Topic: Safety first before accumulation, a lesson I learnt the hard way - page 2. (Read 352 times)

This is a very good advise and a good lesson to follow it up on how important it is to have a hardware wallet for complete control and ownership of your bitcoins. As the much anticipation for halving and bull run is approaching, a lot of people won’t mind were to save their coins, they will only be focused on how many they can accumulate before the bull run so that they can get a lot of profit from it. They will tend to forget that safety comes first before anything and if you leave your bitcoins in the hands of third party, you are at risk of losing them all. It is better to also note how to keep our funds safe while we continue ti accumulate for the bull run. No penny is worth being lost to anyone after you’ve worked to earn it for yourself.

I believe you're talking about Satoshi here avoid misconception I will advise you to write in full next time because there's a particular shitcoin with the name SATS now aka Ordinals or 1000SATS.
Having said that, I believe it should be knowledge first before accumulation because if a crypto investors seek safety first while she's yet to have the needed knowledge about investment she will still make losses and it's still almost the same as getting scammed cause she has literally scammed herself through her lack of knowledge about the market before the theft scam her.
It is the same story with all newbies that's once a victim and this is something that once happened to me.

With greed, we tend to forget the security of our coins because we only focus on how to maximize our bitcoin accumulation. And I understand that since I've also passed that stage. But when security becomes at risk, your whole bitcoin investment will suffer so its really a must to secure first the security and safety of the storage of the coins, and create a hardware wallet. Security and privacy of your wallet should be your top priority before you decide to maximize your bitcoin hodlings.

I've commit mistakes when I was still new in the market and that made me suffer from significant losses. And I don't want other newbies to suffer the same mistakes that's why I'm also sharing my fair share of lessons.

I didn't know how you lose your bitcoin but I know that it is your fault that you lost it and learn a lesson in the hard way. What you didn't think about seriously is your security measures and you wouldn't have lose your bitcoin to some scammers or thieves. Anyway, i think it's not the scammers that got your bitcoin but a thief but jt is possible that the one who got your bitcoin is also a scammers since that person is stealing so it is possible that the one who got your bitcoin is also a scammer.

Reading this reminds me of a thread : I thought I would never get hacked...

And if you have time, please feel free to read the replies and you may get to know why you weren't hacked. After all every device that connects to the internet is just another potential device to be hacked but luck favours us most of the time but it doesn't mean forever.

And don't wait to learn the importance of cold storage in the hard way, wise man once told me "Learning from your own mistakes then you are good but learning from others' mistakes is smart".

Truly the safety and security of your assets should be your utmost priority because they are your rewards for your efforts and as such should be properly secured.

I really do not think one must have all these sophisticated wallet before you think your assets are safe but rather the measures you put in  place matters as it relates to your own safety.  There are things one ought to know and they are just some little things which would not cost you anything like avoiding links sent to you, mind platforms you join, avoid downloading unnecessary apps on your phone, do not connect your wallet to sites you have no knowledge about, do not always put your wallet on display as it attracts scammers to you. There are lots of other precautionary measures to take which if you follow, your wallet would be safe from scammers.

Security should have the highest concern over others. Without setting up security, all your accumulated bitcoin will be gone into waste knowing you never care putting them in a hardware wallet that is not susceptible from online hackers. Or even if you put them at a reliable wallet but you forget to secure the safety of your private keys, your stored bitcoins will still stay unsafe 24/7. Security should be present both in your hardware wallet and in your private keys, if you fail one of them, you cannot say that your bitcoins are 100% safe and untouchable.

Don't wait to fall as a victim first before you decide to put high security on your coins. Do not compromise the safety of your coins just because having a hardware wallet might be expensive. Before you decide to spend money on your coins, secure first your hardware wallet.

I really appreciate people that share their mistakes so others can learn, I believe that is one advantage of this place, there is the opportunity to learn from people's mistakes.

It is not wise to wait until you have accumulated lots of bitcoin before you start considering security, start considering security as soon as you start accumulating bitcoins for yourself.

Oh! dude, that was a good amount bitcoin was at 3.8k to 8k+ on 2k18. Sorry for you loss. But would like to say that before starting any kind of investment whether it on physical and virtual like investment on cryptocurrency we always should be concerned about the security of that investment. Here the security system will be different in case of physical investment, and virtual investment as you did in bitcoin, in this case we need to know about hacking and cybercrime, how hackers hack a person's funds through phishing.
And because we do not pay much attention to these things in the beginning, we lose our valuable investment. I myself lost some of my invested funds due to phishing last year. I originally tried downloading a cracked file and installing it, and BOOM! From access to my extension wallet to all my emails on PC or other personal information they stole and I faced a lot of trouble with them, many important things were lost.I think unregulated browsing should not be done on invested devices because this unregulated browsing can lead to phishing and hacking despite having a hardware wallet.

True indeed but that doesn't change the fact that HW must be the choice. Hot wallets are risky; no matter what security measures you are applying, you can still make mistakes. While with HW one can still get hacked, but that one step reduces the chances of getting compromised to almost zero. BTW, it's not hard to use a HW; everyone can use them as they are easy peasy.

Have you ever used a HW? I don't see why would a software wallet be better than HW for regular transactions. I guess it's a myth along with the same as HW is for a big amount. Most of us don't use Bitcoin as a hedge; we invest to make some profit. If you have $1000 worth of BTC right now, don't you think it can be $5000 within a few months? Don't we invest with that hope? If you don't secure your $1000 today, you are putting a risk in your potential $5000, man. C'mon.

Not the safest one but good option to have since we could safekeep it for any possible hackings attacks done by those criminals. If they can also afford to have one then go for it nothing wrong to have this since it could give the user a good protection compare if they use some wallets which they don't have the full control. Although it cost expensive but I think its fine if they can afford it. But if they can't release any amount for this hardware wallet since they find it expensive then Electrum is fine there are suggested by some people here.

But OP or other should remember that we are the one who can keep our wallet safe and exposing our private key is really a bad mistake done that's why he got hack so people need to be aware about such risky act then make sure that they safe their private keys away from online platforms or anything that can compromise your security. Also people could try those suggestion you post since somehow this is another option on how they can be safe and will not do any mistakes since that might cost a lot for us.

The actual mistake of yours is not giving importance to the security of your private keys/seed phrases despite making the same mistakes in the past too.

Let me remind you that having a hardware wallet isn't going to secure your crypto 100% either, it relies on many factors from choosing the wallet type, managing the funds, and where you store your seeds.

Funds stored in Electrum wallet installed in a device which never connected to the internet is safer than keeping the funds in a hardware wallet.

What a pathetic experience of having three consecutive encounter with losses and yet you never give up on bitcoin, some would have termed it as the mistake that has to come from bitcoin and not knowing that they are the major cause, if we are knowledgeable about bitcoin and the way to practi it's security measures, we are not likely to fall a victim of most of the attacks that befall others because we are conscious of them already, i want to encourage others not to wait till they begin to have counts on their losses before knowing the right thing to do.

I've used a software wallet Electrum for how many years but I never compromise my private key or lose funds.
Though it's highly recommended to buy a hardware wallet, however, it isn't necessary to buy a hardware wallet if you know how to create your software wallet safely and how to keep your private key safe.  In short, it's a matter of how to keep your private key safely.

So it doesn't mean you have a hardware wallet you're safe from scammers.

However, it's a reasonable amount that you need to buy a hardware wallet if you hold a big amount for long-term purposes.
For larger amounts of Bitcoin that you intend to hold for the long term, IMO, a hardware wallet may provide an extra layer of security.  But, if you frequently make transactions and need quick access to your funds, a software wallet may be more suitable for me than a hardware wallet.

Don’t get me wrong but I wouldn’t say hardware wallets are actually the safest or most secure way to save your bitcoins but rather I will broaden it as cold or offline storage is the best. Other offline storage can be the use of software wallets like electrum been set up in an airgapped device with it never coming online or interacting with the internet. This method seems more secure to some people than even hardware wallets.


OP got his private keys exposed which is one area we neglect mostly. It is the side effect of using a software wallet but also people using hardware wallets they neglect the importance of keeping it safe. Not all wallets attacks are through interacting with the internet some could be a physical attack like someone stealing your private key or seed phrase. That’s why even if you’re using a hardware wallet it is important to also keep save the private keys or seed phrase

I never purchased a hardware wallet or used it, like you described in this thread, also this is good amount of money to buy a hardware wallet compared to my holdings.
but i never got hacked, you can provide the reasons which maybe got you hacked so we can learn from your mistake, like what you had done before losing your crypto, and things like that.
also it seems big amount for a hardware wallet but its important to buy one if we need to hold for long term, maybe our $100 bitcoin be worth $500 after sometime.

There is a reason why many holders don't purchase yet a hardware wallet because they think that it's only for those that have huge holding or when they see that their holdings are getting larger. They have a point if they don't hold that much but as someone who sees your stay here for so long, it's the time that you have to consider owning one. I am sorry with your experience and you've lost your holdings and you have to learn from it. It's good to see that you're reminding the others also that might be going through the same accumulation as yours before and they don't want to consider taking one hardware wallet. Just take it as another type of investment because it is protecting your assets. We'll never get tired telling people to buy their own hardware wallets but in choosing, of course there is another debate on that so we will let you research your hardware wallet choice. You just have to stick on which is the community is suggesting or which one has the most approved and trust rating from us.

Hardware wallets are very important, and they're more secure than software wallets, but both wallets are important if you are not careful enough in storing your bitcoin, and if you are not careful enough in storing your funds, you will still lose your funds to scammers.
 
There are not too many ways to do it. One thing is having the best wallet. Another thing that follows is how you, the wallet owner, are going to secure the wallet. That's what will determine how secure the wallet will be for holding your deposits for a long time.
 
Sometimes you can still be using a hardware wallet, and when you make the mistake of connecting it to a corrupt device, your funds can be stolen under your watch. I have been using a software wallet for a long time now, and no single issue of funds has been lost because I have been careful with the way I go about protecting it.

First of all, as Cantsay said, you didn't lose your coins because you didn't invest in a hardware wallet, but because of some stupid thing you did that you shouldn't have done. Whether you exposed your private keys and put them somewhere you shouldn't have, or your device was infected with malware because you didn't take the necessary precautions to protect it, or something else, it doesn't matter.

When it comes to storing cryptocurrency, hardware wallets can seem like the safest option for beginners.  They're convenient plug-and-play devices that handle your private keys and sign transactions without exposing sensitive data to your everyday computer.  However, at the end of the day, they're still computers running software and  if that software has vulnerabilities or the user isn't careful, funds can still be compromised.

I dont think hardware wallets are inherently more secure than properly-implemented cold storage solutions.  In fact, as closed-source devices, they can be considered black boxes - we can't fully verify what's happening under the hood.  (Take Ledger wallets as one very bad example.)

No system is perfectly foolproof especially with uncareful users.  If people type their recovery phrase into phishing sites or malware-infected devices, hackers can steal keys and bypass any storage protections.  The hardware wallet itself does nothing to prevent that.

So while hardware wallets are easy to use securely for beginners, ultimately the user is still responsible for guarding credentials and verifying transactions.  Their convenience doesn't outweigh proper opsec procedures.

You were not scammed or lost your bitcoin because you did not have a hardware wallet; rather, you lost them because you were careless with your private keys and you were not security conscious. Many people here do not own a hardware wallet and have no idea how to use one, yet they have never complained about being compromised.

Things like knowing how to create an airgapped wallet, not exposing your private key to any software that's connected to the internet, not downloading software or files from an unknown source, not verifying software before installing it (even if it's from the original source), and randomly clicking on links are all examples of risky behaviour. It's far better to learn them than merely going for hardware wallet alone, however you might have a hardware wallet and still get hacked if you don't know how to properly safeguard your system.