At Bitcoin exchanges like NairaEx, hundreds of people every day buy Bitcoin to invest or start trading cryptocurrency. However, recent weeks have seen several cryptocurrency security alerts issued online.
Popular Bitcoin exchange platforms in Canada, New Zealand, and Israel have either been hacked or lost customer deposits. Here at NairaEx, we haven’t been hacked. However, to help you buy Bitcoin safely online, we have put together a comprehensive cryptocurrency security guide.
Top Cryptocurrency Security Tips for 2019
Recently, Canada’s biggest Bitcoin exchange QuadrigaCx and New Zealand’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia lost an estimated $216 million in user deposits. In both cases, exchange users lost coins by choosing to store coins on exchanges, rather than in their own offline wallets.
At NairaEx, we don’t recommend that users store cryptocurrency on our or any other exchange. Instead, when people buy Bitcoin or sell Bitcoin on NairaEx.com, they do so via their own private wallet addresses.
Tips for Buying & Selling Bitcoin
- Before you buy Bitcoin at NairaEx (or any other Bitcoin exchange) set up your own Bitcoin wallet
- As soon as you have purchased coins, withdraw coins to your private wallet
- Always use a wallet which allows you to back up your own coin private keys
Only Buy Bitcoin from Trusted Bitcoin Exchange Platforms
By storing cryptocurrency coins off exchanges, coins can’t ever be accidentally lost by exchanges or stolen during exchange hack attempts. However, people who buy Bitcoin still need to exercise caution when choosing an exchange to buy from.
- Always use a Bitcoin exchange based in your local area (like NairaEx in Nigeria). Many exchanges are not regulated, and many do not serve users from different overseas locations. Others operate scams which may take fiat cash deposits but not provide Bitcoin in return.
- Avoid using exchange websites which appear to experience several bugs and glitches. This can be a sign that exchange websites are nothing more than phishing scams.
- Only use exchanges which enable users to reach out to customer support teams if they need to. Not publishing contact information or business addresses on websites is often a sign that exchange websites are scams.
Always Use Non-Custodial Bitcoin Exchanges like NairaEx
NairaEx is a non-custodial Bitcoin exchange. This means that we do not offer to hold cryptocurrency on behalf of users in our own wallets. Bigger exchanges like Coinbase, boast that they offer the world’s safest and most state-of-the-art custodial storage solutions. However, all these means is that exchanges can potentially be hacked at some point in the future.
Invest in a Hardware Wallet & Learn How to Use It
At NairaEx, we encourage all our users to set up their own Bitcoin wallet before they buy Bitcoin from us. However, it is important to remember that all smartphone and desktop app wallets can be hacked. For this reason, we recommend that users invest in trusted hardware wallets from brands like Nano and Trezor.
Our Cryptocurrency Security Summary
Hearing about exchange hacks like the recent Cryptopia hack can be scary. However, investors who lose coins in exchange hacks only do so because they don’t follow guidelines like those, we have laid out above. This being the case, consider referring to this guide whenever planning to buy Bitcoin or sell Bitcoin at NairaEx or any other exchange.
