WARNING Coinbase users : Think twice before you travel (to Cuba)

Havana, Cuba 

End of May 2017, I made a 5 day trip to Cuba. I used the hotel Wi-Fi to check some things like, mail, messaging... and of course the exchange rates on my Coinbase Mobile app. BIG mistake! I was not able to login. No special message, the app just froze on me. I decided to leave it, order a cold mojito and enjoy my holiday. There would be plenty of time to check back in to the crypto world once I returned home. Little did I know of what was about to hit me when I got back…  

At home, Belgium 

My heart froze as prompted with the message below, upon log in via my browser.    

This is crazy! I had been building my portfolio steadily for months and seen it grow to substantial amounts. Especially during the big ETH rise that kicked off in February. Suddenly here I was, locked out of my funds, being informed to talk to the U.S. Treasury Department (of all people) for permission to access my crypto? The first signs of Etherium being in a downtrend started to show and I had no way to secure my investments,… 

All is well that ends well,… or not so much 

It took Coinbase a split second to freeze my account. It took them well over 6 weeks to get back to me (after having complied with all their requests to prove my residence and acting in good faith) to reopen my account. By the time, I regained access: ETH had fallen like a knife and I saw my portfolio shrink with almost 40%. Leaving aside for a moment that the ‘waiting in fear to never see my crypto again period’ had been stressful to say the least.  

Learnings 

“Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth” Baz Luhrman

I hope sharing this experience is worth something to other Coinbase users. I hope and you will remember to think twice when boarding a plane (to Cuba) with a Coinbase mobile app on your phone.  Not doing so could cost you more than the trip you are about to enjoy.

Question to fellow Steemians 

I have learned the hard way that entrusting your wallet to an exchange is probably not the best of choices. I can think of many other reasons other than my own experience. Please share yours. I think it is time to take control of my crypto! Does anyone have good experience with hardware wallets? Is Leger Blue a good choice?   Thanks for your advice and feedback!