Anybody who is serious about their crypto assets owns or should own a hardware wallet.

Whether it is a [Trezor]( https://trezor.io/) or a [Ledger]( https://www.ledger.com/), we need to be sure that we are in control of our assets. 

![IMG_7742.JPG](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmTshGi31PPYGjJxYFMmkFtgyWJB79zg5Hoe837iqvvwGa)

Leaving your crypto on an exchange means it is not yours. You don’t have the private keys and so you are placing trust in the exchange.

Have you ever lost any tokens due to exchanges going bust? Binance recently had a hack but promised to recoup all losses, but how about [Cryptopia]( https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/)?

I for one had around 2500 ETN (Electroneum) which I foolishly bought when they were around 6c each last year sometime. 

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmZJVR2umsR9vPzb1CXKg9C92LPvGKdkjQDGVLvRJNQtuB)
[Source](https://my.electroneum.com/)

I was seeing a > 90% loss on the coins but now it’s a total loss. I lost my hundred quid and I'm not gonna cry about it.

If I had the foresight to use the online wallet, I would still have my 10 quid's worth of Electroneum. 

Not all coins are supported by these hardware devices, but you still need to exercise that control.

![crypto.JPG](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmTz7BPvSnKVrAQ33Rz3VSVq9QL6pS1xVyEyYimvEEWEfn)
[Source]( https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/)

You see I trusted Cryptopia and should not have. The New Zealand exchange is currently attempting to wind down much to the dismay of many who have trusted them with a lot more than I did.

Last year I bought a Nano Ledger S and moved the majority of my BitCoin and Etherium on to it from GDAX (Coinbase Pro).

A few days ago it crashed and reset while I was using it in conjunction with Ledger Live. This did not mean all my coins had gone west, just that I had to instigate the recovery plan.

When purchasing a Ledger, the company advises you to create a 24 word key in cases of this. The damn thing should not have reset itself and it is a known bug that people are complaining about.

![IMG_7743.JPG](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmX45DNpsG6yFkrqxFedTN6F6LDrFNpzENcs8tmRLMom5Z)

If you don't create the 24-word recovery keys or lose the words, or write one down wrongly then you can kiss goodbye to your assets.

After the reset happened to me I was a bit of a grumpy bear but knew that I had taken the precaution of writing down the words.

I got to word 11, and entered the word ‘**outline**’, except that word is not on the [list]( https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt). I could choose outdoor, outer, output or outside. They were similar but not ‘**outline**’.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYCvpjCz8b1wngRsKL9TmF8NFQ8vBFQbGRYRieMk9pJqh)

I had written word 11 down incorrectly, and luckily this was the only bad word on my scribbled list.

To recover a Ledger, you need your 8 digit pin (I hadn’t wrote this down but it was emblazoned in my head), and then all 24 words need to be entered one by one.

It’s around 10 minutes a try and you need to enter words 24 before you know whether it has worked.

![IMG_7744.JPG](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmQYMq54DkgPSWvsUf7bwCTbJy1To8CHMAvuCxobkSzyvV)

I tried outdoor, outer, and outside all to no avail. The damn thing told me ‘**bugger off**’ after 10 minutes, and then another 10 and then another.

Then something occurred to me. Forget the ‘**out**’ and focus on the ‘**line**’.

‘**online**' was the first word and after another 10 minutes of sweaty fingers, I got the message I was hoping for. ‘**Initialising device**', and then, ‘**Your device is ready**’, phew!

![IMG_7745.JPG](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/Qmei1Y6Q86FYta3oSf48qqAJwV156dQBL5ZntMcQ2BArmN)

I think I was extremely lucky not to have lost my several thousand pounds investment of BitCoin, Etherium, Ripple, LiteCoin and Stellar Lumens today.

As the title of this document says, it can be a harsh lesson if you are not a diligent bank manager. 

You see, your are that manager and there is no technical support to unlock your vault if you lose the keys or forget your password.

The power and keys are always with you and that brings a huge responsibility. 

Look after your keys and backup phrases or your Crypto will be floating around in the Ether forever, never to be claimed by anyone.

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