The issue of keeping crypto keys safe is one of the major concerns for new cryptocurrency users. However, the CEO of one of the biggest exchange has said that the centralised option is better than keeping your own keys.
“IT Security Schlüssel Key vor Crypto-Hi” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Christoph Scholz
What Did He Say?
Changpeng Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of Binance, which is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges. He recently tweeted in response to Peter Schiff. Schiff if a well-known crypto sceptic who had wrongly predicted a price drop. He said that he had lost the keys to access his Bitcoin.
Zhao replied that “today most people are not able to secure a key even from themselves”. He went on to say that use of a “trusted centralized exchange is SAFUer” in most cases than individual wallets and crypto keys.
Of course, Binance has had its own security problems in the past. The site was hacked in May of last year, with 7,000 BTC stolen. Therefore, some people commented on Twitter that the Binance CEO wasn’t in the ideal position to talk about crypto security like this.
What about Vitalik Buterin’s View?
One of the people who joined the debate was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. He said that coin owners shouldn’t have to keep their own keys safe.
Buterin stated that he was disappointed that there were replies stating that people had no option but to be extremely careful and “write down backup seeds in three places”. The developer pointed out that the industry need to work to increase safety and usability in this respect.
Buterin floated the idea of social recovery as an alternative. This is a process that lets you rely on certain trusted people to help you to recover funds that are inaccessible due to lost keys. Yet, not everyone thinks that this is a good idea, as it requires a high level of trust. It could also lead to several people being targeted.
What Does the Future Hold?
There is no doubt that the question of security and crypto keys remains a big issue as the number of wallets grows. On the one hand, there is the risk of losing your keys if you hold a personal wallet. On, the other hand, leaving your coins in an exchange also has some risks associated with it.
Hopefully, a better solution will be found before too long. For the moment, it is important that investors understand the different ways of holding digital currency and then choose the one that suits them best.