Bitcoin Forum

Hey, So my Case came in the mail a couple days ago. I have to say I really like it.
It's about the size of 4 credit cards, if you stack them.
After setup, it is very easy to use. I chose to keep the third recovery key myself rather than trusting a third party company that could go belly-up. So that took a little more preparation than the average person. Most people will just keep the third recovery key with Third Key Solutions.
For info, they ask email, phone, and recovery questions. I suppose if you go the way of Third Key Solutions they will ask more questions. Then if you want (and have a bank), you can set it up further to be able to buy and sell the bitcoins straight from the device.

It's sleek. You pretty much turn it on, scan the QR code, and swipe your finger. And when it's not in use I've got it in my (credit card) wallet.
It's also like super secure, but you don't feel the security. It doesn't make you suffer because it is secure.

Great job CryptoLabs!

https://choosecase.com

Seems pretty good, never heard of it :) I'd definitely like to try it. How's the QR code decryption accuracy? Would you be able to share a video of it working?

Glad you got yours. I ordered as soon as pre-orders were up and am still waiting. How did they ship yours and did they send you tracking if I may ask?

I'd love to buy one, but budget tells me not to yet. :( Gonna stick up with the traditional paper wallets first before I get mine. Btw, what's the difference between Case and Trezor? Aside from the price, of course.

See best bitcoin hardware wallet (https://bitcoinnewsmagazine.com/best-bitcoin-hardware-wallet-2015/) should help.

This is the most positive feature for me ---> " Case doesn't rely on your phone or computer for Internet access. It has built-in GSM with free unlimited transactions in over 100 countries!"

I normally are not a big fan of fingerprint scanners, but this might just be a good idea. The fact that it's the size of a credit card, is just a bonus.

I will give this one a try... if it's good enough... I will chuck my Trezor... not really.  ;)

The features seem really good, but the casing itself looks a bit flimsy to me.

Anybody else has this feeling?

I guess it will soon be time to order a hardware unit like this.

Wow, just a quick look on Case made me want to have it, really. That super-thin physical wallet is nice and 'handy', though a little pricey. :( The built-in GSM is what makes it unique, too. :) Thanks for the link and a positive review. Looking forward to order one. :)

*ahem*

How "free", and how long do the manufacturers expect these things to last? There's some serious missing detail in that part of this particular deal.

The company baked lifetime GSM access into the $200 cost. Who knows how long any gadget will last. When Case was designed maybe they did not anticipate the easy integration of smartphone bitcoin wallets with Trezor or Ledger for private key control. If you already have an Android phone, you can just install the Mycelium bitcoin wallet and use Trezor with an OTG cable to sign transactions. You can scan QR codes and send bitcoin like Case but you maintain complete control over your private keys. Not as elegant as Case but half the cost.

I also interested with this bitcoin HW wallet. can you give us some review and maybe a tutorial?

Found their official thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1001855.0

Yeah me too.$200 is a bit too expensive for me at the moment. However this wallet has a really cool small and flat design.Hopefully in the next months I will be able to afford one. Or it might get a bit cheaper in the future when more competition is taking place.

$209 if you pay with Bitcoin. $214 if you pay with your credit card. That's quite a lot of money. But it does look very sleek, I must admit. If I didn't have a Trezor already, I would definitely think about buying.

It's good to see competition out there though!

Good luck to the Crypto Labs!

They send you an email with UPS tracking, I just put two and two together that I hadn't ordered anything from NY lately so it must be the case. It arrived a week later. If you haven't gotten it yet, contact them and ask. Their tech support is awesome. Most of the time Melanie responds herself.

That just doesn't sound plausible to me. Maybe there's a way to make that practical, but it sounds like there's information missing still.

The competition would surely be present in the future. But for now, I'll stick with Electrum and paper wallets. Hardware wallets can wait, so is my budget for them.  :D

I'd say they are probably equally secure, (different kind of security but when the cards are on the table, equally secure). However Trezor needs a laptop with USB slot and internet to operate, case is something that stands alone. You whip it out, and make your transaction, anywhere.

It's a lot less bandwidth than the first generation kindles were giving away for free, for life. They use 1g or something like that, and only to sign transactions - I'm sure a good will is all they really need from cell phone companies. Maybe 1GB for the entire life of the device.

The QR code description accuracy is pretty good for me so far. I really don't feel like doing a video for you, sorry! Nothing you won't see on the website anyway. Check out their videos:

https://vimeo.com/casewallet

That sounds convincing to me, although I'm not sure as to how the GSM module was implemented on the hardware wallet. I wonder how long would that GSM support last?

I'd forgotten about those, but I did hear about that deal when Kindles were more trendy, and remember being skeptical about that too. Maybe it can be done... I just can't shake the feeling that you might end up with an expensive doorstop quicker than you bargained for.

Any Kindle users out there that can add anything?

True, but between a Case and a Antminer, I'd say the Antminer will become a doorstop long before a Case will!

The website is so light on detail. I watched the video and it seems like it might be centralized. Bitcoins are held in a multisig address and they have 2/3 of the keys: their server plus the "vault"? Other doubts I have are the reliability of the print scanner and the security of GSM. I thought GSM has long been sniffable.

Nothing to suggest the code is available, or that the device is flash-able. So even those details are questionable; how can we determine whether the Case servers really have access to only 1 private key if the device is a black box?

From the FAQ (https://choosecase.com/faq.html) at Case website:

1) The device generates a public-private key pair using a cryptographically secure random number generator during the initial setup. This key will never leave the device, and will never be known by our servers. Case does not ship with pre-generated keys. The hardware RNG is based on an analog circuit which generates continuous analog line noise to produce non-deterministic keys.

2) A second key is stored on our servers and transactions are only signed by the server key if the fingerprint scan is a match so this key is secured by a biometric factor.

3) During first time setup for the device, you can choose where you want your recovery key stored. The default option is to store it in a secure vault operated by Third Key Solutions. If you wish to store your own third key, you will be prompted during the setup flow to scan the public key of your recovery private key.

If you do not like Case's design there is always Trezor.

Looks good but I just thought instead of only credit card payment  they should also make available bitcoin payment option. Although I am currently satisfied with my trezor device but I will sure consider this on my future shopping list. The thing I like here is the shape which looks thin and should be able to fit in to my wallet.

Stellaw blog already tore one apart (http://www.stellaw.info/). He mentioned it was about a quarter inch thick not something you slip in a wallet and put in your back pocket.

Lucky you, this thing is awesome.
This thing would be very useful for you, right?

Yeah, that's essentially a bunch of promises. AFAIK right now, there's no way to prove any of the above without:

• Source code
• The ability to compile the source code
• The ability to flash compiled binaries

Trezor (and I think Ledger) have these features, yet this supposedly luxury product (more expensive than the Trezor) does not.

Seems good but I have one concern:
What if the cloud service that possesses one of the 3 private keys conspires with the bank/vault that possess also one of the 3 private keys?
They would then have two of the three required private keys and could decide to steal your coins, no? Maybe I am missing something here...
Do we have to rely on the fact that the vault is safe and secure and audited and will not conspire with the case cloud services, being independent/separate from them?

Me too!


How can you tell that it's flimsy by looking at a picture on a computer? You can't.

Seems like a great wallet, how long does the internal electronics last? The last thing I'd want to do is use it as a vault, put it away for ten years and come back to a blank screen...then I'd be f*cked!

If you allow the third key (recovery key) to be kept at Third Key Solutions then yes, you have to trust there will be no conspiracy. Your option during first time setup of your Case would be to store the third key yourself.