Transferring Funds to Ledger

So since the Celsius debacle I decided to finally get a Ledger. It took me over a year in crypto to finally do the right thing. Here is why I made that choice and how I transfered my funds.

Why Cold Storage

So a Ledger is like a usb stick, but then a protected one. You put a pin on it to unlock it every time you use it and you get a 24 word key.

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You know the saying not your keys not your crypto? Well that is the reason I finally got the Ledger. This way your crypto is stored on the USB and not with an exchange or defi operator that could take your crypto if they wanted to. That was exactly the experience I had with Celsius last week. I only put €500 on there, but it is always a bummer to lose money.

So How Does It Work?

When your Ledger arrives the first thing to do is to set up your pin, you choose your own pin of between 4-8 numbers. After that you get your 24 word phrase. You will need this phrase if you ever lose or break your Ledger and you want to recover your crypto.

The next thing is to install the Ledger Live. This is an app (both for desktop and phone) that will allow you to keep track of your crypto and to send and receive it. In order to receive or exchange your crypto you can also download apps there that will help you do that.

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Moving Your Crypto

This is arguably the hardest part of the whole thing. You will have to make sure your funds are movable (not in staking) and you will have to pay some money to do things. As it can be crazy expensive to move some coins (like Ethereum) I changed all my crypto into things that are cheap to move (BCH, Stellar Lumens, Litecoin) and then used the exchange on Ledger to turn it back into the coin I wanted. That way you keep down the costs of transferring your funds.

It took me a while to switch to cold storage, but I can really recommend it, I feel like my crypto is secure and no longer have to worry that an exchange runs away with my money.