2. How do I choose a good exchange? What do the experts say?

The type of storage the exchange uses, and only keeping your coins in an internet-enabled wallet when you need to use them, matters.

Firstly, it’s worth learning from the hard lessons that crypto enthusiasts have endured through some of the major hacks of yesteryear.

Mt. Gox was hacked twice – once in 2011 and again in 2014 – with a total of 850,000 Bitcoin lost in the latter attack. At the time, it represented roughly 7 percent of the total amount of Bitcoin in circulation, with a value back then of about $480 million. Today that would be worth more than $5.4 billion. In 2013, it was handling an estimated 80 percent of Bitcoin transactions – showing how even the largest exchanges can be vulnerable. In Mt. Gox’s case, a faulty computer system was to blame, opening it up to hack attacks.

Speaking to Cointelegraph back in August, experts said the best way for investors to inoculate themselves against poor security was to choose an exchange which enlists the help of reliable auditors who spend their time looking for flaws in a system. Looking for an exchange which uses cold storage – where assets are stored in a place without an internet connection – can help. Minimizing the amount of coins held in hot wallets can also reduce the impact if an attack does take place.