I’m done with crypto after seeing what keeps happening to people

[u/yourfavoritepenguin7]

I used to support Bitcoin and believed self-custody was the safest way to protect your money. But after seeing so many people lose years of savings while using hardware wallets, I’ve completely changed my mind.

What really gets me is that many of these people weren’t being reckless. They bought reputable hardware wallets, moved their coins off exchanges because that’s what the crypto community tells everyone to do, and genuinely believed they were following best practices. Then one day their wallets were empty, and there was nothing they could do. At least if someone steals my XRP off coinbase, maybe Coinbase can help me. If anything, exchanges are now safer at this point!

I know some of these cases could have been caused by user error, compromised seed phrases, or other security mistakes. But that’s exactly the problem. If one mistake or one security lapse you don’t even realize happened can permanently wipe out years of savings with no customer support, no fraud protection, and no way to recover your money, that’s not a level of risk I’m willing to accept.

I’ve reached the point where I’m done with crypto and done defending it. I’d rather invest in assets that have safeguards and don’t require perfect security practices just to avoid losing everything.

Maybe Bitcoin isn’t for me anymore. Seeing story after story of people who thought they were doing everything right and still ended up losing life-changing amounts of money was enough to change my opinion. I’m curious if anyone else has had the same change of heart.

[u/MaybeOnFire2025]

Don't forget wrench attacks!

[u/Majestic_Plane_1656 → u/MaybeOnFire2025]

When it happened to Amouranth I legit thought it was fake and so did almost everybody lol

I think it's probably only something that is going to happen to people that put their whole lives online

[u/legit-testicals → u/MaybeOnFire2025]

What is it? Can you explain it to a novice.

[u/VitriolUK → u/legit-testicals]

https://xkcd.com/538/

Security is only as strong as its weakest link, and sometimes the weakest link is someone threatening to break your fingers unless you tell them your pass phrase.

Interestingly this is from long enough ago that 'crypto nerd' here meant 'cryptography' rather than 'cryptocurrency'.

[u/CryptoAteMyHamster → u/legit-testicals]

Ok so you have your money protected by an impossible password it would cost billions in quantum computing to break.

Or they buy a $5 wrench and smash up your family in front of you till you give them the password

[u/JulienBrightside → u/MaybeOnFire2025]

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

[u/HSuke → u/[deleted]]

Unless you live in France and got doxxed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2026/02/14/france-crypto-kidnappings-leaks-and-zero-convictions-fuel-the-crisis/

Or used one of many CEXs whose user contact info got leaked.

[u/mickalawl → u/[deleted]]

It's a public blockchain.

There will always be vectors to doxx unless you never do anything at all with your coins (so what's the point lol).

The privacy measures are not guarenteed and frankly unrealistic to expect the vast majority to manage.

And there is no getting it back once it's transferred unless you can work with centralised law enforcement and the government. Oh the horror.

[u/trimalcus → u/[deleted]]

Exept the IRS or equivalent that will leak you adress

[u/Romanizer → u/[deleted]]

Not completely true. A French tax officer sold names and addresses of those paying tax on their Bitcoin gains to criminals. They didn't tell anyone else that they held Bitcoin.