🔍
BEST Way to Store Your Crypto Safely - YouTube
Channel: Max Maher
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- More than $600 million worth of crypto was stolen.
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- What could be a record heist
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- Hackers are draining many accounts.
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- $600 million dollars
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- The biggest ever theft of digital currency.
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- I can't stress enough how important it is to
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There's always going to be looting and ransacking
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and DeFi is just the new Wild West.
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Some stable coins like Tether have administrators
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that can help track down lost coins.
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But the vast majority of decentralized currencies
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do not have these features.
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If your Ethereum, Litecoin or Cardano
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ever get lost to malicious hackers,
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unless the hackers just somehow are convinced to
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give your money back, which has happened more than once.
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But don't worry,
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- Oh my goodness! What's the procedure?
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- But first, let's briefly talk about a few incidents
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that have happened in the past to help highlight
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the importance of safety here.
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This is very, very important.
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One of the first major events happened in 2014
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in a controversial story surrounding
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the biggest Bitcoin exchange at the time, Mt. Gox.
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This happened at a time when enthusiasm for
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decentralized money saw many companies like Mt. Gox
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throw caution to the wind, focusing on the
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novelty of their projects instead of building a secure system.
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The tragedy of the story
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is the fact that in 2013, Bitcoin prices were soaring
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over $1200 all the way up from
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$20 at the beginning of that year.
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And because of this, Bitcoin had a big
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red target on its back
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and Mt. Gox was the biggest honeypot of them all,
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The exchange was exploited,
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an amount that would be worth around
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And you might be hopeful thinking that
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exploits like these are a thing of the past
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you know, because of new security protocols and regulations.
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and you know, Satoshi works hard.
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But unfortunately, scammers work harder.
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In August of 2021,
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another massive breach hit
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Poly network, a a protocol that allows users to
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move their assets between blockchains.
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The hacker made off with more than $600 million worth of
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crypto from the Binance Smart Chain,
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Ethereum and Polygon's Networks.
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Holders of the lost funds were
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at the mercy of the hacker
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who surprisingly later returned all of the funds.
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And then, of course, we still have rugpull scams
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and pig butchery scams
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being run by the Chinese mafia.
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We're practically surrounded by bad actors at this point.
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So this is very important to understand safety.
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And today I want to help you go the extra mile
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with how to treat your crypto investments
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in a very safe manner.
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And luckily for us, we have options,
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options that will allow us to
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keep our coins in storage,
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tucked away and quietly appreciating in value.
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[Laughs] But they're not all the same.
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I want to help you choose a
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But before I get into my top picks,
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let's take a minute to define some terms that you
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absolutely need to know.
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The first thing that we need to discuss is crypto wallets.
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These devices, sometimes hardware, sometimes software
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keep your keys safe,
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especially your private key,
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which only you, as the holder of your assets, should know.
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You shouldn't tell anyone- Don't tell your friend,
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Don't tell your cat 😿
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No one.
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No one crypto wallets don't physically contain
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your digital currencies, like a normal wallet would hold
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dollars or coins
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*or condom*
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or dollars.
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They basically work like an
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ultra secure enclave that stores
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sensitive information, giving you access to use,
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move, invest or transact the crypto that you own.
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This works through the complex world of cryptography,
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but for the sake of this video, there are
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three things that we should first define.
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The first on that list is your wallet address.
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Think of this like the account number of your bank account.
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Your address doesn't necessarily have to be kept secret,
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but it could be a personal preference
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to keep that address secret.
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Now, some people tend to confuse your
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Bitcoin address with your public key,
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but these two are not exactly the same,
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though they are related.
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Your wallet address is a
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hashed 160-bit version of your 256-bit
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public key, so your address is a
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kind of shorthand for your public key.
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Some wallets like Coinbase, even
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hide these numbers completely,
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and instead let you trade with usernames.
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Now, your private key or secret key
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is what you want to keep protected
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at all costs.
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It's technically possible for you or
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AI to derive a public key from a
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private key, but the reverse of the process is
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virtually impossible.
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It would take the most powerful supercomputer on Earth
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650 million years to derive a single private key.
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So it's pretty safe,
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but human error is not safe.
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Also, if you ever suspect that the
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private key to your wallet is compromised,
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the best thing you can do is to simply
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get a new wallet.
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But we can prevent this from happening
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in the first place, if we take a couple of precautions.
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So let's look at the options for
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safe crypto storage.
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What all of these services provide
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is a way for you to have at least
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both a public and private key.
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This way, you have full control over
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what happens with your assets.
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A public and private key can together
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work just like any other crypto wallet
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The most safe option is to generate a
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paper wallet, which is a form of cold storage.
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This is safe, but it does have some drawbacks
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that we need to discuss.
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Getting a paper wallet is as straightforward as
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getting a public and private key
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randomly generated from an online generator.
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Once you have both keys,
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you can send as much crypto to that
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public address as you wish,
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effectively putting that money
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in your private wallet.
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You can then print or write down your set of
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keys on any old scrap paper that you like,
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or you can pretend like you're in a movie and
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etch them into a gold coin and give that to your wife.
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But the most safe method
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is to actually write it down a piece of paper,
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laminate that paper and then keep that
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in a safe deposit box at your bank.
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It might be a bit overkill, but that's the safest way possible.
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This is the best solution if you either have a
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massive stash of crypto
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or if you have a chunk that you just simply don't
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plan on selling anytime soon.
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A few services that will generate these keys
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are walletgenerator.net
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bitaddress and smartholdem.
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Now, as I've implied, paper wallets are
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actually a small part
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of the broader category of cold storage options.
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Cold here means that the hardware
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in which you store your crypto keys
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is not connected to the Internet.
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However, keeping your crypto in a cold wallet
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means that you can always access the coins
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that you own if you're trying to spend them,
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stake them, or lend them.
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Another option here is hardware cold wallets,
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and luckily for you, I've tested a few for this video.
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So let's discuss the criteria
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that you should look out for,
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starting with Security certifications.
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Many of the most popular wallets come with an
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It's a grade that's assigned to the hardware
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or systems as a measure of overall security.
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Basically, the higher the EAL,
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the more reliable the system is
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to prevent breaches.
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For more context, the certification
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is also used by smartphone makers
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and in the production of E-passports.
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Ideally, you want the hardware wallet
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with the best level of demonstrable security
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and the OPOLO Hardware wallets are a good place to start.
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They've been given an EAL rating of
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6+ out of 7.
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Most of their wallets get a rating of anywhere between
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1 and 5.
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The popular brand 'Ledger' notably has an
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EAL of 5+ which isn't bad by any means,
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and if you own one, you're probably benefiting
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from some other features that they offer
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that OPOLO might not have.
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Arguably, the Ledger is also a
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bit more user friendly as well.
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Ledger also offers holders
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access to the Ledger Live platform.
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On Ledger Live, you're able to manage
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assets stored in your Ledger Nano S or X,
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which includes buying more crypto,
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sending and receiving crypto to different wallet addresses,
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or you can even do certain things like
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earning interest staking Cardano
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while keeping it safe in your Ledger.
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If you do stake your Cardano, you should
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definitely stake with me at
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Ticker Symbol Max1
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or visit stakewithmax.com for more info.
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Now, some might argue that features like
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Ledger Live defeat the purpose of using
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cold storage for your coins,
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since you want to be able to
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Ledger Live services are convenient,
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but it's ultimately your call.
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OPOLO seems to be the best possible
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security option with the downside of
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potentially less usability,
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where ledger offers great security
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with more usability.
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I'll have both linked in the description of this video.
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Now the last broad category I'm going to talk about
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is one that you're probably already using,
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and these are hot wallets.
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So you have cold wallets whose main benefit
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is basically being air-gapped,
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a place where you can store your private
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and highly sensitive crypto information
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and NFT Waifus ¬‿¬
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But sometimes you want to be able to
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hold onto some crypto in order to
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seize on opportunities like buying a Bitcoin
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next time it goes through some kind of crazy flash crash.
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That's where hot wallets can give you an advantage.
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Normally hosted by exchanges,
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software based storage keeps your
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crypto in always on secure cloud locations.
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The potential downside
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is that you have to trust the exchange.
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Even the most well established exchanges like
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Coinbase, Binance, Kraken and Kucoin
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come with the risk of being exploited.
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It's for this reason
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that I personally use cold storage
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in conjunction with hot wallet.
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Sort of like how you might have both
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a checking account and a savings account
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at your bank.
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So in summary here,
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And in fact, most investors can
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get away just fine doing that
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if you're brand new or maybe you don't
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have very much in crypto.
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They're pretty convenient and
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But once you build up a big stack of crypto,
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or you venture into DeFi buying
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smaller coins that aren't listed on big exchanges,
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you start to expose yourself to risk
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by keeping all your coins in one place.
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And it doesn't matter how big
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or how famous the exchange is.
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The best way to manage your crypto assets
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is to keep your savings in one or more cold wallets,
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and then keep some fun money tucked away
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for trading in your digital wallet
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for transactions.
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And as always, remember that
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losing your crypto keys is like
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losing your virginity.
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Once it's gone, it's gone.
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- What's all gone?
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- The money in your account, poof!
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[Laughs] Now, before I let you go,
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I need to give you a quick, hot offer.
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The first is BlockFi.
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They're a sponsor of mine, and they let me promote
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however I like, and they allow you to earn
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interest on your crypto, whether that's stable coins,
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Bitcoin, Ethereum, you name it.
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And they also have a crypto credit card
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that allows you get cash back in Bitcoin.
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If you make an account with them, you get up to
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$250 in completely free Bitcoin,
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that's linked in the description below.
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And also I have a Patreon community that you
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absolutely need to check out.
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There you'll find all my buy and sell alerts
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for crypto and stocks,
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much more content and an amazing investor community,
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and so much more.
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I literally spend tens of thousands of dollars
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every month on my Patreon community
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to provide the most value possible.
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That will also be linked in the description.
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So that's going to do it.
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I'd like to thank you so much for watching
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and I hope you have a profitable day.
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