Claim control of your crypto

If you want financial freedom for today and tomorrow, you may be interested in crypto. And if you want to buy or sell crypto, you need to do so on a crypto exchange.

There are two types of exchanges: centralized and decentralized. Centralized Exchanges (CEX), including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, operate much like traditional banks. They provide certain conveniences for users, such as the ability to buy crypto using fiat currencies (USD, Euros…). But they also face regulatory challenges that prohibit their use in certain countries at a moment’s notice. They require you to share private information about your identity (KYC) and to relinquish control over your private key(s) via custodial wallets. And like any private business, they also risk going out of business, putting your private keys in serious danger.

Decentralized exchanges use an Automated Market Maker (AMM) to eliminate the middlemen, and smart contracts to determine prices and provide liquidity. Unlike CEX, DEX don’t have custodial infrastructures that hold all the wallet’s private keys. Instead, they allow you to maintain full control over your funds, freedom and privacy. When using a DEX, you simply connect your non-custodial or hardware wallet to trade crypto and use your own private keys to manage your funds. However, many DEX do not support fiat currencies.

So, if you want to buy crypto using fiat currencies, while maintaining full control over your privacy, your keys and your funds, you need the Ledger Live app. This unique solution is widely available, and it lets you safely and simply remain in the driver’s seat of your financial journey!

Would you give your car key to a stranger?

When you hold any of the many digital assets that are recorded on a public blockchain, you are on your way to financial freedom. This puts you in the driver’s seat of your personal finances and provides you with a plethora of opportunities that you can use to grow your wealth. But what good is it to be in the driver’s seat, if you can’t start the car? To maximize your financial freedom, there are some pitfalls you need to avoid.

Remember, true financial freedom means eliminating the middlemen like banks and other financial service providers. While crypto lets you be your own bank, it requires you to do a little extra work. Here’s why. Your cryptocurrency wallet is secured by a cryptographic pair: a public “key” and a private one. While you need to share your public key for others to send you money, you should make absolutely sure that no one other than you ever has access to your private key.

Most services that facilitate crypto dealings are at least partially centralized. Essentially, every time you give one of these service providers custody of your crypto, you are giving away control over your coins and the private key that secures your coins. Always remember, if you’re not the sole owner of your private key, you don’t really own your money. 

Think of the private key as the key for your car. When you give the only key to someone else, that other person can get in your car at will and drive away. In the worst case, you will never see that other person and your car again. At the same time, if you want to drive away yourself, you have to ask the person who has the key for permission, and there is no way to make sure that you will be allowed to drive off. If you keep your key, you are free to do whatever you want at all times.

Not your key? Not your coins!

Exactly the same applies to your crypto funds. The threat of losing your funds on custodial providers is very real. From exchange hacks and insolvencies to embezzlement on behalf of the exchange owner, numerous people have lost a good amount of money, just because they trusted the wrong custodian.

When you first bought crypto, you likely used a centralized exchange for this purpose. If you decide to keep your coins on the exchange, the exchange is in control of your funds. Always when you give crypto into custody, the custodian owns the money, instead of you.

Like with banks, you have to absolutely trust these service providers to handle your money with the necessary care. Very often, this trust has been shattered by hackers or service providers’ unethical business practices. The most secure and trusted way to keep ownership of your private key, and thus your digital assets, is to use a hardware wallet, such as the Ledger Nano S Plus or the Ledger Nano X.

Safely and independently manage all your own crypto with Ledger Live

In addition to Ledger’s industry-leading hardware wallets that enable you to safely and independently protect your private key, the Ledger Live companion app gives you easy access to all the functions you need to buy, sell, swap, stake and fully control your digital assets*. Together, they provide the best way for you to secure your funds while giving you the freedom to handle everything on your own.

How to move your funds from Binance to your Ledger Wallet

Here’s a great VIDEO to walk you through the process.

And here’s a quick step-by-step reminder:

1. Open the Ledger Live desktop app. 
2. Click Receive to generate a deposit address with your Ledger device.
3. Select the cryptocurrency you wish to receive funds into, and verify the corresponding address displayed on your Ledger device for accuracy.
4. Copy the address from Ledger Live and press both buttons simultaneously to approve it. 
5. Go to Binance and log in to your account. 
6. Navigate to the “Wallet” tab and select “Overview.”
7. Under “My Assets” select “Fiat and Spot.”
8. Paste the deposit address you copied from Ledger Live and click Continue.
9. Select the network. Not sure which network? This article will help you.
10. Enter the amount you wish to send. 
11. Select Withdraw and then Continue if everything looks good.

So, as you can see, it’s easy to keep control over your crypto if you choose to use Ledger’s self-custody solutions. Moving your private keys to a Ledger hardware wallet and managing your digital assets through Ledger Live and BTC Direct is just a few clicks away. Don’t risk losing all that you have so carefully built by entrusting it to a “middleman”. Choose safety, choose Ledger.

*Buy, sell, swap, lend or any other crypto transaction services are provided by third-party service providers. Ledger provides no advice or recommendations to use any of these third-party services.