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Comment by abiogenesis | Hacker News Reader

If it's not your private key, it's not your money. So yes, if the exchange doesn't come back up you can pretty much write it off.

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Yeah, one of the problems with the BTC model. You either get convenience or security but not both. I had a similar problem where bter disappeared with 137k of doge[0] in my account.

[0] about $20 when I put it in IIRC.

That's nonsense. It's incredibly easy and convenient to move BTC out of an exchange account to something you control (hardware or software wallet). Hell, some hardware wallet GUIs even have the ability to buy crypto baked right into the app (trezor suite for example).

That's what the OP says. It's either security (your wallet) or convenience (exchange).

> Yeah, one of the problems with the BTC model. You either get convenience or security but not both.

No, it's not what OP says... He's saying security and convenience are mutually exclusive in BTC. I'm saying that is not the case... You can use an exchange and transfer or use a hardware wallet with built in exchange capabilities. Making it seem like there is some inherent issue with the design/architecture that makes this impossible is extremely misleading.

I don't think I follow. The point is a hardware wallet is not as convenient as an exchange as you can always recover your account if you forget your password. It's not as secure though, as the private keys are hold by someone else.

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