Bitcoin Forum

hello
after some time on this forum i found out that ppl dont really like blockchain com, they kinda hate it. can smb explain me why plz?
blockchain info is just a wallet, so it cant be hacked the same as the stocks. and also blockchain com company is too big and is on the market for a really long time, so it wont rob anybody, if im mistaking correct my mistakes plz
thank you

First- blockchain.com is not a big company. It's big but not as big as you think.

If someone "hack" an stock market exchange, there are many laws and  insurances that will protect you. There aren't laws or insuarences if you lose your bitcoin.

If you ever make a wallet, you will be only responsible for its security.
If you chose blockchain.com as a wallet, you have to know the risks involved and that they have no responsibility over your funds.

In my opinion, unless you are an expert, you should buy a hardware wallet such as trezor or ledger nano.

They made some really bad mistakes as wallet service. People remember such things.
They just doesnt have good PR, but people still using them without major problems.

they teamed up with miners and other large companies and loudly campaigned for increasing the block size with a hard fork. that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. you'll find similar disdain for bitpay and coinbase too.

it's also an online wallet---much less secure than a desktop wallet due to MITM attacks and such. it's just reckless security-wise so people get scolded for using it sometimes.

I'm not claiming that the blockchain.com wallet is unsecure, but I've read enough complaints to not recommend it to people, even though I've used it in the past with no problems(just with small amounts of bitcoin).

Here's a fairly recent one: Topic: Blockchain.com scam - lost funds https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5157460

thank you for the thread link, what alternative wallet would u suggest?

well, im not an enthusiast but i still dont want my money to be stolen, but paying 100$ for the wallet is more than 10% of my wallet. are there any cheaper solutions, atleast software

can u plz suggest me any desktop wallets (i would be really happy if there are desktop wallets, which ui is as great as blockchain com)

Please use hardware wallet as it is more secure, alternative to blockchain.com will still be an online wallet, nay.

I suggest you should read this first https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-for-beginners/what-is-bitcoin-wallets#hardware, it indicates there not only type of desktop wallets but also some ways to provide you better security and choose the best wallet you can use, still hardware wallets are the best.

the reasons in decreasing order of seriousness:
- it is a web wallet which means you have to visit a website to open it, although everything happens in your browser and they only store the encrypted wallet file but there still are a lot of risk involved that can lead to losses. specially since browsers aren't the safest thing with their JavaScript!

- although they have released the source code, you are still accessing a closed source website which you can't know what actual code is being run by them.

- in the past their platforms had very serious bugs that has led to loss of funds (like usage of random.org for entropy generation!)

- their platform still has many minor bugs that have existed for years and are well known but not fixed since they are not serious.

- their wallet and explorer don't support new features of bitcoin that were added nearly 2 years ago called Segregated Witness.

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as for the wallet to use instead, read the sticky topic in this board about wallets.
my suggestion is that you start with Electrum. since it is light and user friendly. but you have to learn how to use it correctly, start by learning how to verify PGP signatures since you need to verify the authenticity of the binaries you download.

I think you should then use Electrum, mobile or desktop version.
It is important that you have safe habits online (don't install junk shady software, don't click shady links, don't go to shady websites, etc). Especially is your device whixh you have Electrum installed.

Dobwload only from Electrum.org

If you want fancy wallets, maybe you'll find lots of choices if you use a mobile wallet. On a desktop, Electrum is probably the closest one. You can use Electrum with hardware wallets too, so that's a plus.

You should not prioritize UI that much if we're talking about wallets. Don't forget to verify the files after you've downloaded it.

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Note: don't do multiple posts in a row, you can multi-quote and post a single reply.

I'm not sure that any of these had any proof. IMHO all the big companies sometimes are mentioned in such "horror stories" - black PR and people blaiming others for their mistakes mostly.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there was never hacks or something else at blockchain.com's wallet.

Here's my personal picks.

If you don't own that much:

• Desktop wallet: https://electrum.org/
• Mobile wallet: https://samouraiwallet.com/

If you're holding significant amounts(probably worth $400+), get a hardware wallet:

• https://ledger.com/
• https://trezor.io/

ty, i will try electrum(but after this thread im thinking about buying trezor), shitty exe are not a problem for me, cuz im using linux xd, but last time i tried to install electrum ive got pyqt error, and i couldnt find out whats the solution of the problem on internet, ty

yah, thats true, blockchain com also has no eth smart-contracts

thank you, i already use blockchain com from the phone xd, but im gonna switch, the guy, who wrote new message has suggested mobile wallet

sorry, i just realized, that i can multiquote posts, i will do it from the next post

agree, after reading that forum post, i just thought that smb is blaming blockchain com for its own mistake, but that situation really may happen, so im gonna change my wallet

yeah, thanks, im gonna move my 500$ to electrum, and after that i would order trezor/ledger hardware

Blockchain.com is a web wallet. This makes it way less secure compared to other wallets - by definition.

You hear a lot of people here shouting to never upload your private keys. Not even encrypted.
Well.. that's exactly what you are doing with a web wallet.


There are countless attack vectors against a web wallet, which do ONLY work against a web wallet.


For example.. if i gain access to the database of blockchain.com (either by hacking into it or by paying some employee a big amount of money), i could try something like DNS poisining to get people to visit my site (which they will think is blockchain.com).

I wouldn't need to crack any passwords in this case. I would have the encrypted private keys AND the passwords from the user once they try to access the web wallet.

This simply is not possible with desktop wallets.



@OP:
With 1000$+ it is worth buying a hardware wallet (IMO).

But else, i'd go for electrum on your desktop and a mobile wallet on your phone (e.g. mycelium).

yeah, thanks, ive already decided to buy hardware wallet, paying 80$ for saving 500$ is a good idea

Your peace of mind is worth.

And your BTC will become more valuable in time (we all hope at least), and your 100usd will be very cheap.. you can sell some BTC in a few monthse to pay for it

Also, never keep your money on exchange, even while waiting for your ledger to arrive.

It's better to stay on Electrum than on any exchange.

Some people may hate it but me I don't actually hate blockchain com and I am also using it to check the transactions if I have sent a btc or received a btc. I haven't read a thread here having problems from blockchain com because your wallet security is all in your hands if you know or an expert in keeping your wallet safe.

Lol well yeah, their block explorer is fine, but you're not really risking anything using it. It's a bit lacking, since like their wallet, it doesn't seem to support Segwit yet. I wouldn't recommend anyone to use their explorer, much less their wallet, since they're so behind the times -- maybe even delibarately.

Not sure who is complaining about blockchain com , but it was the first wallet i used far back in 2014 and never had problems with it . Not using it now , but did use few months back and had no problems at all , even trusted them and did KYC .

I've never had much trouble with Electrum under Linux.  I run both Rasbian and Debian and I have Bitcoin and Litecoin versions of Electrum.  I might have gotten it running under OpenBSD too, years ago now.

I love the fact that once you set up a new copy on a different machine and put in your seed words you have a clone of your original.  If your hard drive or whatever craps out you can start fresh, put in your seed, and all your bitcoin and records are in the new installation.  And if you have multiple computers you can put it on all of them and the copies stay in synch.

I can't imagine trying to live with Windows anymore, haven't used it seriously in 10 years.  There are thousands of programs for Linux, all free.  It took me about 20 years to be comfortable and confident about unix in general though, so I can understand reluctance to adapt.  Viruses?  Mostly only under Windows.  I'm getting off topic.

I use coinbase.com instead of blockchain.com.  They aren't perfect either but I've been with them a few years.  That's for the dollars to bitcoin exchange, then I send it to my Electrum address.