If you were around in the bitcoin space back in 2013, you would have not failed to notice how few assets existed at the time. If you looked at Coinmarketcap, the most you could see was about 100 different assets. Looking back, I could never have guessed the explosive growth rate that would ensue over the coming years.

Since that time, the growth has been phenomenal, as of 2022, there are more than 20,000 different assets and tokens. Of the top 50 assets at the time, only about 5 are still within the top 100 — the rest either died or barely grew and were overtaken by newer more innovative tokens.

Even Ethereum, the current number 2 asset by market cap, didn’t come into existence until 2015, a full two years later. Not only that, but more exchanges also died along the way than currently exist, with most of them going down with people’s money. Famous examples were MT. Gox, and Bitcoinica. There were hacks, scams, and every manner of a bad idea that would have lost you money along the way.

In a lot of ways, things have improved, but the risks are still there for the average investor. If you are new to this space, here are a few ways that I managed to survive and keep most of the gains that were eventuated as the industry grew.

   #### Keeping Wallets up to Date One of my favorite Wallets back then was Bitcoin Armory. No one knows much about it now, but it was the best wallet for Bitcoin at the time for offline storage. Blockchain.info was the other best web-based solution. As life would have it, I got busy and didn’t pay attention, a few years down the line, I had to employ someone to help me restore some assets from it. Had I not paid attention, things could have been worse, it may have died, and with it some precious bitcoins.

Keeping off Exchanges By now you have heard of the famous Mt. Gox collapse. What most people don’t realize is that all-centralized exchanges are constantly under attack from hackers and are one event away from a massive incident like Mt. Gox. The famous adage, “Not your keys, not your bitcoin” exists for a reason. I always keep greater than 80% of my assets at any point off exchanges. I suggest you do so too.

Avoid Hyped New Coins or Invest a Small Amount Every bull run comes with a lot of hype coins or assets. In the bitcoin bull run of 2020/2021, dogecoin launched a category of memes coins that did extremely well. Shiba is one of the well-known ones to reach a multibillion-dollar valuation. Often, these coins or assets generate a lot of interest from retail and their upward trajectory becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Over the years, I have seen that happen in the crypto industry thrice, yet almost every time, the result is a 99% percent correction during the subsequent bear market. It’s also extremely hard to hold onto these gains. The reason is human nature, no one knows the top, in a bid to strike it rich, most retail investors hold on too long.

Use Hardware Wallets such as Ledger or Trezor Part of keeping your wallets up to date is using better and more secure options. Hardware wallets have become ubiquitous. In the early days of Bitcoin 2013/2012, they were dreams with prospects. Hardware wallets like ledger allow you to keep your assets offline and reduce your risk of hacking substantially.

Take advantage of these opportunities to safeguard your wealth. After all, it is hard to know which of your token investments will become a substantial amount in due course.

To conclude, these are the basics that allow you to stay in the game. As you learn more in this space, good habits go a long way toward helping you gain opportunities. Never stop learning and making good choices.