Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin-qt vs bitcoind? Or is there anything more secure?

Something that provides easy to use offline wallet functionality, armory or electrum.

This. I'd actually recommend Electrum until Armory .91 or .92 is released. Armory has much more functionality and some more security, but also a few serious bugs to be worked out (which eat your time, not your coins), though it's much less apparent if you run your computer(s) "normally" (fast, solid Internet connection, power stays on). Electrum will ultimately take up hours less of your time, excluding needing the full blockchain with Armory.

With the de facto "official" Bitcoin client, you both have the time-consumption of a "full" client and no added functionality over third-party clients. AFAIK, the Bitcoin clients also still do not use deterministic wallets, which is a major pain in the ass and/or security risk if you use it a lot.

How much disk space does electrum take atm?
(oh nvm, it doesn't work like bitcoin qt I think)

Is there a link to the electrum download site, It sounds interesting.

This is the website. https://electrum.org/
This is the Electrum board here on bitcointalk. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0

Is the android version safe as the desktop version? , Sounds awesome.

No idea..maybe you can try it and report back :P

No thanks, I ill take my chances on the desktop version haha  :D

Electrum. Or a paper wallet for long term storage.

just got electrum, but could You explain why is it safer? It uses other networks, which might be compromised, can they?

What do you mean by "it uses other networks"???

It can be stored offline. So, It is secure, Oh and it doesnt download the blockchain.

Not downloading the blockchain is like the biggest feature, +it doesn't have to be online.

wish I knew :D

there are tricks for speeding up the blockchain syncing using bittorent and a dump of the blockchain: look up blockchain bootstrapping. Lots of tutorials available.

Still, some people are not happy to have 16GB+ data on their HD.

And for some people, downloading 16 GB takes loving ages.

Yup. And not just a day or two, but like half a month or more. Crappy internet speed. So I use Electrum.

I think armory is more secure, what do you think?

What happens if your hard-drive crashes when stored offline? Wouldn't it be better to be secretly stored in an online wallet? The chances of your hard-drive crashing is greater than some hacker to come along and hack your online wallet. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Both Armory and Electrum offer (in fact they both strongly suggest) that you make a paper backup, and store that piece of paper alongside your other important documents (e.g. in a safety deposit box). If you follow this advice, either of those two offer excellent safety from hardware failures. This goes for any deterministic or BIP32 wallet.

Cold storage (as already discussed) and hardware wallets (e.g. Trezor) are the safest options to protect against malware. For some people, cold storage is too difficult/inconvenient. For these cases, you have to make a judgement call: who do you trust more: do you trust yourself, and your ability to keep your computer clean from malware, or do you trust a third party to not run off with your BTC? Many people would probably choose the first, but there are some who would choose the second. Online wallets with per-transaction multifactor authentication (GreenAddress.it, BitGo.com) offer a pretty good (though not perfect) anti-malware alternative for these individuals.

To anyone who chooses to keep an online or a (hot storage) desktop wallet, I'd strongly recommend that you only keep around as much Bitcoin as you can afford to lose.

Offline-generated paper wallet is the gold standard of wallet safety. Forget any electronic solutions. You still need multiple paper copies, of course.

Offline-generated it good, but there's no difference between a "paper" wallet and a cold storage electronic wallet (e.g. Armory, Electrum, BIP32) with a paper backup, or is there? At some point, you have to hand your private keys over to a computing device (an offline computer or a hardware wallet) to do the EC math (unless you do it yourself on paper, good luck with that! ;))

By paper wallet I mean paper backup

Personally I like to use Armory for my everyday go to wallet, but self-made offline cold storage is the way to go.

If Electrum doesn't need the local bitcoin chain, doesn't that mean it needs to access the server everytime you use it? Therefore your IP could be logged at any time? So while it can be reasonably secure your anonymity is compromised?

I can say that you should not use Mt.Gox or BIPS

an Offline wallet?

I use 2 electrum wallets on my main desktop.

One is my small transaction wallet that I keep 0.25-0.5 just for quick payments. The other wallet is setup as watch only for my cold storage. When I need to send coin from cold storage I sign the tx on my dedicated offline laptop then put tx on an sd card. Plug in my main pc and sign and execute the tx from the watch only wallet.

This has been working pretty well for me. I probably shouldn't leave .5 in my small tx wallet but it gets to be a pain. 

How about Trezor?

I use blockchain.info  ::)

Absolutely not

I think armory is the safest but you need a good computer

Use the right wallet for the right purpose.

First level are online wallets:
Online wallets are a good choice for everyday (small) payments.
Using bitcoind, paperwallets, or other more sophisticated setups for these day2day payments
will most likely compromise their security (carrying paper wallets with you, typing passwords
in public, using public networks etc).
Of course, online wallets should hold always only a very small amount of coins.

Second level are Internet connected clients:
Whichever you use (bitcoind, electrum, whichever), they are more secure as not on the Internet
in a central, easily attackable location. However, they are still connected to the Internet, and thus
might be compromised. At the moment, their security depends much on your knowledge of
computers and how you administer your local system. But: no matter how good you are, there's
a risk. These wallets should therefore never store more than a moderate amount of coins.

Third level is cold storage:
No matter what you use (paperwallet, electronic), these are private keys that never touch any
machine that is connected to the Internet. Most secure, and also least practicable. Creating a full
setup with a locked-in computer for efficiently signing lots of transaction offline is work, so it's
not always feasible - especially for the average user. This is where paper wallets come into play:
secure, but very little organizational overhead.

In the end, the most important thing is to use all three levels for the right applications and
the right amount of coins. If you go exclusively cold-storage, you will most likely compromise
your security sooner or later due to the impracticality of this solution (ie, whipping out your
unconnected laptop to pay for a restaurant bill). Exclusive online wallet usage is bad for the
obvious reasons.

The amount of coins in each of these levels can only be decided by yourself.
Online wallets: what you can afford to lose without causing a major problem in your life
Connected clients: what you can afford to lose without destroying you
Cold storage: the rest :)

Nicely laid out

I agree. Trezor is an amazing approach.  I have one and another on order as a backup.  I'm becoming much more comfortable with it, and am shifting more from paper wallets as time progresses.  It is very well engineered.

Blockchain, coinkite and circle are all fine (blockchain being the best of the 3), but only for 'pocket money'

see it as sort of like carrying a wallet with $100 or so, if you get pickpocketed you will lose your $100, but at least you still have the rest of your money safe at home or in the bank or wherever you store your money.

You need to have some bitcoin at hand for immediate payments, especially if bitcoin becomes more popular, so that you can spend it on the fly with nothing more than your phone. Need to buy a newspaper, a bit of food? No worry, just use your cellphone (or smartwatch or glasses), and pay with it.

The majority of your bitcoin should be stored offline though, make sure to have several backups, preferably n-of-m stored at various locations, just to be sure.
For example 1 at your parents house (preferably in a fireproof safe), 1 at your own house, 1 in a bank vault, etc.

in case of fire, you'll still have the other ones, and if one gets stolen they are useless to the thief because they only have 1 out of many, and you'll need at least 2 or however many you set them to. That's why you can also safely store them at the bank, as long as you only safe an amount at the bank that is lower than the amount you need to recover your wallet. For example if you have a 3-out-of-5 backup, you can store up to 2 at the bank, but never 3, not even at different banks (because they might theoretically merge someday and it might get compromised)

Make sure to print your wallet backups on paper (preferably laminated with plastic or something) and preferably in a fireproof safe. Digital copies are not as durable as paper.

If you have access to your own tools, you could also cut out of stainless steel or other reasonably inert materials, make sure you make cuts or otherwise permanently deform the material, as writings may fade. Wood and plastic can be used, but they might get destroyed in a fire.

Paper wallet is most safe, unless you lose it ;)

Paper wallets are very safe. Check out my website: moneyart.info

AFAIK, the wallet in my pocket is the most safe, aha...

Internet is not safe zone. Never was, never will be.
But about the question, well it would be good to store your wallet on USB and thats it.
Sometimes antivirus detect malware on your wallet, even if it is clean, so I would use some CD/DVD to store it.
That would be safe enough and not deletable by antivirus.

yeah, no need to rely on online, hacker is everywhere.

i like coinbase

As the "safest" AND "online" wallet (example: Rushwallet is probably the "easiest" AND "fast" online wallet "now", but not the safest), I advise Greenaddress, with BTCHIP is even better :)

I think safest is to Store Wallet.dat On machine that is not always connected to the internet :)

+1

Coinbase is the most Secure Online Web Wallet .

100 % secure.

In fact, the most secure option is a properly implemented multi-signature online wallet like www.bitalo.com

There, two-factor authentication is mandatory, so it is secure under all circumstances, even when your computer is fully compromised and the private keys are encrypted with your password and secured with a pre-signed backup transaction you can get the coins out, even when the site is offline or when the database is erased. On top of that coins are covered from loss with 50.000 EUR.

Also, in comparison to all "offline" techniques, you can still use the coins for spending.


Edit: coinbase is NOT 100% secure, because first of all 100% does not exist, also, when two factor is not mandatory, it is easily possible to steal coins via compromised computer

I am very well with Coinbase, i suggest it to enyone lokking for a wallet!

You are wrong. Coinbase is good but it is not fully featured wallet. A fully featured wallet will have feature to export, import etc... But Coinbase doesn't fulfill, atleast 'export private key' feature. If they go, your BTC goes. The best online wallet now is Blockchain.info wallet, try it or just use a desktop wallet.

  ~~MZ~~

i will vote for bitcoin core qt
real bitcoin wallet

safest is to store your bitcoin on blockchain
I think the best online wallet.

Try coinbase . Ya Blockchain is also the best option to store ur coins.

Stop recommending the most unsafe BTC storage methods, thanks.

multibit isa easy wallet use

sorry, i doubt that

One made of cubic zirconia with QR codes etched inside them - the BIP 38 ones that require a password.  Safest wallet evar = if you set a diamond on fire it will burn to soot - cubic zirconia will not!


oh sorry, cold wallets  Those are by in large the safest wallets to have bitcoin on.

Any thoughts on blockchain.info. I am looking for mobile wallet.

Paperwallet sealed hologram. 

It is a good online wallet. I think its better to say the BEST one yet! Which one are you using? iOS or Android? I think Mycelium is good for android and Beither is good for iOS. Beither offers hot and cold wallet and is great!. :)

  ~~MZ~~

In terms of security that is definitely armory

Try Trezor (http://www.bitcointrezor.com/), hardware wallet who work fine :D
You can read the manual here (http://doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-user/securityphilosophy.html)

The zero trust principle
TREZOR’s security model is based on the principle of zero trust. The zero trust principle says that any part of a secure system could at some point be compromised.

http://doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-user/_images/zero-trust-diagram.png

Your TREZOR device will continue to protect your bitcoins even in the case that the myTREZOR web wallet is hacked and your computer is infected by a virus. This is important. The whole point of TREZOR is being more secure than a traditional web wallet or desktop bitcoin application.

Why does the TREZOR have a screen and buttons?

If you are using your TREZOR device with an untrusted computer and you want to make a payment, how do you know that the payment is going to the right person? If the TREZOR did not have a screen it would be impossible to know that the payment was being made to the correct address. After all, an infected computer could easily lie about where the money was going to go or how much was being sent.

By making the TREZOR with a screen and physical buttons, you know that no payments will ever be made without you being able to read their amount and being able to physically accept or cancel the payment. This is the key distinction between TREZOR and a traditional smart card.

Because of the high price it is hard to buy for most of the users unless they have many BTC to store. Now BTC Chip is available, it is affordable.

  ~~MZ~~

Blockchain without any doubt the best wallet! A lot of features (import/export) and safer than other wallet.  ;)

Nope, currently the most "hacked" of all active wallets.

If you avoid phishing mails and sites, you can be safe from hacking. I can't say it is the best but it is good enough! ::) :)

  ~~MZ~~

I think Trezor is the best  :).

armory

no everyone secure online from hacking bro  ;D
safe bit coin wallet is your computer free from virus and placed your wallet  offline condition  like bit core  its the best solution for this time  . no quarantee from third factor wallet security ....or your be the next target victim .. :D