problems they face is mainly because these days a large number of people are buying bitcoin and transferring it to their cold storages taking advantage of the current discount.

[dzungmobile]

Some exchanges like Binance are naturally shady and the problems they face are more real than others since they may not even have enough bitcoins to pay everyone which could be the reason why they stopped letting people withdraw bitcoin but they still allow withdrawal of shitcoins on alternative chains (like BTC on Binance chain which is not really BTC).

Your post immediately reminds me about one more thing

If people want to cash out their cryptocurrency, they have two options: fiat and stable coin.

What should be their option?
It's fiat, not stablecoin. Stable coin is like Wrapped BTC that is more convenient in eyes of newbies but that stable coins are not actually fiat currencies. Their values are not actually equal to fiats.

LUNA UST is a lesson for stable coin and Wrapped BTC hodlers

[mk4]

What should be their option?
It's fiat, not stablecoin. Stable coin is like Wrapped BTC that is more convenient in eyes of newbies but that stable coins are not actually fiat currencies. Their values are not actually equal to fiats.

USDC is (supposedly) actually backed 1:1 with the US Dollar. The only reason to not use it if you're skeptical that the company behind it(Circle) is doing something shady or is insolvent.

[Charles-Tim]

Even Binance itself had to halt Bitcoin withdrawals due to a large volume of transactions that are stuck. There's an exchange run happening. Things don't look good, now more than ever. Not your keys, not your coins is most relevant today.

I was surprised that some people want to move their coins from Binance to another exchange to sell, which means they think Binance is a wallet, I just do not know the reason behind that. But Iam wondering how who wanted to make urgent bitcoin payment will feel when Binance suspended bitcoin withdrawal.

The word "staking" is also confuse many users since Bitcoin isn't a Proof of Stake, but a Proof of Work where there's no staking features on the pools. Some people leave their coins on exchanges because they're a trader, but they should only leave few % for their trading activity, not all coins.

But on centralized exchanges, you can lend, not only staking you can make active income from.

Some people may also be confused bitcoin for altcoins. I am not certain about this, but bitcoin pegged coins like wrappedBTC and renBTC which are altcoins are still PoS coins and people should be able to stake such coins which are on PoS coin network.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Some people may also be confused bitcoin for altcoins. I am not certain about this, but bitcoin pegged coins like wrappedBTC and renBTC which are altcoins are still PoS coins and people should be able to stake such coins which are on PoS coin network.

If using centralized exchange such as Binance. They have producy of earn savings which your btc can be stake/unstake flexibly with 5% apy, (just checked now) before its only 1% or 2%.

But obviously this isnt an on chain btc since we all knew that btc doesnt have staking but only a program initiated by binance for their users.

[noorman0]

If people want to cash out their cryptocurrency, they have two options: fiat and stable coin.

What should be their option?

Even bitcoin is better for people who don't believe in cryptocurrencies because it is more acceptable than stablecoins even in some non-crypto shops or services like people experience. A suitable reason to use a stable coin is to secure the value of the asset in a short time (temporary) say 3 days max.

[seoincorporation]

People don't realize that the fact of sending their bitcoins to a centralized service represents a risk. If we make a deposit on an exchange or a casino, at that moment the coins don't belong to us anymore. And if the service decides to lock your balance and keep the money they can do it without problems.

On the technical side, it would be easy for the exchanges to provide a deposit address and give to the customer the private keys, but if they do this then they would lose control of the coins, and we know they don't want that.

[Husires]

If interest rates increase, it is natural that liquidity does not flow to these platforms or lending companies.

 it is wise not to leave your money with them for nothing but that you will get additional money from leaving your money in safer hands such as banks and others.

An idea that is not your keys, not your coins, is not a luxury, but rather the basis and principle of the work of bitcoin, where ownership is transferred from one person to a network. No one can control it and you can only spend your coins if you have a private key.

This is if we ignore all the current risks, which are considered real threats, such as hyperinflation and stagflation.

[PrivacyG]

On the technical side, it would be easy for the exchanges to provide a deposit address and give to the customer the private keys, but if they do this then they would lose control of the coins, and we know they don't want that.

Yes and no.  Would be easy to provide a deposit address together with a private key but this means all transactions have to happen on chain.  This implies a lot of fluctuating costs exchange customers will not afford to cover when fees are high.  Also, time is key when trading and if transactions happen on chain, you will have to wait a lot of time before your transaction actually goes through.  Then there are a lot of other issues popping up.  Let us be honest, if Binance offers no on-chain trading fee and another exchange asks you to pay for every buy or sell of yours, you will tend to use the former.

It is all revolving around a world of comfort clients rather choose.

-
Regards,
PrivacyG

[Zilon]

People don't realize that the fact of sending their bitcoins to a centralized service represents a risk. If we make a deposit on an exchange or a casino, at that moment the coins don't belong to us anymore. And if the service decides to lock your balance and keep the money they can do it without problems.

Decentralized casinos remains the best, secured with full privacy retention. Centralized exchanges are like the usual banking institutions that can decide the fate of your fiat currency and as a law abiding citizen you play by their rules. As a Bitcoin owner my private key is of great importance to me. I value my keys just the same way i value my coin and threat both equally

On the technical side, it would be easy for the exchanges to provide a deposit address and give to the customer the private keys, but if they do this then they would lose control of the coins, and we know they don't want that.

If exchanges give their customers their private key they too have a copy so in that case both parties own the Bitcoin and still have control over the funds. but can centralized exchanges be avoided completely?

[LoyceMobile]

USDC is (supposedly) actually backed 1:1 with the US Dollar. The only reason to not use it if you're skeptical that the company behind it(Circle) is doing something shady or is insolvent.

If I wanted to have dollars, I'd get a bank account at a reputable bank. There's no need to add an additional third party in between.

[franky1]

"not your keys, not your coins"
is not just about depositing funds into someone elses public address.

its also locking up funds into a multisig of multiple people whereby you DO NEED their authorisation to get funds out to a destination you want and have control of

meany altnets, sub chains and sidechains rely on locks which then require other parties authorisation.

they pretend to be nothing like custodial wallets by saying you have some % control of signing by you being a second party in a 2 of 2 or a 2 or 3 multisig.

but if they refuse to sign.. then a 1of 2 or 1 of 3 is meaningless you cant get your coins if they dont sign.

be very weary of the 2 of (more the 2) where you only have 1 of the keys and other people have more then 1 of the keys. as they can move funds without your agreement at all

[famososMuertos]

Without reaching such extremes as hypochondria, understand that it is a simile with a very serious disease, my apologies if anyone suffers from it, but every bitcoin user should suffer from "Not your keys, not your coins" and its consequent good use, that is, to have control of that phrase and to know how it can be extended in an orderly planning of funds.

[mk4]

If I wanted to have dollars, I'd get a bank account at a reputable bank. There's no need to add an additional third party in between.

That's you, and not approximately 90%(just a guess, don't quote me on this) of people outside the US without access to (or with great difficulty accessing) the US dollar.

[TheNineClub]

"Not your keys, not your coins". I don't know since when the saying was born but it has been repeatedly mentioned in cryptocurrency communities.

It's bad idea to put your coins on centralized exchanges with custodial wallets (you don't have access key to that wallet).
It's bad idea to send your coins to centralized lending platforms (like Celcius, 3 Arrows Capital ie.). You don't own key and they can disable withdrawal, apply for bankruptcy anytime.

With this bear market and some disasters recently from Terra to Celcius, 3 Arrows Capital, it is very good time to learn this lesson and act accordingly. It is time to practice this lesson and protect your capital.

"Not your keys, not your coins". Practice it, before it is too late to save your capital.

Security checklist
Exchange hack timeline. Not all of them are real hacks. Some are scam exits.

There has been emphasis put on protecting your assets and it's been preached at least for the last 10 years, but it's a double edged sword. It also brings a certain level of distrust in the comunity and that seems to be an issue where it's one or the other, but we can't have both...and if we can't trust the people involved, than what good is all of this?