TL,DR: If you have any assets in Crypto.com Binance (or any other centralized exchange), get them out right now.
(Also: I’ll be co-hosting the Canadian Bitcoiner’s Podcast tonight at 7pm ET)
We’ve been saying for quite some time now to get your assets off of the centralized exchanges (even ones we hold and endorse like Coinbase and Bitbuy).
Over the summer, FTX appeared to be the buyer of last resort, stepping into the carnage of Terra/Luna and 3AC collapses to “rescue” the likes of BlockFi and Voyager.
Then it turned out they were only doing that to paper over their own deteriorating financial conditions.
That failed, and FTX went down the tubes after a supposed abortive rescue takeover from Binance.
Now it appears as if things aren’t exactly adding up over on Binance’s side of the blockchain, either.
An article by Mish Shedlock is casting doubts on Binance’s Bitcoin reserves.
Mish calls out Binance’s corporate structure (very nebulous, but one could make the argument that it’s a side effect of being a corporate refugee from China that had them relocating to Bahamas ahead of China’s crypto bans).
FTX was also domiciled in Bahamas, btw.
…as well as noting how what Binance describes its recent proof-of-reserves as an “audit, however “theauditor will not vouch for the reserves nor the methodology demanded by Binance”
Mish then gets to the punchline: the revelation that Binance moved $2.7 billion of assets out of their reserve wallet.
This is a curious move, given how Binance CEO “CZ” has himself opined quite recently that:
That wasn’t even a month ago.
This would normally be material for the mid-month update due later this week, however we all know by now what difference a few days can make.
If you have any assets on Binance, get them out right now.
Binance’s exchange token BNB is off nearly 5% since this started circulating, not to mention that they have their own USD-pegged stablecoin BUSD with a market cap of approximately $22 billion (which also means they’re supposed to have $22 billion in cash somewhere to backstop that stablecoin 1:1.)
Steps to Take RIGHT NOW
I personally use hardware wallets like a Ledger Nano to custody my Bitcoin and other digital assets. They’ve just released their new Stax model (which looks pretty slick, tbh)
The following info is posted in the member’s section, but we have some new members so I’ll repeat it below:
Even if you ordered a cold wallet right now, it’ll take some time to arrive, so here are a few options for self-custody you can take right now, today.
Pull down one of these software wallets and then withdraw any coins you have on Binance (or any centralized exchange), and put them in one of these wallets.
Then when your hardware wallet arrives you can transfer them to there.
Here are some choices:
- Coinbase wallet: this used to be the BRD (Bread) wallet before they were acquired. You do not need to have Coinbase account to use it, your private keys are not accessible to them.
This is a mobile app, so one thing you can do is to put it on an old smartphone with no SIM card. Move your assets to it and then just power off the phone. Lock it away in your safe. You can even leave it powered off and future withdrawals to it will still work (like via an automated Dollar Cost Average program.
⟹ Download Coinbase Wallet here
- Electrum: Tried and true, runs on Windows, Linux and OSX – this Bitcoin only wallet has Lightning support built in and is solid.
⟹ Download Electrum Wallet here - Atomic: Similar to Coinbase in that it’s tied to an exchange, but you don’t need an exchange account to use it, self-custody, supports a wide number of coins (I have my GPU miners sending Ravencoin and Zilliqa straight to my Atomic wallet)
⟹ Download Atomic here
If you have assets on the exchanges, then get one of these today, right now – and then withdraw any Bitcoin, or other assets into it.
Remember two things:
- Safely record and store your twelve word seed phrase that you’ll generate when you set up your wallet.
- Never give this seed phrase to anybody. Whoever is asking for it is trying to scam you.
Finally:
When you have your coins safely out of the exchange, you’ve bought yourself some time to set up a more permanent self-custody.
Head over to Ledger and get yourself a Nano, or the new Stax and once you have it – transfer your coins there. Then lock it away some place safe.
The mid-month update will be out this week and if you’re online tonight, come check out the Canadian Bitcoiners Podcast at 7pm ET where I’ll be guest hosting.
Bye for now,
Mark E. Jeftovic, a.k.a “The Bombthrower”
