A few thoughts from someone who has been around crypto for years:
1. Do not trust any centralized exchange. Hold your own tokens using a secure hardware wallet. Back up your seed phrase securely. This is not really that hard anymore IMO.
2. Let me repeat that, but more emphatically... Centralized exchanges are not to be trusted. They are not "crypto". They are unregulated banks operated by shady characters. Use them as on- and off-ramps from fiat, but get your tokens into a cold wallet ASAP. If you leave your money in them, they _will_ rug-pull you at some point.
3. Crypto token prices are primarily driven by speculation. Do not expect stability. Do not expect a token's price to appreciate just because the project is technically interesting, or solving a real need. Instead, expect prices to fluctuate wildly, mostly in correlation to the same macroeconomic events that impact stocks, with an even higher risk.
4. Not all stablecoins are created equally. Run away from algorithmic stablecoins IMO. Also avoid USDT and any other coins where proof of reserves seem suspicious. I personally prefer USDC. If you _must_ invest in an algo coin, look at DAI, but keep in mind that it is very exposed to USDC as well.
5. USD-pegged stablecoins can all be blacklisted and paused. If they want to do business in dollars, their makers have to accept some degree of US.gov regulation. Do not expect to hold and spend your USDC if the US government wants to stop you.
6. Do your own research, damnit. This is still early days for DeFi and digital assets, and scams are thick on the ground. Do not trust what random internet commentators say, and keep your wits about you.
7. Don't lose hope. While 95% of the economic activity in the space is either scams, fraud, or speculation, the remaining 5% consists of people trying to solve real problems that are not adequately addressed by offline cash and existing payment networks. I know HN loves to point out that crypto is a solution looking for a problem, but the truth is that the current system is not perfect, and crypto brings some much needed transparency and decentralization to the world. Crypto winter is in some ways good for this, as it will disproportionately drive away the scammers and "number go up" crowd, while the real teams will keep building.
Edit, for some specifics of my stack: I use a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, with Ledger Live for management, Electrum (for Bitcoin), Keplr (for Cosmos ecosystem), and MetaMask (for Ethereum and other Solidity networks). I have a separate Chrome profile that has the latter two extensions installed, and only use it for DeFi crypto things. The only CeFi exchange I use is Coinbase, and I keep my balance there near $0 unless I anticipate a trade within the next 30 days. None of this is financial advice; I'm just a dude on the internet.
1. Do not trust any centralized exchange. Hold your own tokens using a secure hardware wallet. Back up your seed phrase securely. This is not really that hard anymore IMO.
2. Let me repeat that, but more emphatically... Centralized exchanges are not to be trusted. They are not "crypto". They are unregulated banks operated by shady characters. Use them as on- and off-ramps from fiat, but get your tokens into a cold wallet ASAP. If you leave your money in them, they _will_ rug-pull you at some point.
3. Crypto token prices are primarily driven by speculation. Do not expect stability. Do not expect a token's price to appreciate just because the project is technically interesting, or solving a real need. Instead, expect prices to fluctuate wildly, mostly in correlation to the same macroeconomic events that impact stocks, with an even higher risk.
4. Not all stablecoins are created equally. Run away from algorithmic stablecoins IMO. Also avoid USDT and any other coins where proof of reserves seem suspicious. I personally prefer USDC. If you _must_ invest in an algo coin, look at DAI, but keep in mind that it is very exposed to USDC as well.
5. USD-pegged stablecoins can all be blacklisted and paused. If they want to do business in dollars, their makers have to accept some degree of US.gov regulation. Do not expect to hold and spend your USDC if the US government wants to stop you.
6. Do your own research, damnit. This is still early days for DeFi and digital assets, and scams are thick on the ground. Do not trust what random internet commentators say, and keep your wits about you.
7. Don't lose hope. While 95% of the economic activity in the space is either scams, fraud, or speculation, the remaining 5% consists of people trying to solve real problems that are not adequately addressed by offline cash and existing payment networks. I know HN loves to point out that crypto is a solution looking for a problem, but the truth is that the current system is not perfect, and crypto brings some much needed transparency and decentralization to the world. Crypto winter is in some ways good for this, as it will disproportionately drive away the scammers and "number go up" crowd, while the real teams will keep building.
Edit, for some specifics of my stack: I use a Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, with Ledger Live for management, Electrum (for Bitcoin), Keplr (for Cosmos ecosystem), and MetaMask (for Ethereum and other Solidity networks). I have a separate Chrome profile that has the latter two extensions installed, and only use it for DeFi crypto things. The only CeFi exchange I use is Coinbase, and I keep my balance there near $0 unless I anticipate a trade within the next 30 days. None of this is financial advice; I'm just a dude on the internet.