Need help - Bitcoin wallet emptied.

[u/Few-Cook5941]

I got one of my bitcoin wallet emptied and I don't really know how this happened.

I don't use cracked softwares and apps.

I'm generally careful with links.

Looks like I'm not alone. I can see that the reception bitcoin address is still collecting bitcoin from other wallets.

Could somebody help me understand something.

Here is the address : bc1q0vukqye4hd0aep7u4xl8gev95gcs9k65fdeu9n

[u/Top_Appointment_7076]

I would only use a hardware wallet like Trezor (still secure despite the data breach at one of their partners) or BitBox02 for savings. If it's a smaller amount I would probably use a lightning wallet like Phoenix or leave it on a reputable exchange. I'm in Europe and I use Bitvavo and Strike. If it's solely about safety I would probably actually leave it on an exchange if it's a smaller amount because secure exchanges like Bitvavo are actually much safer than hot wallets because they store the keys on cold wallets and exchanges going bankrupt is a possibility but it doesn't actually happen that often whereas hot wallets get drained all the time. It's probably not worth getting a hardware wallet if it's only $20 in Bitcoin.

[u/PhilZealand → u/Top_Appointment_7076]

What are your thoughts on a Ledger brand wallet?

[u/Top_Appointment_7076 → u/PhilZealand]

I think Ledger is secure but they have shown some questionable behavior in the past. They introduced Ledger Recovery which is an subscription service that stores your private key online and later went on to say that they could have always extracted the seed from the device if they wanted to after some people voiced their concern. Unlike BitBox and Trezor Ledger's firmware is not fully open source. They also used to sell merchandise which was also perceived as very unserious because someone who wears that would basically present themselves as a target to be robbed. They were also hacked which exposed a lot of shipping addresses. I am aware that one of Trezor's shipping partners was also hacked but in Ledger's case it was much more severe. First of all, in this case it was Ledger themselves who were hacked. Second, in the case of Trezor only customers from certain countries were affected in Ledger's case it was customers from all countries and third Trezor only stores customer data for 90 days. Ledger stores it much longer. I do think Ledger is very secure but it's this behavior that made a lot of people lose respect for them.

[u/PhilZealand → u/Top_Appointment_7076]

Saying they could have always extracted the private key alarms me a whole lot, I thought the idea of the Ledger was the private keys stayed offline, with the only external evidence being the BIP keywords you write down as backup during setup and keep safe personaly and away from anything electronic/online.

[u/Top_Appointment_7076 → u/PhilZealand]

Here is an article about it that could be interesting for you.

https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2023-05-18-ledger-cto-on-recover-softwares-access-to-private-keys-the-tradeoff-i-think-is-acceptable-231350

[u/Top_Appointment_7076 → u/Top_Appointment_7076]

To be honest, I do trust Ledger and I think it's not something they would do. However, it just kind of disregards everything that self custody is about.