BitAngels' Michael Terpin: Negligence of Major Phone Companies Is Crypto's Biggest Threat

Michael Terpin is an American blockchain and crypto investor who has worked with over 100 projects running Initial Coin Offerings since entering the blockchain space in early 2013.Terpin co-founded BitAngels in 2013 and, more recently, founded blockchain PR firm Transform Group.

The entire crypto community has been targeted by gangs - crypto gangs - for quite some time, and it accelerated as the price of Bitcoin and other crypto assets went up.

The biggest risk to anybody who's high profile in the crypto industry, and really anybody who has identifiable involvement in the community, is that major phone companies promise you security and don't deliver it.

I did not lose that much the first time, I thought my crypto assets were already pretty secure because I have all my major assets in bank vaults and Trezors and Ledgers.

OC: Basically what happens is that they now have access to change your passwords, because they just confirm with the phone number?

There are many other pieces of software that have your phone number as your identity.

Not to be offensive, but why was that much money in a place that was accessible by a phone number?

I would say, if you are a recognizable person in the crypto industry, you can't use any of the major four phone companies, period.

If you for some reason need to use them, you have to make sure that any time that you use any piece of software that ever asks your phone number, do not give AT&T or any of the other ones.

It's SIM-jacking, basically, that's the biggest threat to individual assets right now.