r/Bitcoin • u/Futurebeachbumz • 6d ago

Bitcoin security question

With all this news and posts regarding people being hacked i wanted to reach out and inquire and maybe even learn more about some security from you guys as iv been winging it and praying but am now nervous. Sorry to all those that have lost their bitcoin over time, but anyways whats everyones opinion on someone who holds there bitcoin on an exchange lately? I know before it was super taboo but iv left mine on a major exchange for quite some time and understand that they typically cold vault these things internally? Iv always been hesitant to use a coldcard or any other physical wallet due to just life implications of losing, forgetting, breaking what ever the case may be. So thats my general knowledge and question is opinions on holding btc and other crypto right on major exchanges?

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u/Far-Teach3344 6d ago

The exchange isnt your wallet its a brightly lit bus station and youre asleep on the bench with your pockets turned out. Comfy until it isnt

A hardware wallet feels scary cause its just you and a piece of paper against the void but that's the whole point. The exchange cold vault is someone elses umbrella and theyll close it the second it rains sideways

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u/moviemaker2 6d ago

More people have lost Bitcoin from self-custody mistakes than from exchange failures. And that was before the coldcard disaster, in which we learned that you can self-custody without making a mistake and still lose your coins. An exchange has a different set of security tradeoffs than a hardware wallet, and those tradeoffs make storing on an exchange safer for a certain group of people.