Ether is currently the second most prominent and most lucrative crypto investment with a unit price of $348.45 and a market cap of over $ 39.3 billion. The currency's host, Ethereum blockchain, launched in 2015 with the most futuristic functionalities, including smart contract capabilities.

However, just like all other cryptocurrencies, trading ether comes with many risks, including hacking and phishing attacks, sometimes caused by smart contract vulnerabilities. Therefore, to invest in ether, traders need to ensure their transactions' privacy and security. Moreover, they need assurance that no one can backtrace the transaction to the accounts of origin. Here are a few privacy tips for storing and transacting Ether in 2020.

Apply 2 Factor Authentication Techniques in Wallets

Private keys are digital signatures made of numbers and letters to ensure transactions' approval into and out of the wallet. Unlike public keys, which are shareable, private keys should remain privy to the wallet owner. For the security of these keys, the crypto world introduced crypto wallets that focus on protecting and privatizing transaction details. However, just like other apps, hacking the wallets is easy, especially if there is a lack of security protocols.

Therefore to strengthen wallet security, most wallets offer password authentication techniques to verify account owners and users. Most use a single-factor authentication technique, only requiring one set of passwords or login details. However, if a criminal accesses the passwords, they can easily steal all the ether stored in the account.

A more advanced authentication technique, two-factor authentication, came to solve the problems surrounding SFA. 2FA requires two verification details to allow the user into the account. Wallet owners can, therefore, use both passcodes and biometric identification details to protect their wallets.

Even when an attacker gets access to the passwords, they cannot access the account without the second identification factor. Using biometrics as the second factor hardens access to aliens because everyone possesses a distinct set of biometrics.

Leveraging 2FA reduces the chances of phishing attacks in individual wallets, thus keeping the stored ether safe. The most common 2FA enabler is the google authenticator app, which produces a new authentication key every time a person logs into their account.

Protecting your Private Keys on Cold Storage

Most crypto wallets are web-based; thus, using them requires access to the internet. However, although operating wallets safeguard assets, internet-based wallets are not entirely safe. The internet is a source of severe security challenges like hacking and phishing.

However, there are second options to wallets, offline wallets/cold wallets, that ensure private keys are entirely off the internet. There are two major types of cold wallets.

Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets like Ledger Nano come in the form of a computer hardware device like a flash disk. A user stores the private key in the offline wallet. Thus internet hackers will not get access as long as the hardware remains unplugged. Moreover, ledger nano implants military-grade security to the hardware wallet's hardening alien access to private keys completely.

Paper Wallets for Cold Storage

Paper wallets are forms of cold storage where the user prints private keys on a piece of paper. Moreover, the user can decide to publish several pieces of paper and place them differently for backup. These wallets are good at storing digital signatures since they are offline and can't be remotely accessed. Using hardware and paper wallets to store ether private keys brings ultimate security for all the stored assets.

Multi-signature Wallets

Multisignature, as the name suggests, is a transaction authentication technique that involves more than one person's signature. In cryptography, multi-signature consists of using more than one private key to authorize transactions. Each transaction requires multiple keys; thus, if a person has only one set of keys, they cannot complete any transaction. Every wallet receives two or more keys, one remaining with the company, the other with the wallet owner, and maybe a third party gets backup access. The third-party key holder must be someone reliable, perhaps a trusted friend. However, a multi-signature wallet is still a hot wallet; thus, it faces problems similar to all online wallets.

Use Bitcoinmix.org (Ethereum Tumbler)

Bitcoinmix.org is a crypto tumbler that ensures ether users and their transactions remain safe and entirely anonymous. The bitcoinmix.org uses specialized algorithms to ensure full security of identity.

Their Ethereum mixer solution manages to keep complete anonymity by mixing ether from different people in one big pool of assets. From the time the ether gets to the mixer, no one can backtrace them to their wallet of origin. Moreover, these assets are not associated with real-world identities, i.e., persons.

During creating an order, bitcoinmix.org doesn't record any personal information. Details about any single transaction are also kept private for the wallet owner only. Additionally, the platform is automated; therefore, after every single transaction, the platform automatically deletes all personal details. Using bitcoinmix.org is the best way of ensuring the ultimate security of Ether.

Final Word

Although trading Ethereum comes with significant security risks, there are many different ways of ensuring that ether remains safe. Foremost, the wallet selection, whether cold, hot, or multi-signature, is the first step to guaranteeing full ether security. Cold wallets can stay offline; therefore, relatively reduces the chances of phishing attacks.

Other wallets offer the option of two-factor authentication, which requires two verification details to use an account. The multi-sig options in wallets ensure that criminals with one set of private keys will not approve transactions.

The best and most reliable way of storing ether safely and privately is using bitcoinmix.org; the platform mixes new coins into a large pool of ether. This mixer ensures coins remain untraceable to their source, thus boosting investor trust. Investors can use any of the steps above, but for ultimate, reliable ether security, bitcoinmix.org is the solution.