Bitcoin Forum

A thought experiment i wanted to know.
I have saved it in a disc (was inspired by satoshi who stated it that he has saved it and buried it)
memorised and saved in rasp pi 400 in air gapped though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_6H6kXI4o (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_6H6kXI4o)

The private key to everything has to be kept in one's own privacy. There are many people who leave their keys in such a place and it is seen that they are hacked later.In order to prevent hacking, the private key must be kept in a very secure place.I have kept my Bitcoin private key hardware account.

I don't know why you don't put as one of the options what I think will be the majority option: written down on a piece of paper and kept in a safe place (or two different safe places).

yeah agreed why isn't paper wallet on the list? It's the easiest and cheapest way and very secure with zero chance of hacking. People do seem to prefer hardware wallets these days, but to me paper wallet is the easiest, free, and in the past I've heard of hardware wallet hacks or people forgetting their password to the hardware wallet and losing their money so paper wallet seems a little safer.

I use paper wallets, with certain parts of the key changed that only I know but is easy to remember, and stored redundantly with several other people in case something happens to my copy.

My Bad. Added paper one.

Mines aren't in any of the options in the poll. I use a technique that use a deterministic way to get my seed without the need of knowing all words of my seed and I can store by just remember a specific couple of words, yet if I gave you the couple of words, it wouldn't be enough to get my coins nor seed :D

i'm a MacBook user, i store my private key wallet in the SSD.... i know it's not very secure but i don't have a lot of Bitcoins that i hold so i'm not really worried, maybe when i have a lot of assets (Bitcoin), i'll move it to a hardware wallet like trezor.

One of them I wrote on paper to store my private key and kept it in a private closet which was very safe for me, as a backup I always keep it on the SSD/HDD that I use while it's safe it's not a problem to clearly write on that paper better.

That's as an experiment I wrote it's 24 words safe.

Personally, I dont use paper, paper can get wet, can be eaten by insects and can catch fire,
the ink can even fade.

I use a stainless Steel plate similar to this > https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5323755.0 which is secured very remotely.

Be careful guys many of us has close affiliates, friends and many more that may know us personally or know our rejoin, this isn’t to say we don’t have trusted friends but when it come to crypto-currency we have to be careful, I believe sharing this information here is like reveal what should be kept private for reasons I don’t think it worth it, Mr op where ever you have saved your Bitcoin key Is for your knowledge, don’t create and cause others to create a thread were people reveal private messages here.

I am not very meticulous about security yet. For me, where do I place my keys is not important at this stage. I tend to keep them on my computer and only use it for small amounts. But that’s just me.
Of course I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and it might lead to a lot of headaches in the future if it were to get compromised. But at this stage in my life, I don't really care how safe my coins are. They are not valuable to me at this stage and I have no need to protect them.

Sorry to pry, but i honestly think you should change that, i know it is just you and the funds is yours for christ's sake, the amount as well could prolly be small too (right now by the way), but the thing is: it is always important to worry about your security, and there are many reasons why you should, it is great for your own personal knowledge and development to start experimenting with little amounts how to safely and securely store your coins, cause you never know when the big one will come, or when the small amout would turn big, and by then you prolly might already have been easy prey for scammers to feast on.
People who didn't care about the security/safety of their Bitcoins and lost it some ten years ago or so cause it wasn't really valuable then, would prolly be kicking themselves at this very point. What if the same scenario happens to you somewhere along the line as Bitcoin continues to develop, appreciate in price, and heads towards mass adoption, but you already lost your funds cause you saw no reason to secure it.

Well just like the others, I wrote it in a piece of paper. I never ever ever in my life would think to store them digitally even if my PC was free of virus or malware. As long as it is connected to the internet, I am pretty much not safe to whatever elements are out there.
I am planning to buy a small safe for it, though that might be a too paranoid of a move.

This kinda reminds me of this news back then. :D
[Man locked out of his Bitcoin account with $250 million has two password guesses left] (https://technology.inquirer.net/107293/man-locked-out-of-his-bitcoin-account-with-250-million-has-two-password-guesses-left)

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@OP you should also add steel sheet in your poll. Some people use those as well.

Memorization is high at risk rather than writing in a piece of paper thats why i never opt out on having this kind of option but instead i do make paper and usb back ups
on saving up my keys but of course it wont really be that easily to be known since some of phrases or characters are placed on other areas or i do make out some
puzzle for it not to be accessed directly incase someone had able to see it out.
There are lots of options to take and each one of us does have different choices whether they would be choosing other but to said
that we are sharing up on the same intent or goal which is to make our coins safe so its doesnt really matter that much.

Just wrote it on a paper that I'm the only one who knew where it's kept.

I'm planning to do it on a dog tag and have it written there but I have qualms in doing so. It's hard to find a trusted engraver to do the job for me so, I'll just stay it on the traditional way of keeping it on paper.

Will have it put with a cover to protect it from all kinds of weather.

in principle everyone will store it in a way that he believes is safe and not easily lost while I personally store it in an encrypted\stored on HDD\ssd because it's easier but also make a backup by writing it in a private diarrhea because I don't know what to do happen in the future but my family knows I never get rid of diarrhea

Done.

No need to post where to you save, just vote as it is anonymous.

It is wrong to only use one option if you ask me. I personally prefer multiple options and multiple backups.
For example you could have a hot wallet on your desktop or your phone containing a small amount of bitcoin that you may need quick access to whenever you want to spend some bitcoin.
Then you also want a secure storage to keep the bulk of your bitcoins which is when cold storage comes in. For backup you could use paper wallets alongside your digital storage (burnt on a disk or a USB stick or old computer,... all airgap).
If you rely on one solution (digital storage for example) you could end up losing access (e.g. data decay in this case).

Where did Satoshi say this?

Yeah i though of adding multiple options but it would complicate the poll. As for satoshi post, many do not know that he actually posted in an conspiracy forum back in 2013-2014. (allegedly).
Here was his comment
Please don ban me, If you think it was fraud post above then censor it. I have saved his communications worth 90 pages in my HDD doc file.

I would add one more thing and that is after you have written it down then also intimate your next of kin which can be your spouse, parents or kids. Most of bitcoins got abandoned because there owners either loss the key or left this world . I have kept few copies of my private key with one given to my wife.

Was expecting guys and gals would atleast vote. Wanted to see the percentage.

Is this your source? - https://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2415307/pg7


^ It looked like someone's trolling in that forum. I would never imagine someone like satoshi to even call himself as father of cryptocurrency.

Voted. Just add those who recommended paper wallet and steel wallet as votes.

I understand what you mean. When I said I didn't worry too much about security, I meant that I didn't worry about theft and hacking. I keep my private keys unencrypted on my computer simply because I don't plan on keeping a significant amount of funds on that wallets, ever. Also, I am the only person using the computer. In this case, even if something were to happen to me, someone in my family may find those keys (if they are aware enough to look for them), and the coins wouldn't be utterly lost.
But like I said, I do not recommend this approach to anyone, and I'm planning to get a hardware wallet soon to store my long-term crypto assets.

Whoever that is on the conspiracy forum, it's surely not satoshi. Satoshi didn't write nonsense like that. He is/was most probably a native English speaker. That post was written by someone who isn't. CDs are unreliable storage mediums, and they are digital. I have music CDs who have stopped working for no reason at all.

No digital or online copies of your seed and private keys are recommended. All physical ways to do backups work. Some are better than others. A piece of paper is OK. A laminated piece of paper is better. Engraving your words on stainless steal is even better. Engraving and hiding your steal backups in places people would never look is a whole new level. You could also secure your seed with washers (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5389446.0).

Well, that is why you should laminate the paper wallets and you should store them in a dark place...away from direct sunlight. Not all people have access to the technology to engrave a Private key on Stainless Steel.  ::)

It is simple to print several copies of your Private key or Seed phases onto a piece of paper and then to get it laminated. I have books that are over 100 years and it is still in a very good condition and it is not even laminated. The secret is simply in how you are storing it....  ;)

I agree and even when this is highly advisable amongst other means we will also consider why most will use or write down on paper preferable in multiple places because of the amount of Bitcoin those investors HODL. I believe this is one of the determinants of how most people save their Bitcoin keys, how much they hodl will influence how far or what they are willing to spend in storing their keys, either way, just keep it safe.

The question has been discussed before, and I don't think this thread is for this board. That is not withstanding, different answers will still appear. There are divers ways one can store or keep his or her phrase seed or wallet key. You can store your key in the way that is safe for you. There have been different suggestions that have been made by different users in the forum. You can store your phrase seed in a flash drive, memory card, CD plate, your brain or tell your spouse, children or very close relative. Any way that is suitable  for you. Do it. But all of them have Merit and demerit. That is advantages and disadvantages.

If I will suggest for you, I will suggest papper wallet storing. Write out the phrase seed in a paper mostly in a jotter, and keep the jotter in your walldrop or you can catalogue the jotter.

As vulnerable as it may sound I save all my private keys on my email draft I know it sounds weird and stupid but I prefer it that way since my email is highly protected with second layer security. But am thinking lately to get them written on a paper not that sound riskier to me as anyone with access to the paper can easily access the wallets.

It sounds extremely vulnerable.

2FA or "second layer security", as you put it, only offers additional protection to someone trying to hack your email username and password directly. And even then it's not infallible, and depends very much on how you have set up the 2FA. Anything less than a hardware key can be broken. SMS or email 2FA is completely insecure and adds next to nothing. A 2FA app on the same device you use to log in to said email is also very insecure.

But more importantly, you have to consider all the other ways someone could access this data stored in your email drafts. Your keys are now duplicated across an unknown number of servers across an unknown number of countries. These servers can be accessed by an unknown number of people, both physically and electronically. These servers have unknown security, both physically and electronically. You have no idea how securely your email provider is storing or transferring your data. Your email provider almost certainly shares your data with an unknown number of third parties. Your email provider may store your password insecurely, or have 2FA set up insecurely so it can be bypassed. There may be malicious employees. There may be bugs in their software. Their servers may be hacked. There are so many ways that your keys could be stolen in this set up I can't even count them all.

Keep in mind that anything stored online, in emails, in cloud storage, etc., is simply being stored on someone else's computer. Would you message a random person on this forum with all your private keys? No? Then you shouldn't be storing them online.

Yeah, that method sounds even less secure than mine (which I agree is completely insecure, by the way) of storing it unencrypted on my computer.

@Odusko, I assume you have heard of cases of leaked emails in the past. How do you think hackers get access to those messages? Suffice it to say that they are seldom the result of actual hacking. You might be surprised to learn that most server adminis have full access to all private mailboxes on most systems.

Where did Satoshi claimed that he saved the private keys in a CD rom, this is the first time i am hearing this claim. Majority of the early coiners were thinking that he left for good and may be he lost his keys so that he wont be able to access the millions of coins he is holding so that he wont be able to move the coins and give a panic heart attack to the rest of the investors  :D.

Edit: so it is another conspiracy wanna be claim  ;D

Hope you have gone through the 14 pages! ;D I believe him

Storing your bitcoin in a hot wallet on your computer is a valid use case in some circumstances, though. I have a wallet on my computer which stores a small amount of bitcoin which I need to be stored in a hot wallet for things like coinjoining and Lightning, which cannot be stored in a cold wallet while being actively used for these purposes. There are obvious caveats, in that your wallet should be encrypted, ideally the whole disk should be encrypted, the computer should be running a clean and open source OS, you shouldn't use it for installing a bunch of other programs or downloading junk, you should only store a small amount of coins at any one time, etc., but there are still plenty of reasons to have your coins in a hot wallet.

On the other hand, there is no good reason to back up your keys to your email account, ever.

I definitely have a hot wallet where my keys (or rather, my seed phrase) are stored digitally and in a way easy for me to access on the go. It's still horribly inconvenient, not to mention the wallet app itself is pretty bad but as far as phone apps go I make the security sacrifice for convenience (as we all do). Worst case scenario, hot wallet lost is not a lot of money.

I've considered a secondary semi-hot wallet (I'm making things up) where I'll only memorise the seed phrase to restore when needed. Terrible idea unless you find a way to help you remember if you forget.

CD has proven to be a terribly unreliable way to store information. Despite the declared service life of more than 50 years, most of those who caught the time of CD popularity still have them in the closet like useless trash. It is almost impossible to read information from them.

To store bitcon keys, it is better to use metall disk (with seed-text engraved on it) instead of compact disk. At least in this way the data will not disappear after a couple of years.

Does anyone else use CD or DVD? This is already old junk, without any advantages.

From a disc, you mean compact disk? Cmon now a days no one uses a compact disk.
But yes i know everyone has their own choices.
I have stored my keys by writing it down in a piece of paper, actually i made 3 copies and kept it separately for emergencies.
Alternatively i have another wallet which has low amount of coins, and it’s private keys i have kept in Gmail account.(it’s not safe and not recommended).
So i can advise the OP at last that, do write the keys in a paper and keep it close to yourself, days are growing and soon cds will extinct. So watch your keys before it gets lost.

I'm not sure, but CDs and disks are not reliable because they occasionally stop working or reading at all, and the disk is very prone to disc scratches whether you store it or not because simply putting it to read will cause it to have scratches. Now I'm sure it'll be put on a disc in txt format, which is also unreliable and easily corrupted. Why not stick to writing it on paper or putting it in metal or wood and storing it because it is not easily erased. You just need to store it in the most secure location so that no one or only your trusted could see it.

Here is the power of CD. See the second file..
Forgot to save the wallet.dat file
Had first found about btc back in may 2011, downloaded bitcoin core 0.4.0 back on sep 30 2011 and got free btc via bitcoin faucet. Saved the exe file on disc but did not save the wallet.dat file. Mined some in 2012 with geforce 525m and then forgot about it.HDD crashed and threw it away. At that time the blockchain size was 600mb.
The disc still works!
https://imgur.com/e5sCHTD

I want to believe you're quite aware of the situation where you does not have access to the keys totally means a denied access to you coins as well, i want to believe in this you're referring to having an hardware wallet or a cold storage whereby the keys are in your possessions, they are actually non custodial and i will drop you with this for more safety:  additional protection for your seed and private keys (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5230920.0) and also, you can go through this
 secured air grip storage method (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2828437.0) they are recommended means to best save your key.

There are way too many easy steps to make sure that you are doing fine. Like for example we do not have disks in most places right now, we don't use them anymore do we? Which means that if you end up getting something that could read a disk, and still connect via USB port for example, then you are going to end up with making a good security layer even though it is not really impossible to figure out.

I am not saying that it is impossible, all I am saying is that it is definitely a layer of security. This is what hackers and whitehats think about when they are securing something, layers upon layers upon layers. Could be simple, but if you have 10 simple layers, then all of them combined makes it hard.

I don't think anyone here is claiming that all CDs will stop working after ten years. But the truth is that recordings on CD media can lose data due to various external forces or a poor media quality. They are not all good for long-term data storage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_disc#Recordable_CD

a. satoshi never said anything about saving his keys to a cd-rom

B. the faker thatt wrote on some nutty conspiracy site is just a faker on a conspiracy site, heck its not even the same tone, grammar or communication style of satoshi
heck some idiot saying "heres a fresh new public address, and later i will sign this fresh new address to prove its me".. = no proof of satoshi.


c. cd's can get scratched, prone to heat intolerance and easy to snap/break.. no one is silly to store valuable data on 'cd-rom'

d. most people that liked CD storage used CDWR. they dont waste a whole disk per private key. and satoshi had THOUSANDS of keys for every block he mined

..
my interpretation of satoshi's events is that in the early days bitcoin had no value and 'losing' coins out of circulation meant the remaining coins would gain value so he had no desire to store private keys long term. also with all the bug fixing and updates he probably over-write alot of wallet.dat files

What I thought about this at the start is Mr. Robot. It is how he saves his hacks or something. Does anybody relate? Lol.

I think the alleged part wouldn't be reliable enough to know if it's saved like that or something, but it's a great way to do it as long as you know where you are putting it. Some practical ways are also paper wallets. Just make sure you have a way to recover it or something.

I'm thinking of innovative ways to save seed phrases now. Hmm.

About saving ones private key, one of the best place to save it is by writing it down on a piece of paper and keeping it in a safe lock where only you have access to. If this is prone to insecurity, it can be put down with a a language only you can depict. The best way is to have it in two separate places that is accessible to you only.

added online\cloud backup. It seems some people are too lazy careless about security.

If you keep adding options to your poll, you will not get accurate survey results. Poll participants cannot change their responses once they have submitted them.
Just saying...

I store mine in my trusted bitcoin wallet. People can store it in different ways depending on their preferences. Some store it in hardwallet, some store it on their mobile devices, some store it in a flashdrive, some store it in unused computer, while some prefer the old way of storing their private keys in a notepad, stored in a safe place. It is just really a subjective matter and we can place it  wherever we are comfortable and at peace with.

If you already found something that works for you, then good. You just do you. Just remember to always still be cautious despite securing your private keys because there are still scams and schemes out there used by those hackers and people who do phishing to infiltrate your account with your help, without you noticing. Always be vigilant and keep things private so that you won't attract scammers.

This is a serious thing and shouldn't be taken only as an experiment because we are dealing about our wealth here and how did they know that satoshi used a cd rom to store his keys? When in the first place, the guy wants to become anonymous. He doesn't want to share information especially in regards to this matter (private key) as it was a serious thing and what if he get robbed one day. The thief already know where they will look at.

I think that cd's are a bad thing to store your keys because first is they are now becoming obsolete and second one, they can easily get corrupted. A tiny scratch and boom your out of luck to recover your keys anymore.

I hadn't found an option for voting. Because I maintain a paper notebook to write all of my wallet credentials. I don't support storing wallet credentials on any device or any online cloud storage. Basically I have been using a hardware wallet to store my cryptos and write seeds in my notebook. So in case of recovery, I would use that.

save the key not at the right one for me, because there are many possibilities that occur during human error, so at least we still have other alternatives to save it in our favorite place

These are the golden rules I would say. Storing digitally your credentials is the worst thing one can do, since they are gone as and when your device is compromised. I have lost some huge money as my device was compromised since then I store my wallet credentials on paper and save in my wardrobe.

I was thinking that can this thread be perma pinned?
Do not want to bump the thread every week or so. Will be a great bitcoin forum experiment.

Probably because most people are sane enough not to attempt to write down private keys on a piece of paper that is easily torn or susceptible to damage by water (wet hands FTW!) and other elements. It's justified for seed phrases though as they are easier to write down without mistakes.

Private key is an important asset that needs to be keep in a hidden place where nobody will be able to get to or have clue about. I have seen people keeping their private keys buried under their bed. Many might choose to keep in a cd or hard drive but the most important thing is to ensure that it is safe from damage or attack.

If the father of Bitcoin, Satoshi decides to bury his own private key, then that is best know to him. I prefer writing it down and keeping it in a water proof dairy and place it in my inner chamber that no one can thought something is hidden inside.

Probably really isn’t a good idea to make it public where your private keys are stored. This forum is full of highly intellectual people & some very desperate, dishonest people. I would strongly advise against it, any slip in your OPSEC could leave you vulnerable to theft.

I agree.

It made me remember those people that are too easy to tell if they own bitcoin in the public and online groups that they know the identities of each other. And they were attacked by those people that have seen their info personally.

But I think on this case, if nobody knows you personally, that won't be much of a threat.

This shouldn't be done by anyone unless it's encrypted. It's likely the riskiest way of storing your PKs.

Where have you saved your bitcoin keys?
I'm sure you're my neighbor, I just hope not my brother-in-law or worse my wife.

There are questions that are not asked, although I understand "where the shots are going".

Some already said a few posts before on paper wallet, and I would bury them in my garden, although I warn you they are only a few satoshi,   but regardless of the amount, it would be my procedure.

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^{This post indicates my new activity...994-1008}

In an offline drive, even though it is not the safest still it is convenient and safer compared to other ways. Anyone still using CDs in 2022, Last time I used it almost 5 or 6 years before and now I don't even have a cd drive to read the data if I have and also it is not so much reliable than other storage format.

On top of storing most of my private keys, seed and mnemonic phrases, etc., on my sacred notebook, I also have aluminum steel where I can just engrave these seed phrases to be protected even if it gets exposed in fire and water. But of course, it's better not to include all phrases there, so you must have a separate source where you can keep the final phrase somewhere secure and hard to find in any way.

Just still make a backup for that offline drive of yours. You are aware that it's not the safest but as long as you know how to keep it, you will have no problems with that.
I've just read a post that a data is actually better to keep it on a disk than a SSD because it's more sturdy and data there would be kept for longer years.

To me storing the wallet keys in a note book is the favorite for me because  I see it as the safest place  anyone would think something  vital like that will be written on it. Storing keys in a device is kind of okay but not enough because the device can be corrupted by virus or get bad. If it is stored in a device  let their be alternative place apart from a device.

many ways to store keys safely, can be stored on disk, paper and in plesdis. I personally save paper because I think saving on paper is the safest way, what do you think?

what if paper smudges and ink wears off?

dvd RW gold plated can last 100 years