How safe are crypto wallets??

[sheryllmcnulty]

It’s been all over the news how vulnerable older versions of crypto wallets can be. Right now, it’s the name of Metamask that has come out in the open, but I think there will be more to follow as well. This shows that using a crypto wallet isn’t enough, but one should ensure that it is up-to-date and has multiple layers of security. I also think it is better to divide the investments into multiple wallets to reduce the risks. Is anybody using multiple wallets here? If yes, then which ones are those, and how good are their safety features?

[Charles-Tim]

Web wallet are most vulnerable
Mobile wallet are next to most vulnerable
Desktop wallets are next to most vulnerable

These three types above are online wallets and vulnerable to online attacks, but web wallets are most vulnerable.

Most secure wallet are cold wallets like:

Paper wallet, it has to be generated on airgapped device, not online.
Hardware wallet are better as well, easy and convenience for makimg transaction and they are also secure.
I prefer to go for wallet on airgapped device which are also safe.

But above all, no wallet is 100% safe, your experience and how you handle your wallet matters to avoid hack.

[kesmex]

there are many kinds of crypto wallets, some are in the form of software wallets, and some are called hardware wallets,
for software wallets security is of course very lacking, because it can be hacked, many people also report losing their software wallets, such as Trustwallet, etc.,
but for hardware wallet so far there is no news about hacking, so it's very safe

[NeuroticFish]

I also think it is better to divide the investments into multiple wallets to reduce the risks.

I will start with the fact that the coins are never in the wallet, they're "on the blockchain" (said in an overly simplified way). This is very important to understand, for your coins safety.
Web wallets are not safe. The website can change the code and steal your information even if it worked well for years. Phishing and clone/similar websites do that even easier.
Custodian services and exchanges need KYC, have ever changing rules you have to obey to and they're a magnet for hackers since that's where the money is.
Local wallets are as safe as your device. Smartphones are bad, windows systems also bad, so maybe a linux pc is reasonably ok.
So the real deal is cold storage, hardware wallets and so on, but even here you have to be overly careful on how and where you store your recovery seed and what companion/software wallets you use.

Splitting can be a good idea if you do it right. If you split between wallets on the same (virtually infected) computer you've achieve nothing.
Keeping the smaller "daily" funds online and the bulk (if it's the case) on cold storage or paper wallets can be a goo direction, if you know how to generate and store safely those paper wallets.
Acquiring a hardware wallet can be another pretty good direction.

All in all, some wallets are safer, but in case of those the weak link is the owner (you) and the possible mistakes.

Not long ago somebody thought about splitting and was mentioning even some exchanges. And as I said, those are usually not advised, especially for larger funds. But each and every solution depends greatly on the user, his amount of funds, his technical knowledge, his willingness for KYC, what crypto services he's using, what software he downloads and installs, how he uses his pc...
So I can give some ideas, but it's your decision to make.


PS. This looks to me like a "beginners" topic, not really "trading", maybe you want to move it to the correct place.

[mk4]

1. Use a reputable hardware wallet (Ledger/Trezor/Coldcard) with reputable software wallets (Wasabi/Electrum/MetaMask)
2. Only keep your backup safe and secure offline
3. Don't get scammed


and you'll be more than secure enough.

[joeperry]

Of course updated versions is much safer than the older versions and you should update your wallets regularly for your own security. I, myself use software wallets and hardware wallets, most of my savings and holdings are in my hardware wallet and I have a software wallets where I save my spendable coins for small transactions, gambling fund, etc. since it is easier to access it rather than using my hardware wallet from time to time especially for small transactions.

[dkbit98]

Is anybody using multiple wallets here? If yes, then which ones are those, and how good are their safety features?

There is no perfect crypto wallets, and all of them have some disadvantages, but I would use mostly open source wallets with good history and development team.
I use multiple wallets for different purposed, for storing smaller amount of coins mobile wallets like Electrum, Blue wallet or Unstoppable wallet can be used.
For storing large amount of coins consider using open source hardware wallets like Trezor, Keystone or Passport.

[tranthidung]

• Security checklist
• Recommended wallets
• Bitcoin Q&A: How to store and use Bitcoin

Hardware wallet is best but you must pay money to buy it.
Non-custodial software wallet is good enough if you can download it, verify it, install it and use it safely from creating wallet, backup, store your backup, and recovery.

You should keep your investment in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency secretly. You (your accounts, devices, etc.) will be under less curious and potentially dangerous eyes. Don't share your portfolio anywhere.

[hosseinimr93]

but one should ensure that it is up-to-date and has multiple layers of security.

What do you mean by multiple layers of security? If you mean securing the wallet with 2FA, SMS, email, etc. I wouldn't recommend it.

Your fund is secure as long as you are the only one who has access to your keys.
For keeping the keys secure, you should either use a open-source hardware wallet or a cold wallet created on an airgapped device. If you do that correctly, you don't need any other thing.

[dansus021]

-snip-
But above all, no wallet is 100% safe, your experience and how you handle your wallet matters to avoid hack.

i remember who am i movie that no system is safe  but this is kinda true that even hardware wallet can be hacked and i watch on youtube

the security is depend on you too, quick advice safe your long term investment on hardware wallet and keep it secure or move to storage bank.
using mobile wallet or extension wallet like metmask or other to fill up you daily transaction trading on dex invest in farming etc.

[kamvreto]

not a guarantee using multiple wallets will be more secure. The main security depends on how the user secures his wallet, because if the wallet already has the latest security, but the user is still careless, then the wallet will be easily hacked. Hardware wallets are the wallets that you can choose because they are more secure than application wallets on mobile phones or metamask wallets.
There are many hardware wallets available at affordable prices, buy hardware wallets officially on the website and don't buy from untrusted third parties.

[witcher_sense]

It’s been all over the news how vulnerable older versions of crypto wallets can be. Right now, it’s the name of Metamask that has come out in the open, but I think there will be more to follow as well. This shows that using a crypto wallet isn’t enough, but one should ensure that it is up-to-date and has multiple layers of security. I also think it is better to divide the investments into multiple wallets to reduce the risks. Is anybody using multiple wallets here? If yes, then which ones are those, and how good are their safety features?

The fundamental rule is the farther away your private keys are from the online environment, the more secure your wallet will be. Cold wallets are the safest option there is by the reason that private keys never touch the Internet. But what is equally important in the case of cold storage and what differentiates them from, say, hardware wallets is that they aren't equipped for recurring payments. Once you find that you need to spend from your cold storage, you can make your payment, and you need to move the leftover to completely different cold storage, which has never been used for payments before. Hardware wallets, even air-gapped ones, are a little bit closer to the Internet than cold wallets, which makes them more suitable for day-to-day transactions, but that involves certain trade-offs such as the necessity to somehow communicate with a computer in order to function properly. Software wallets are the least safe option because private keys are closest to the Internet and, therefore, always are at risk of being intercepted by a bad actor. Whether it is a desktop or mobile wallet, when you unlock your wallet by inserting your password, your private keys stop being protected by encryption algorithms and are basically stored as plain text that can potentially be seen by whoever spying on your device.

[Charles-Tim]

not a guarantee using multiple wallets will be more secure. The main security depends on how the user secures his wallet, because if the wallet already has the latest security, but the user is still careless, then the wallet will be easily hacked.

Some people can just make use of hardware wallet, paper wallet or wallet on an airgapped device for infrequent transactions, while having other types of wallet like Electrum 2FA wallet for frequent transactions. It all depends from individual to individual, but I see nothing bad there to have more than a single wallet.

Hardware wallets are the wallets that you can choose because they are more secure than application wallets on mobile phones or metamask wallets. There are many hardware wallets available at affordable prices, buy hardware wallets officially on the website and don't buy from untrusted third parties.

You may not necessary choose hardware wallet, although some are safe and secure and keep private key offfline, but there are other options like wallet on airgapped devices which some can spare an unused device for.

Just my opinion though.

[sunsilk]

One additional layer of security is the 2FA. Whether be it on exchanges or in your wallets, they're a good addition and will give the hackers hard time accessing your funds.

But just as what they suggest, you're the sole holder of your funds if you alone are the one who's holding the keys. That's the most important matter that you have to think of.

As they suggest, HWs are one of the best choice that you can have as your wallet and where you must keep your funds.

[Bitcoinking99]

How secure the crypto wallet is depends on you.  In other words, money bag wallet is not safe, phone wallet is not safe.  I think updates are new.  You will be constantly updating your wallet for your own safety.  Using a wallet depends on your security.  If you do not use Alet due to lack of security, your wallet will be hacked very soon.  My Allet was hacked a few days ago.  I mean I didn't use my wallet as security and there are lots of hardware alets available on the website. There are different ways to buy hardware alets.  All the risks when buying hardware.  One level of security is to connect 2 FA.

[HeRetiK]

Is anybody using multiple wallets here? If yes, then which ones are those, and how good are their safety features?

I'm using multiple wallets, but only because they are for different use cases (e.g. Bitcoin Core for running a LN node, can't do this off a hardware wallet). Apart from that I feel like using multiple wallets may actually be a liability since keeping track of the wallets and their backups is prone to user error. Unless of course you currently store all your coins in a mobile or web wallet, in which case it would definitely make sense to move most if not all your funds to a hardware wallet or other form of cold storage.

1. Use a reputable hardware wallet (Ledger/Trezor/Coldcard) with reputable software wallets (Wasabi/Electrum/MetaMask)

Also ideally buy it from the vendor directly and not via some third party market place like Amazon or Ebay. Even if you buy from the official seller on Amazon you'll never know what you get since Amazon is known to mix all its inventory together, regardless of source.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I think the first and most important practice is for us to learn how to be our own security, this is because I believe wallets don't just get hacked, most especially non custodial wallets where the owners have full access to their private keys, aside web wallets which seems to be the most vulnerable among all types of non custodial wallets , every other wallet types from mobile to desktop to paper to hardware wallets , all this wallets don't just get hacked without the user giving the hackers access to the wallet through exposing their wallet information online or to friends or by neglecting some important security protocols in the wallet which by far lessens the security of such users wallet information.

[true_kapa]

yes you can use multiple security. but the attacker cant get in if you dont shere your secret kye Whit him. last week my friend lose his all founds from trust wallet because he shere his phrase to unknowns website. just dont shere that one thing

[isaac_clarke22]

As long as your private keys/seeds are not being secured by no one but yourself, it is not a secure wallet. This is why I avoid to hold too much in my web wallet, and I only use it if I am going to avail some of their services like buying some game credits which is quite convenient for me, other than that, I hold my other coins in other wallet that would never get any sort of connection to the internet a lot.

[Natalim]

This is have been discussed so many times and it was clear to see that the safety of your wallets depends on you as a holder. It is to note that online wallets are prone to hacking but offline wallets have also no excuse if YOU as the owner/holders are deemed careless to handle it. So, no matter what type of wallet you used, it is either an offline or online wallet, you can't just ignore the possibility that one day you will get hacked. That is why making a split and storing your crypto in different wallets is advisable, especially if you hold a huge amount of BItcoin or crypto assets just to prevent from losing it all in a single attack.