Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I currently have 1200-1400USD worth of bitcoins (at current rate). Should I buy the ledger wallet or use coinbase vault. Can't coins stored in the vault be stolen by hackers? A trezor is too much for me atm. I spent most my money on the btc and need the rest for spare/contingency money :P

Move all your funds to a paper wallet.
You can use a tool like vanitygen to generate your new address and private key safely.

Remember to encrypt your private key as well. You can use BIP38 for easy encryption. Or something else you prefer for encryption.

Can I encrypt my private key with the ledger wallet?

To be secure you should generate a new address and private key with vanitygen. Afterwards you can use a gpg key, or anything that comes to your mind. Here's a python scirpt used for BIP38 encryption: https://github.com/nomorecoin/python-bip38-testing

I really want to buy a ledger wallet though. The HW.1 is only 18 euros

Aren't they good?

I've no experience with those. You should wait for another member to tell you about those.

Encrypt your private key , this is all you need to do .

Buy a pc or laptop or reformat a pc. Install only bitcoins and antivirus. Send your bitcoin to this computer bitcoin wallet. Connect only to internet when you send. Use this pc or laptop for bitcoin only and never use any usb to this pc or laptop.

I've used the MultiBit wallet then copied my .dat to a USB drive.
I am not too worried about it..

I store my private keys in a encrypted text file on a USB.
https://www.aescrypt.com/windows_aes_crypt.html

hacker can't stolen from vault
i prefered you to use xapo vault or you can use coinbase vault, i use it too, you can add phone verification (don't use authy or google athenticator)

or you can save at paperwallet

If you don't have budget to buy trezor then you should go for HW.1 it's cheap but it's good enough to secure your bitcoins.

You don't need any hardware wallet to be secure. You don't want to waste money on them. To be truly safe just use desktop wallet - Armory is your safest bet if you are concerned about security.
Keep your private key on offline machine or removable drives or disks and you will be safe.

You can generate addresses with vanity gen but that is quite redundant. Download bitaddress.org to an offline computer and you can use it there. More entropys can be added by the mouse movements and hence is secure. Also, the paper wallets is IMO, quite fancy and you can use BIP38 on it too.
Technically, they can be stolen. The Bitcoins are all stored in a cold storage wallet, still having a slight possibility of getting hacked and the user will not have any access to it. It is insured however.

but vault is better than normal wallet for holding bitcoin,
if your email address stolen and your password also stolen vault can't release after 2days, so you can ceck your wallet everyday to sure your balance

What if you're on a vacation and have no internet access? Or what if you need it urgently?

That's not my point. Vaults are not controlled by you, they are controlled by whatever service you use. By storing it, you are giving them full control over it. If you violate their terms and conditions, they have the rights to confiscate it. Paper wallets or hardware wallets gives the user full control while having high security.

If someone hacks into Coinbase, they could steal alot more than 2 thousand dollars. xD

I'd say if you trust yourself:

- Cold Wallet
- Paper Wallet

If you don't trust yourself:

- Bank Vault
- Get a trusted person to hold and keep your Bitcoins safe.

If you don't trust yourself then it means bitcoin is not for you in the first place. Bitcoin is created for people who can mange their own money and are not afraid of it.
You better stick to the FIAT and banks if you have trust issues.

Use an old laptop that is normally not connected to the internet. and place linux on it and save there your bitcoins on a lightweight wallet like Multibit and make a backup on a USBstick.

Yeah I own a ledger wallet, and its enough for me. I didnt pair it with my smartphone though, I just use the card.
For its price it does its job good.

Alternative but more expensive, Trezor!

IMO, armory or electrum would be a better choice. They do allow cold storage spending without being directly connected to the internet. Thus making your wallet 100% offline. Electrum would be a better choice imo, the HD wallets doesn't require frequent backups. I see no downside with Windows or Linux if it's offline too.

during this time I was quite safe never hacked or lost. just use blockchain.info and security use google authenticator (2FA) and its use is very easy :)

Use a wallet key and store it on an external (offline) drive or USB. That way you dont have to worry about hackers stealing your pass key.

You can try blockchain.info wallet. Trustable and safe  :)

I bought the ledger hw.1 this morning and it has been shipped. Thanks for the help guys!

Encrypted paper wallet

You can try this simple steps to secure your bitcoins.
First download and install any virtual box like VM ware after installation install OS on vm ware or virtual box.
after that install anti virus Licensed avg or ESET and then install wallet electrum for lite version. now you have a clean os with anti virus and electrum
. now install vpn like hotspot shield that can connect your wallet anonimously and it can prevent your cookies to be monitor.
now open your internet on vm ware or connect it to transfer all your funds into electrum. Remember activate vpn before make a moves in electrum sync server, password or anything else.
Now your funds in electrum is now safe. You can use it send and recieve transaction just dont forget to activate your anti virus and vpn to prevent monitoring cookies...

Some malware can steal information from your VM. Antiviruses aren't foolproof and you don't need it at all if you install the wallet on a clean computer. VPN services can potentially monitor your traffic and currently, it is safer to do your wallet without the VPN. SSL is secure enough to encrypt all the traffic. Connecting your device to internet is a redundant process. You don't need internet to spend your coins on electrum.

don't do it :)
better trust your self and save your money at paperwallet or trezor

anyway im never hear about Bank vault accept to saving bitcoin ?

One would create a paper wallet or something and put it in the bank vault, like a safe deposit box.

My ledger HW.1 has been dispatched and will arrive this week. I was watching a tutorial on youtube and one of the founders of ledger has 900BTC!  :o

900 bitcoins must be very big money. It's only possible to earn this much via providing any services related to bitcoin. I believe they must have earned that much money from selling Hardware wallet itself.

Meh, I got 900 BTC in a month back when I was mining... Of course, it was 2010 so it's a different story :D
I don't think they/he got that much BTC only by sales.

You can use paper wallet (And I advice you to use it if you have a great quantity of bitcoin). Or, you can use blockchain.info and then set the 2FA Authentication and you'll not have any problems (Naturally pay always attention).

Not sure why is anyone using blockchain.info or recommending it for that matter. There are reports which states that blockchain.info saves the encrypted private key on their server and 2FA only secures the wallet from outside hacker. A inside job is still possible. Paper wallets are the best bet imo, it doesn't take much knowledge or time to set it up and is relatively easy to spend with a smart phone.

Use a cold storage to make sure the security ;D using bitcoincore, paperwallet or electrum with 2FA. Never trust any online service however the security is, they are still vulnerable to hackers

My ledger HW.1 will be delivered tomorrow I think

I know that every HW can broken. SW can be missused. With this facts I choosed paper wallets. I am feeling safe, just make sure that you store your private key in good place and make more copies.

You also can do both. If you are afraid that your cold storage HD gets broken I recommend to make paper wallets of as well.
Put that these both to different secured places and you're fine.

Put them on a hardware portable drive like a USB drive as someone mentioned already with Multibit. But I haven't checked into this on yet, so can't comment on it directly.
I would prefer to us The Ledger as it a cool concept and always updated on their site. The key is to not have it connected to the internet as it is needed to be.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1247885.msg12959353#msg12959353

Either paper wallet or a cold hard disk which you don't use and just put it somewhere.

Why a cold hard disk? Couldn't a USB drive do the same job? IMO, cold hard disk would pose a problem if it's quite old as it would be prone to hard disk failure. A new USB drive doesn't cost a lot while being portable and durable.

You could use new Multibit HD wallet. it is very secure and let you save your Bitcoins even on hardware wallets.

https://www.beta.multibit.org/

Even in coinbase wallet also they have the 2 factor authentication feature. I think this guy does not use two factor security. as you said best choice is this one only but I don't how many people are using this. let them do else they only will face risk from hackers

Make sure if you're visiting internet cafe, you're browse it with igcognito mode to prevent save cache that can be used by hacking purpose


I'm wonder how to recover if my 2Fa device got stolen or drop away unaccidentally ...

Some 2FA services offer users to have a backup on their server. They have to be very secure, if not, it's very hackable. Services like authy have this. Alternatively, most 2FA services have backup on the user's devices. If none of it works, the user can possibly just contact the support.

Put strong password and use 2FA if online wallet or a cold hard disk.

online wallet is just a temporary option. At least use electrum in my opinion. Online wallets however safe they are if the hackers got access from the inside then nothing can be protected

Hi,

Your best option is to have a paper wallet for storing long term, as long as you can keep it safe.

For daily use something like armory or greenaddress.it is best

Thanks

For long term, make an offline (heavily encrypted) .dat file and send the coins to that address. Offcourse paperwallets, yet you never know if your computer or the website you take it from is hacked. So for all options, a clean and fresh installed computer is the way to go

i use to secure my bitcoins are with splitting it, i use hardware wallet for my savings which i dont use it for my regular work that all bitcoins go to my hardware wallet which i secure it online and in my usb drive, pendirive and my mobile. and some bitcoins i keep in coinbase which i use it regularly for my mobile recharge and playing sport betting. like this i secure my bitcoins