Don't Just HODL But HODL Wisely and Securely

[mvdheuvel1983]

One of the most powerful words that resonates strongly among bitcoiners is the word "HODL". This word describes our undying faith in bitcoin's past, present and future potential. In the bitcoin community, there are those who have been holding for a long-term and also those who have just started hodling because they are moved by the fast approaching halving event in 2024. As we are holding bitcoin we should be vigilant because hackers and scammers tirelessly seek opportunities and loopholes to steal your bitcoin. Therefore, it is not enough to hold but HODL WISELY.

There are more than one thousand ways to HODL bitcoin. In fact, as of 2022 there were about 2,790 Bitcoin-related applications are available on the Google Play Store while Apple Store had about 651 such apps. To add to this there are 288 hardware wallets and 44 bearer tokens in circulation, all of there telling you that they are able to secure your bitcoin holdings

Don't just hold but hodl wisely and securely.

This topic is inspired by the responses I received in this thread - How Do I Verify the Integrity of Open-Source Code.

Image source:

[mk4]

What sucks is that if most beginners just download a bitcoin wallet off Google PlayStore/Apple AppStore, chances are, they'd land upon an exchange wallet or a custodial wallet. The way bitcoin/crypto is now, you need to learn by mistake first lol before actually ending up diving deeper.

https://chainsec.io/checklist

[Liliana1304]

Yeah. Hodling is not a new word and especially here on the forum, users are advised to hodl and it will prove rewarding ( for those who plan to sell) when the next bull run season approaches. A necessary advice given by the Op which I think is quite important because there are still those who fall victims of hodling their Bitcoin on CEX which might be cool but not until the exchange gets closed down without prior information (exit scam) or even be victim to hacker attack.

To ensure you don't fall victim of stolen coins or missing funds, it's best to store your crypto in self custodial wallets, that way you are the only one with access to your funds and while it has its perks, it can be risky if you misplace your private keys you might as well be kissing your funds buh bye!

[tbct_mt2]

You can use this website to get some reviews on Bitcoin wallets then choose a good wallet to use.
https://walletscrutiny.com/

Another website to have reviews for Bitcoin wallets.
https://www.cryptowisser.com/wallets/

Recommended wallets from Jameson Lopp is useful too.
Reminder: do not keep your money in online account.

Open source, non custodial and don't have history of wallet compromise should be some factors to choose a wallet.

[Latviand]

What sucks is that if most beginners just download a bitcoin wallet off Google PlayStore/Apple AppStore, chances are, they'd land upon an exchange wallet or a custodial wallet. The way bitcoin/crypto is now, you need to learn by mistake first lol before actually ending up diving deeper.

https://chainsec.io/checklist

I hope that whaat you're saying doesn't become a frequent thing to happen to beginners because knowing that there's a lot of people that will quit if they made a mistake the 1st try serves nothing to the adoption of bitcoin. Although I do agree that allowing yourself to make mistake is a good thing if you want to learn, I still think that having that as your first experience in your first step wouldn't be good.

[Poker Player]

I agree with the spirit of the OP, just pointing out that the famous "HODL" came from one who was drunk and misspelled the word. Plus the last 20 posts on this forum are about shitcoins, so you can see he didn't HODL so much finally. This thread in comparison is much more serious and many newbies would do well to take note but I fear that most if they find it will be after they have made the mistake.

[m2017]

One of the most powerful words that resonates strongly among bitcoiners is the word "HODL". This word describes our undying faith in bitcoin's past, present and future potential. In the bitcoin community, there are those who have been holding for a long-term and also those who have just started hodling because they are moved by the fast approaching halving event in 2024. As we are holding bitcoin we should be vigilant because hackers and scammers tirelessly seek opportunities and loopholes to steal your bitcoin. Therefore, it is not enough to hold but HODL WISELY.

It is not the hacker and scammers who pose the greatest threat to your bitcoin, but you, the hodlers, yourself. Your own thoughtless and reckless actions lead to the loss of bitcoin, and not the above. But you are right about one thing: holding bitcoin needs to be done with a reasonable approach. One single mistake and all your hopes will instantly collapse. Therefore, don't forget about wise diversification.

There are more than one thousand ways to HODL bitcoin. In fact, as of 2022 there were about 2,790 Bitcoin-related applications are available on the Google Play Store while Apple Store had about 651 such apps. To add to this there are 288 hardware wallets and 44 bearer tokens in circulation, all of there telling you that they are able to secure your bitcoin holdings

Don't just hold but hodl wisely and securely.

This topic is inspired by the responses I received in this thread - How Do I Verify the Integrity of Open-Source Code.

Image source:

To holdbitcoin, one application is enough (for example, electrum) and there is no need to use thousands of wallets. But dividing all your crypto assets into parts and distributing them into different wallets (different seed phrases) is a direct necessity.

[348Judah]

One of the most powerful words that resonates strongly among bitcoiners is the word "HODL". This word describes our undying faith in bitcoin's past, present and future potential. In the bitcoin community, there are those who have been holding for a long-term and also those who have just started hodling because they are moved by the fast approaching halving event in 2024. As we are holding bitcoin we should be vigilant because hackers and scammers tirelessly seek opportunities and loopholes to steal your bitcoin. Therefore, it is not enough to hold but HODL WISELY.

I do say this that it's never too late to start bitcoin investment, but it's better never to have started than to carelessly handle your wallet security keys or make use of a centralized exchange in holding your bitcoin for long, if anyone is found under any of these category then he has higher tenderness of loosing his entire life savings in bitcoin to scam by hackers, this makes it very important to understand why we should take care of what we have and value them even if it will cost us because bitcoin hack or scam made are irreversible despite they are traceable, but we cannot recover the lost fund back, isn't it better to make prevention than care.

[KiaKia]

There are many unknown Bitcoin wallets that have no name on Google Playstore, some are simply titled "Bitcoin Wallet." One of the worst bits of advice people can give is to download a Bitcoin wallet from the Google Playstore. Some of these wallets might have a vulnerability, and I believe they cannot be non-custodial.

My hope is that many beginners will be smart enough to do their own research before downloading any wallet to store their Bitcoins. People these days think that everything that has an app is open to everyone, so they just open Playstore and search for crypto wallets, but not all of them are safe.

It's inevitable that some people will fall victim to scammers' traps when they get involved in crypto and not all of them will be able to find their way to Bitcointalk forums.

[yudi09]

Many wallets available on the Android Play Store and App Store provide many choices for prospective users to choose the best one as a place to hold Bitcoin. The availability of many wallet choices strengthens each wallet to compete in order to try to make each wallet provide the best to attract potential users when assessing the wallet to be chosen.

I'm afraid that potential users download wallets not from the official website but from the Play Store or App Store and don't consider the security of the wallet they choose.
A proven wallet like Electrum is not to be missed even though there are many new wallets available with great features.

[adultcrypto]

There are more than one thousand ways to HODL bitcoin. In fact, as of 2022 there were about 2,790 Bitcoin-related applications are available on the Google Play Store while Apple Store had about 651 such apps. To add to this there are 288 hardware wallets and 44 bearer tokens in circulation, all of there telling you that they are able to secure your bitcoin holdings

Don't just hold but hodl wisely and securely.

Good advice you have given,  however, I was expecting your recommendation on how to hodl wisely. I really do not know how to use this information because knowing that there are many ways to hold Bitcoin without knowing which ones mean holding wisely does not help but get me agitated. 

What sucks is that if most beginners just download a bitcoin wallet off Google PlayStore/Apple AppStore, chances are, they'd land upon an exchange wallet or a custodial wallet. The way bitcoin/crypto is now, you need to learn by mistake first lol before actually ending up diving deeper.

https://chainsec.io/checklist

Thank you for this revelation, I actually downloaded all my crypto apps from Google play store and I am more worried now than ever. Could you recommend how to go about downloading crypto apps that you consider as safe for use? I will greatly appreciate.

[EL MOHA]

One of the key things or elements before one starts to hold is the security of the wallets, many new investors actually do not pay much attention to this and lose their funds in that process. Both long term and short term holders need to use a reputable and widely accepted wallets. This is one of the reasons why many experienced investors are of the general opinion that wallets that are not connected to the internet are usually the best for holding.

Many newbies find it difficult to settle for a particular wallet, although they are new Wallets that with exciting features but my preferred choice is always old tested and proven wallets that many users have attested to, rather than a new wallet without proper or much review

[The Cryptovator]

It doesn't matter if you are a hodler or not, but you have to secure your funds the right way. Even if we are not hodling, we must hold our wallet for a short period of time. Most people just leave on exchange, which is the most dangerous attempt in the crypto world lately. That's how a lot of people lose their funds. So we have to make sure our funds are secure. At this point, it's very important what wallet you have been using and how secure it is. We need to spend more time researching how to secure your bitcoin so we can handle it wisely.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

As long as you are a member of bitcointalk it fair to say that it's easy to hodl wisely.

Here you can get all the informations/answers/help you need to keep your coins as save as possible in my opinion. There are obviously plenty of fakes and wallet clones out there and it's easy to lose focus as they often appear legit but a little common sense helps finding the real deal.

And in case there are question, people can always come here and create a topic and get all the help they need, I have seen that countless times.

[Nrcewker]

Yes the newbies have often faced problem to store their hard earned money securely. I mean they invest good amount of money in Bitcoins, but they don’t do proper research on how securely or safely they need to hold the coins. I am sure many of them don’t know the difference between hardware and software wallets. As a Bitcoin investor, you need to avoid as many online wallets as you can, as here you don’t own the coins completely. Electreum or Ledger wallet are best to store the coins, depending on the amount you are holding.

[pawel7777]

What sucks is that if most beginners just download a bitcoin wallet off Google PlayStore/Apple AppStore, chances are, they'd land upon an exchange wallet or a custodial wallet. The way bitcoin/crypto is now, you need to learn by mistake first lol before actually ending up diving deeper.

https://chainsec.io/checklist

Unpopular opinion: I think that all those who are into Bitcoin just to buy a (relatively) small amount, hold till the next pump and sell - should actually stick to keeping them on reputable centralised exchanges. It's against the BTC principles, yes, but it's probably much more safer and efficient in terms of time and fees. Short-term holders are generally not the type of people who would spend a lot of time learning about all the security risks and safe storing. The risk of messing something up with setting up wallet (or cold storage) for the first time is greater than the risk of reputable exchange going belly up.

[Hatchy]

One of the key things or elements before one starts to hold is the security of the wallets, many new investors actually do not pay much attention to this and lose their funds in that process. Both long term and short term holders need to use a reputable and widely accepted wallets. This is one of the reasons why many experienced investors are of the general opinion that wallets that are not connected to the internet are usually the best for holding.

Many newbies find it difficult to settle for a particular wallet, although they are new Wallets that with exciting features but my preferred choice is always old tested and proven wallets that many users have attested to, rather than a new wallet without proper or much review

Definitely, I agree with you. It's always advisable, to use wallets that are widely know and recognize by the general public. The idea of hodling Bitcoin isn't complete, without knowledge on how to fully secure your Bitcoin and prevent loss of funds. I usually advice people to download these apps from official store or directly from the website. Alot of hacked software are out there and if one isn't careful enough, you end up downloading a phishing app and after funding, you are left with nothing.

The way bitcoin/crypto is now, you need to learn by mistake first lol before actually ending up diving deeper.

Yes it's normal to learn from our mistake, as no one is perfect. But you can also learn from someone else's mistakes and get a correction. I will advice the newbies out there to be vigilant and avoid downloading unessesary apps or wallet to avoid being victims of hacks.

[yhiaali3]

Very true, before you think about holding, you should think about how to protect your assets well. This is one of the most important things that everyone must learn, whether experts or beginners, as asset security is considered the most important thing.

For me, I do not use any unknown wallet applications on Android or IOS. I only use the old, famous wallets that have become absolutely reliable through their secure use for many years.

It is not enough for the wallet to be open source for it to be secure, nor are all users experts in programming and code reading to read the open source and ensure that it is free of security vulnerabilities.

[tjtonmoy]

Not your key, not your coin. Yet we are here with so many options presented to us that we are still confused. But with a little bit of research, we can actually HODL wisely and securely on any platform. Our security and privacy is ours to keep safe. Our way of using anything determines its safety and security.
I recommend going with band products when purchasing a hardware wallet. Also, buy it from the official website. I am talking about hardware wallets because those are the safest ones in terms of HODLing. So if anyone has the ability to buy one, never be late.

Then comes software wallets. I have done some research here on this forum and also in other places. Everything suggested me towards Electrum wallet. I have used it and it's quite good as it said in every review. But still, everything depends on how you use it. So DYOR and choose the best.

[Rruchi man]

In the bitcoin community, there are those who have been holding for a long-term and also those who have just started hodling because they are moved by the fast approaching halving event in 2024. As we are holding bitcoin we should be vigilant because hackers and scammers tirelessly seek opportunities and loopholes to steal your bitcoin. Therefore, it is not enough to hold but HODL WISELY.

As you are looking for ways to get more bitcoins, know that other people are looking for ways to get bitcoins too, they do not have dedication to stack up bitcoins themselves from small investments and they are not ruling out getting it by illegal means which includes stealing from those who already have. That is why it is important to HODL WISELY. It will be depressing and a story you will never forget if after gathering bitcoins to benefit from the halving next year, that you then loose it all to scammers and cybercriminals online and other people offline because of 'I don't care" behavior.