Topic: Spending extra to keep my assets out of trouble (Read 424 times)

It's nice that you are aware of this fact and are sharing it with others as well.
We have see incidents in the past where people randomly connected their wallets to 3rd party apps and lost their funds.
It's good to have separate wallets for taking part in such projects/airdrops and keep your main wallet separate.
Also, it's only worth to sepnd on transferring the funds and losing your money in transaction fees if the potential returns from tokens we are receiving is more than 2x of what we have spent in transferring the coins.

It took you a long time, but I guess you need to think about some answers


Do non-custodial hardware wallets exist? I don't think they exist, because it wouldn't make sense - although we can say that technically there is such a thing when it comes to Ledger HW, which has a recovery option that functions in such a way that the user leaves his seed for safekeeping to someone else, which is complete nonsense.


Most hardware wallets cannot be considered cold wallets, because from time to time you still have to connect them to the internet in order to upgrade the firmware or coin apps. What should make hardware wallets more secure than anything else is the fact that you can generate seed offline, and that every action on the device itself can/should be confirmed by pressing a physical button. Malware cannot do this, so if you understand how the whole thing works, you could theoretically use such a device on a computer that is infected.

I have to reply to this comment.

You are right that one still need to learn how to properly handle their hardware wallet to be on a safer path, but on a norms, hardware wallets are safer than anything else in crypto space, unless they are not non- custodial and also maybe the owner don't know how to use the hardware wallet in a safe way.

The fact is your Bitcoin is less safer in a non custodial wallet running on your PC as well, even if you keep the private keys safe, PC is a hacking haven where anything could possible go wrong, it is why Bitcoiniers need to take cold storage very seriously.

It is easier to follow the rules of handling a hardware wallet the right way because there aren't many, but it is very hard to do the same running a wallet on a windows PC, you have to be careful of every thing you do, since the internet is involved.

We should at all times be ready in bearing any cost and processes that would be beneficial to us safeguarding our assets. The 24$ you had spent for gas fees in swapping and moving those coins is not a waste but a cost for safe practices that some people had avoided to incur only to end up losing all their asset to hack.

Many a times we hear about crypto users losing their coins to intruders or phishing attacks if we investigate thoroughly we will discover that the behavior of the user to avoid to near certain cost or refuse to follow a rigorous process has led to their proneness to loss of their funds. We should always be ready to pay the price of letting go of a little to save a whole it's as simple as that.

If you keep your coins on a centralized exchange, then there are several ways you can lose them :

1. CEX is hacked and that is something that no client can influence - but one can still hope that the company will compensate him one day.

2. The client loses his coins because he entered his login data in a phishing site - he cannot hope for any compensation except to report the case to the police and for the police to officially request the attacker's IP address and all other information that could help in the investigation.

3. The client loses his coins because his device is infected with clipboard malware, which results in a transaction that sends coins to the attacker's address. There is no compensation or even the possibility to detect the attacker, except for a complicated and sophisticated blockchain analysis that may not give any results in the end.

On the other hand, someone who loses coins and used a hardware wallet can become a victim of the clipboard malware described above, or a seed stealer in the sense that he enters his seed into a fake wallet. In both cases, we can say that the game is over for such a person, because even though he can report the case to the police, the chance of returning the funds is almost nil.

As strange as it sounds, a hardware wallet in the wrong hands is sometimes worse solution than storing coins on CEX.

I believe that a trust wallet is good for someone who can't go on for a week without spending some coins online or making some transactions, and a hardware wallet is good for someone who want to keep their coins offline for a long period of time.

Trust wallet is always online, including all other mobile crypto wallets, and I believe that been online all the time makes them less secured, but you are right that it is all about the user.

If a user of hardware wallet choose to his or her private key online something really bad will eventually happen, there is no point buying something without knowing how to properly use it, that's why we have this forum and even online research will teach how to use hardware wallet the right way.

Of course this is correct, if one does not use "something" in the way it should be used, then they would not be able to enjoy the advantages of the said thing.
In this scenario, can it be said that the person is using a hardware wallet, because even the manufacturers warn their customers to only make offline backups, so as to keep everything completely offline. But to answer your question in the way it is, i'd say it is safer in the former, the only way the person will lose their coins is if anything takes Binance down, but in the latter, the person is susceptible and would prolly be hacked quicker, based on how they use their device and general security practice.

You did the right thing. The extra money you spent in safeguarding your funds was a part of a wise attempt. Recently, I had an encounter like what you had. It was with Metagalaxy (Megaland), an old token I had that had its migration but I didn't know of until it was past. Someone sent me a link on how to go about it manually. I sensed something was off with that because it was unsolicitedly rendered. I moved out the token to a fresh wallet and attempted the migration. It dawned on me it was a link that led to a wallet drainer. It would've drained my funds if I had attempted to migrate in the first wallet. People should be very careful. Scammers are getting wiser.

You are to have meet up with the swapping timing because some project do give deadline to for their holders to swap their token and if you didn't meet up they could have used it as burnt token, meaning you can't be able to spend them or swap any longer. The idea of moving your coin from main wallet to a new wallet is a very good techniques I believe you might have learned in a hard way that is why you did this to secure your fund, naturally cryptocurrency investment is for smart people and those who are there to quickly utilized every given opportunities when you are not smart then you tuned to those who also feed the market to others while they make profits on your lost.

That was a brilliant idea you made, even though it did cost you high fee, by not connecting your main wallet to upgrading a new coin still in the launching process, because to be frankly speaking, this has been one silly mistake some neglected, which cost them losing all their funds, and this should be a lesson to everyone here to not make such mistake never in the future, that is, no matter how the coin seems to be more promising.

Having a hardware wallets is never a must, as we have also got some good and user friendly software wallets that are easy to use and offers the same security expected from a hardware wallets, such as the likes of "Electrum" (i.e Bitcoin only wallet), and "Metamask" (i.e multi chain altcoins wallet), which also works just like "Trust wallet", as they both are noncustodial and grant you full control over your funds.

Maybe some people won't like it, but a hardware wallet (not even the best one) is not an absolute solution for safe storage of our coins (private keys) if we don't use that same hardware wallet the way we should.

I will ask a simple question - is someone's Bitcoin safer on a centralized exchange if we take into account that the person knows what phishing is and keeps his access data offline, or is someone's Bitcoin safer if he has a hardware wallet whose backup is saved to e-mail, in the cloud or as plain text on a computer?

Binance is an exchange, so the wallet in Binance is a custodial wallet, and in such wallets you are not in control of the funds because the exchange or service has the keys, as for trust wallet, it is closed source. So yes, it is advisable to get an open source hardware wallet and move your coins out of Binance and trust wallet into your hardware wallet.

If you are worried about the cost of getting a hardware wallet, maybe because your coins is of a small amount, then you can start by using Electrum wallet if it is Bitcoins you own, and if it is altcoins, then Unstoppable wallet.

What about someone who has binance wallet and trust wallet is there still need for hardware wallet?

If you are using a wallet that does not let you move your coins when you want to, then you should ditch that wallet immediately for a better option, no matter how long you have held your funds in a non custodial wallet, you should be able to spend it whenever you choose. I have not heard of this problem you are talking about with trust wallet anyway, but irrespective of that, it is advisable not to use trust wallet to keep your coins, particularly when it is Bitcoin you are storing, for shitcoins, maybe!

I was shocked when you Said,you spent $24 for gas feel is quite expensive I must say,well that's very thoughtful of you. however you should thank your stars for moving those your old token to another wallet successfully, well I will say it depends on the kind of wallet you're using, reason is because some people find it difficult to move their old token to a new wallet that's those people who started using trust wallet since 2018 i think is only those old users that is facing this difficulties. I'm also making use of trust wallet right now as we speak I have most of my assets stored in my trust wallet, and I was able to move it to a different wallet although I'm still a new user.

You said Why we should not connect our hardware wallet to any platforms especially for upgrades, swaps and development related things of a project that doesn't really worth anything.

I would say don't even use your hardware wallet for storing this kind of shitcoins, just let it there on Metamask like wallets and if that really become a thing in future then consider moving into the cold storage.

And then someone complains that Bitcoin on-chain transactions are expensive

I agree that it is good to remove any risk when it comes to hardware wallets, but it is obviously not the cheapest practice, especially if someone has more tokens with which they want to perform such "acrobatics". I honestly did not know that gas fees are more expensive than a liter of fuel at a gas station

a token that need monthly swap to v2 upgrade is a token that deserves to be ignored, or at least not withdrawn, because this means that the old tokens may be invalid or may be burned soon.
Withdrawing tokens means that you stay informed of the news of the required updates and upgrades. Otherwise, you may be surprised that you do not carry valid tokens that you cannot spend, and then you will loss all your investment. creating a separate wallet for these tokens will enhance your security, or at least keep the main tokens in a hardware wallet and these tokens in several hot wallets.

You can have a spare wallet for tokens so as not to incur too much fees while sending back and forth. Keep those speculative investment permanently in that wallet and your funds you will want to better protect in a different one.

The platform can also be legit but get hacked later on. You will be opening a security risk that you cannot control or protect against.

- Jay -

It's a wonder to me that people don't do this kind of thing when this is basically the best way to protect yourself from getting your crypto out of the harms, although the pay is really heavy, sometimes it's the only thing that you can do, you're bound to lose more money when you skimp and just connect your wallet directly on the website that asks to link your wallet into their website. Have been doing this ever since my friend told me about this, quite expensive but at the end of the day, you're much safer. My only complaint to this is it's tiresome and really taxing to do but given that I don't do a lot of transactions anyway, might as well go to the longer but safer route am I right?

It's important to avoid the penny wise pounds foolish situations, so it's ok to spend a small amount to protect a bigger amount of money, by spending a lower amount on Ethereum, gass fees, the OP has averted any likely hack on his main wallet, a very smart move. I hope that newbies will take note of this advice Incase they're faced with a similar situation where they need to connect to a website to swap their tokens, because ignorance is not an excuse when their wallet is compromised and all their token are stolen. There are so many scams and hacks in the crypto space, so everybody in it must aquint themselves with the correct knowledge to protect themselves, don't trust and always follow due process to avoid being a victim.

Sometimes we want to save small bucks but end up losing more. The money you spend on gas fees could be considered high but it is insignificant considering the risk you averted depending on how much is stored in the wallet. Connecting a hardware wallet to any online platform is a great risk. I would rather have different wallets for diverse coins than keep all of them in a single one. Having a non-custodial air-gapped wallet for diverse tokens could be cost-effective. Thank you, OP for sharing because this information is helpful not just for newbies but for other members.

I would better day that that's what an experienced crypto user "should" do, but I think that a percentage of them would still fall in the trap, for what and for saving 24 bucks in gas.

Chances are that nothing happen: the project (I don't know about it) may be legit and chances are that nothing happens if you connect the wallet in this case, but as a safe practice it should be a no-go, just in case.

You can keep that new wallet for your interactions with that token, its smart contract only. Don't use that wallet to store your fund in other cryptocurrency and you should not fund that wallet in future.

Revoke smart contract approval in that wallet when you complete the swap and move your fund back to hardware wallet.

3 Minute Tips: How to Revoke Token Approval Following Opensea’s Latest Security Episode

https://etherscan.io/tokenapprovalchecker
https://revoke.cash/
https://app.unrekt.net/

Knowledge is power is what they say and knowledge applied is a super power is what I would say. You have shown that they knowledge that you have acquired since you joined the crypto space has given you the "super power" to discern and prevent an innocuous looking activity that could have been detrimental to the future of your assets. By reading this, I have also learned being that I am someone who trusts a lot. Although you spent some money($24) in this moving the token around, well it is better safe than sorry.

You only took wise steps for the token swap, and that's what an experienced crypto user would do for the safety of their asset. Anything that relates to the connection of a wallet is not 100% safe because there could be some attack that can cause the loss of all the assets in that wallet.One of my friends has been in a situation where his wallet was compromised due to connecting to a different website and Dex. Anytime he sends some valuable coins into that wallet, they automatically get moved to an unknown wallet. It's better to take this kind of step and lose some gas than to connect one's hardware wallet online, while the wallet holds all your valuable assets. 

That's the best way to protect your hardware wallet from any attacks we do not know how safe to connect a hardware wallet to any sites like VV token what you did is a must.
If you are holding a large amount of assets it is always better to have an alternative wallet(Non-custodial) if ever the project like VV token is trying to hack/connect to request for a different transaction you can avoid losing all of your assets by using the alternative hot or non-custodial wallet.

For Bitcoin transactions in Electrum, you can also do an airgap way to make a transaction and sign the transaction to an offline device with your hardware wallet which is more secure than signing the transaction with your hardware wallet to an online device.

Well I don't have much to say but just for the fact anything that has to do with connecting my main wallet online is definitely a no no for me because you don't have to be experience with you losing some funds to actually know that these things are real and many lose their coins always because of cases like this. Although for your investment on altcoins am not against it but if you ask me I think even if you are having other investment you should probably hold Bitcoin at a larger ratio and also have it on a separate wallet to avoid losing funds due to the fact that you are trying to upgrade your altcoins.

It was wise of you not to connect your wallet to that platform, as it's always advised to have a separate wallet for any tokens, airdrops, or faucets that require you to connect your wallet to their site. For a long time, many people have been victims of incidents where they connect their real wallets to unknown or malicious faucet sites and unfortunately get scammed, losing their funds.
As a long-term holder, you should consider holding reputable coins like Bitcoin in a hardware wallet where you don't always have to connect to a third party for upgrades. This is another reason why I don't trust most altcoins or tokens out there today. We should all be smart and vigilant to avoid mistakes that could put our funds at risk and leave us frustrated.

Check this out.



This is a screenshot of a token that I am holding presently and today I read about their v2 upgrade which is a must for every holders.

If i am a beginner I can easily connect my hardware wallet instead because the link is strictly from the project's official website.

I believe this is not a safe practice so I prefer to spend more on ETH gas fee, move the tokens out of my hardware wallet into a spare wallet connect the spare wallet to the website swap to the new V2 token, and move the new token back into my hardware wallet.

It's called safety practice, yeah I spend gas fees three times, $7 for moving the old token to another wallet address roughly $10 for the swap, and another $7 to send back into the hardware wallet.

It's a $24 thats well spent because my hardware wallet consists of many assets that are way higher than $24 in total value.

Nothing must confuse you to connect your main wallet to any platform even if it's the real platform for token swap, because you might think it's safe and these people have their ways with your hardware wallet later on.

I could have made this mistake today if I am new, but due to my past mistakes I tend to avoid such things again, you may just never know, do not trust any platform, project team or friends by connecting your wallet to any link provided, if its a must then consider a spare wallet.

Stay safe famz.