The Bitcoin community is elated following the recent rise in the digital currency’s price. Bitcoin, which was trading a bit over $750 a month ago surged past $900 yesterday. The higher the price of Bitcoin, more the people stand to lose in case of a security breach.
In 2014, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange at that time, Mt Gox collapsed. The failure of the cryptocurrency exchange was attributed to gross mismanagement and multiple hacking attempts. At that time, the digital currency was trading above $1000, the highest price it has ever seen. Mt Gox reported a loss of about 850,000 bitcoins at that time, before revising the numbers following the discovery of about 200,000 bitcoins in one of the cold wallets.
The internet and cryptocurrency platforms are currently plagued by cyber threats. Many Bitcoin exchanges, wallet services, and even payment processors have been the target of hackers, resulting in huge losses. At the time when the hacking incident involving Bitfinex is still fresh in the minds of Bitcoin users, the community should take few basic precautions to ensure the safety of their valuable cryptocurrency.
With Bitcoin’s price hovering at $908, every single token is worth a small fortune. It also makes Bitcoin platforms an attractive target for hackers. For those heavily invested in Bitcoin, it is the time to go extra lengths to ensure the safety of their cryptocurrency stash. People tend to keep their bitcoin on online wallets and trade platforms. But these platforms, irrespective of their cyber security measures are still a risky option.
It always pays to err on the side of safety. Bitcoin users and even the platforms should make it a point to store most of their cryptocurrency holdings in cold wallets or paper wallets instead of leaving it in online or hot wallets. Also, it’s a good option to keep these paper wallets in a safe place, to be retrieved only when needed. Hardware wallets are another option to ensure the safety of cryptocurrency holdings.
With most bitcoins stashed away safely, users will have one less thing to worry this holiday season.
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