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We are the community of authors and creators in the blockchain industry. Today we begin our journey to create an extensive encyclopedia of crypto knowledge. We have prepared a wealth of valuable materials for publication, including alpha information that we will share with you.

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Back to today’s article. Many newcomers in crypto make the same mistakes. Today, we want to give five tips to those who have just begun their journey in crypto, based on our experience of five years.

This is not the most obvious advice to beginners, but it will protect the lion’s share of your finances.

When asked about secure storage, it is worth starting with the fact that any cryptocurrency is stored in a blockchain, and any cryptocurrency wallets are just a set of software to interact with the blockchain. In simple terms, this interface provides access to handle your private keys in various blockchain networks.

The private key is a type of PIN that gives you access to your “bank” account. It provides access to your cryptocurrency, allowing you to receive and send coins to anyone worldwide.

When you use a Centralized Exchange (CEX), you only use the interface with your virtual account, and signing transactions are done through internal software. It means the Exchange is a custodian or financial agent holding all your funds.

Have you heard anything about the recent FTX crash? If you don’t, you’re in luck. By October 2022, FTX was one of the largest Centralized Exchanges in terms of Market Volume. However, only one article by CoinDesk and a tweet from Changpeng Zhao (CEO of Binance) could tarnish the reputation of the Exchange, so much so that a sales panic could ensue. As a result, there was a liquidity crisis, following which FTX froze withdrawals from the Exchange, and at least $1 billion of customer funds vanished.

Tip #1: Not your keys, not your coins. Store on the exchanges only the amounts required for spot or futures trading. Store the rest in a hardware wallet.

Intruders create new kinds of scams every day. Some of them you will encounter daily on Twitter and Discord; other ways are a little more challenging to implement, which is much more dangerous, but most of these methods are somehow associated with interacting with suspicious or substituted links.

Tip #2: Use two-factor authentication, configure incoming messages blocking from suspicious persons, and always double-check the links you interact with.

Oddly enough, this is the advice that is most difficult to follow. It is all about human psychology. Once you find a new gold mine, the temptation to move most of your trustworthy assets here is too great to recoup quickly and earn extra. Have you heard anything about move-to-earn and how to make money just walking down the street? This has enriched some people with access to alpha information, but most have lost their funds, many of whom have transferred their trustworthy assets to such projects. No matter which games you play, it’s important to remember that you always play against the market.

Tip #3: Allocate no more than 1–2% of your portfolio for the most high-risk investments. When investing, focus on the fundamentals. Such projects can be found in our research articles.

NFT is a new stage in the development of the cryptocurrency space. And it is not even a possible short-term profit (although in it too). It will affect audio, photo, and video content, social media, and many areas of daily life, like real estate, business, traditional finance, and more. All this leads to NFT becoming the new standard for identifying user copyright in web3 space.

Tip #4: Read «How to Defi» and «How to NFT». There is plenty of useful information to help you navigate through space.

Sell when everyone is buying; buy when everyone is selling. Stay calm and always do your own research.

Tip #5: Remember why you are here. Remember what brought you into this space. Ignore the noise. Stay focused. Take what is yours.

And remember to subscribe to our Medium channel and Twitter profile. The journey begins right now.