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Topic: [PETITION] Create a "Get your funds out of exchanges" in Important Announcements (Read 760 times)

legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 2645
Farewell LEO: o_e_l_e_o
For a more neutral approach, I found a topic that dkbit98 maintains with a list of open source hardware wallets: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/list-open-source-hardware-wallets-5288971

And here's a list of all or almost all hardware wallets ever released: https://walletscrutiny.com/?verdict=all&platform=hardware

Would these confuse the intended audience?
The walletscrutiny site, I never seen them before but it seems they are giving a lot of efforts for the information. I am a ledger user and I see they marked it as "No Secure" but I don't think it's something to be worried about. No idea which one to give advantage between Trezor and Ledger though.

Coming back to the topic, although walletscrutiny seems a good source for hardware information but still it's a third party site and we don't want to recommend a third party site officially (when Theymos does something it's official in a sense). I will prefer dkbit98's topic over directly recommending walletscrutiny.
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 1721
I would not like officially the forum to mention such wallet names which have business associated with it. You are giving them an advantage from others that are in the market. On the other hand when something will go wrong with any of them mentioned then people will have scope to say they were recommended by bitcointalk forum. We do not want to take any responsibility of anything.

I don't consider it to be an issue. Those clearly are the two leading hardware wallet manufacturers, and merely mentioning them is not an endorsement.

For a more neutral approach, I found a topic that dkbit98 maintains with a list of open source hardware wallets: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/list-open-source-hardware-wallets-5288971

And here's a list of all or almost all hardware wallets ever released: https://walletscrutiny.com/?verdict=all&platform=hardware

Would these confuse the intended audience? I assume the type of people who go out of their way to browse forums in 2022, do so for long-form (or leading in this direction) content would be more interested than people on other platforms.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
I'm glad you took this suggestion, Theymos.  Hopefully it'll help some members avoid scams or at the very least will lead them to a discussion where they can get information that'll help them be more informed.  Props!
I doubt it will change anything but good work, we tried our best. Truth is, people will still keep their coins in the exchanges, still when the next exchange will bite the dust we will see many people are losing their money and blaming the exchanges. True decentralization will only can be enjoyed once we will have the entire ecosystem decentralized in terms of trading. We need decentralized exchanges and more people are using them over centralized exchanges.

@theymos, have we lost the bitcoin core update link from the news section? It will be nice to see both are rotating like the ad slot.

The news feed displays the most recent article with an exception I think for the Bitcointalk Community Awards and miscellaneous contests. Besides, Bitcoin 24.0 is about to roll out soon so when that topic is posted it will get bumped into the news feed.
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 2645
Farewell LEO: o_e_l_e_o
I'm glad you took this suggestion, Theymos.  Hopefully it'll help some members avoid scams or at the very least will lead them to a discussion where they can get information that'll help them be more informed.  Props!
I doubt it will change anything but good work, we tried our best. Truth is, people will still keep their coins in the exchanges, still when the next exchange will bite the dust we will see many people are losing their money and blaming the exchanges. True decentralization will only can be enjoyed once we will have the entire ecosystem decentralized in terms of trading. We need decentralized exchanges and more people are using them over centralized exchanges.

@theymos, have we lost the bitcoin core update link from the news section? It will be nice to see both are rotating like the ad slot.
legendary
Activity: 3332
Merit: 6809
Cashback 15%
Some users might not actually know what custodial is, and might mix it up.
I agree with that--I just woke up and saw that Theymos has added some text as a warning, and I'm very glad to see that.  And as far as wording goes, since I think it's primarily newbies that need the warning, and since probably a lot of those newbies don't have an extensive English vocabulary, said wording should be as simple as possible.  What's written looks just fine to me, and even better is that it's a link to the thread discussing all of this crap going on.

I'm glad you took this suggestion, Theymos.  Hopefully it'll help some members avoid scams or at the very least will lead them to a discussion where they can get information that'll help them be more informed.  Props!
hero member
Activity: 966
Merit: 755
For people that only need Bitcoin mobile wallet I would still recommend Electrum, Blue wallet or Blockstream Green wallet.
Blockstream Green Wallet has a centralization problem since they hold one of your private key which mean you can't import your wallet from Blockstream Green Wallet to other wallet, this mean you will lose access to your wallet. Although they're non-custodial, better UI/UX and open source, but this problem is really critical IMO. This is the reason why I prefer to use Electrum or Blue wallet.

Would it mean the end of crypto if someone like Binance went bankrupt too?
Yep, it's the end of shitcoins since these coins only listed on centralized exchanges. But Bitcoin wouldn't end since you can trade via P2P or using decentralized exchange e.g. Bisq.
sr. member
Activity: 2044
Merit: 323
The phrase "Not your keys, not your coins" is used frequently. Such a large number of people are wrecked despite so many warnings. It is possible for any centralized third party service, such as Binance, Coinbase, etc, to freeze our account. Currently, moving our stuff out of exchanges is the better solution. Cold wallets are a safe way to store digital assets. Would it mean the end of crypto if someone like Binance went bankrupt too?
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 1713
Top Crypto Casino
Well done for starting the campaign in the aftermath of the FTX debacle. It is a positive result because you achieved what you set out to do and in the process hopefully people will end up reading the warnings and will understand the possible dangers involved when using exchanges to store crypto.

Voting is now locked considering that this thread has accomplished its purpose. I will leave the thread itself open for a little while so that wallet discussions can continue to be held here.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
Voting is now locked considering that this thread has accomplished its purpose. I will leave the thread itself open for a little while so that wallet discussions can continue to be held here.
legendary
Activity: 2212
Merit: 7064
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Has anyone used the Unstoppable wallet? Is it a good alternative to Trust Wallet?
It's far from perfect, but currently it's one of the best open source multi-coin wallets I know, and it's certainly better than Trust wallet.
I like that is has Tor option for better privacy, and it was audited several times so I think it's safe enough to be used as pocket money wallet.
For people that only need Bitcoin mobile wallet I would still recommend Electrum, Blue wallet or Blockstream Green wallet.
legendary
Activity: 1064
Merit: 1228
And for those who have not read the news should go here. https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/reminder-do-not-keep-your-money-in-online-accounts-5421039 this news is for everyone in the forum, therefore, everyone is expected to read it and protect your coins.
All users can also access the news if they realize that there is already a news link at the bottom of the avatar. I hope many users don't go through it.



The best thing now is to move all assets on online platform to wallet, be it from exchanges or other platforms and maybe also casinos. I'm not against them keeping it in their online accounts if they trade, but they should be aware of the risks.
legendary
Activity: 2534
Merit: 1713
Top Crypto Casino
I hope the step you have taken to incorporate the suggestions can bring more attention to crypto users frequenting the forum (especially newbies) to the realities of how an exchange heading to bankruptcy can literally ruin them financially as they will never be reunited with their funds again. If anything, they might be fortunate enough to receive a tiny amount of their original holdings several years down the line after lawyers, liquidators and administrators have mostly emptied out what they recovered.

Thanks for your comments: I incorporated several suggestions. I think that the usefulness of this announcement decays with every passing hour, so I went ahead and posted it. I'll also link to it in the news bar for a couple of weeks. The post can still be edited, of course.
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 1246
All active members in the forum have heard or have experienced what is happening to some crypto exchange firms in the ecosystem. So because of that the overall boss has dropped a warning to everyone in the forum to keep their huge Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies in their wallets/safe place. Most people have seen the news and many have not see it. And for those who have not read the news should go here. https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/reminder-do-not-keep-your-money-in-online-accounts-5421039 this news is for everyone in the forum, therefore, everyone is expected to read it and protect your coins.
administrator
Activity: 5166
Merit: 12850
the single mention right at the end of the post reads (to the uninitiated) like "FTX contagion" is a general concept and not a specific incident. Other than that nitpick, looks good to me!

Good point, edited. Thanks.
hero member
Activity: 510
Merit: 4005
[...]
Seeing it posted, the only (not really important) feedback I have is that FTX should either be mentioned more than once or not at all, because right now the single mention right at the end of the post reads (to the uninitiated) like "FTX contagion" is a general concept and not a specific incident. Other than that nitpick, looks good to me!
administrator
Activity: 5166
Merit: 12850
Thanks for your comments: I incorporated several suggestions. I think that the usefulness of this announcement decays with every passing hour, so I went ahead and posted it. I'll also link to it in the news bar for a couple of weeks. The post can still be edited, of course.

Has anyone used the Unstoppable wallet? Is it a good alternative to Trust Wallet?

I partially agree... I will fully agree if title is changed to..

"Get your funds bitcoins out of exchanges"

or

Title: Withdraw your crypto bitcoin from online accounts now!

"Withdraw now" strikes me as a bit too alarmist, and I prefer the term "online account". "Exchange" is too narrow, while trying to be more exact with a phrase like "centralized exchanges, yield sites, and many tokens" is too confusing.

Note that even USD in exchanges is at risk, whether or not it's a stablecoin or a non-stablecoin account balance. If the exchange goes bankrupt, typically the USD will be an unsecured liability owed to you by the exchange, the same as any other asset associated with your account.

But we should warn them to avoid "yield" platforms that promise you a percentage APR because these platforms are inherently unstable.

I agree that yield-farming stuff (whether DeFi or CeFi) is very risky in general, and especially right now when $2-10 billion in "money" was just removed from the crypto economy overnight. I adjusted the wording to emphasize that yield products are included. "Inherently unstable" goes a bit too far, though, IMO. For example, some decentralized exchanges and over-collateralized lending pools seem pretty robust at least in principle, and many of them will probably survive.

I would not like officially the forum to mention such wallet names which have business associated with it. You are giving them an advantage from others that are in the market. On the other hand when something will go wrong with any of them mentioned then people will have scope to say they were recommended by bitcointalk forum. We do not want to take any responsibility of anything.

I don't consider it to be an issue. Those clearly are the two leading hardware wallet manufacturers, and merely mentioning them is not an endorsement.
legendary
Activity: 3332
Merit: 6809
Cashback 15%
It is in every bitcoiner and crypto user's best interest to protect other users' funds so that they don't fall into a 3rd-party centralized black hole.
Normally I wouldn't agree with that statement 100%, but considering the fact that every time something like the FTX debacle goes down it brings crypto closer and closer to being highly regulated, I've softened my stance on trying to protect people from making potentially bankrupting mistakes--at least to the extent that it can be done without also being paternalistic (which was mentioned in the other thread about putting a warning header on bitcointalk).

Unfortunately, all it takes to really get the message about keeping your funds on exchanges or yield farming sites is just a few days' worth of reading on the forum, and I'm kind of pessimistic as to how much any of us can help.  Still, I'm all for having a thread (anywhere on the forum) or a banner or something similar.  As I said before, it can't hurt and can only help.
legendary
Activity: 1568
Merit: 6660
bitcoincleanup.com / bitmixlist.org
Quote
  • Reputable hardware wallet vendors include Trezor and Ledger.
I would not like officially the forum to mention such wallet names which have business associated with it. You are giving them an advantage from others that are in the market. On the other hand when something will go wrong with any of them mentioned then people will have scope to say they were recommended by bitcointalk forum. We do not want to take any responsibility of anything.

That is true. From now on, there will be no more naming hardware wallets. Only specific software wallets will be named [and the list is vanishingly small - Electrum, Bluewallet, and then you have the option of using a hardware wallet, quickly trading some funds on an exchange, and then send them all back to the HW.]
legendary
Activity: 2702
Merit: 2645
Farewell LEO: o_e_l_e_o
Quote
  • Reputable hardware wallet vendors include Trezor and Ledger.
I would not like officially the forum to mention such wallet names which have business associated with it. You are giving them an advantage from others that are in the market. On the other hand when something will go wrong with any of them mentioned then people will have scope to say they were recommended by bitcointalk forum. We do not want to take any responsibility of anything.
staff
Activity: 3248
Merit: 4110
Why don't we replace the world "online accounts" with "custodial services"? That should be less ambiguous, and is applicable to all centralized crypto platforms as opposed to just exchanges.
Some users might not actually know what custodial is, and might mix it up. You could say that we're hand holding too much, but a online accounts probably covers us the most. I guess we could say something along the lines of online accounts, and wallets that don't provide you with the private key. The thing is, the more technical we get about things, the more it'll go over people's head's, especially since we're aiming at newer users, and not just experienced users.

I'm not one for words, but I'm sure taking that into consideration someone could whip something up that's not only concise, but would be clear to all parties reading it, regardless of experience level, but also English proficiency should probably be considered. A non native speaker might not be familiar with the word custodial, and it's meaning, and then we're sort of relying on them doing that research, again which they won't wouldn't.

It needs to be plain as day, and not require any additional research, ideally. Though, they should be doing their own research, we know that most users won't go into those depths. Just my thoughts, although I'll probably be accused of hand holding too much, which I guess depending on your perspective could be a fair assessment.
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