Safety Tools · Action Checklist

Fund Safety Checklist

Whether an exchange is trustworthy is out of your hands — but protecting your money is entirely in them. This is a tick-box action list: if you keep crypto on an exchange, these are the things you should at least get done. Tick each one and the bar above fills up. Every item comes with a one-line "how to do it."

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Tick these off and you've cut the risk of "keeping money on an exchange" to the lowest it can go.

Don't keep your net worth on an exchange

An exchange is for trading, not for storage. Every coin you leave there carries its custody risk.

Keep only what you're actively trading on the exchangeHow: estimate what you'll really use soon; withdraw the rest promptly. Treat the exchange as a wallet, not a bank. After a large deposit, move it out soon — don't let it pile up overnightHow: after any big buy or deposit, send the non-trading portion to your own wallet, as a routine.

Self-custody your long-term holdings

Not your keys, not your coins. With the keys in your own hands, a platform failure can't touch your coins.

Set up a self-custody wallet for coins you won't touch for a whileHow: a hardware wallet is safest; for small amounts a reputable software wallet works too. The point is that the keys/seed phrase are yours alone. Test with a small withdrawal first, confirm the address and arrivalHow: the first time you send to a new wallet, move a small amount, confirm it arrived on the right chain and address, then send the rest.

Turn on withdrawal whitelisting + 2FA

This group defends against account hackers — separate from defending against a platform blow-up. Do both.

Enable withdrawal address whitelistingHow: add your own wallet addresses to the whitelist in security settings, and require "withdraw to whitelisted addresses only." Then even a hacked account can't send coins to a stranger. Use app-based 2FA (not SMS only)How: use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator; don't rely on SMS codes alone — SIM cards can be hijacked. Set a unique strong password, not reused anywhere elseHow: use a password manager to generate a random password used only for this exchange, and check periodically whether it has shown up in any breach.

Diversify, don't concentrate on a small exchange

If one exchange fails, the most it can hurt is your balance there. That's the whole point of spreading out.

Use 1–2 reputable, verifiable exchanges — don't bet everything on oneHow: prefer large exchanges that publish self-verifiable Proof of Reserves monthly and have a clear entity and license. Don't put all assets in one basket. Don't hold large amounts on an opaque small exchangeHow: trying a small or new exchange is fine, but don't put your net worth there. For thin, non-transparent venues, keep only a tiny amount or none at all.

Watch withdrawals, follow PoR / audits

Whether withdrawals stay smooth is the most direct thermometer of platform health — historically, blow-ups start with "can't get it out."

Periodically test a small withdrawal to confirm the channel worksHow: even if you don't need the money, withdraw a small amount now and then. The moment withdrawals slow down or get stalled with excuses, raise your guard. Follow the Proof of Reserves (PoR) and audit updates of the platform you useHow: check whether it publishes self-verifiable reserves monthly. Stopping publication, changing its story, or reserves dominated by its own platform token are all minus points.

Back up your seed phrase, beware high-yield lures

Once you self-custody, the seed phrase is the lifeline of your assets; and high-yield lures are the most common Ponzi hook.

Write your seed phrase down offline, back it up securely, never photograph itHow: write it on paper or stamp it on metal, store it somewhere safe; never screenshot it, never store it in the cloud, never send it to anyone. Stay wary of "guaranteed profit / principal-protected high yield / lock-up rebates"How: treat "daily yield," "guaranteed APY," "signal mentor profits" as red lights. No legitimate platform can guarantee a fixed high return — it's the standard Ponzi script.

Honest, up front

This checklist helps you control the risks you can control — but it lowers risk, it does not guarantee safety. Every centralized exchange carries custody risk, and even big exchanges can fail. It is not investment advice, and does not target any specific platform. Treat it as a habit rather than a one-off task: after changing devices, changing wallets, or a violent market move, it's worth coming back to tick through it again.

For the part you do keep on an exchange, at least pick one that does all of this

"Diversify into reputable, verifiable exchanges," in practice, starts most easily with one that already publishes self-verifiable Proof of Reserves monthly, runs a user protection fund, and is licensed in multiple jurisdictions — so you don't have to dig up every piece of evidence yourself. Binance has published monthly Proof of Reserves since November 2022 (later upgraded to a zero-knowledge approach), runs the SAFU user protection fund, and holds licenses in multiple jurisdictions. None of that is a guarantee that "Binance is always safe" — it just means its risk signals are far fewer than an exchange you can't even look up. Whether to register is your decision.

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Crypto Archives is a Binance Affiliate Partner (an independent partner), not the official Binance website. The button opens the official binance.com sign-up page. Whether to register is your decision. Every centralized exchange carries risk; this is not investment advice.