I'm sure many of us have heard the warnings about using an online wallet to store cryptocurrency. Well I chose to ignore this on a particular alt-coin that shall remain nameless. This is because my aim here is not to slander any coins, but instead to give you my experience so hopefully you can make more informed choices. What follows is a brief story and warning to those considering or currently using hot wallet storage to hold part of their portfolio.
So It Looks Like I Could Make Some Money On This Project, But There is No Hardware Wallet Options...
This was my frame of mind when I invested a few dollars into a cheap altcoin. Instead of keeping the newly purchased coins on an exchange (Because I Planned On Holding For a While) I decided to instead to keep them on a highly rated online wallet specific to the coin itself.
Some Time has Passed, and I Want Out. Let's Go Retrieve Those Coins!
Well..... Not so fast! "You see there has been some hacking issues lately and we decided to completely shut down access to our online wallet until further notice." Well that's Inconvenient! So I guess Ill wait a week, then two, then three, and now I'm officially screwed! Needless to say the site is still locked down and there looks to be no hope of retrieving my investment any time soon.
So Whats the Take Away Besides the Obvious?
It's kind of ironic I guess because I have gone to great lengths to keep my coins in cold storage with the exception of this one. Not only did I not heed the warning of about a million other people I chose to believe that this would not happen to me because my coins weren't on exchanges . Lesson learned! Never again will I trust any of my coins to hot storage options. I will be writing an article on the different storage options and the pro's and con's of each in the near future so stay tuned. I hope if anything I at least saved one other person from possibly wasting their hard earned money!
-Happy Trading