Protecting your Crypto Investments

I’ve been rugged a few times and I’ve seen seasoned crypto experts fall for scams as well. Crypto is very much like cash because if you lose it, it’s most likely gone forever. Even something as small as a typo can cause you to send your crypto to oblivion. 

When I tell people I do crypto DeFi one of the most common responses I get is:
“Aren’t you worried about losing all your money?”
or
“I tried crypto before and I got scammed. I’ll never touch crypto again!” 
and my favorite
“Oh nice, I heard in the news everyone lost their money on XYZ exchange.“

That’s why before you enter the crypto space, it should be a requirement that you educate yourself on keeping your crypto secure. Here’s a small list of what to avoid if you want to keep your crypto safe. Keep in mind this is NOT an all-inclusive list and you must DYOR and stay on top of current trends. 

• Saving your wallet seed phrase on your device or sending it to yourself electronically. If your device files or email files get leaked online and someone gets ahold of your seed phase you can kiss your crypto goodbye. Write your seed phrase down instead and make sure you don’t lose it! 
• Downloading files and visiting unsecure websites on the same device you keep you hot wallets. If your device gets infected with malware, they can take control of your wallet and send all your funds to another wallet. If you can afford to purchase a device solely for crypto then great. But if you’re like me, I need to take my crypto with me on my personal phone. I’m extra careful not to download any unnecessary apps and don’t visit sketchy websites.
• This goes without saying but DO NOT click links from unverified sources such as DMs on all social platforms. Persons pretending to be Devs asking you to download their software or click a link to test a “New Game”. I don’t click links from anyone in my DMs even if it looks like a reputable website link. Even if my mom sends me something I just look it up manually because you never know if their accounts are hacked.
•  Revoke permissions from a Dapp(decentralized application) after use. Reason being is if that Dapp or Protocol is hacked your funds could be exposed. Luckily Hot wallets like Phantom make it very easy to manage.

Most of these are common sense but always make sure you never leave your guard down because it only takes one error to whip out your account.