How to Keep Your Crypto Safe And Save Money in 2024

Learning how to keep your crypto safe has never been more important. It’s been a crazy year for the world of cryptocurrencies, from early investors of meme coins making millions almost overnight to Web3 innovations and people becoming overnight millionaires with jpegs of apes to the wild swings in Bitcoin and the catastrophic demise of other crypto tokens.

Amid all the action, there’s also no shortage of money to be made in the $2 trillion crypto economy. However, wherever there is money to be made, there is money to be lost, and there is certainly no shortage of people working to separate you from your money in any way they can.

In an article from bitcoin.com, they noted that

“In the time it takes you to read this sentence, $850 will have been lost to cryptocurrency scams. In the time it takes to complete this article, that figure will have risen to $17,000. Phishing, fraud, theft, hacking—it’s all rife. In the first two months of 2018, there were 22 separate scams involving thefts of $400,000 or more. Put it all together, and that equates to an average of $9.1 million a day. Oh, and that doesn’t include 2018’s outliers—Coincheck, Bitconnect, and Bitgrail. Otherwise, the total would stand at $23 million daily.”

It might have looked like a great time to jump on the crypto wave for the past year. But some may say it’s a good thing you didn’t, as you could have lost everything you worked hard for.

The Web3 and crypto landscape is changing rapidly as businesses move online. In fact, social distancing and COVID-19 accelerated the growth of online shopping by 4-6 years and, in many ways, also accelerated the growth of crypto as a whole.

That’s why many of the safety tips in this article are easy to apply. In fact, this blog came from me, having been a victim of multiple hacks and scams. I started this blog to share what I am learning while trying to stay safe in the crypto space.

In this guide, we’ll cover some of the top crypto safety tips to help you regain your confidence while maneuvering through the crypto landscape. Whether you want to dabble in crypto part-time or become a full-time investor, this guide is for you. Let’s get started.

Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links in this article are affiliate links, which provide me a small commission at no cost to you. These are merely good security tools to use in tandem with these safety tips. You can read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.

How To Keep Your Crypto Safe?

Here is a list of the best security tips for you to get started securing your assets.

1. How to keep your crypto safe: Use Strong Passwords

Almost every website we visit, from crypto exchanges to hyper-secure banking sites, insists you create a user account and think up a password. This is great, but there’s one problem: our memory can’t keep up with the sheer number and variety of passwords we need to use.

Before being scammed, I got the bright idea to use the simplest possible password, like “my name and favorite number” or “my dog’s name.” I also tried memorizing one superbly random password and using it for everything. I now know that either strategy is likely to make both you and me the latest victims of identity theft.

Avoid becoming a potential victim. Use a password manager and use its features correctly. When I got a password manager, I felt much better knowing that I didn’t have to remember strong, unique passwords for all my accounts. The password manager stored them for me and even helped me generate new, random ones.

Figuring out which are the best password managers is beyond the scope of this article. However, most of the best password managers that are trusted and recommended cost money, though you can use some of them for free if you accept certain limitations.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of time researching password managers and wondering which to choose, don’t worry. There are a ton of websites like PCMag that have great articles on the best password managers.

Based on their research, I’ve outlined the best password managers they recommended below.

• Keeper Security 
• Dashlane 
• NordPass 
• 1Password  
• LastPass 
• Bitwarden
• Logme once Password Security suite
• Roboform
• Password Boss
• Sticky Password

Using password managers is great, provided that you keep your master password for your manager safe. If a hacker or scammer manages to get your master password for your manager, they would essentially have the keys to your kingdom and everything in it. With that being said, here are some tips should you choose not to go the password manager route:

Meet password requirements

For Google, your password can be any combination of letters, numbers, and symbols (ASCII-standard characters only). Accents and accented characters aren’t supported.

You can’t use a password that:

• Is particularly weak. Example: “password123”
• You’ve used it before on your account
• Starts or ends with a blank space

A strong password should be easy enough for you to remember but nearly impossible for someone else to guess. Here are some of the things that make a good password. Use these tips to create your own.

• Make your password unique. Use a different password for each of your important accounts, like your email and online banking. Reusing passwords for important accounts is risky. If someone gets your password for one account, they could access your email, address, and even your money. If you have trouble remembering multiple passwords, you may find a password manager that is more suitable for you.

• Make your password longer and more memorable. Long passwords are stronger, so make your password at least 12 characters long.

These tips can help you create longer passwords that are easier to remember. Try to use:

• A lyric from a song or poem
• A meaningful quote from a movie or speech
• A passage from a book
• A series of words that are meaningful to you
• An abbreviation: Make a password from the first letter of each word in a sentence

Avoid choosing passwords that could be guessed by:

• People who know you
• People looking at easily accessible info (like your social media profile)

Don’t use personal info

• The name of your child or pet
• Your nickname or initials
• Important birthdays or years
• The name of your street
• Numbers from your address

Avoid personal information and common words. Avoid creating passwords based on information that others might know or could easily find out. Examples: Avoid simple words, phrases, and patterns that are easy to guess.

Examples:

• Obvious words and phrases like “password” or “letmein”
• Sequences like “abcd” or “1234”
• Keyboard patterns like “qwerty” or “qazwsx”

After you create a strong password, take steps to keep it safe. Write down your password only if absolutely necessary; if you do, don’t leave it on your computer or desk. Make sure any written passwords are stored somewhere that’s secret or locked.

How to be prepared if someone gets your password

Google uses your recovery info to help you if they detect unusual activity in your account.

Add a recovery email address

1. Go to your Google Account.
2. On the left navigation panel, click Personal Info.
3. On the Contact info panel, click Email.
4. Click Add Recovery Email.

Add a recovery phone number

1. Go to your Google Account.
2. On the left navigation panel, click Personal Info.
3. On the Contact info panel, click Phone.
4. Click Add Recovery Phone.

Recovery information can be used to help you:

• Find out if someone else is using your account
• Take back your account if someone else knows your password
• Get into your account if you forget your password or can’t sign in for another reason

   2. Use two-factor authentication (2FA)

The next step up from using a password is using 2FA. Two-factor authentication (2FA), sometimes called two-step verification or dual-factor authentication, is a security process in which users provide two different authentication factors to verify themselves. If you’re a fellow crypto enthusiast learning how to keep your crypto safe, then you should already know that 2FA is necessary.

The great thing about 2FA is that it’s implemented to protect a user’s credentials and the resources they can access better. This type of authentication provides a higher level of security than authentication methods that depend on single-factor authentication (SFA), in which the user provides only one factor—typically, a password or passcode.

When setting up your 2FA method, you must provide a password as the first factor and a second, different factor—usually either a security token or a biometric factor, such as a fingerprint or facial scan.

This adds an additional layer of security to the authentication process by making it harder for scammers to access your devices or online accounts. Even if your password is hacked, a password alone is not enough to pass the authentication check.

Various devices and services, from tokens to radio frequency identification (RFID) cards to smartphone apps, are available for implementing 2FA.

Two-factor authentication products can be divided into two categories:

1. Codes/tokens that are given to you to use when logging in and
2. Infrastructure or software that recognizes and authenticates your access if you use your tokens correctly.

Authentication tokens may be physical devices, such as key fobs or smart cards, or they may exist in software, such as mobile or desktop apps, that generate PIN codes for authentication. These authentication codes, also known as one-time passwords (OTPs), are usually generated by a server and can be recognized as authentic by an authentication device or app.

The authentication code is a short sequence linked to a particular device, user, or account and can be used only once as part of an authentication process.

   3. Use multiple Email addresses

Another way to increase your security and make it more difficult for hackers to steal your funds is to use multiple email addresses when creating accounts. There have been many instances where a hacker has gained access to someone’s email account and used it to take control of the victim’s social media and other important services.

Keep your personal email account separate from your business and investment email accounts. Create a brand new email address whenever you create an account on an exchange (like Binance) or need to use an email for your business. If you want to go further, you can create a main email account and forward the emails from the other accounts to the main account. 

This will not only prevent hackers from having total control of your funds if they do hack your email, but you will also have better peace of mind knowing you have an extra layer of security protecting your funds.

   4. Use multiple Exchanges

There are many reasons why you would want to use multiple exchanges, not only from a security standpoint but also from a practical standpoint. Some exchanges experience downtime from time to time due to unforeseen circumstances, and as life would have it, that may be the very same time that an opportunity arises and you cannot take advantage of it.

Having all your money in one exchange leaves you vulnerable to many unfortunate factors or inconveniences, such as:

You get liquidated. Many advanced traders trade using leverage, which can be considered risky if you try to do this as a beginner and don’t know what you’re doing. When trading with leverage, you have the risk of being liquidated.

This means that an exchange forcefully closes your leveraged position due to a partial or total loss of your initial margin. It happens when you cannot meet the margin requirements for a leveraged position or, in other words, you don’t have sufficient funds to keep the trade open.

You want to buy or sell specific altcoins. When most people hear of crypto, they think about Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), or some other popular coin. However, thousands of different crypto coins can be traded, and many more will join the market in the future.

Some of the biggest platforms, like Binance, Kucoin, or Coinbase, don’t list all the existing crypto coins. So, if you want to find hidden gems or small-cap coins, opening accounts at multiple crypto exchanges makes sense.

You want to cash out your profits. Let’s say you made some serious gains by buying and selling cryptocurrency. The next logical thing to do is to take profit or cash out your initial investment. Unfortunately, not every crypto exchange may support withdrawals to your bank account by SEPA or SWIFT, and you may be living in a country that doesn’t support certain withdrawal methods. 

To avoid withdrawal issues on crypto exchanges and to be able to get your profits at your leisure, owning several accounts at multiple crypto exchanges can help you a lot. 

     5. Self-custody your crypto

 Just as the name implies, self-custody signifies that you only have possession of your cryptocurrency or other digital assets because you control the private key in your wallet. In addition, you are responsible for safeguarding access to your private key because it is not stored anywhere else.

You can access your funds anytime without relying on a financial middleman. This flexibility attracts many users to participate in Defi, but failing to take the time to learn how to keep your crypto safe may override the attraction of flexibility.

Using your wallet to self-custody your crypto can seem overwhelming, but it is actually pretty simple. Consider using a regular investment or payment app with additional security measures.

You can basically do the same things you would usually do with a traditional bank account, like check your balance and view your transaction history. You can also invest using DeFi applications and send digital money to your friends. You can even link some self-custody wallets to your bank, deposit money to exchanges, etc.

Summary

All of the security measures mentioned above can help you save yourself from a lot of heartache and pain, and most, if not all, can be done at no cost. More importantly, you learned how to keep your crypto safe and out of the hands of scammers.

Ultimately, I recommend implementing these safety measures and anything else to keep your crypto safe as soon as possible. The world of scammers and hackers is constantly evolving, and they are always developing new ways to rob you of your money. It’s up to you to evolve as well and ensure your own protection.

Check out our post for more info on crypto security and the right ways to store your cryptocurrency.

Did I miss any of your top safety tips? Let me know in the comment section below.

Frequently Asked Questions