Other ways long term investors can lose their bitcoin invetment.

[Silverstonez]

It has come to my noticed that many people believe that long term investor can only lose their bitcoin by selling at a loss which is not entirely true. there are several ways long term investors can lose access to their bitcoin or completely lose their bitcoin holdings even without sell during a market crash.

1, Losing wallet access: honestly speaking, this is one of the biggest risks in bitcoin investment. if you as a long term investor for lose your private keys, seed phrase or password, recovering your bitcoin my become impossible. because there is no customer support to assist you in restoring access to your bitcoin.

2, Exchange hacks or bankrupt: this one is for investors who keep their bitcoin in a centralized exchange. And we can't complete deny this one, because their are long term investor who still store their bitcoin investment in a centralized exchange. So, for those investors who still store their bitcoin in a centralized exchange, you guys should know this you are exposed to a third party risks. If the exchange gets hacked, freezes withdrawal or become insolvent you guys are going to lose your bitcoin.

3, Scam and phishing attacks: It is not longer a news that crypto scams continue to increase, because we are still seeing fake giveaway promotions, in different form, phishing websites, fake crypto wallets and impersonators are still successfully tricking people into revealing sensitive informations. And ones your bitcoin is stolen recovering is impossible.

4, Sending bitcoin to the wrong wallet address: We all already know that one's a bitcoin transaction is initiated reversing it is impossible. And when you mistakenly send bitcoin to a wrong address which is something that can happen to anyone including long term investors. Let's say you want to send bitcoin to your own custodial wallet and due to overconfidence, you decided not to double check before confirming the transaction, and you end up sending the bitcoin to a wrong address your bitcoin is gone, recovering is impossible.

5, Government regulations or restrictions: The government of your country can decide to impose trick regulations on bitcoin usage in your country. And in some cases, long term investors could face frozen accounts if they are using centralized exchanges to store their bitcoin, confiscation, or restricted access to crypto related services.

6, Poor inheritance planning: This particular one usually happens, whereas some long term investors would fail to prepare inheritance planning for their bitcoin. And when a long term bitcoin investor fails to share his or her recovering seed phrase to their trusted family and they die accessing their bitcoin may be impossible and at this point their bitcoin is gone forever.

7, Malware and device compromises: This one mostly happen, when a long term investor do not secure his bitcoin investment properly and hackers successfully install malware to their device that hacker can successfully steal their bitcoin, and recovering is impossible.

8, Fake investment platforms: This one is also common because there are still investment platforms out there promising unrealistic returns and long term investor are still falling for them. depositing bitcoin into such platforms is just as good as you are dashing bitcoin to a scammer. there are still many ways long term bitcoin investors can lose their bitcoin without selling during market crash but few to be mentioned.
 

[promise444c5]

4, Sending bitcoin to the wrong wallet address: We all already know that ones a bitcoin transaction is initiated revising reversal is impossible. And to mistaking send bitcoin to the wrong address is some that can happen to anyone including long term investors. Let's say you want to send bitcoin to your own custodial wallet and due to overconfidence, you decided not to double check before confirming the transaction, and you end up sending the bitcoin to a wrong address your bitcoin is gone, recovering is impossible.

Reverse,Revert not revising … FTFY
Technically, you can still cancel a transaction before it gets mined.. It’s not direct like using a cancellation button, and can also  be done using RBF .. intercept a transaction before it gets mined by spending same UTXO as Input in a new txn but back to your controlled bitcoin address.

Hence, it’s true that it almost likely not possible to get back your transaction when you send to a wrong address but there’s still a slight chance if you can use some alternative like OP_RETURN, Forums, and even Social media .. provided you were not scam or hacked but a negligence to copying of a wrong address address.
To avoid the mess, doublecheck or even triple check  .

[Charles-Tim]

There was one recently discussed which happened not long ago. You can see the discussion here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5584042.msg66764864#msg66764864

It was a fake platform, but the scam started from the Google ad which the victim did not know would be a scam link.

There is still ponzi, scam, dump and dump and other hyip schemes that people can lose money.

I do not know if there are still fake cloud mining, but it was used in the past to scam people and probably they will still exist.

It can also be fake or ghost exchanges, gambling site and others.

[Btcdeybodi]

2, Exchange hacks or bankrupt: this one is for investors who keep their bitcoin in a centralized exchange. And we can't complete deny one, because their long term investor who still keep their store their bitcoin investment in a centralized exchange. So, for investors who store their bitcoin in a centralized exchange, you guys should know that you are exposed to a third party risks. If the exchange gets hacked, freezes withdrawal or become insolvent you guys are going to lose your bitcoin.

5, Government regulations or restrictions: The government of your country can decide impose trick regulations on bitcoin usage in your country. And in some cases long term investors could face frozen accounts if they are using centralized exchanges to store their bitcoin, confiscation, or restricted access to crypto related services.

No long term investor will make the mistake of storing their bitcoin in an exchange wallet, except for someone who is inexperienced about the dangers of keeping their bitcoins in an exchange platform. I even doubt if someone who has been holding bitcoin for a long term will keep their bitcoins in a centralized exchange when they know the vulnerabilities it can suffer there.

Due to how government has been clamping down on centralized exchanges and imposing strict regulatory policies, no long term bitcoiner will do the mistake of leaving their bitcoin in a CEX for a long period of time. Self custody hard wallets are there for anyone who tends to store a huge amount of bitcoin in the long term.

6, Poor inheritance planning: This particular one usually happens, where some long term investors would fail to prepare inheritance planning for their bitcoin. And when a long term bitcoin investor fails to share his or her recovering seed phrase to their trusted family and they die accessing their bitcoin may be impossible and at this point their bitcoin is gone forever.

For this one, on no account should you give a family member complete access to all your wallets regardless of how you trust them. You can reveal the keys to some of your wallets to them but it shouldn't be all because they can betray you and wipe all the money in the wallet so you have to play smart by keeping a secret wallet for yourself in case of unforeseen circumstances, you can have where to fall back to.

[Charles-Tim]

No long term investor will make the mistake of storing their bitcoin in an exchange wallet, except for someone who is inexperienced about the dangers of keeping their bitcoins in an exchange platform. I even doubt if someone who has been holding bitcoin for a long term will keep their bitcoins in a centralized exchange when they know the vulnerabilities it can suffer there.

Due to how government has been clamping down on centralized exchanges and imposing strict regulatory policies, no long term bitcoiner will do the mistake of leaving their bitcoin in a CEX for a long period of time. Self custody hard wallets are there for anyone who tends to store a huge amount of bitcoin in the long term.

It is because of the knowledge about bitcoin and exchanges that you have, probably because you are on this forum on you are on platforms that give such education to their users. FTX collapse is an evidence that people can leave thousands of dollars or more on exchanges.

Another thing is that some people do not know much about cryptocurrencies, they are just using it. They do not know the differences between non-custodial wallets and exchanges. I have asked few people to tell me examples of bitcoin wallet, one of them started with Binance which is not a wallet, but an exchange.

[Itz-prisigold]

Everything that you mentioned is indeed the major risks and it is clear that the accumulation of Bitcoin isn't just about purchasing and holding but it is more about responsibility,  one thing that most people don't realize how their day to day little mistakes can lead to a big losses over time.  Someone can put themselves at risk without even realizing it, whether it is due to not knowing where to store their backup or having weak security on email or clicking on “too good to be true” links,  all this things can actually put a person at risk.

And secondly relying too heavily on convenience, rather than control is another big trap,  so at the end of the day, the protection of Bitcoin is a matter of being vigilant,  keeping things simple and never get too comfortable or careless about access and security.

[Silverstonez]

No long term investor will make the mistake of storing their bitcoin in an exchange wallet, except for someone who is inexperienced about the dangers of keeping their bitcoins in an exchange platform. I even doubt if someone who has been holding bitcoin for a long term will keep their bitcoins in a centralized exchange when they know the vulnerabilities it can suffer there.

Due to how government has been clamping down on centralized exchanges and imposing strict regulatory policies, no long term bitcoiner will do the mistake of leaving their bitcoin in a CEX for a long period of time. Self custody hard wallets are there for anyone who tends to store a huge amount of bitcoin in the long term.

You are only saying this because Bitcointalk had made you to understand that keeping your bitcoin investment in a centralized exchange is very risky, because it is not your coin and not your keys. Outside that, if the centralized exchange you are keeping with vanish as they did in the early time of Bitcoin, your bitcoin is gone and gone forever.  Indeed Bitcointalk has open all of our eyes that we now embrace self custody over third party. However, there are still long term investors who store Bitcoin in a centralized exchange wether you believe it or not.

For this one, on no account should you give a family member complete access to all your wallets regardless of how you trust them. You can reveal the keys to some of your wallets to them but it shouldn't be all because they can betray you and wipe all the money in the wallet so you have to play smart by keeping a secret wallet for yourself in case of unforeseen circumstances, you can have where to fall back to.

What you should understand is that if you do not share your recovery phrase with a trusted family members or a friend and you die your family is likely not to get access your bitcoin investment, and of what use is your Bitcoin investment when none of your family members or your friends knows your recovery phrase. Perhaps, if you don't want to share your recovery phrase with your family members or friends you can write it in your will. However, you still need someone you can trust to be aware of it just in case.

[Btcdeybodi]

No long term investor will make the mistake of storing their bitcoin in an exchange wallet, except for someone who is inexperienced about the dangers of keeping their bitcoins in an exchange platform. I even doubt if someone who has been holding bitcoin for a long term will keep their bitcoins in a centralized exchange when they know the vulnerabilities it can suffer there.

Due to how government has been clamping down on centralized exchanges and imposing strict regulatory policies, no long term bitcoiner will do the mistake of leaving their bitcoin in a CEX for a long period of time. Self custody hard wallets are there for anyone who tends to store a huge amount of bitcoin in the long term.

It is because of the knowledge about bitcoin and exchanges that you have, probably because you are on this forum on you are on platforms that give such education to their users. FTX collapse is an evidence that people can leave thousands of dollars or more on exchanges.

You are right though, the forum gave a lot of people exposure on how to secure their bitcoins and prevent it from hacks, attacks and scammers but i want to tell you that majority of those that stores their bitcoins on CEX are mainly traders because since they trade almost everyday, it will be difficult for them to be moving their bitcoins from self custody wallets to their exchange wallets all the time since it will attract transaction fees and they can even risk sending it to wrong wallet address.

Another thing is that some people do not know much about cryptocurrencies, they are just using it. They do not know the differences between non-custodial wallets and exchanges. I have asked few people to tell me examples of bitcoin wallet, one of them started with Binance which is not a wallet, but an exchange.

It's only a novice that won't know the difference between non-custodial wallets and exchanges but for someone who has spent some numbers of years in the crypto industry and still can't differentiate between them, i would say that such person lacks education and exposure because someone like me, i'm very curious in making researches about anything that i involve myself without having full knowledge of it. During my newbie days, i didn't understand the difference between non-custodial wallets and exchange wallets, i think it was even from JJG that i learnt the difference.

For this one, on no account should you give a family member complete access to all your wallets regardless of how you trust them. You can reveal the keys to some of your wallets to them but it shouldn't be all because they can betray you and wipe all the money in the wallet so you have to play smart by keeping a secret wallet for yourself in case of unforeseen circumstances, you can have where to fall back to.

What you should understand is that if you do not share your recovery phrase with a trusted family members or a friend and you die your family is likely not to get access your bitcoin investment, and of what use is your Bitcoin investment when none of your family members or your friends knows your recovery phrase. Perhaps, if you don't want to share your recovery phrase with your family members or friends you can write it in your will. However, you still need someone you can trust to be aware of it just in case.

I said not all your wallet, perhaps you can have many wallets and reveal the seed phrase of some of the wallets while you keep some to yourself. If you have been betrayed by someone you trusted with money you would have understood the angle am coming from.

[Joeboy]

For this one, on no account should you give a family member complete access to all your wallets regardless of how you trust them. You can reveal the keys to some of your wallets to them but it shouldn't be all because they can betray you and wipe all the money in the wallet so you have to play smart by keeping a secret wallet for yourself in case of unforeseen circumstances, you can have where to fall back to.

What you should understand is that if you do not share your recovery phrase with a trusted family members or a friend and you die your family is likely not to get access your bitcoin investment, and of what use is your Bitcoin investment when none of your family members or your friends knows your recovery phrase. Perhaps, if you don't want to share your recovery phrase with your family members or friends you can write it in your will. However, you still need someone you can trust to be aware of it just in case.

None could ever be trusted, not even your closet friend or your family members, and so, Btcdeybodi has a point here, same as you though..And so the better alternative is to include it into your will... On a second thought, the will be accessible to your lawyer who are also humans as well, which means that they are not completely free from greed or betrayal... And so a better and balanced alternative, will be to avoid giving the complete access to one individual.  ... It is best that the seedphrases are divided into parts and stored separately, and only those that you trust so well would know how to combine it... At least that way, no single person will have enough control of your assets..

[Agbamoni]

You made a very important point. A lot of people think Bitcoin security is only about buying and holding, but the real challenge begins after accumulation. Small mistakes that seem harmless like weak passwords, poor backup storage, phishing links, or depending too much on convenience can gradually become serious risks.

Many people focus on growing their portfolio but ignore improving their security habits. In Bitcoin, being your own bank also means being your own security team. Staying vigilant, keeping setups simple, and avoiding overconfidence are just as important as accumulating more coins.

Bitcoin security is the first important step because, without it, every other accumulation becomes pointless. At any instance, an investor will lose their Bitcoin when exposed to the public. After strong security measures, the other step is personal security and knowing the purpose of an investor. The purpose of investing simply means the reason why an investor should invest in the short term or in the long term. If an investor is in for the long term, discipline is what he needs to maintain consistency.

[ColdLava40]

It has come to my noticed that many people believe that long term investor can only lose their bitcoin by selling at a loss which is not entirely true. there are several ways long term investors can lose access to their bitcoin or completely lose their bitcoin holdings even without sell during a market crash.

Other ways? Not really.

These ones you've listed are how investors can lose their coins. Basically when you are a long term investor, your goal is not only to buy or sell in profits. You have the responsibility of also securing your coins.

Losing access to your wallet can be avoided when you store your keys properly. It starts from backing it up. Some investors do not mind leaving their coins in wallet with no backup. They believe their devices are safe enough, but it's not.

Because of how centralized exchanges are more common today, new investors already feels they are safe to leave their coins in them. The dangers of using these centralized exchanges to store your coins is hacks.

[Bluebird1357]

4, Sending bitcoin to the wrong wallet address: We all already know that ones a bitcoin transaction is initiated revising reversal is impossible. And to mistaking send bitcoin to the wrong address is some that can happen to anyone including long term investors. Let's say you want to send bitcoin to your own custodial wallet and due to overconfidence, you decided not to double check before confirming the transaction, and you end up sending the bitcoin to a wrong address your bitcoin is gone, recovering is impossible.

Reverse,Revert not revising … FTFY
Technically, you can still cancel a transaction before it gets mined.. It’s not direct like using a cancellation button, and can also  be done using RBF .. intercept a transaction before it gets mined by spending same UTXO as Input in a new txn but back to your controlled bitcoin address.
 

One of the strengths of Bitcoin is its blockchain, so once a transaction is confirmed, it is practically irreversible. However, it is possible to broadcast a new transaction and replace an old transaction using UTXO, but in reality this process is technically difficult for new users. Especially when the transaction is confirmed very quickly, there is no time and not all wallets support RBF. And if the receiver address is from an active wallet or exchange, it is almost impossible to recover. So keeping these important things in mind, it is practically impossible for new investors to reverse the transaction.

[Cryptomultiplier]

You made a very important point. A lot of people think Bitcoin security is only about buying and holding, but the real challenge begins after accumulation. Small mistakes that seem harmless like weak passwords, poor backup storage, phishing links, or depending too much on convenience can gradually become serious risks.

Many people focus on growing their portfolio but ignore improving their security habits. In Bitcoin, being your own bank also means being your own security team. Staying vigilant, keeping setups simple, and avoiding overconfidence are just as important as accumulating more coins.

Bitcoin security is the first important step because, without it, every other accumulation becomes pointless. At any instance, an investor will lose their Bitcoin when exposed to the public. After strong security measures, the other step is personal security and knowing the purpose of an investor. The purpose of investing simply means the reason why an investor should invest in the short term or in the long term. If an investor is in for the long term, discipline is what he needs to maintain consistency.

Investment in Bitcoin is very different from buying stocks or having savings in the bank, it requires a different mentality as compared to traditional banking system of investment.

In Bitcoin investment, when we talk about true sovereignty, we are talking about the investor being absolutely responsible for the protection and profitability of their investment. Your security habits matter a lot more than how consistent you abide to a DCA strategy or lump sum investment strategy. Rusk management practices and skills should always be at the finger tips and a peeled hindsight and insight into possible outcomes.

[Hustle2025]

Most investors thinks that the the biggest risk or threat to their bitcoin investment is market volatility and falling bitcoin price, but there are several other ways through which long-term investors can lose their bitcoin assets or investments even in the absence of market volatility and when bitcoin price is high. To succeed as a long-term investor it's not enough to buy and hold bitcoin, preserving wealth requires good risk management, education, security, patience and consistency.

Ways long-term investors can lose their bitcoin investment includes the following;
1. Dealing or investing a fraudulent website, investing in a fake investment platform and fake projects.
2. Selling out of emotion or panic when price falls and chasing market hype.
3. Lost of private keys or recovery phrases.
4. Lack of continuous education and information.
5. Poor security practice.

The biggest risk is not always the market volatility, but the avoidable mistakes some investors make along the way.

[B-BossMan]

It has come to my noticed that many people believe that long term investor can only lose their bitcoin by selling at a loss which is not entirely true. there are several ways long term investors can lose access to their bitcoin or completely lose their bitcoin holdings even without sell during a market crash.

1, Losing wallet access: honestly speaking, this is one of the biggest risks in bitcoin investment. if you as a long term investor for lose your private keys, seed phrase or password, recovering your bitcoin my become impossible. because there is no customer support to assist you in restoring access to your bitcoin.

Sure. That's why it's always advisable for newbies or investors to keep thier seed phrase to a safer place, some prefer to hide it in thier laptop while some prefer thier phone, but I prefer writing down and also keep it in laptop.

2, Exchange hacks or bankrupt: this one is for investors who keep their bitcoin in a centralized exchange. And we can't complete deny this one, because their are long term investor who still store their bitcoin investment in a centralized exchange. So, for those investors who still store their bitcoin in a centralized exchange, you guys should know this you are exposed to a third party risks. If the exchange gets hacked, freezes withdrawal or become insolvent you guys are going to lose your bitcoin.

You are right, it's still clear that till date we still have some of the investors that tends to keep or store their bitcoin into a centralized exchange, and that's safe, and investors can easily lost their bitcoin at this point also.

3, Scam and phishing attacks: It is not longer a news that crypto scams continue to increase, because we are still seeing fake giveaway promotions, in different form, phishing websites, fake crypto wallets and impersonators are still successfully tricking people into revealing sensitive informations. And ones your bitcoin is stolen recovering is impossible.

It's indeed not along ler a fresh news, scammers are upgrading day by day and we also need to be updated on nay new format, because they are very active switching different formats to Scam people, especially those using the bitcoin's name to scam people because they knew bitcoin is the biggest valuable crypto that invested on the most.

4, Sending bitcoin to the wrong wallet address: We all already know that one's a bitcoin transaction is initiated reversing it is impossible. And when you mistakenly send bitcoin to a wrong address which is something that can happen to anyone including long term investors. Let's say you want to send bitcoin to your own custodial wallet and due to overconfidence, you decided not to double check before confirming the transaction, and you end up sending the bitcoin to a wrong address your bitcoin is gone, recovering is impossible.

Yes, this are truly common within the bitcoin investors, and that's why it's advisable so cross check our recievers address before making any transactions to avoid lose of funds.

5, Government regulations or restrictions: The government of your country can decide to impose trick regulations on bitcoin usage in your country. And in some cases, long term investors could face frozen accounts if they are using centralized exchanges to store their bitcoin, confiscation, or restricted access to crypto related services.

I agree with this....

6, Poor inheritance planning: This particular one usually happens, whereas some long term investors would fail to prepare inheritance planning for their bitcoin. And when a long term bitcoin investor fails to share his or her recovering seed phrase to their trusted family and they die accessing their bitcoin may be impossible and at this point their bitcoin is gone forever.

Of course sharing or telling you spouse or your family whre you hide your seed phrase is very important, so that even if you aren't more alive they can have access to you bitcoin easily.

7, Malware and device compromises: This one mostly happen, when a long term investor do not secure his bitcoin investment properly and hackers successfully install malware to their device that hacker can successfully steal their bitcoin, and recovering is impossible.
8, Fake investment platforms: This one is also common because there are still investment platforms out there promising unrealistic returns and long term investor are still falling for them. depositing bitcoin into such platforms is just as good as you are dashing bitcoin to a scammer. there are still many ways long term bitcoin investors can lose their bitcoin without selling during market crash but few to be mentioned.
 

Following online cryptocurrency smammer can leads to all this, scammers can fake anything fakable to some extent,  even if it will cost them, they are ready to do it, so we need to take caution.
[/quote]

[icebar]

Before investing in Bitcoin, an investor must have some basic knowledge of Bitcoin. If an investment is made in Bitcoin without acquiring proper knowledge, then the chances of losing the investment are much higher. Ignorance about the intricacies of wallets and how to use them is a very common problem in losing Bitcoin. There are many who have collected Bitcoins but consider their carelessness and ignorance in using their wallets as the biggest mistake of their lives. Holding Bitcoins can be profitable in the long term, but if someone cannot hold Bitcoins properly or store their own keys properly, he cannot hold and anyone else responsible for it. An investor must take utmost caution in this regard before storing Bitcoins.

In addition to collecting Bitcoins for the long term, he can also increase his knowledge on the security of his Bitcoins. Those who are prudent will definitely try to acquire proper knowledge along with collecting Bitcoins.

[Jubilee58]

There is no investment without risk, and even as we venture into bitcoin long term investing, it is still associated with certain risk that can make long term investors loose their investment or bitcoin asset.
As bitcoin investors, it is necessary to keep safe our wallet information, and hide it from people we do not trust because once a strange gain access to your wallet information, your bitcoin asset can be rubbed. Another factor that can make bitcoin investors loose their asset on the long run is misplacement of their security phrase, there is a saying that not your key, not your coin, when your security key is misplaced, you have automatically lost access to your bitcoin asset, so these are some of the ways a bitcoin investor can loose his bitcoin asset on the long run.

[Sammye3]

You mentioned quite a good number of ways investors could lose their assets and these are experienced every single day.

Aside all this, one could also lose their assets when their device is faulty and there is no backup to secure these assets. I would say that I am a victim of this and that should be one of greatest regrets.

[Stalker22]

You mentioned quite a good number of ways investors could lose their assets and these are experienced every single day.

Aside all this, one could also lose their assets when their device is faulty and there is no backup to secure these assets. I would say that I am a victim of this and that should be one of greatest regrets.

This is generally covered by points 1 and 7. 
The golden rule of crypto is backups.  If your device dies and you lose your coins, you did not lose them to a faulty device or technical glitch - you lost them because you failed to secure your seed phrase.

[Emjay24]

7, Malware and device compromises: This one mostly happen, when a long term investor do not secure his bitcoin investment properly and hackers successfully install malware to their device that hacker can successfully steal their bitcoin, and recovering is impossible.

8, Fake investment platforms: This one is also common because there are still investment platforms out there promising unrealistic returns and long term investor are still falling for them. depositing bitcoin into such platforms is just as good as you are dashing bitcoin to a scammer. there are still many ways long term bitcoin investors can lose their bitcoin without selling during market crash but few to be mentioned.

People should avoid having much funds in a hot wallet, that is how to escape most of these malwares since there're some of them that executes by itself(zero click exploits), normalize using an air gapped cold storage device for your major storage and watch only wallet to track your transactions, create new addresses and create PSBT which you sign offline and come back online to broadcast.

About fake investment platforms, people's greatest enemy is their greed, I maintain that most people know very well that most of these platforms they patronize is scam, but they think they can outsmart the scammers and make some quick-profits, but they end up being the victim of their own greed and loosing lots of fund in the process.