There are many different ways to protect cryptocurrency and digital assets, but the most popular is called “cold storage.”
In this method, you store your cryptocurrency and digital assets (like bitcoin) offline in a hardware wallet (like TREZOR or Ledger Nano S) to further secure you from any theft or loss.
Cryptocurrency Thefts
Cryptocurrency theft is no joke. It is a very real threat. Not only can it happen to you, your family, or your business if you’re using a cryptocurrency, but it can also happen to someone else you know personally.
In this post on the blog of D&D’s own Matthew Jacobs, he warns about the growing problem of cyber-theft of digital assets (in this case Bitcoin and Ethereum). He also offers some details on how to protect your cryptocurrency from such attacks and some best practices for general digital asset protection (his post is not addressed specifically to cryptocurrencies).
How to Protect Your Cryptocurrency Assets
Since the inception of Bitcoin, there has been a lot of discussion about the security and privacy of cryptocurrencies, including what makes them safe and how to protect them.
Many people have asked me this question: how do I protect my cryptocurrency assets? And, how can I make sure that someone won’t steal them?
This is not so much a security question as it is an identity question. And while we have devoted a lot of time to the topic of identity theft and other forms of cybercrime, there is really very little that we can do about it. The only solution is to be extremely careful with who you give access to your crypto assets. So please keep in mind:
• Only keep your cryptocurrency on hardware wallets or on software wallets
• Offer your digital assets only to trusted friends—don’t share with strangers in chat rooms; they won’t know your password or passphrase and could easily breach your email (and then you don’t have any backup)
• Don’t store your cryptocurrency on a web server but instead put it on dedicated servers which are hosted by someone else who has agreed to use those servers for you; if you forget the password for example, they will reset your server and you lose everything
So here's what we've learned from this experience:
We’ve started our company because we wanted to start building something great: a product that would be transformative for our industry, for hiring people at any time, anywhere and for anyone. We want this product to help us build a better world one person at a time. And we want our customers (you) to be the ones who decide which parts of the world should benefit from that product over the long term. We are building it so that our customers will get paid not just once but infinitely many times over. It is our hope that when they do, they will feel rewarded tenfold as well as being inspired by just how big their part was in making this happen! So please join us in creating something truly great!
How to Protect Yourself from Hackers
Since Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, it has become the most valuable cryptocurrency in history. With bitcoin’s recent price surge, the value of other cryptocurrencies has also skyrocketed.
A lot has been written about how to protect your cryptocurrency or digital asset (especially if you are operating on a decentralized platform like Bitcoin), so we won’t go over it again here.
But what we will do is share with you some of our favorite articles and research on this topic. We recommend that you read them all to get a fuller understanding of this topic, but then we will expand upon them below:
Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology - A Brief History of Bitcoin
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Technologies - An Introduction to Digital Currencies
Practical Cryptocurrency Security Training - How to Protect Your Cryptocurrency from Hackers.
Conclusion
The most important thing for a startup to do is protect their cryptocurrency and digital assets. What does that mean exactly? A lot of words have been written about this already, but it boils down to:
• Do not lose your cryptocurrency and digital assets in a hack, breach or other disaster
• Do not give away your private keys (e.g. password) or trade them for fiat currency
• Do not store your cryptocurrency in the cloud with a 3rd party service
• Do not use any best cryptocurrency insurance company cash-stored cryptocurrency (e.g. bank accounts) as an exchange value for crypto
These are all very important things to consider, but they are also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to protecting your cryptocurrency and digital assets. It has been shown time and time again that the most successful startups have strong cybersecurity teams in place.
— many of which have built their own products (Payments Cards) around this topic — and many of these teams are highly qualified, knowledgeable specialists who often make themselves available to help you further in developing your security.
