The rise of cryptocurrencies has attracted both investors and hackers over the past few years. As major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and the like continue to hit new price records every month, cybercriminals have been targeting crypto investors and exchanges to make easy money.
According to a report from Finaria.it, crypto criminals stole a massive $1.9 billion in 2020. Although this was down from a mammoth $4.5 billion stolen in 2019, it still needs a lot of work before all the loose gaps can be plugged.
Investors need to ensure that hackers are not able to get access to their investments. Here are the top 5 steps by which you can secure your crypto investments:
Read also: 6 ways to earn Bitcoin for free
1. Adopt a hybrid approach
Rather than relying on online wallets, it is a better idea to have a hybrid approach towards maintaining an online wallet and offline wallet for maintaining your crypto assets.
In case you maintain all your crypto holdings in the wallet provided by the exchange, there is a high chance of hacks and fraud as all crypto coins in an exchange are stored in a single location which makes it an attractive location for frauds and hacks.
Keeping an offline wallet is useful because it makes your crypto investments more secure. Offline wallets can be accessed through desktop, mobile, or specially designed hardware.
2. Use multiple level authentication
Even as your use online and offline wallets, it is important to keep different passwords and multiple level authentications in place. By keeping different passwords, you can have better control over your investments.
At the same time, multiple-level authentications help in making your investments more secure from hacking and fraud. Although you will have to input multiple passwords before being able to access your holdings, it is better than feeling sorry one day when all your investments have been hacked and compromised.
3. Remember your private keys
As you have been following the instructions provided so far, you are the biggest threat to your crypto investments at the moment. With different passwords for both online and offline wallets and multiple-level authentication, it can become complicated even before you know it. It is very important to remember all your passwords and private keys so that you can access your investments with ease.
It is also a good idea to back up all your passwords so that you have access even if you do not remember any of them. You can always keep a written record of all the passwords in a secure location like a safe. As dramatic as it may sound, it is not such a bad idea to do it.
4. Adopt measures for digital safety
Like the measures you take to stay safe in the digital world, you will need to adopt a similar set of measures to ensure that your crypto investments are safe. Having a strong firewall in place, antivirus software, and avoiding phishing attempts are some of the measures that you should adopt to keep your crypto investments safe.
Some other practices that you should follow to keep your crypto investments safe are not accessing your crypto wallet from public wifi, using 2-FA authentication on your exchange account, and keeping only trusted wallets and apps on your mobile. These are some measures that will help you keep your digital presence and crypto investments safe.
Read also: How to earn interest on Bitcoin
5. Diversify your investment
As the crypto world is still in its early days and there is still a long way before the market matures, it is a good idea to diversify your investment across crypto coins so that even if one of the crypto coins goes bust, your crypto investments do not take a large hit.
It is also a good idea to have a mix of large, medium, and small coins in your portfolio as per your risk profile so that you can grow your crypto investments easily over some time.
These are some of the ways which can help you in keeping your crypto investments safe. Always remember that the world of crypto is known for volatile price movements. Therefore, always assess the risks involved and do not invest a large amount of money that you cannot afford to lose in crypto.
