Nearly every crypto loss we investigate traces back to one of five preventable mistakes. Master these habits and you are safer than 99% of holders.
1. Guard your recovery phrase like cash
Write it on paper, store copies in two separate physical locations, and never photograph, email or cloud-store it. Anyone with those words owns your wallet — including “support agents” who ask for it. Real support never will.
2. Turn on everything: 2FA, allowlists, approvals
On CoinHarbor, enable authenticator-based 2FA, add a withdrawal allowlist so funds can only leave to your addresses, and approve new devices by email. Each layer independently stops entire classes of attack.
3. Verify every address, every time
Malware swaps clipboard addresses in milliseconds. Check the first and last six characters before confirming, send a small test transaction for large amounts, and confirm the network matches — USDT on the wrong chain is gone.
4. Bookmark, don’t Google
Phishing sites buy ads on exchange brand names. Bookmark coinharbor and your wallet sites, and treat every “urgent security” email as hostile until proven otherwise.
5. Vault what you won’t touch
Balances over $10,000 belong in multi-signature cold vaults with delayed withdrawals. It is free on CoinHarbor, and delay plus insurance turns theft from catastrophe into inconvenience.