As a top crypto trader and investor who's been in this game since the early days—scaling seven-figure portfolios through multiple cycles—I'll give you my unfiltered take based on real skin-in-the-game experience, not hype. Yes, I absolutely trust holding crypto** right now, even with the macro mess and recent world events (U.S./Israel strikes on Iran sparking capital flight outflows, Poland grid cyber hits, ongoing geopolitical noise, and Bitcoin down 25% YTD with "extreme fear" sentiment). These are classic noise in a maturing market. That said, I will not be acquiring any more at the moment. We are expecting the crypto markets to dip further as fear continues to dominate retail investors—capitulation selling, leveraged liquidations, and the classic "blood in the streets" phase that always follows headlines like these. The fear & greed index is already deep in the red; when it hits true all-time high fear levels (think 2018 or 2022 bottoms), that's when I'll be aggressively deploying fresh capital. Until then, I'm sitting tight on my existing stack. 2025-2026 has still seen institutional flows kick in hard (Strategic Bitcoin Reserve talk, GENIUS Act, pro-crypto regs under the current admin), and big players like JPMorgan and Grayscale are still calling for upside in 2026 driven by institutions, not retail panic. Hacks? The massive Bybit $1.5B incident was 2025—2026 hack volumes have cratered (February was just $26.5M total). Crypto crime overall is shifting to sanctions evasion and scams, not broad wallet wipes. This dip feels like 2018 or 2022 capitulation—prime setup for the patient. I'm net long, diversified across BTC/ETH + blue-chip alts, and sleeping fine. Crypto has survived far worse (FTX, Terra, wars) and come out stronger because it's borderless and decentralized. Where do I keep my crypto? 90%+ in cold storage (hardware wallets), 10% or less on exchanges for active trading/liquidity. - Exchanges (Coinbase, Binance, Kraken with 2FA, withdrawal whitelisting, and small position limits): Only for short-term swings or fiat on/off ramps. Never long-term. We've seen too many exchange failures/hacks (Bybit 2025 being the latest reminder). "Not your keys, not your coins" is gospel.