Bithumb hacked - Never store your cryptocurrencies on the exchanges

It has just come to light that South Koreas largest bitcoin and ether exchange Bithumb has been hacked resulting in huge losses for 3 % of its customers.

Worlds fourth largerst Bitcoin exchange

Bithumb who was just hacked handles more than 10 % of the global bitcoin trade and is currently the largest ether exchange in the world. The hackers got away with the personal information of more than 30.000 investors and holdings worth millions of US Dollars. Bithumb, in an attempt to ward of criticism, stated that it was an employee’s PC that was hacked, and not their office server.

It came as no surprise to me that this happened, and I don’t buy their excuse. They clearly have a responsibility, and it doesn’t matter whether it was their own servers of an employees PC that was hacked.

Hacking is sadly becoming a recurring issue for cryptocurrency institutions and it’s doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon. I’m not a proponent for regulation, but I would say that most of the hacking incidents are rooted in the fact that the industry isn’t regulated. Which means that the majority of the institutions don’t have the necessary anti-hacking policies in place to prevent these attacks.

The lack of such policies from these institutions is clearly an abuse of our trust in them.

All for the sake of their own profit.

I don’t have a problem with exchanges earning money, that’s fine, it’s why most companies start out in the first place. But it’s becoming clear that the industry is tainted with greed, and aren’t doing enough to protect peoples cryptocurrencies.

If you think that I’m exaggerating and blowing things out of proportion, well here’s a list to prove otherwise.

Cryptocurrency institutions that has previously been hacked:
https://magoo.github.io/Blockchain-Graveyard/

There is a way to protect yourself, and everyone should do it

I cannot stress this enough, but storing cryptocurrency on the exchanges should only temporary. I recommend that you protect your cryptocurrency holdings by taking them off the exchanges and storing them elsewhere. You can do this in a number of ways, here are some suggestions:

1. Hardware wallets

Trezor: https://trezor.io/
Ledger: https://www.ledgerwallet.com/
Keepkey: https://www.keepkey.com/

2. Paper wallets

www.bitaddress.org

3. Mobile wallets

Mycelium: https://mycelium.com/
Jaxx: https://jaxx.io/

4. Web wallets

Blockchain: https://www.blockchain.com/

That's all I have for you today

What's your favorite wallet, and do you have any experiences with the ones I have mentioned?

Your comments are much appreciated and feel free to ask any questions.

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