Proper storage and access remain one of the common aspects for cryptocurrency holders. Most of the crypto wallets have no back up hence losing the passwords in most cases means losing the investments. There are also scams and crypto trading mistakes. To understand the risks in crypto use and storage, Cryptovantage recently conducted a survey, “Coin Storage Security: A closer look at crypto storage and passwords.”
The survey which involved 1021 US-based crypto holders allowed them to share about their crypto storage methods, their preferred method of trading, and some of the concerns experienced during crypto trading. Here are some of the detailed findings from the study.
Crypto storage and safety
Most crypto traders use crypto exchanges as their most preferred wallets. Coinbase has the most users with 34.7% with Robinhood at 26% and Binance at 25% following closely on the popularity among the users.
America’s crypto storage platform SoFi leads as the most trusted storage platform. Over 73% of crypto traders believe it is the most secure crypto wallet. However, this did not result in widespread use as only 12 of the investors have it as their go-to crypto wallet.
In terms of safety, 61% of the crypto holders believe their passwords are safe while 12% of them find the passwords unsafe. The investors used various ways to remember passwords. Some of these options are; taking screenshots (10.3%), password safes (15%), handwritten notes (18.6%), and password managers (26.6%).
Crypto keys
Even though there have been concerns on investment recovery in case of lost passwords, the survey established it is no issue for most. More than 85% of the crypto holders had lost their passwords before and used a recovery service to retrieve the passwords. For those who completely lost their crypto wallets’ access, they ended up losing an average of $2,134.
Scam experiences
Crypto scams also remains a concern among the investors. Around 36% of the holders had fallen for a crypto scam before. The targets were mainly through mobile apps (44.6%), websites (45.2%) and emails (47.&%). Over 92% of the crypto investors changed their crypto security strategy following the scam. The traders lost an average of $538 through scams.
Crypto Investment biggest mistakes
Panic selling proved to be a leading concern for most crypto holders. 38.2% of the traders felt it was their biggest investing mistake. It is followed by putting everything in one coin (32.5%) and password as the lowest mistake at 12.5%. The other mistakes were transactions through third-party platforms (19.4%), released coins before receiving payment (24.1%), and misunderstood the market (27.8%).
Crypto Exchanges
There are an uncountable number of exchanges exposed to hacking, even the biggest crypto exchange in the world, Binance. You should choose your exchange wisely based on the first rule of investment: securing your money. However, most of investors have very little knowledge of how a crypto exchange operates. They may go with a low-fee crypto exchange that doesn’t invest much in the security and customer experience. We have created an in-depth article of CoinSpot Fees to explain why low fees may bring more harm than benefits.
The future of crypto for the holders
Even though the crypto traders have had mixed fortunes with cryptos such as lost wallet keys and other bad experiences, most are still looking to invest in digital currencies. Most of the investors believe their worst mistake was selling the cryptos. It is therefore necessary to not only protect your crypto, but for many, to not sell.
