
Ask HN: How do you “own your private keys” for cryptocurrencies held  Exchanges - justboxing
Context: In light of the Coincheck Exchange&#x27;s hack in Japan, @VinnyLingham‏ tweeted this 
 =&gt; https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;VinnyLingham&#x2F;status&#x2F;938830553477824512<p>Text of Tweet<p>&gt; #1 most important rule about owning Bitcoin. If you don’t own the private keys, you don’t own the Bitcoin. Do NOT leave your coins on exchanges!<p>What does he mean by &quot;Do NOT leave your coins on exchanges&quot;?<p>My question is, how do you &quot;own your private keys&quot; when trading and holding positions in cryptocurrencies at various exchanges.<p>The popular ones for US Residents are Kraken, GDAX (Coinbase), Gemini and I think Bitstamp also, so I would like to know the process of doing this if anyone knows.<p>If the solution is to move your cryptos out into a software or hardware wallet, then doesn&#x27;t that add new complexities, in that you can really actively trade your positions without a whole bunch of steps and activities?
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sharemywin
safety versus ease of use. if your actively trading all of your crypto then
there isn't much ability to but some of it in cold storage etc.

you might look at holding multiple accounts on different exchanges so all your
eggs aren't in one basic.

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sharemywin
I lost the paper with my private key for one of my addresses so much for that
advice. so, depending on how organized you are. password reset my be more
useful than an exchange getting hacked.

