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[Beginner's Class:]

I have a bad habit of not using wallets outside of exchanges (or, for those that are offered on it, Coinbase).  I'm terribly afraid of losing keys or access, or something like that. I like having my coins where I can liquidate quickly if need be.  If I go to another country I can keep all manner of money in my one physical wallet, and I really want to be able to do the same with digital currencies, although that's a pipe dream.  (However, Metal was setting up a wallet for BTC, ETH, and all ERC20 tokens, but nothing else.)

I know people point to Mt. Gox as a big reason why not to keep coins on an exchange, but if you are using 2FA and have all the security features activated (email verification from new IP, verification/2FA for every transfer, etc) are they still not considered "safe"?  In all actuality, is the risk any higher (as in how many people have had money stolen off an exchange) than using a private wallet?

Thanks for the write up. I hope you continue ... I've been involved in crypto since June or July but am still VERY much a noob.

Let's see if this takes off:

Beginner's Class: One: operational security comes before everything else. Full stop.

Everyone has different goals. (I belong to a trust-alliance. Most unusual. Therefore our OPSEC back-up model involves other hooomernzz!)

One: exchanges are 'the front line.' Coin on these is at risk every second. If you aren't profiting from trading, the risk is unwarranted.

Two: 'home base': I use a lap top. So, whatever 'suite' of crypto wallets is in use on my lap top equals 'home base.' IndiaMikeZulu has suffered a trojan attack, so we're under no delusions that 'home base' is safe – just way way safer than on exchanges!!

Three: cold storage: undoubtedly, your tech skills are better than mine (I have a Tech Guy). So, I'm outlining general principles here:

the two terms kickin' about – 'investor' and 'day-trader' – don't outline the reality very well. My guess is that most folks stand between the two. That is, some amount of their cryptos are 'vaulted.' Some amount is at home base/on exchanges.

Overall, then, you have the security protocols that pertain to each 'compartment,' and the protocols that protect funds while they're being shuffled between compartments.

And one more protocol for your overall back-up procedures, for the passwords that are part of your systems (and 'dat files' and PGP data).

To survive on Planet Krypto, you need to keep your OPSEC model in a constant state of refinement. If you crypto mates rag you about being too careful, get yourself a higher class of crypto mates!

See you tomorrow.