Bitcoin Forum

In another thread I mentioned how Im a newcomer to Bitcoin and have just tried it out with some free Bitcoins.

Unfortunately the Bitcoins disappeared from my Bitcoin client 24 hours later without trace. So that's my first experience unfortunately.

EDIT UPDATE, next day: the Bitcoins have now reappeared!

My impression at the moment is that Bitcoin is too geeky and unreliable so far. Things need to be improved considerably before it will be possible for Bitcoin to take off and gain acceptance amongst the general public.

Also I like to run all my software in the cloud, not on my computer. Safely and reliably. This is another thing that needs to be sorted out.

This means I dont want to have to run a "client" on my computer. What about people who have eg a Google Chromebook? And nor do I want to have an electronic wallet sitting on my computer either.

Maybe one of the major cloud players eg Amazon or Google will come up with a secure cloud based wallet. I heard that Google have written a Bitcoin client of their own, so they are definitely interested in it.

We also need a Bitcoin system more like eg Facebook, where you have a unique account in the cloud, which serves as your client and connection to your wallet and the whole Bitcoin network.

In other words, Bitcoin needs to become more web-based, at least as far as all the user interfaces are concerned.

I heard there is a Service called "meinBitcoin" which allows you to store all Bitcoins in the "cloud" Safe and reliable.

The whole point is to sort of avoid that though, no? You look after your own coins then the network is effectively impossible to shut down.

I cant find any service called "meinBitcoin".

There is a "mybitcoin". Maybe you were thinking of this?  They are at https://www.mybitcoin.com/

However they appear to be closed due to a security breach (not a good sign).

I think you mean www.mybitcoin.com, which has been attacked recently and has lost an unknown amount of bitcoins of its users. There's a lot of threads on the mybitcoin fiasco on the 'Bitcoin Discussion' subforum. The problem with bitcoin services on the cloud is that it is very difficult to trust anyone who claims that they can store your bitcoins safely, and this is even more the case now after the high-profile mybitcoin.com theft. I think we will probably have reliable online wallet services after a number of years, but right now it is better to store your bitcoins on an offline wallet.

The only way in which I think you can store your bitcoins on the cloud would consist in using software like TrueCrypt to encrypt a wallet file that you've generated while you were offline, and then storing the TrueCrypt-encrypted file on a cloud-based service like Dropbox. As long as you use a strong password with TrueCrypt and you're sure that no malicious software is tracking your file system while you're offline, this should be safe, I think.

It surely cant be impossible to set up a 100%, or at least 99.9999% reliable online wallet service.  After all PayPay manages to achieve around that level of reliability.

I agree that in the meantime the best way for now to store Bitcoins safely is to use TrueCrypt or similar. Make sure your wallet is encrypted and password protected - as well as all backups of your wallet. Plus keep an encrypted copy of it with a cloud storage service (or two).

What Bitcoin needs is a simple USB interface for the client, so that you can keep your wallet properly encrypted on a USB stick instead of on the computer. So that whenever you want to access your wallet, you just plug in your USB stick.

I agree that it shouldn't be that difficult, but the problem is how do you convince your customers that your system is reliable? Both Mt. Gox and mybitcoin.com claimed to be using state-of-the-art security and then the Mt. Gox database got compromised, with passwords being published on the web and all, and mybitcoin.com had an unknown part of its bitcoin deposits stolen. These security breaches have made people very sceptical of online services that advertise themselves as safe. That's why I think it will take a few years before a new mybitcoin.com can become successful. It's not just a question of having the know-how, but also a question of building a reputation as a reliable service, which should take some time.

I believe you need to be connected to the internet for your balance to be displayed. Maybe you were offline?

No, I was online the whole time. My machine is always online.

Some other problems I see right now with Bitcoin:

- exchanges that use money transfer/escrow services that people have never heard of

- amateur looking exchange websites

- outrageously high fund transfer fees

- inadequate banking arrangements for SEPA transfers

- reports of break-ins on exchanges

- wallet break-ins and other problems and bugs

- and, with the possible sole exception of Mt.Gox USD,  trading volumes that are all far too low to allow for trading confidence


Until these issues are satisfactorily resolved, I feel Bitcoin will remain a fringe activity.

The problem with going through something like Paypal to get Bitcoin from someone is that since Paypal is very buyer centric, they have an instant refund policy on buyers who do not get their stuff, and will blacklist people for not getting what they are selling to them. So, you try and gift coin to someone who gifts you Paypal things, nothing to stop them from turning around and labeling you a fraudster, and there's really nothing you can do about it. If you went through something like the Fiverr infrastructure, then maybe you could do a better job at Paypal transactions, but their taking a buck off the top of a $5 transaction, so pick your poison.

EDIT: Just checked. It's against TOS to offer alternate currency as part of the exchange at Fiverr. Bummer.

What you want is called an "ewallet" service to store bitcoins in the cloud.  Be careful though: the site operator could decide to steal your coins, or they could be stolen due to a security breach.   For these reasons, it is best practice to only store a small amount in the cloud as a matter of convenience (used to pay for lunch for example).

Here is one eWallet service that recently opened: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=35599.0  The site operator is generally considered trustworthy here on the forum.  But still, be aware of the risk.

STUFF IS NOT SAFE UP THERE!

IMHO bitcoin is not for you. Come back in a year or two.

It's just a question of trust using a cloud service. Just do some research on who runs the site.
I would suggest https://vibanko.com/ as trustworthy.
They are run by intersango, who also run britcoin.com (the largest British exchange). One of the main people involved is Amir Taaki who is involved in the development of the main bitoin client and many other projects. If you search his name on youtube you can find him being interviewed by mainstream media.
I think once you hear someone speak openly with a face and a name it counts for a lot. I only traded on Britcoin becasue I could easily search for the people involved.

It shouldn't be impossible for someone to set up a secure JavaScript based wallet service where your keys are encrypted by a client-side password. You'd lose everything if you lost your password though

Someone is working on that: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36169.0

http://strongcoin.heroku.com/