How Safe is Coinbase for Storing my Coins?

Even now in 2021, Coinbase is still one of the most well-known and one of the most used platforms to buy and sell coins; being one of the first few exchanges to have a huge positive impact on the adoption of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general. But the question is: is it safe to keep and store your Bitcoin and money on Coinbase?

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Coinbase’s security

Coinbase was founded and was up and running since 2012 up until today, without getting hacked or compromised even once(as far as we know). Running a platform for half a decade without running into security problems is something for Coinbase to be very very proud about; knowing that bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges have always and will always be a very hot target for hackers, as hackers could potentially get away with millions and billions of dollars worth of coins and tokens when executed successfully.

Some things to note:

Coinbase’s bug bounty program – Instead of hackers trying to steal coins from Coinbase whenever they found certain vulnerabilities in their system, they can simply report the vulnerabilities to Coinbase instead. That way, hackers instead can earn money in an ethical, moral, and legitimate manner.
On the 14th of February 2019, Coinbase paid someone a massive $30,000 bounty for a critical bug that was found on their system.
Coinbase’s cold storage – as stated and claimed on Coinbase’s insurance page, Coinbase holds 98% of the funds they’re holding on their offline cold storage; which heavily decreases the chances of their total funds getting stolen.

Sure, it seems like Coinbase is taking extra steps to ensure that their security is top-notch. But does that mean that you should leave your bitcoin other cryptocurrencies on Coinbase?

The quick answer.

No. It isn’t safe to leave your hard-earned bitcoin and cryptocurrencies on Coinbase. Why? Simply because exchanges, especially the ones as big as Coinbase, are a very big red hot target for hackers, to the point that it’s pretty much just a disaster waiting to happen.

Reasons why you should NOT leave your funds on Coinbase

Reason 1: Nothing is unhackable

Like said earlier, bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges have always been a very hot target for hackers, as hackers could potentially get away with millions and billions of dollars worth of coins and tokens when they successfully cracked a certain exchange’s security.

But is Coinbase being hacked a possibility?

While it might look unlikely to happen, yes; it’s technically very very possible. In general, nothing is 100% unhackable, especially when we’re talking about websites. Even Google, Facebook, and other big websites are technically possible to hack, but due to their top-notch security, they just make it difficult for hackers to do so.

If you think Coinbase is very secure, well, people in the past thought the same with MtGox, Bitfinex, and Binance. Well, unfortunately, these exchanges have been successfully hacked in the past, each exchange losing more than a hundred thousand of their user’s bitcoins in the process.

Reason 2: “Not your keys, not your bitcoin”

While this quote is directly referring to bitcoin, it should apply to pretty much every single cryptocurrency. Only use wallets whereas you have control over the private keys/recovery seed, as that way, even if the exchanges you use gets hacked, your coins don’t get lost along with it.

Another reason is that one of the main selling points of bitcoin is that it’s unconfiscatable. When you leave your funds on centralized exchanges, it defeats that purpose. Exchanges, in general, can lock up your account(s) regardless if you did something wrong or not. A lot of people think that this easily fixed by simply submitting a support ticket to the exchange, but in some cases, it’s not. This occurrence has happened a lot more than most people think.

Reason 3: Exchanges are exchanges

Use exchanges for their sole purpose, as a platform to exchange your money for some bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Simply withdraw your funds after every transaction using exchanges like Coinbase, the same reason why you wouldn’t leave your hard-earned money on money remittance centers and money exchangers. Instead, you simply withdraw the cash and lock them up in your personal safe, or you store them in your bank. The same thing should be done with bitcoin. Simply send them over to your personal wallet whereas you have control over the private keys.

Reason 4: Cold Storage is NOT insured

While Coinbase’s hot wallets are FDIC insured, this only amounts to 2% of all their user’s cryptocurrencies that Coinbase are holding.

If it’s the case that Coinbase’s hot wallets are hacked, yes, they will be able to compensate their users for the lost funds. But if it’s the case that Coinbase’s cold wallets get hacked, little to no funds will be compensated to their users.

Where do I keep my funds instead?

Mobile wallets(if you own small amounts of bitcoin)

Mobile wallets are wallets that, by its name alone, are wallets that are installed on your mobile phone. Mobile wallets are great simply because you have easy access to your funds with you at all times.

While Mobile wallets are great, we only suggest leaving funds on mobile wallets if your coins don’t cost that much. If you’re holding huge amounts of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, we heavily suggest investing some money for a hardware wallet instead.

Why not desktop wallets? Especially if you’re using a Windows device, computer systems are a lot more prone to viruses compared to your phone. Malware and viruses that are mainly focused on trying to steal your coins are quite common nowadays. Losing your coins due to a malware/virus on your computer is one of the most common ways on how people lose their coins.

Advantages

Convenient – if you want to transfer funds, you can simply scan the QR code of the recipient address using your phone
Free – great mobile wallets are easily downloadable right now for free on the Android PlayStore and the iOS AppStore

Disadvantages

Lack of security – while using a good mobile wallet is safer than using a custodial wallet, the security of mobile wallets may not be enough especially if you’re holding a significant amount of coins. While difficult and quite unlikely, mobile phones in theory can still be infected with malware and viruses. For people who hold a good amount of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, we heavily suggest getting a hardware wallet.

Some great bitcoin mobile wallets

Hardware wallets(if you own significant amounts of bitcoin)

Hardware wallets are small devices made specifically for securely holding bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and is small enough to fit in your pocket. We heavily suggest using a hardware wallet instead, if you’re holding a significant amount of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies. A hardware wallet is your best choice for holding coins and tokens without fearing of getting hacked.

Advantages

High security – your wallet’s private keys never leave the device. Hence, you could do transactions even if the computer device you’re using is infested with malware and viruses, as long as you make sure that the coins are being sent to the right address.

Disadvantages

Less convenient – You need to plug in your hardware wallet to your computer to make a transaction; though fortunately, the new Ledger Nano X has BlueTooth functionality, giving you the option to send transactions using your mobile phone instead.

In summary:

Hardware Wallets vs Coinbase

	Coinbase	Hardware Wallets
Convenience	10	4
Accessibility	10	2
Security	1-6	9
Privacy	1	8
Unconfiscatability	1	10

Some great hardware wallets

Ledger Nano X (recommended)
Ledger Nano S

Or you can grab Ledger’s “backup pack” promos(with discounts!):

Ledger Backup Pack – consists of one Ledger Nano X and one Ledger Nano S.
Ledger Family Pack X – consists of three(3) Ledger Nano X devices
Ledger Family Pack S – consists of three(3) Ledger Nano S devices

Must read: The in-depth guide to Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Wallets

Conclusion

If there’s one thing that we want you to remember from this article, is the quote “not your keys, not your bitcoin“. The only way to have total control and to have significantly better security over your funds is to use a wallet that gives you access to your private keys/recovery seed. That way, even if for instance every single existing bitcoin/cryptocurrency exchange gets hacked, your coins will be untouched.

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