I was reading through some comments on this post: https://communities.win/c/GreatAwakening/p/12jd0GCP85/cashless-bitcoin-and-the-devil-w/c/
And realized, I have shrugged off crypto because I simply don't understand it. For someone like me who is now realizing it's a good idea to get involved, how do I do it? It's very overwhelming, but I'm committed to learning. Let's talk!
What is to prevent some hacker from messing with it?
There's always the option of forks. If a terminal exploit is found then chances are that there'd be a migration to a fork that remedies the exploit, possibly including any damage caused by it.
Think of Bitcoin as the world's largest "bug bounty." Did you know? All Bitcoin addresses can be publicly inspected. That means a hacker can get started anytime he wants attacking your ledger address where your coins are. So far, no hacker has been able to take them. Then how are coins lost? People storing their coins on exchanges that get hacked, or who aren't careful with their seed phrase, or who get tricked. Soon, coins will eliminate those risks.