A Web3 or blockchain wallet is an essential tool to discover and take advantage of the emerging world of decentralized finance and applications. Setting one up is the first stage in a journey considering safety and a high level of user responsibility.
Crypto wallets have two keys: the public and the private key. Anyone on the network might have access to your public key, but the private key is only secret to you, and you should never share them with anyone. Anyone with access to your private key can access your coins, you should always guard your private keys.
Give me an example
Let’s use a real-world analogy to analyze how keeping your wallet safe is essential. Marta wanted to travel from Quebec to Havana in the 18th century; she carried a bag containing her money and some valuables. She has been warned about pickpockets parading the city, especially at night. Marta will have to follow some tips to secure her bag, like avoiding moving at night and being vigilant.
The situation for Marta is the same for a crypto wallet holder today. The pickpockets are the hackers, while the tips are the best practices to secure your wallet.
Check, check and check
Making your wallet safe starts with reading instructions carefully. Due to the decentralized nature of crypto, it might be impossible to retrieve your coins when you make a mistake because transactions are irreversible, and no central body validates transactions, unlike traditional finance.
Therefore, double-check all wallet addresses before you send tokens, don’t send the wrong tokens to addresses because you might not be able to retrieve them, and add a Memo when necessary to avoid losing your coins.
Exchanges are also a great way to purchase crypto tokens; though not advisable, some crypto users store their coins on exchanges. Here are some tips to keep your wallet safe on exchanges. You must choose your exchange carefully because if it goes bankrupt, you might lose all your coins; check their longevity and ensure they are registered correctly with regulatory bodies.
Too good to be true…
Another way to keep your wallet safe is to avoid fake giveaways, do not participate in any giveaway that involves you submitting your password or private keys. Giveaways are free; if any giveaway requires you to send your coins to a particular address, do not participate because you will lose your cash to hackers.
Arbitrage is an excellent way of making money in crypto. Unfortunately, many hackers are now using this means to swindle crypto users. They ask you to purchase crypto from a reputable site and sell it on their website for profit. Do not participate because you’ll lose your funds to scammers. Check the reputation of websites before participating.
Hackers also use phishing attacks to steal valuable information like private keys and passwords from users. Phishing attacks are a social engineering scheme that hackers use to steal valuable information from users.
For example, let’s use Fuse.io for example, hackers might create Fuuuse.io and copy the website’s design, and users that do not check the URL properly might fall victim.
Hackers also hack social media pages of legit websites, which means they can create a fake announcements to defraud users of a particular project. The best way to avoid falling victim to this type of attack is to check multiple project social media pages (e.g., Telegram and Twitter) to confirm the announcement.
Bad actors also use malware to steal valuable information from users. To avoid malware on your personal computer, download a reliable antivirus and avoid visiting malicious websites because you might end up downloading and falling victim to malware.
If you decide to use a hardware wallet to keep your crypto, make sure you keep it safe because if you lose your hardware wallet, you will no longer be able to access your coins.
Fuse Cash
Fuse Cash is a non-custodial mobile wallet where you can send and receive crypto assets alongside fiat currencies. Fuse Cash is like neobank mobile wallets like Venmo or Lydia. The advantage of Fuse Cash over those mobile wallets is they don’t support crypto transactions. You can send fiat currencies like US Dollars and Euros using Fuse Cash.
