If you’re like most people in this space, you check the price of bitcoin before getting out of bed. And, let’s face it, probably a few times in the night as well–especially if your crypto nightmares are keeping you awake. Because, deep down, every HODLer knows there’s a lot more to worry about than daily fluctuations.
1. Getting Hacked
OK, so you obviously don’t keep all your crypto wealth on an exchange. But we all get lazy about storing our crypto assets at times. While you may get some of your funds back in the event of a hack, there’s no ironclad guarantee-Cryptopia, anyone?
Keep an eye on this page for updates on the situation: https://t.co/TWZkinsUet pic.twitter.com/1c5ezYq27u
— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) January 28, 2019
For those of you storing your BTC and alts in the appropriate wallets, you may still be the victim of sim swapping, malware, phishing, keystroke logging, or ransomware. These are crypto nightmares that cost the industry more than $4.5 billion last year alone- as well as plenty of sleepless nights.
2. Getting REKT
Experienced traders know to set stop and limit orders to avoid getting REKT when they’re away from the keyboard. But all the experience in the world won’t help you when BitMEX experiences a “trading glitch” or Binance suffers “performance issues.”
As this furious trader pointed out to Binance’s CEO last week, no one’s going to compensate you for the funds you lose when you can’t close an order:
Funds are safu? so you are going to compensate me and everyone else for losing money here?🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
— EliZ (@eliz883) February 13, 2020
Even if you don’t actively trade, you probably buy, hold, and try to make some money here and there… Follow ETH all the way down to the bottom then sell a week before it balloons.
If getting REKT isn’t one of your crypto nightmares, making the wrong call can be equally hard to live with.
3. Losing Your Crypto Recovery Seed
Whether you have yours engraved on a titanium plate a la CRYPTOTAG Zeus Starter Kit or simply jotted down on paper(s), you may worry about losing your recovery seed-and probably your hardware wallet as well.
After all, if you’re one of those people who’s not good with your car keys, storing private keys can be awfully intimidating.
I just lost all the #Bitcoin I have ever owned. My wallet got corrupted somehow and my password is no longer valid. So now not only is my Bitcoin intrinsically worthless; it has no market value either. I knew owning Bitcoin was a bad idea, I just never realized it was this bad! pic.twitter.com/6SJvDJOZU6
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) January 19, 2020
You may not have held a bar of solid gold in your hands before, but if you have any amount of crypto stored on a hardware wallet you’re starting to get close. Just ask Max Keiser about Gold 2.0. And now freak out a little more about keeping it safe.
4. Messing Up Your Crypto Tax Return
Let’s be honest, filing a tax return was never fun when it came to fiat. But filing taxes for your cryptocurrency earnings is one of the worst crypto nightmares there is.
When the rules are constantly changing and vary by jurisdiction, the last thing you need (after getting REKT) is to find yourself slammed with a tax bill for incorrect filing.
5. Bitcoin Is Going to Zero
It’s the small of the night and all logic flies out the window in the witching hours when your worst fears come to haunt you. Quantitative easing, an unsustainable financial system, Austrian economics, Andreas Antonopoulos, and your unwavering faith to one side, you wake up in a sweat.
Could this whole thing actually just disappear from one day to the next? Could bitcoin really go to zero?
Then daylight comes up and your faith is restored by a tweet from Erik Voorhees, one of the Winklevoss twins, Max Keiser or Jimmy Song.
https://twitter.com/realmaxkeiser/status/1228668684094173184
You knew it wasn’t real, just like there are no monsters under your bed, but Warren Buffett’s niggling naysaying somehow seeped into your sub-conscience. The biggest of all the crypto nightmares there is.
What is your worst crypto nightmare? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @realmaxkeiser @Peterschiff @eliz883 @Cryptopia_NZ
