The #1 Rule to Protect Your Crypto — Why Smart Investors Never Leave Coins on Exchanges

If you leave your crypto on an exchange, it’s not really your crypto.

You're trusting a middleman — and in crypto, that’s risky.

 Not Your Keys = Not Your Crypto

When you store coins on an exchange like Coinbase, Binance, or KuCoin:

• You don’t control the private keys
  
  

• The exchange does
  
  

That means they can freeze, restrict, lose, or even block your funds — and there's nothing you can do about it.

 Rule to remember:
“Not your keys, not your coins.”

 Examples of Exchanges That Failed

These aren’t just “what-ifs.” Big names have collapsed:

• FTX (2022) – $8+ billion in user funds lost overnight
  
  

• Mt. Gox (2014) – 850,000 Bitcoins vanished
  
  

• QuadrigaCX – CEO died (or disappeared) with the only access to user wallets
  
  

People who left their coins on those platforms?
They lost everything.

 What Can Go Wrong

 What You Should Do Instead

1. Buy on an exchange, then transfer to your wallet
   
   

2. Use a trusted non-custodial wallet (like MetaMask or Trust Wallet)
   
   

3. For large amounts, use a hardware wallet (like Ledger or Trezor)
   
   

4. Write down your seed phrase and store it safely offline
   
   

Hot wallets = for spending/trading
Cold wallets = for savings/safety

 Final Thought

Exchanges are great for buying and selling.
But they're not a vault — and they're not meant to be your bank.

If you're not holding your crypto in a personal wallet…
you're just trusting a company with your money.