What most people don`t know, but is crucial for never losing your Bitcoins and Altcoins.
The 3 biggest problems or let me say it differently - the 3 most common reasons why people lose their Bitcoins or/and Altcoins:
#1) Human errors
Yep - People just forget to secure their passwords. They can not access their accounts anymore. Make sure to always remember your passwords for your wallet. Do not store them online! This is crucial. Once a password for your wallet is lost your money is lost!
#2) Hackers
Hackers are grabbing the "low-hanging fruit". Many people do not even take the time to set up a 2-factor authentification for their wallets. This is like inviting a hacker to grab your coins. Whenenver you create an account or/and wallet make sure to set up all the available security instruments that are available.
Did you know: Aug 3, 2016 - Bitcoin Worth $72M Was Stolen in Bitfinex Exchange Hack in Hong Kong - This i just 1 example...
#3) Loss because wallets are not safe/storing coins on public exchanges
This is a big one. For you to be able to send or receive Bitcoins you need a public key and a private key The public key is needed to receive Bitcoins and the private key to send them. You need to always be the one who owns the private keys! This is NOT the case with public exchanges which means they could take away your money anytime.
Latest example: Coinbase decided to not allow residents of Hawaii use their services. People complained that they did not get their money back, which they had in their Coinbase accounts... Coinbase did the same thing with residents of Wyoming...
So: never store a lot of money on those exchanges. Only the money you need to do your daily business, trading....
In regards to what wallets are safe:
Here is an extensive list of all wallet options available: https://cryptocurrencyprofits101.com/wallets/
Paper wallets are very safe. You can find instructions on how to create them online. Their main use is for safe long-term storage.
For daily transactions the safest option are hardware wallets. A hardware wallet is a physical device which you can buy and it will be shipped to your house. It is like similar to an USB stick. To use it you need to plug it in and physically press a button on this device to make the actual transaction. This makes a hardware wallet unhackable!
The most common ones are these 2:
Ledger Nano-S:
You can store these coins on the Ledger Nano-S: BTC, ETH, ETC, Litecoin, Doge, Zcash, Dash, XRP, Stratis, soon Monero
https://www.ledgerwallet.com/r/9deb
Trezor:
You can store these coins on your Trezor: BTC, ETH, ETC, Litecoin, Doge, Zcash, Dash, Namecoin, Testnet
https://trezor.io/?a=cryptocurrencyprofits101.com
Hardware wallets are very affordable - and with Bitcoin rising in price over time it is definitely a good idea to store your Bitcoins in a safe place to make sure you can access your coins, once you are ready to spend them.
I hope you found some value form my article. If I can only help one person to not lose their Bitcoins I have already reached my goal.
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