• Allero@lemmy.today
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      3 days ago

      Yes. Actual crypto is stored on several (mostly cold) wallets, and what you see in your exchange account is just a number. When you withdraw crypto, it gets sent from one of the exchange’s wallets.

      But as long as it’s on the exchange, your account is just a number on a paper, so to speak. This is important for the exchange’s function though, as it allows you to trade crypto without paying chain commissions.

      Any trading/swap operation is just a switch in paper numbers.

            • Get_Off_My_WLAN@fedia.io
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              3 days ago

              From what I understand, that’s how a lot of financial exchanges work. Unless you do the work of buying and selling cryptocurrency directly from and to other holders yourself, or transfer it into your own crypto wallet, your assets only exist within the exchange’s own systems.

            • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Seems that way. Kinda wild to have 2000 bitcoins floating around. Not sure I really understand whats going through a crypto enthusiasts brain to know this is still happening and still have any faith in the system whatsoever. Maybe the ledger is fine, but whatever this is, its not what its being presented as.