My #1 Strategy For Safely Storing & Securing Crypto Investments

Putting money at risk in any type of crypto asset is a stressful thing these days. For many reasons, safety, security, taxes & regulations, missing information, volatility, collusion, persuasion and deception, overall less educated more emotional based market participants, untested tech and almost no actual products. I could keep going but that's for another article. 

However, it's no secret that while picking the good investments verses the scam coins is a tough task, you also have to figure out how to properly secure those investments and not get hacked or robbed, and make sure you don't lose them yourself. 

I just want to quickly share with you an idea or approach that I'm starting to strongly consider. That is the following: 

Have Many Accounts

That's about it. It's not rocket science. The best thing you can do to protect against all the uncertainty in the crypto world is to spread your risk around to different accounts and custodians. I'm thinking at least 5-10 different custodians minimum to each get a representative portion of my portfolio. This way, I can don't have to live in fear that one breach or accident can wipe me out. That is quite terrifying. 

I live in the US and I'm looking for regulated exchanges and places that are making deals with the government. This in my opinion will help secure my investment. It also, is a secure way for someone besides myself keep track of the tax related implications.

I also, recommend a mix of methods. Well protected and more trustworthy exchange accounts with small portions and spread across a handful of exchanges. Hot Wallets such as Steemit.com is a great place to store some crypto capital without having to incur too much risk with a portion of your portfolio. Hardware wallets are essential to your core survival in the crypto space. Without a solid knowledge and understanding of the process for using a hardware wallet, your overall risk to storing and keeping your crypto long term goes up. A hardware wallet is cold storage, it's not just sitting there somewhere online in a hot wallet where anyone can access it. 

One of my favorite wallets is a paper wallet

Here is a list of things that is recommended when creating a paper wallet:

1. Buy a new computer
2. Only hook up to internet for initial software download
3. Download Paper Wallet Software
   1. Make sure you download a trusted software or you're gonna get robbed blind
4. Once Paper Wallet Software is downloaded and installed, disconnect from internet
5. Follow instructions to create Paper Wallet
6. Hardline printer into computer
7. Make sure printer isn't connected to wifi (just turn wifi off)
8. Print Paper Wallet
9. Make at least 2 copies 
10. Clear print memory in printer
11. Store separately in fire proof safe or safety deposit box or some other secured manner

This list is obviously not complete and you should do much more research before attempting to do something like this, but knowing how to properly create and maintain a paper wallet will be a useful skill going forward in the crypto space.

Remember to always test with small amounts first. Never send large sums of money to a new storage asset before having first successfully tested it with a small amount.

Also, as a final note, you can have a brain wallet. This is where you remember your very complicated code in your head and can reproduce it when and if necessary. Kinda interesting...

Thanks for reading and let me know how you're securing your investment into the crypto market.