MiCA implemented in Europe.
MEXC shutting down EU accounts rather than pay for MiCA certification.
CoinEx backing out of crypto in a controlled shutdown, so they don't have to pay for certification everywhere.
Exodus wallet not allowing me to stake SOL because I'm in the UK and that would mean KYC and so on.
The current massive surge in regulation has really made me stop and think.
The first thing I did was to start a new, secure wallet, as you'll know if you drop in regularly. That moved my biggest Banking coins (BTC, ETH, SOL) out of third-party custody and into my own wallet, with a seed phrase that's never been online or digitally backed up or whatever.
But that move also made me wonder whether I should invest in a hardware wallet.
Now, I'll happily admit that I know virtually nothing about hardware wallets. I know what they're for, I know kinda vaguely how they work, and I've seen the recent news of third-party resellers screwing with them to get access to a load of people's hard-earned savings.
That means I know enough not to buy anywhere except the manufacturer, and that I'd reset the damned thing as soon as I had it, with a new setup entirely my own. Even if it arrives blank and perfect.
It also means I know enough to know that I don't know enough.
So I looked online. And I discovered that most places that turn up in search results for "Do I actually need a hardware wallet?" have one thing in common: they're trying to sell you one, not tell you if you need one.
With that in mind, I went off and did some research, checking conversations on Reddit, looking at recommendations from a variety of places, looking at what wallets actually do, the risks, the responsibilities and so on.
And that, dear reader, is pretty much what triggered the idea for PlainCrypto.
Took me ages to build the thing, of course, but I got the answer to my original question.
Yes, a hardware wallet would be a good idea.
You can see my result (recreated today) at PlainCrypto, with answers and reasoning.
My next step is to actually get one, but that'll have to wait a bit. Got way too much stuff going on at the moment to look into it!
Do you use a hardware wallet? What made you decide to get one? Would love to hear!
