Topic: Safety first before accumulation, a lesson I learnt the hard way (Read 430 times)

I'm curious about what happened with your crypto wallet, how your private keys got revealed, and how you lost $2000 using a software wallet. If you could share the details, it might help us understand better and avoid falling into the same situation. I understand your suggestion to invest in a hardware wallet for better security, but I'm curious about why you decided to ditch the software wallet. Can you provide more information about your experience? It could offer valuable insights for others in the community.

This is the reason why its important for us to know that there's huge risk for acquiring digital assets and they could lost everything they have in their wallets if they don't care to much on the safety of their wallets and just click all things they see or participate to any unknown site that ask them to put their private details. Its not all about what wallet they used but how they secure their wallets since if you are aware and use a lot of measures so that you will not get affected then everything is fine here.


They must know and research a lot of information and they should not always look for positive information's but rather learn those past scam since this could help them to decide either they should enter on risky platforms or not.

And no matter if we use hardware wallets if we are still careless, that is useless.
In fact, many crypto holders are not using hardware wallets but have never been hacked because they keep their keys safe and have been cautious about any links. Yeah, it is all about bad practices and carelessness and it was not a surprise to anyone who is doing this.

And so newbies must understand first the risk of investing and saving crypto as it was not the assurance to have a highly secure wallet our funds are 100% safe because hackers will find a hole in our security and get in.

Safety is the most important thing one needs to know about Bitcoin,  when their is no understanding about safety it is very easy to lose all you have invested in bitcoin.  Before investing in Bitcoin,  safety in all aspects needs to be understood very well. The kind of wallet that should be use to store Bitcoin matters a lot. Bitcoin should be stored in a non custodial wallet,  with this kind of wallet ones investment is in a safe hand than using software wallet or exchange wallet that anything can happen to it.

The matter of hacking is not all about using a secured hardware wallets but how well you can protect your wallet. Of course, the chances and risks of your assets being stolen will be minimal when you are using a hardware wallet but it is not 100% guarantee because your maybe vulnerable to malware. The security of your coins depends on how secured your private keys are and not the type of wallet you are using. It doesn't make any difference if you are using the most secured wallet or not. If you can not protect your keys, you are at risk of being hacked.

To Op, I believe enough have been said on this thread regarding your wallet safety and possible reasons that led to your coins been stolen which is most likely that you handle your keys carelessly. Addition to what have been said, I will also add my two cents. Your private keys security come first before any other thing and be careful the sites you interact with.


I'm not surprised thou because I know people who have been in crypto space for quite some time now and they have no idea about this forum. What surprises me is how knowledgeable they are on crypto despite not being around here. Having a second thought, some people are the type that like reading from a site without having to become a member. They are comfortable to read others opinions but don't like to make their own contribution. That might be the case with op or possibly, he became aware of this forum lately.

The main lesson isn't probably about buying a hardware wallet. It's about safekeeping. Electrum, for example, is probably the safest and the most recommended hot wallet for Bitcoin users. But then there's somebody using it who lost his funds kept in an Electrum wallet. The lesson isn't necessarily avoiding Electrum. It's about safekeeping.

For somebody who DCA little by little accumulating $300 so far, an $80 Trezor is probably expensive for him/her. But it's not the only safe option out there. One can even have a hot wallet for it for the time being for as long as one is mindful with the basic safety dos and don'ts and actually practices it.

Very sad to hear. 
300$ is very high amound because right now, it might be even more.

I hope it won't happen to you again and I wish you always a safe storing of coins. Hack is always dangerous and when we rely on an insecure application.
Technology might make progress in technology as well. 

Losing bitcoins due to hacks and other things like losing access to a wallet is the user's fault - not your fault for not purchasing a hardware wallet. You can still lose all your bitcoins even if you keep them in a hardware wallet - that too for the same reason.

Storing bitcoins in a hardware wallet is one of the recommended security methods for bitcoin users - but that doesn't mean you can completely avoid all risks when you are not careful in use and other things that could cause you to lose them. It's all about the user and how they practice security methods - but hardware wallets are one of the best recommendations.

Repeating a mistake doesn’t make it a mistake again rather i see it as being careless, how would the same mistake keep repeating itself multiple times? If it does then you are just being careless and one would think maybe you derive joy from losing money and that’s why keep losing money almost every year. $300 is a huge amount that would make a person feel bad when lost and then you easily amend your ways and prevent further loss.


That’s where people usually get it wrong, safety first before anything else but when money is involved they get blinded by it and forget everything else. The crypto world is full of scammers and they are always waiting for the slightest mistake and opportunity to scam people. Before investing choosing the best wallet and how to secure and store your private keys should be the first priority because when your assets are stolen there will nothing else to protect.

I have been wondering on how to create this airgap wallet. I have come across This airgap wallet but don't know much about it. I will be a honour if you can trow more light on it?

I wonder what is that "software wallet" you used because I've been using Electrum ever since, and still didn't buy a Ledger (or any hardware wallet), but fortunately, I didn't experience getting scammed.

Don't blame the fact that you are only using a software wallet for what happened to you in the past. Blame the fact that you're a bit careless thus, you got scammed (or got hacked whatever). Whenever I'm browsing, I'm always cautious on the websites that I'm browsing because there might be a chance that it's a phishing website. At the same time, I'm always curious on the things that I'm downloading online because there might be some malware that's included on it that might get my assets.

Many people (including me) recommend other people to use hardware wallets so that their assets will be safer, but in the end, it's useless if you don't know which are scams and which are not. You can get a hardware wallet, and still get scammed if you don't know how to distinguish a scam. Like what others said here, hardware wallets might be the safest, but there's still a chance for it to get compromised like what's happening in the past.

For those who intend to hold Bitcoin for the long term, using a hardware wallet is risk-free for wallet security. But if an investor or holder wants he can also use good software based wallets. The security of the wallet mainly depends on the wallet user. If you save the security keys properly and if your wallet does not connect to some random unknown harmful sites then there is no possibility of damage to your wallet. What we find in most cases is that we don't store key phrases with proper care. Any site we connect our wallet and in some cases we are subject to attacks by phishing sites. Hardware Wallet is definitely safe but it is expensive so not everyone can use it. So if someone uses software wallets carefully  I think his bitcoins will be safe.

Losing money is always painful experience but we can not ask scammers to refund us so we have lessons to learn, for improvement practically and avoid loss in future. Sorry for your loss but it is good to see you learn from it, imrpove your practice and also share this stoylry with newbies.

Wallets are where we store our private keys and our bitcoins. Choosing a good wallet is first step that is important but is not enough.

A good wallet can be compromised if you have bad practice and it is your fault, not from the wallet developers.

I am a bit surprised to see you were in cryptocurrency market in 2018 but only joined this forum in 2022.

I think the OP gets that point and perhaps might have presented the case wrong but, the intent could have just been, it’s more easier to have your digital device compromised and consequently, the phishing of important details, wallet deeds and all than, it would be with a hardware wallet.
In recent times, our devices are a part of our daily live and we practically, live some of our lives in the digital realm and that means, your having way much and frequent interactions with people, applications, bots and whatever it is that is out there. In a way, it opens you up to threats and danger.
The case is much different with hardware wallets. It’s just you having to save and maybe withdraw and that’s all.

Still, it all goes down to what amount of care and safety you give it. It wouldn’t save itself.

I would say that though hardware wallets are way safer and more secure than software wallets, it depends on a person's nature and how careful they are with their funds, wallets, and private keys so that no one manages to get access to their funds. A Careless person will always make mistakes that make their wallets easily vulnerable to getting attacked by those who are always looking for such opportunities so that they get to have access to someone's wallet and steal their funds.

So, it depends on your ability to safeguard your funds because some people might manage to keep their assets safe even if they don't have a hardware wallet. And, some may not be able to protect their assets even if they have them stored in a hardware wallet because their private keys can still get leaked if they are careless by nature.

I don't like using the word careless because this might not be as a result of carelessness but ignorance. It is good when we understand ourselves and make sure that we stay safe in the market because there are lot of ways we can lose money to scammers. We need to ensure that we do the right thing making sure that we keep learning on how to stay safe in the market. Those that had been in the market for long too might have fallen to this kind of mistake and it is a lesson for everyone to keep everything safe.

From what you said about software wallets, I could easily conclude that you were careless with your wallets and that's how you got exposed to hackers. However, It's actually a good thing that you got a hardware wallet but have it at the back of your mind that hardware wallets are not 100% safe. You still have a part to play to ensure the safety of your assets. For instance, If the device you're connected to is infected with a clipboard malware, you could lose your funds when copying an address, so take note. Also, don't create digital footprint of your seed phrase, back it up, keep it offline and somewhere safe.

Unfortunately he made a few mistakes until he lost his biggest one which was $2000, and that's enough to make some people suffer, it's enough for most people.

I agree with you that hardware wallets are not the main thing for security, because if we are good at keeping our wallets with seed pharsenya well, to this day I am also still safe, and my bitcoins have not decreased at all. And so far I have invested in bitcoin never bought or used hardware wallets for my crypto assets, especially bitcoin, it's just that I divided my bitcoin portfolio in several wallets so that when I lost one, I had another wallet, but so far the way I did it did not get any problems.

$2000 is a huge amount of money to just lose like that. someone like me could probably not face such loss and would go through a serious mental breakdown. and wouldn't be able to do anything for days. I am glad that you got over the loss and learned your lesson and took immediate action and a hardware wallet for yourself to keep yourself secure in future.

But keep in mind that Only buying hardware wallet is not enough. you need to be extra careful to protect your seedphrase. and also be careful when using those DEFi websites and dapps. don't connect your wallet and give permission to unknown websites. sometime people end up signing up in scammy apps and end up getting their wallets drained.

I  was reading your post to know exactly what happened that lead to you losing that amount you mentioned but you didn't mention it and I don't believe it was just because you were using a software wallet that's the reason why you got scammed. Irrespective of the type of wallet that you're using, if you're careless with your seed phrase or private key, you can still get scammed and besides we have some software wallets that has be operating for years with good reputation that can be used for hodling and you won't get any complaints. Hardware wallets are the most recommended and there are reasons for that but you can also used wallets like electrum on an air gapped device and still have a smoothly hodling experience.

Let's no make it seems like.just having a hardware wallets solves everything because it doesn't, you still need to be extremely carefully so you don't expose your private key to scammed because if you do that irrespective of the wallet you're using, you'll lose your coins. Safety is very important when investing in Bitcoin, the safety of your investments should be your top priorities and you should employ different security measurements to make sure your investment are secured.


Affording a hardware wallets isn't the problem for some people's but how to get the wallets delivered to their location is the problem for some people especially those not staying in US or European countries that shipping to their location won't be that smooth. I won't be comfortable if my hardware wallets has to go through different third parties before it gets to me even though it hasn't been opened so using a software wallet like electrum on an air gapped device is still a safer option for me.

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.

It feels so good when one is obsessed with gradually getting hands on sats every week for future Bitcoin holdings, I used to believe that this is the most important thing to do, but I was wrong.

I was able to remember how I have lost some crypto assets to scammers because of my crypto wallet private keys revealing one way or the other, I still remember losing $300 worth of Bitcoin in 2018 and also something similar happened in 2020 and even 2022.


The mistake I made


Every small $$$ was so damn important to me that I only care about buying Bitcoin, i ignored going for a hardware wallet, until I lost $2000 using a software wallet, this was so painful that I got mad and took out some money to purchase my first Hardware wallet, something that I should have bought right from the start.

Do not let the same thing happen to you before you know the importance of having a hardware wallet, I have always known that hardware wallet is the safest but I ignored it, thinking I can't afford it, and I could, but I don't want to leave my accumulation of Bitcoin behind and spend hundreds of dollars on a hardware wallet, few open source hardware wallet are not even up to hundreds of dollars.

If you can accumulate Bitcoin every week or months, brothers and sisters you can afford a hardware wallet, I know you have a goal, to reach 0.3 BTC but mind you, making sure you hold the 0.3BTC securely is the most important thing, don't work hard for scammers to reap your reward, safety first.

I repeat, safety should comes first, if you are a beginner, start saving up for a secured open source hardware wallet now, we are heading into 2024, add this up to your plans if you don't have the money now, the safety of your Bitcoin is what will count in the end, not how much you have accumulated and lost.