Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them. Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody. Here we’ll explore some …

Investing in any financial asset can be a tricky exercise, but this is especially true for the fast-paced cryptocurrency market, which comes with its own unique set of pitfalls and challenges. A popular saying dictates that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill and become an expert. In cryptoland time, this is measured in market cycles, which subject each trader to a few trips on the roller coaster of volatility as a crash course on navigating the market. Here are five important lessons every trader should learn when it comes to investing in cryptocurrency bull markets. Rule #1: No …

There’s never a dull day in Bitcoin (BTC) land. Despite that markets calling for a lull, the creative Bitcoin community always has cause for amusement. Yesterday, a Redditor by the name of Optimal-Dentistador (henceforth, OD) queried the longevity of the Bitcoin network with a time-lapse challenge. In a post made to the Bitcoin subreddit, OD “wrote a letter and also put the private keys for $100 worth in BTC.” In private communication with Cointelegraph, they disclosed they “put 0.003 BTC on a new address, put the private and public key together with the letter in the envelope, and here we …

Cryptocurrency custody solutions have become a big business over the last few years. Independent storage and security systems meant to hold large quantities of crypto on behalf of clients can bring in institutional capital and retail investors waiting on the sidelines simply because they remove a major fear: losing access to funds that become unrecoverable. Because of the decentralized nature of major blockchains like that of Bitcoin or Ethereum, whenever a user loses access to their wallet and doesn’t have a backup of their private keys, the funds within it cannot be recovered. There’s no central entity to turn to, …

The institutional arm of the Consensys-owned MetaMask has integrated its first multi-chain digital asset custody solution called Cactus Custody. MetaMask Institutional (MMI) initially partnered with Cactus Custody owned by crypto financial service platform Matrixport in October last year to incorporate its “DeFi Connector” feature into MMI’s suite of services. The full integration with MMI was announced on Jan. 26, and Cactus Custody’s feature will now provide institutional customers with multi-chain connectivity to all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, sidechains and Layer 2s supported by MetaMask such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Celo and Polygon. MMI product lead Johann Bornman …

On Monday, Coinbase, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange globally by trading volume, announced the creation of a novel cryptographic library, Kryptology, as a compendium of tools for blockchain developers. These include secure, audited, and easy-to-use APIs, as well as a repository of common issues and lessons learned throughout the history of crypto. Without cryptography, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin would be digital lines of code that anyone can copy/paste. It would be easily replicable and falsifiable, leading to significant issues such as currency double-spending. Recent advancements include Boneh–Lynn–Shacham, or BLS, signatures that senders cannot deny the validity of their transactions while ensuring …

A casting call for a cable network series may offer crypto users at the end of their rope a way to access tokens locked away — or at least show viewers some of the options available to them. In a LinkedIn post from last month, casting director Jessica Jorgensen called on crypto users who have forgotten their passwords — and presumably their seed phrases — or lost their private keys to wallets with the clock ticking. The series offers consultations from cryptocurrency and cybersecurity experts to help users recover access to their funds. However, it seems participants must be prepared …

A new project calling itself the first of the fourth generation blockchains says it has solved the “blockchain trilemma” with a new approach to decentralization and an identity-based approach to security. The MetaMUI Blockchain is a “self-sovereign, identity-based meta blockchain” Seokgu (Phantom) Yun, founder and CEO of Sovereign Wallet Network (SWN) told a live ask-me-anything session held on Cointelegraph's YouTube channel. “MetaMUI Network is the permissioned public blockchain SovereignWallet Network is building with central banks, commercial banks, financial institutions, and other blockchain companies around the world.” The blockchain trilemma, posited by Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin, is that full decentralization, scalability, …

Crypto-custody firm Fireblocks is facing legal action by a firm that claims it was locked out of its wallet containing a substantial amount in crypto assets. Crypto staking platform StakeHound claims that negligence by a Fireblocks employee resulted in tens of millions of dollars worth of crypto assets being lost without any backup available. Fireblocks is an Israeli-based company that provides custody services for businesses and which is working on speeding up digital transactions. StakeHound filed the lawsuit at the Tel Aviv District Court on June 22 claiming damages for the lost assets. The wallet in question contained 38,178 ETH, …

A startup says it offers two-factor authentication on blockchain for the very first time. Shield Protocol is taking on the likes of Authy and Google Authenticator — and offers security while eliminating data collection and centralized storage. A simple interface also means it’s a tool that will be accessible for everyday users. The project is based on Binance Smart Chain and is currently in the process of integrating with Polygon. It also offers a dedicated wallet where multiple cryptocurrency assets can be stored securely. Across the crypto community (and in the fiat world,) security experts have been hammering home the …

Social token platform Roll suffered a hot wallet breach, resulting in hackers draining at least 3,000 ETH worth $5.7 million on March 15. At roughly 8am UTC, digital asset management platform MyCrypto reported that a hacker may have compromised the private keys for Roll’s hot wallet, allowing them to transfer funds from users’ accounts at will. After approximately 12 hours, Roll responded to the attack, announcing the hacker had stolen and liquidated a large number of tokens, and that withdrawals had been suspended across the platform: “The attacker has sold all the tokens. There is no further user action suggested.” …

With the value of major cryptocurrencies surging in recent months, knowing how to keep private keys safe has never been more important. We’ve all seen the horror stories that arise when all-important recovery seeds are lost, destroyed or inaccessible — or worse, stolen by a malicious actor. The consequences can be devastating, with life savings lost in the blink of an eye. But Trezor says it doesn’t have to be this way, and has come up with a novel way of protecting crypto for years to come… with safeguards in place that reduce the likelihood of security being compromised by …