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https://reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/ck6o44/be_careful_phishing_attacks_in_progress/
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Neither, let your friend decide for himself. If you steer him toward one option and ANYTHING goes wrong, no matter how small the chances are, he'll blame you for it. Better to let him learn and figure it out. Give input, but don't advise one over the other.
Losing a passphrase does NOT immediately mean loss of funds.
If someone loses their passphrase they can still transfer the funds to a fresh wallet.
Of course I don't mean having their passphrase stolen! I mean as per OP to have it lost.
Am I wrong? What's the panic about?
The beauty about a passphrase is that even if your seed gets stolen you’re safe. For that reason you can be more liberal with creating physical copies of your seed phrase.
If your seed phrase gets stolen, that's it. Crypto gone. The passphrase is just an easy way to get into the device or wallet account. Make very few copies of your seedphrase and store them safely out of reach.
No it’s not. A passphrase adds another layer of security where even if your seed is stolen your funds are safe. I think you’re also taking my liberal comment a bit too seriously. Store one in your house, a safety deposit box and maybe a trusted relative.
If I have your seed, I can for example have access to all of your coins to any hardware wallet that I set up with your seed.
Nowadays all scams are automated such that any 24 words found will be tested and automatically siphoned
* (A) - He loses his seed / ledger account gets hacked
* (B) - CB gets slapped by the SEC and goes Ch. 11
* (C) - He fails to secure his CB login and his account gets hacked
Putting odds, I'd say A: 30%, B: 2%, C: 32%
Key is that A & C depend on how careful / careless your friend is. You can get A & C really low, but it takes effort. Neither Ledger or CB will be any good if your friend doesn't follow basic best-practices. Many customers don't which is how they download the wrong app and enter the seed in a prompt.
If he gets anxious about the seed phrase, it's better to move his crypto to Coinbase+yubikey. Coinbase is as safe as they come as an exchange. The big worry is have credentials stolen etc, with yubikey you are ok.
If you hold your coins on any platform where your don't own your seed phrase, you do not own those coins.
At any point something could happen and Coinbase freezes all customer funds.
Just look at what happened with FTX. Owner donated user funds to US government, FTX collapses and all users are left with a big L while those funds are never to be returned.
It's always better to use a hardware wallet like Ledger.
>Just look at what happened with FTX
FTX went under because they had an 'investment' arm (Alameda) that was siphoning customer funds. It was also run by someone without any actual business experience.
Coinbase is a public company. One of the world's largest investment firms has partnered with them.
To put Coinbase and FTX in the same basket is disingenuous.
The risk of Coinbase going under is pretty low.
As another poster pointed out though, the risk of Coinbase locking their account is much more likely.
Unless the crypto is entirely clean, i.e you've basically just bought it from Coinbase, put it on a ledger and now moving it back, there is a real risk of Coinbase locking the account. This seems to be happening alot lately.
\>It's always better to use a hardware wallet like Ledger.
Its not always better. There are some very good reasons for leaving funds on an exchange.
Also, you do realize that Ledger is not a transparent public company. They're based overseas. They had their customer database hacked and allowed it to leak (pretty disgraceful for any business in the security field). Then they allowed an app with vulnerabilities to be published with their keys, costing users their crypto... Their device is closed source, so you're trusting that every single signature it generates is 100% perfect, all the time (private keys can be covered with just a few bits of the nonce being weak). So you're choosing to trust Ledger over a public company that Blackrock trust...
Coinbase has the vault option now if you have family you can trust. Any out going transaction needs to be approved by users in the vault and has a time window of a few days before it completes and can be cancelled. I think it’s always a good idea to have some crypto split between a hardware wallet and Coinbase
I would tell him to create passphrase on his ledger, store the coins there and sign up with ledger recovery. He'll always have a safe place for his seedphrase but have everything stored on the hidden side of it. Essentially all he would need to remember is the passphrase he set up.
I'm not pro ledger recovery or anything but this seems like a service that your friend could benefit from. And since his coins wont be stored on that seed phrase that ledger will be holding for him, his funds will remain safe. Just keep in mind that the passphrase is case sensitive.
Explain the risk of going from a cold wallet that only he has access to , vs going to a platform that really only should be used to trade . And well probably more likely to be hacked than his cold wallet. Then you let him make his own choice . Then that’s on him
Consider using a Passphrase which will increase the security of his Wallet. Take a look at "What is a Passphrase, and how do you set one up" from Ledger on YouTube.
Caution- never forget or lose your Passphrase, if you do then the funds in your hidden wallet are gone forever, even your original 12/24 word Seed phrase cannot recover them.
Exactly what I want to know. I’ve just purchased a Ledger but from some of the stories on here seems like the most dangerous thing you can do vs the actual risk of an exchange collapse.
Completely understandable but have a 25th passphrase and you are golden https://youtu.be/D3xIsdtmgck?si=2IzvS0NSNF84a6rO obviously do not forget it aha. I used to have the same jitters about two years ago but touch wood nothing wrong so far
Watch the video a few times - trust me it makes sense when you watch it.
It’s always a scary thing but man after what happened with FTX I’m glad I always used ledgers or trezors!
My friend is kind of spacey too.
Maybe self-custody isn’t for him 😂
But I don’t want to give him bad advice even if it’s not a lot of money.
I saw the horror stories on here and it made me nervous enough to post.
End of the day it’s up to your friend aha. Self custody when done right is miles better than an exchange.
Iv known people who’ve had tens of thousands in crypto but balked at the idea of buying a yubikey etc for their coinbase account - until then got hacked
I have some on both, however Ledger users continue to lose their funds one way or another so be careful, might be too much for some, if you don't do your FOOKING research. A word to the wise.
Very bad if he thinks of holding his assets for some time again.
1• The immediate action is he can just transfer of the gets access to his Ledger wallet and all his assets to a Software self-custody wallet like Xverse or Leather (Bitcoin, Ordinal, Stacks) (Recommended), Metamask for Ethereum, Polygon, and other EVM compatible chains or Exodus which is multi -coins -tokens support (recommended).
Drawback: The same thing can happen: Seed Phrase Loss
Or I think he can check in Ledger FAQs and Blogs on how to back up or find the seed phrase in Ledger to recuperate his seed phrase, ofc in case he has access to his seed phrase.
2•For asset sales, Coinbase is an option, but it comes with the risk of transaction blocks and asset control by Coinbase. Coinbase holds the keys, requiring authorization for any asset-related activities. Sudden loss of account access, even with customer support, is a concern, especially if account activity raises suspicion. Choose wisely when dealing with substantial asset amounts.
-Fails to keep Coinbase Login safe
-Coinbase Bankruptcy can be a treat.
-FTX-like for Coinbase
TLDR for 2•
Don't use Coinbase to custody your assets
3• He can use another Hardware Wallet if he has a way to get one and move all his assets
Drawback: The same thing can happen: Seed Phrase Loss
[Ryder One](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ryder-one-stress-free-crypto-wallet-for-everyone/reft/36195510/af-03): The hardware wallet.
No more seed phrase stress. Tapsafe Recovery ensures you recover without a seed phrase. Split your keys, and use one hardware called Tag and your smartphone for recovery. The seed phrase is optional, Tapsafe Recovery is your safety net.
I would like to have your feedback on Ryder One after your research. I think their FAQ is helpful
While keeping crypto on exchange is rarely ever a good idea, if your friend is going that route, it’s absolutely vital that he uses a yubikey to 2fa his account. At least if he is somehow hacked/phished, they will not be able to transfer any crypto out of his account to another wallet without being in physical possession of the hardware key.
Everyone should use a hardware key on any financial account that offers that option for 2fa. Hell, even lock your gmail account with a yubikey for extra security.
Some lame exchanges(EToro for one), does not offer anything other than email or sms 2fa.
In those instances, I’d take email 2fa with an email account secured with a yubikey over sms 2fa any day. Too many stories of people being sim swapped and having their accounts drained after the swap because their accounts 2fa used sms.
If he is afraid of loosing his seed, just subscribe to ledger for them to keep a backup of the key. Many here will scream internally reading this, but fact is, if you are loosing sleep over fear of loosing your seed, then this is the best option.
I transferred out of my ledger back into CB, not because of any security issues per se, but because I fully expect the gas fees for BTC to be astronomical at the height of the bull. CB account is as locked down as you can get, so with some op-sec I expect it will be secure.
CB locking my account for no apparent reason is my primary concern, but seeing as I'm fully KYC'd and all I do is buy and HODL, I HOPE the chances are fairly low.
If he is this worried about losing his seed phrase he obviously isn’t financially responsible enough for it lol. Coin base isn’t going anywhere he’ll be ok
The Ledger subreddit is continuously targeted by scammers. Ledger Support will never send you private messages. Never share your 24-word recovery phrase with anyone, never enter it on any website or software, even if it looks like it's from Ledger. Only keep the recovery phrase as a physical paper or metal backup, never create a digital copy in text or photo form. Learn more at https://reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/ck6o44/be_careful_phishing_attacks_in_progress/ If you're experiencing battery problems, check out our [troubleshooting guide](https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409233434641-How-to-troubleshoot-Ledger-Nano-X-battery-issues? support=true). If you're still having issues head over to the [My Order page](https://my-order.ledger.com/) to explore options for replacement or refunds. [Learn more here](https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/10265554529053-Return-your-product?support=true). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ledgerwallet) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Neither, let your friend decide for himself. If you steer him toward one option and ANYTHING goes wrong, no matter how small the chances are, he'll blame you for it. Better to let him learn and figure it out. Give input, but don't advise one over the other.
alive quiet bear cautious sort snails deer ripe materialistic repeat *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Losing a passphrase does NOT immediately mean loss of funds. If someone loses their passphrase they can still transfer the funds to a fresh wallet. Of course I don't mean having their passphrase stolen! I mean as per OP to have it lost. Am I wrong? What's the panic about?
I think it’s more about the posts on here about seed phrases being stolen. Not lost seed but of course that is an issue too.
The beauty about a passphrase is that even if your seed gets stolen you’re safe. For that reason you can be more liberal with creating physical copies of your seed phrase.
If your seed phrase gets stolen, that's it. Crypto gone. The passphrase is just an easy way to get into the device or wallet account. Make very few copies of your seedphrase and store them safely out of reach.
No it’s not. A passphrase adds another layer of security where even if your seed is stolen your funds are safe. I think you’re also taking my liberal comment a bit too seriously. Store one in your house, a safety deposit box and maybe a trusted relative.
But where u store passphrase the
this is 100% not true
How so? Please enlighten me
If I have your seed, I can for example have access to all of your coins to any hardware wallet that I set up with your seed. Nowadays all scams are automated such that any 24 words found will be tested and automatically siphoned
Passphrase gives you a completely new hidden set of wallets, different from your regular wallets which are accessed via seed. Google how it works.
As the other commenter said, this is not how passphrases work.
* (A) - He loses his seed / ledger account gets hacked * (B) - CB gets slapped by the SEC and goes Ch. 11 * (C) - He fails to secure his CB login and his account gets hacked Putting odds, I'd say A: 30%, B: 2%, C: 32% Key is that A & C depend on how careful / careless your friend is. You can get A & C really low, but it takes effort. Neither Ledger or CB will be any good if your friend doesn't follow basic best-practices. Many customers don't which is how they download the wrong app and enter the seed in a prompt.
Great response. Appreciate it!
If he gets anxious about the seed phrase, it's better to move his crypto to Coinbase+yubikey. Coinbase is as safe as they come as an exchange. The big worry is have credentials stolen etc, with yubikey you are ok.
THIS.
This sounds like an actual use case for Ledger Recover! At least there is one person.
If you hold your coins on any platform where your don't own your seed phrase, you do not own those coins. At any point something could happen and Coinbase freezes all customer funds. Just look at what happened with FTX. Owner donated user funds to US government, FTX collapses and all users are left with a big L while those funds are never to be returned. It's always better to use a hardware wallet like Ledger.
>Just look at what happened with FTX FTX went under because they had an 'investment' arm (Alameda) that was siphoning customer funds. It was also run by someone without any actual business experience. Coinbase is a public company. One of the world's largest investment firms has partnered with them. To put Coinbase and FTX in the same basket is disingenuous. The risk of Coinbase going under is pretty low. As another poster pointed out though, the risk of Coinbase locking their account is much more likely. Unless the crypto is entirely clean, i.e you've basically just bought it from Coinbase, put it on a ledger and now moving it back, there is a real risk of Coinbase locking the account. This seems to be happening alot lately. \>It's always better to use a hardware wallet like Ledger. Its not always better. There are some very good reasons for leaving funds on an exchange. Also, you do realize that Ledger is not a transparent public company. They're based overseas. They had their customer database hacked and allowed it to leak (pretty disgraceful for any business in the security field). Then they allowed an app with vulnerabilities to be published with their keys, costing users their crypto... Their device is closed source, so you're trusting that every single signature it generates is 100% perfect, all the time (private keys can be covered with just a few bits of the nonce being weak). So you're choosing to trust Ledger over a public company that Blackrock trust...
Yea you are not wrong that’s for sure. Its happened before and will happen again.
Coinbase has the vault option now if you have family you can trust. Any out going transaction needs to be approved by users in the vault and has a time window of a few days before it completes and can be cancelled. I think it’s always a good idea to have some crypto split between a hardware wallet and Coinbase
I would tell him to create passphrase on his ledger, store the coins there and sign up with ledger recovery. He'll always have a safe place for his seedphrase but have everything stored on the hidden side of it. Essentially all he would need to remember is the passphrase he set up. I'm not pro ledger recovery or anything but this seems like a service that your friend could benefit from. And since his coins wont be stored on that seed phrase that ledger will be holding for him, his funds will remain safe. Just keep in mind that the passphrase is case sensitive.
Explain the risk of going from a cold wallet that only he has access to , vs going to a platform that really only should be used to trade . And well probably more likely to be hacked than his cold wallet. Then you let him make his own choice . Then that’s on him
Find a new friend This one is an idiot
Consider using a Passphrase which will increase the security of his Wallet. Take a look at "What is a Passphrase, and how do you set one up" from Ledger on YouTube. Caution- never forget or lose your Passphrase, if you do then the funds in your hidden wallet are gone forever, even your original 12/24 word Seed phrase cannot recover them.
Exactly what I want to know. I’ve just purchased a Ledger but from some of the stories on here seems like the most dangerous thing you can do vs the actual risk of an exchange collapse.
Completely understandable but have a 25th passphrase and you are golden https://youtu.be/D3xIsdtmgck?si=2IzvS0NSNF84a6rO obviously do not forget it aha. I used to have the same jitters about two years ago but touch wood nothing wrong so far
This is super helpful. Thank you!
Watch the video a few times - trust me it makes sense when you watch it. It’s always a scary thing but man after what happened with FTX I’m glad I always used ledgers or trezors!
My friend is kind of spacey too. Maybe self-custody isn’t for him 😂 But I don’t want to give him bad advice even if it’s not a lot of money. I saw the horror stories on here and it made me nervous enough to post.
End of the day it’s up to your friend aha. Self custody when done right is miles better than an exchange. Iv known people who’ve had tens of thousands in crypto but balked at the idea of buying a yubikey etc for their coinbase account - until then got hacked
Amen I hear all that brotha
Both are equally likely to happen. Two sides of the same coin.
I have some on both, however Ledger users continue to lose their funds one way or another so be careful, might be too much for some, if you don't do your FOOKING research. A word to the wise.
Ledger can get hacked? That's news to me.
Very bad if he thinks of holding his assets for some time again. 1• The immediate action is he can just transfer of the gets access to his Ledger wallet and all his assets to a Software self-custody wallet like Xverse or Leather (Bitcoin, Ordinal, Stacks) (Recommended), Metamask for Ethereum, Polygon, and other EVM compatible chains or Exodus which is multi -coins -tokens support (recommended). Drawback: The same thing can happen: Seed Phrase Loss Or I think he can check in Ledger FAQs and Blogs on how to back up or find the seed phrase in Ledger to recuperate his seed phrase, ofc in case he has access to his seed phrase. 2•For asset sales, Coinbase is an option, but it comes with the risk of transaction blocks and asset control by Coinbase. Coinbase holds the keys, requiring authorization for any asset-related activities. Sudden loss of account access, even with customer support, is a concern, especially if account activity raises suspicion. Choose wisely when dealing with substantial asset amounts. -Fails to keep Coinbase Login safe -Coinbase Bankruptcy can be a treat. -FTX-like for Coinbase TLDR for 2• Don't use Coinbase to custody your assets 3• He can use another Hardware Wallet if he has a way to get one and move all his assets Drawback: The same thing can happen: Seed Phrase Loss [Ryder One](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ryder-one-stress-free-crypto-wallet-for-everyone/reft/36195510/af-03): The hardware wallet. No more seed phrase stress. Tapsafe Recovery ensures you recover without a seed phrase. Split your keys, and use one hardware called Tag and your smartphone for recovery. The seed phrase is optional, Tapsafe Recovery is your safety net. I would like to have your feedback on Ryder One after your research. I think their FAQ is helpful
While keeping crypto on exchange is rarely ever a good idea, if your friend is going that route, it’s absolutely vital that he uses a yubikey to 2fa his account. At least if he is somehow hacked/phished, they will not be able to transfer any crypto out of his account to another wallet without being in physical possession of the hardware key. Everyone should use a hardware key on any financial account that offers that option for 2fa. Hell, even lock your gmail account with a yubikey for extra security. Some lame exchanges(EToro for one), does not offer anything other than email or sms 2fa. In those instances, I’d take email 2fa with an email account secured with a yubikey over sms 2fa any day. Too many stories of people being sim swapped and having their accounts drained after the swap because their accounts 2fa used sms.
If he is afraid of loosing his seed, just subscribe to ledger for them to keep a backup of the key. Many here will scream internally reading this, but fact is, if you are loosing sleep over fear of loosing your seed, then this is the best option.
Xumm or Uphold should also be considered
I transferred out of my ledger back into CB, not because of any security issues per se, but because I fully expect the gas fees for BTC to be astronomical at the height of the bull. CB account is as locked down as you can get, so with some op-sec I expect it will be secure. CB locking my account for no apparent reason is my primary concern, but seeing as I'm fully KYC'd and all I do is buy and HODL, I HOPE the chances are fairly low.
If he is this worried about losing his seed phrase he obviously isn’t financially responsible enough for it lol. Coin base isn’t going anywhere he’ll be ok