mistakes – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com Latest Crypto News Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:06:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.8 https://i0.wp.com/earlybirdsinvest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-New-Project-2024-12-17T235703.455.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 mistakes – Earlybirds Invest https://earlybirdsinvest.com 32 32 240146708 Julian Figueroa lost 14 BTC worth $1.6 million: he says millions of others will make the same mistakes https://earlybirdsinvest.com/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes/#respond Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:06:01 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes/

Host of The Exit Manual, Julian Figueroa, has lost 14 BTC over the last eight years, worth around $1.6 million today. As if that figure wasn’t bad enough, what’s worse is that “90% of people buying Bitcoin today” are going to make one of the three mistakes in Bitcoin security that cost Figueroa his precious BTC.

If you aren’t paying attention by now, you should be. Figueroa’s experience highlights a deeper, more sobering reality: the road to financial sovereignty is crowded with pitfalls, and nearly every user will repeat at least one of these hard-learned mistakes about Bitcoin security.

Bitcoin Security Mistake #1: Day Trading Dreams, Market Realities

Figueroa’s biggest regret? Trying to outsmart the cycles by actively trading:

“I lost 4 BTC just because I thought I’d buy low and sell high. Turns out, it’s nearly impossible—nobody beats the market over time, not pros, not hedge funds, nobody. If you just buy and hold, you almost always outperform the traders.”

The psychological pitfalls of FOMO, misreading tops and bottoms, and emotional fire sales catch even pros in the jaws of volatility. Many lose sight of Bitcoin security when risking coins on risky short-term moves.

Mistake #2: The Altcoin Trap

Figueroa lost another 2 BTC chasing altcoin hype:

“I bought coins I thought would outperform Bitcoin. They didn’t.”

Altcoins offer wild upside stories, but, as Figueroa calls it, “altcoin logic in a suit” often ends up as a distraction.

Study after study shows most altcoins underperform Bitcoin dramatically in the long run; a hard lesson seasoned by endless ‘make it, lose it’ stories among crypto’s earliest adopters. Choosing solid Bitcoin security means resisting distractions from speculative alternatives.

Mistake #3: Self-Custody or Bust

Yet, his biggest loss came from keeping coins on centralized exchanges. He says:

“8 BTC—nearly $1 million—vanished when an exchange failed.”

Trusting custodians instead of taking full personal control is the most common error, yet even veterans fall victim to comfort and convenience. The lesson here?

“Crypto exchanges are not banks, they’re casinos. Self-custody is the only real security.”

You’re Not Alone: Epic Bitcoin Losses from Around the World

Figueroa isn’t the first (or the biggest) Bitcoiner to learn these lessons the hard way:

James Howells accidentally threw away a hard drive holding 8,000 BTC, now worth more than $900 million. Stefan Thomas, a programmer, lost access to a wallet with 7,002 BTC (worth $777 million) after forgetting his IronKey password. He has only two guesses left before his fortune is gone forever.

During the infamous Mt. Gox exchange collapse in 2014, over 850,000 BTC were lost or stolen, leaving countless users permanently locked out and sparking industry-wide debates on Bitcoin security.

When QuadrigaCX’s founder died, he took the private keys to over $200 million with him, leaving thousands of users locked out of their funds. The list goes on and on—reminding investors that Bitcoin security starts and ends with personal accountability.

Figueroa’s story is a living lesson for both newbies and seasoned Bitcoiners alike. So how do you avoid joining the haunted ranks of the 2 million club?

Don’t try to trade “the bottom or the top.” Long-term holding historically outperforms almost every day-trader; just ask the 99% who’ve tried.

Ignore the siren song of altcoins promising outsized gains and stick to the fundamentals. And most importantly, hold your own private keys. Learn self-custody and take full responsibility for your digital assets. Because in Bitcoin, “not your keys, not your coins” is the cold, hard truth. Don’t let your story become another cautionary tale about Bitcoin security.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/julian-figueroa-lost-14-btc-worth-1-6-million-he-says-millions-of-others-will-make-the-same-mistakes/feed/ 0 58302 Top Traditional IRA Mistakes and How to Avoid Them https://earlybirdsinvest.com/top-traditional-ira-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/top-traditional-ira-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/#respond Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:24:29 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/top-traditional-ira-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ IRAs are one of the most popular ways to save for retirement, but simple mistakes can cost you.

The benefits associated with traditional individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are numerous. There are tax advantages, and IRAs offer an impressive range of investment options. In addition, IRAs are flexible, and they allow you to make catch-up contributions once you reach the age of 50. Thanks to compounding returns, IRAs can grow dramatically in value given enough time.

As of mid-2024, 44% of households reported holding at least one IRA, making it one of the most popular ways to save for retirement.

Like other investment vehicles, however, IRAs require that investors follow specific rules, and mistakes can be costly. Here are five of the most common IRA mistakes and how to avoid them.

Person leaning against a stone wall.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Failure to understand contribution limits

The most you can contribute to a traditional IRA in 2025 is $7,000. If you’re 50 or older, the catch-up contribution boosts that amount to $8,000. If your annual contribution exceeds that limit, you will incur a 6% penalty on the excess amount for each year it remains in the account.

So imagine you accidentally contributed $1,000 too much this year and failed to notice the mistake for two years. That means you’ll owe a 6% penalty this year and 6% on the extra $1,000 again next year.

Automating your contributions is one of the surest ways to prevent a penalty. For example, if you plan to contribute $7,000, you might automate a monthly transfer of $583.33 from your bank account to your IRA beginning in January and ending in December ($583.33 x 12 = $6,999.96).

2. Missing the contribution deadline

You have until your tax-filing deadline (typically April 15) to make any IRA contributions you want to count for the prior tax year. Waiting until the last minute to do so gives your contribution less time to generate returns, and it also makes it easier to miss the deadline.

Say you want to contribute $7,000 for 2025, but you wait until April 15, 2026, to complete it. Instead, you could break the $7,000 down into monthly installments (similar to above) or even make a single, lump-sum contribution early in the year. Approaches like these give your invested funds more time in the market while ensuring you don’t miss the deadline by accident.

3. Failure to follow IRA rollover rules

When leaving a job, rather than rolling your 401(k) over into another 401(k) with your new company, you decide to roll it over into an IRA. There are two ways this can be accomplished without having to pay income taxes or penalties:

  1. Make a direct transfer: Ask your current plan provider to send the check directly to the new IRA plan provider.
  2. Make an indirect rollover: With an indirect rollover, your current plan provider cuts you a check, and you’re responsible for depositing that check into the new IRA. You have 60 days to redeposit the entire amount to avoid taxes and penalties.

Rollover mistakes can be avoided by asking your current plan provider to send the money directly to the new account, or keeping a close eye on the calendar if you’d prefer to do it yourself.

4. Making ineligible early withdrawals

Any withdrawal from your traditional IRA before you reach age 59 1/2 is considered “early.” While exceptions exist (like experiencing a personal or family emergency, or having a child), most early withdrawals are subject to a 10% penalty, and you’ll immediately owe taxes on the money withdrawn.

Building an emergency savings account with enough money to cover three to six months’ worth of expenses is a good way to avoid having to make an early withdrawal.

5. Not being quite sure when to take required minimum distributions

Once you hit a specific age (depending on the year you were born), you must take a required minimum distribution (RMD) by Dec. 31 of each year. Failure to do so could result in a penalty of 25% on the amount you were required to take. For example, if you were required to withdraw $20,000, the penalty could be up to $5,000.

The most straightforward way to avoid penalties is to set up automatic withdrawals. You decide how often you want to withdraw funds and can adjust the automation as needed. For example, if the best way for you to budget is by withdrawing a portion of your total RMD each month, you can set it up that way. If a quarterly or annual withdrawal works best for you, those are also options.

The good news regarding IRA mistakes is how simple they are to avoid, once you know what to look out for. The goal is to retain every penny you’ve worked so hard for by never having to pay unnecessary penalties.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/top-traditional-ira-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/feed/ 0 51246 Over $3.4 billion in Ethereum lost forever due to user mistakes and contract bugs https://earlybirdsinvest.com/over-3-4-billion-in-ethereum-lost-forever-due-to-user-mistakes-and-contract-bugs/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/over-3-4-billion-in-ethereum-lost-forever-due-to-user-mistakes-and-contract-bugs/#respond Tue, 22 Jul 2025 01:14:54 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/over-3-4-billion-in-ethereum-lost-forever-due-to-user-mistakes-and-contract-bugs/

More than 913,111 ETH has been permanently lost due to user and contract-related errors, according to Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase.

At current prices, that amounts to approximately $3.43 billion in inaccessible assets, which represent over 0.76% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply.

Grogan highlighted several major incidents that have contributed to this significant number of irreversible ETH losses.

Lost Ethereum
Lost Ethereum (Source: X/ Grogan)

Topping the list is the Web3 Foundation, which lost 306,000 ETH due to a vulnerability in the Parity multisig wallet. The defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX lost 60,000 ETH through a faulty smart contract. NFT project Akutars mistakenly burned 11,500 ETH during a botched minting process.

Additionally, users have inexplicably sent over 25,000 ETH directly to burn addresses, permanently removing them from circulation.

Losses could be higher

Meanwhile, Grogan emphasized that the $3.4 billion figure is a conservative estimate.

According to him, the figure only accounts for provably inaccessible ETH, such as coins trapped in flawed contracts or burn addresses. It does not include ETH tied to lost private keys or dormant wallets from Ethereum’s early days, like Genesis wallets that haven’t moved funds in years.

He also pointed out that the figure is significantly higher when factoring in Ethereum’s destruction via the EIP-1559 burn mechanism, with more than 5.3 million ETH permanently removed from circulation. This total exceeds 5% of all ETH ever minted and represents over $23.4 billion in value.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/over-3-4-billion-in-ethereum-lost-forever-due-to-user-mistakes-and-contract-bugs/feed/ 0 48950 Common mistakes of beginners in HYIP projects or therules of the game https://earlybirdsinvest.com/common-mistakes-of-beginners-in-hyip-projects-or-therules-of-the-game/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/common-mistakes-of-beginners-in-hyip-projects-or-therules-of-the-game/#respond Fri, 21 Feb 2025 04:40:38 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/common-mistakes-of-beginners-in-hyip-projects-or-therules-of-the-game/

Table of сontents:

• Investing the last funds

• Unverified exchangers

• Trusting an incompetent opinion

• Belief in the truth of the legend and the eternal work of the platform

• Wrong choice of tariff

• Storing profit on the company’s balance sheet

Conclusions

As you know, HYIP projects are high-risk investments, a game, but not for children. There are a huge number of platforms for earning money for every taste: with different profitability, deadlines, payment systems. As in childhood – you come to the store with games and choose the one you like. But, not knowing the rules of the new game, there is a chance to lose. The task is to introduce you to these rules in order to increase your chances of winning.

Hyip program risks

General

Risks and loans

Perhaps the first thing not to forget is the risks. The rule – “Invest as much as you can afford to lose” – you need to learn and not forget all the time while you are in the “game”. Not observing it, newcomers make a serious mistake – they begin to borrow money from friends, banks, sell property. It is important here at first to create principles for yourself that you will not violate under any circumstances. Such a scheme will protect you from impulsive decisions and large losses.

You should not invest your last funds in the hope that the project will help you to multiply them. Again, no one guarantees that the payment will be made successfully and the project will not close earlier.

Using unverified exchangers

It is not so important which payment system you work with, it is much more important where you change your funds. In order not to stumble upon fraudulent currency exchange sites and not lose your money, use only proven resources. You can find information about them on thematic forums and blogs.

Now you are familiar with the general rules that you need to know to work successfully in the industry. Let’s move on to the next section, which will tell you how to choose the right project.

Project Selection

Haste and delay

The first thing with which investment activity in HYIP begins is, of course, the choice of the project and already here it is possible to designate an error – haste and delay.

In such a case as the search for a project, it is necessary to observe the golden mean: you should not rush and invest in the first company you come across without studying it, but also, choosing the one you like, waiting for months is also not an option. It is necessary to observe the site for several days: whether there are any delays in payments, whether its work is stable and only then it will be decided.

If you liked the project – do not be lazy, read all kinds of reviews on it on blogs and forums. It is not recommended to invest in a company that has no reviews, because nothing is known about its real activities. Also, you should not trust only good reviews about the project, because it can easily be a deception.

Trusting an incompetent opinion

“The project is promoted = safe” or “The project has just started = safe” – forget such and similar phrases. Each site is individual and no one knows when it will cease its activities.

So, the stage of choosing a project has passed and now that you have finally decided, it’s time to talk about mistakes related specifically to the company.

In the project

Belief in the truth of the legend

Very often, novice investors are inspired by what the company is doing – the legend of the project – and make a big mistake. It should not be taken for truth that the platform implements its activities, for example, through trading in forex markets, investing in cryptocurrency or sports betting. Statements about how a company receives money, as a rule, have nothing to do with reality. Also, do not believe in the eternal work of the platform, which is often promised by the administration.

Hyip risks

Wrong choice of tariff

Of course, the desire to make a lot of money from minimal investments is absolutely understandable, but this can have negative consequences. So, choosing a long-term tariff (for example, for 50 days) and requiring large investments (let’s say $ 3000), you risk not just being left without profit, but also losing your funds, since there is no guarantee that the project will not cease its activities before your time comes to take money at the tariff. That is why it is profitable to invest in short-term tariffs, where the amount of investments is also minimal.

Storing profit on the company’s balance sheet

The resulting profit is often stored by the participants on the company’s account and this is also a mistake. It is not necessary to save money on the balance of the platform, since no one knows when the platform will suspend its activities. It is necessary to withdraw the funds received immediately, otherwise you will also lose everything.

Reinvest

In order to increase their profits, some project participants often reinvest, that is, invest the resulting profit. You should not get carried away with such a scheme, it is better to take your investments and invest again only a part of the percent.

Refusal to diversify

Don’t invest all your money in one company! A good scheme is the distribution of the total amount over several projects. Investing 100% of your funds in one company, you will lose everything if it stops its activities. And if your money is on the account of several projects, then if one of them is closed, you will lose only part, not all.

Lack of control

Being “in the game” keep in touch with the company! Read reviews and forums daily. And, if there is no connection with the project administration, immediately withdraw money from the platform balance and do not invest more. Control the process!

Conclusions

Perhaps the most important thing in the HYIP industry is to remember that you should not blindly trust information from project sites, statistics provided by administrators, people who actively invite you to join the company, saying that this is easy earnings. Yes, it’s really easy money, but are you ready to risk your funds? That is why it is necessary to treat such sites exactly as a game: follow all the rules listed above.

And remember: to get out on time means to win!

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