Woken up by a phone call at three in the morning, Xiaoqin on the other end was crying and stuttering. I've known this girl for several years; she is reliable and capable, having rolled up 8 million in assets in the crypto world over five years. So what happened? It wasn't being blown up by the Bear Market, nor was it chasing the price; instead, she fell into a seemingly absurd pit—she asked her husband for a favor, and her account dropped to zero.

The situation was so simple it was suffocating: Before her business trip, Xiaoqin needed to transfer some funds, so she took a screenshot of the mnemonic phrase and sent it to her husband via WeChat, asking him to help log into the wallet and make the operation. Her husband replied, "It's done," and when she got off the plane, she saw a cold string of zeros in the wallet balance. She went to the police station to report it, and the response was, "It's a civil dispute; we can't handle it." Xiaoqin broke down on the spot: "I just copied and pasted the mnemonic phrase; I didn't even click to transfer!"

The truth is even more infuriating. Her husband’s Android phone, which had been used for several years, was connected to the home WiFi that hadn’t changed its password for three years. The year before, in order to grab some financial activity, he had installed a "financial assistant" plugin. These two weaknesses combined basically opened a window for the hacker. They had long been tracking the clipboard through that plugin, and as soon as Xiaoqin pasted the mnemonic phrase, the hacker instantly logged in and transferred the assets in just a few seconds, leaving no traces of the transfer. This efficiency is simply "lightning-fast burglary."

After struggling in this field for so many years, I have seen various ways to lose money—those who can't withstand a Bear Market, who chase the price and get trapped, and those who face liquidation in contracts. But the most frustrating situation is this: it's not that you made a wrong judgment, it's not that you were greedy, but rather that there was a loophole in your safety awareness. Today, I need to discuss how to avoid letting your hard-earned money be destroyed by such unfair circumstances.

**First, the mnemonic phrase should be treated as a family heirloom.**

Stop doing things like taking screenshots, saving them, sending them on WeChat, storing them in cloud drives, or noting them down on your phone. I've seen too many people think "it should be fine to send it to family" or "I’ll just store it temporarily and delete it soon"—but what happens? It's too late even if you delete it; the data has long been synced to the cloud or has been captured by some app you don’t even know about.

Correct approach: Find a piece of paper, write it down with a pen, check it three times after copying, then lock it in a safe or hide it in a place only you know. Don't think it's troublesome; this little hassle can save your life. If you really feel that paper is not secure enough, then use a metal plate to engrave the words, which is fireproof and waterproof.

**Second, don't compromise on your mobile and network environment**

Xiao Qin's husband's "ancestral Android phone" is a typical case. The device is too old, the system is not updated, plugins are installed randomly, and the WiFi password hasn't been changed for ages—each issue alone is a hidden danger, and combined, they are a disaster.

It is best to use a dedicated device for operating the wallet, and avoid using it for watching short videos, playing games, or installing a bunch of random software. Regularly change the WiFi password, and avoid weak passwords like birthdays or phone numbers. If possible, try to use mobile data for wallet operations instead of connecting to public WiFi.

**Article 3, don't skimp on large assets**

Many people think hardware wallets are expensive and complicated to use, so they don't bother. But think about it, a hardware wallet costing a few hundred yuan can protect millions in assets, which is definitely worth it. If Xiaoqin had stored her assets in a hardware wallet from the beginning, even if the recovery phrase was seen, without the physical device in hand, hackers wouldn't be able to steal a cent.

Ultimately, making money in the crypto world relies on vision, while preserving money depends on habits. K-lines can be misleading, but security vulnerabilities cannot. I hope everyone can engrave these points in their minds and not let their efforts be ruined by a mistake that shouldn't have been made.