Keeping your cryptocurrency safe — 12 ways to keep hackers, scammers and fraudsters at bay

• There is no global authority to guide against cryptocurrency thefts so far.
• This leaves individual investors to fend for themselves against scammers, hackers and fraudsters.
• These are 12 things you can do to make it harder for thieves to attack your digital assets.

Cryptocurrencies have become a popular target for hackers and scammers with the market burgeoning in value over the past one year. The upward trend has continued despite recent global volatility, first after El Salvador’s new Bitcoin law going live, followed by the Evergrande crisis and China’s FUD — crypto slang for fear, uncertainty and doubt — to retain control over their economy and promote their homegrown digital yuan.

On the other side of the fence is you, the investor, worrying whether you have enough checks and balances in place. Keeping your digital currency safe is deceptively simple — you just have to be in control of it at all times. Transforming yourself into a ‘hard target’ — someone who is at minimal risk and an unattractive target for hackers — can be achieved quickly, with minimal effort and time.

The lack of global crypto regulations is a double edged sword. While it has helped crypto to freely innovate at a fast pace, that same ‘freedom’ also means there is no standardisation when it comes to security. As a result, the onus of being in control of your cryptocurrency falls entirely on you, the user.

In the pursuit of securing cryptocurrency you own, safety measures can range from time-tested common-sense fundamentals to crypto-age precautions.

Here’s a quick look at 12 things you can do to keep thieves, hackers, fraudsters and scammers at bay: