In this article, we will discuss how a VPN adds security and even allows you to take more profits! The “how” is what I’ll be explaining throughout this piece.
Point being, if you’re a trader or even touch Cryptocurrencies in any way, this article is exactly where you should be.
Without a VPN, you expose your identity and open yourself up to other risks. Let’s learn the risks and how to mitigate them.
Table of Contents
What are VPNs?
Before you can understand the role of VPNs in shielding your coins, you need to know what VPNs are, don’t you?
VPNs are simple software that hide your real IP address, and supply a secondary IP address for your internet connection.
The IP address is like your internet phone number. It’s provided to you by your Internet Service Provider. Whenever you connect to the internet, this IP address is used to “call/connect” the internet from your device.
Just like your phone number can be linked to all your call history, location and identity, your IP address can be linked to your location, device, internet activity and identity.
In other words, anyone who has your IP address can track everything you did online, the websites you visited, items you purchased, your location and other details.
What a VPN does is, it hides your real IP address and connects you to the internet via another IP address that it supplies.
Now, whoever tracks or monitors you, sees this new IP address. They may track this IP and all its activities as well. However, it can’t be connected to your identity, or location.
It also adds encryption to your connection. More on that in the later sections.
Role of VPNs in Trading
A VPN helps with your trading on multiple fronts. Allow me to list the benefits before we dive into the details:
- Offers more privacy.
- Allows accessing your coins from anywhere.
- Secures your coins against attacks and hacks.
- Protects against speed throttling and other ISP-induced obstacles.
Privacy and Anonymity
One of the core foundations of Cryptocurrencies is “privacy” if not absolute anonymity. Now, even if you used a non-KYC exchange to purchase your coins, they can still be linked to you. Yes, via your IP address. Because you’d be using the internet to access your funds.
Using a VPN removes this link.
This means, if you’ve been cautious and not leaked your identity some other way (phone numbers/ names on accounts etc.), there’s no way these funds can be linked to you.
Speed and other ISP restrictions
Trading is something that requires the fastest internet. Prices change in a matter of seconds, or even faster!
How would you feel if I said your ISP (internet provider) consciously “decreases” your internet speed!
They do it either to reduce a demand bottleneck, or to curb competition for a website that pays them! There may be other reasons but the point here is it’s a common practice!
Imagine losing out on your profits because your internet wasn’t fast enough, and someone did it willingly!
Well, a VPN protects you against speed throttling as well. Not just speed throttling, if your VPN has blocked certain exchanges those restrictions can be bypassed as well.
Offshore Access
Many established and security-conscious exchanges look at your “sign-in location”. This means, if your account is logged in from some other country or region, it may be temporarily locked. That’s a pretty good feature, unless you’re travelling abroad.
If you’re travelling abroad, your location would definitely change and there’s a strong possibility your IP address will as well. This may happen because you may be using different numbers and internet providers in the other country.
A VPN helps with that as well. Using a VPN, you can easily choose an IP address from your original country.
In fact, some VPNs also provide dedicated/Static IP addresses. They won’t change everytime you connect and aren’t used by any other users. This means you can “whitelist” these IPs on your Crypto exchange for smoother trades or withdrawals.
Encryption
A VPN does more than just change your IP address. It also adds encryption (security) to your connection.
Did you know that your phone/laptop and devices can be hacked (very easily) when you’re connected to public Wi-Fi networks? Yes, those free connections you get in cafes, restaurants, airports and everywhere else are unsecure.
An attacker may hack into those networks and not just monitor everything you do, but also steal login credentials to your coins/exchanges, redirect your requests and cause much more damage.
That’s one other problem that a VPN solves. Due to the added encryption, you stay safe.
How to choose the right VPN for trading?
Not all VPNs are built equal. Some offer more features and are more secure than others. Here’s how to pick the best VPN deals for trading:
- Country options: the more countries your VPN lets you connect to, the better it is.
- “Verified” no logs policy: All VPNs claim that they do not store logs. Only choose those who got this claim verified via independent, third-party audits.
- Split Tunnelling: For trading, it’s an important feature. It’ll let you choose which apps use the VPNs and which don’t. This ensures you can route some apps/browsers/connections without the VPN if you need to.
- Simultaneous connections: Trading isn’t something that you’ll be doing on a single device. Hence, the more devices a single VPN account can connect to, the better.
- In-built anti-malware and ad blockers: Security is of utmost importance if you’re a trader. A VPN that protects you from viruses and ads is obviously the better choice, isn’t it?
- Dedicated IP: Because trading is IP-sensitive, it’s best if your VPN offers you a static, permanent IP rather than those that keep changing.
There are a few other features you can pay attention to, such as Double VPN, dark web monitor etc. However, from a trader’s perspective, I’d say any VPN offering the features above is a good deal.
Conclusion- Role of VPNs in trading
I’m sure by now you have a decent idea about the benefits of using a VPN for trading. Despite the technicalities, using a VPN isn’t hard or complex. That’s what makes it even more appealing. In most cases, simply launching the app and clicking on the “connect” button suffices.
The added privacy, security and speed is more than worth it.
If you take my advice, you need to start using a VPN literally “all the time”, even when you aren’t trading or doing anything special! On top of all the benefits I’ve mentioned so far, VPNs have quite a few other ones such as unblocking more Netflix content for you, grabbing flash sales and more. Go on then, it’s about time you secured yourself.
