NEWBIES: Now that BTC and Online Wallets are Suffering..

We are seeing problems arise in real time with many of the online platforms to trade. This prompted me to want to share with anyone who may be new to a few other options that I think seem to be much safer.

Paper Wallets

These are wallets that you essentially print yourself. They are not stored anywhere except on that piece of paper. You will have your public and private keys. DO NOT LOSE THESE. There will be no recovery information if you do. I highly recommend this if you put this in a safe, in a plastic bag safe from any outside damage.

Hardware Wallets

There are wallets that can be stored on thumb drives. This is done by saving a copy of the wallet.dat file, and then removing it from the computer. Always make sure your coins are received on the other end because technology is never perfect.

Keepkey, and Trezor are a few that come to mind. It is ultimately up to you to decide which one you would prefer. Each one has it's plus and negatives.

Desktop Wallets/Phone Wallets

One of these that comes to mind that I have used in the past is MultiBit. The problem I find with it is that it can be very buggy. Although almost everything related to cryptocurrencies seem to be pretty buggy since it is so new. I have run into problems when it doesn't create a high enough payout to be mined so the BTC gets "stuck" in pending mode. Which ultimately I had to research and find out how to accelerate the transaction. There are certain websites that can help with this. Such as ViaBTC. I have heard many people running into issues like this.

It is quite a worrisome thing to see your money "stuck" with no idea what to do.

As for phone wallets they are very easy to use, but susceptible to hacking. I came across an article the other day talking about how some apps on androids were watching user's information about their bitcoin wallets. I personally would not want to use these other than trading in real life quickly. Not holding long term.

And last but not least...

Online Platforms

We have seen time and again that these seem to be very unreliable in times of need. This is where I forsee a lot of issues coming to cryptocurrencies of platforms like Coinbase "going offline" for a little bit while a price is plummeting. While I see that they seem to have good intentions doing this, it isn't their money to mess around with. So I highly recommend using something that is under your own control.

If you have been watching long enough you will remember what happened with Mt. Gox

They had $460 million "siphoned" or stolen from them one way or another (years ago). I think holding trust in these companies is probably not the right way to go. Especially as we see things are still so fresh and new.

All in all, I think everyone needs to stay diverse and spread out where they keep their coins. Do not share any information with anyone. Do not get scared with these little plummets like today. It will happen, but this is a good time to buy. I can only speak for myself, but I think that keeping faith in the coins will have long term benefit. Stay vigilant and keep researching. Your knowledge and wisdom will reward you one way or another. And most of all, have fun..