Did you know that if you have not backed-up your 2FA codes and lose your phone, there is no way to easily recover them? If you've got funds stored on an exchange this could mean you lose access to them, as you are no longer able to log in!
GOOGLE DOES NOT SAVE YOUR 2FA CODES FOR YOU
Contrary to what your intuition may tell you, the two-factor authentification (2FA) codes you use (probably through Google Authenticator) to securely log in to your favorite crypto exchanges are not actually tied to your Google account! Instead, they are tied to your physical phone or other mobile device.This means that if you lose your phone, or it gets destroyed, not even Google can help you fix the problem!
In order to regain access to your account without the 2FA codes you would have to fill in a customer support ticket and send in your ID to the exchange to verify your identity, and this process could take weeks if not months with how swamped exchanges are with customer support tickets!
Most people don't realize this, and what they gain in two-factor security, they may lose in overall risk. Losing a phone, either by destruction or theft or simply because it stops working, is pretty common and this poses a significant risk.
There is a solution though, because if you have properly backed up your 2FA codes this will allow you to enable them on a different (or the same) device later on should it ever be necessary. The catch here is that these codes you need to back up are only shown when you initially set the 2FA up. If you did not save these codes at this point, and most people don't, then there is no way to have them resent to you now.
THE FIX
There is a fix though! If you didn't properly save your 2FA codes before, then what you need to do is remove the 2FA protection from your exchange account and once that is done enable it again. This will create a new 2FA code and QR code. Set up the 2FA as you did previously, but this time be sure to properly back-up the recovery code as well! As long as you have this code, you will always be able to setup the same 2FA again.It is probably a good idea to do this when there are no funds in your exchange account, to avoid any disasters and risks, but it should work in either case.
During down-times in the crypto markets like these, it's a good thing to finally take care of these smaller hurdles and issues. Like making proper back-ups of all your keys and recovery seeds. Don't underestimate how much it will suck to be locked out of your exchange and how much stress this might give you.
This is something that I've thought about several times. Its a good reminder for me to finally do it. So is it a code that the exchange gives you that you need to save or does the google authenticate app give you the code. I'm a bit confused about that part. I tried it once before and I don't recall the app giving me a code or anything. I uninstalled and then reinstalled the app and i dont recall it giving me a code to write down.
No when you get the QR code from the exchange, underneath there will be a manual recovery seed as well. This all is supplied by the exchange, for instance Binance. So once you link your phone by scanning the QR code, note down the recovery keys too! The app cannot and does not give you these. It is only supplied once during initial setup
ok thats what I did previously but was still a bit unsure about it. Thanks for clarifying.
I feel like you are my crypto consultant haha I'm always asking you questions and for advice and clarification.
Don't worry, I don't mind! I'm happy to consider people like yourself who engage with me to be my followers and readers! It helps me know I am not writing for nothing :)
Ok that's good then :)
Good point--it's always a good idea to back up all your keys!
Definitely!
Nice article! Plus, if someone buys a new phone and gets rid of the old one, they could inadvertently be losing the key to their exchange! I’m going to go to my exchange right now and follow these steps and secure my 2FA.
I’m definitely upvoting and following you!
@shredz7
Exactly! It's okay when you lose access to an e-mail account, but losing access to your money is a whole different matter!
This post has received a 2.24 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @pandorasbox.
Hi, great post, have followed you. What do you think of the current state of the Bitcoin market?
This is a very good point! People should be aware of the consequences for not backing up their keys and recovery seeds. Thank you!
Extremely important indeed. A few months ago I took an hour of my time to reset all of the 2FAs, just to make sure I'm safe and I have the correct codes :-)
This is very important, I have lots of 2FA verifications, will have to back them up or even remove some, thanks
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