Bitcoin Forum

I've noticed a lot of people store their Bitcoins on Blockchain.info. Is there something more secure about keeping your Bitcoins on there, then say Coinbase.com? What does Blockchain.info offer as an online storage system that should make me feel like my Bitcoins are nice and safe?  Am I missing something, because it looks like a great service and I'd love to use it. 

I always like the idea of a bit of personal responsibility and looking after my bitcoins in local cold storage and hot storage, both of which I have total control over. If it goes wrong, then its my mess to sort out. 

Off loading the responsibility to blockchain.info or whoever, transfers the trust to them. I know who I trust more, just look at the MT Gox problems.

A local wallet is a good start, secured correctly, like bitcoin-qt (https://bitcoin.org/en/download).



 

the difference between coinbase and blockchain.info is that you stay in control of your private keys and the server never receives them unencrypted.

so i trust it more than most other online wallets.

but: never store all eggs in one basket. everything is hackable ;(

Thanks.  That makes sense. Side note, if i print physical wallets from Coinbase.com...is there any chance that the private keys associated with those physical wallets are compromised?  Should I transfer the Bitcoins from Coinbase.com to another service like Armory...and then print? Or am I just being paranoid?

paranoia is when you only think they are behind you. in this case you know they want your coins ;)

it all depends on the amount. theoretically even your printer could have a malicious firmware which scans the qr. but it is unlikely.

what i have done: brought up a linux vm made a new address and simple wrote it down.

because we need to trust at least one siteabout block chains otherwise its bad for us.

You wrote down the entire private key, by hand ???

That sounds like a very dangerous and error prone process.

i did it three times to be sure ;)
but i wont do it again

No one should store BTC online.

I keep the majority of my bitcoin on 4 paper wallets

i keep a small amount in a blockchain.info wallet for general spending or w/e i may need it for....

Except for their paper wallet service, Coinbase is an unregulated, uninsured, non-audited bitcoin bank account.  You give your bitcoins to them, and in exchange the give you a promise to spend an equal amount of their bitcoins wherever you want whenever you want.  You are essentially purchasing an IOU.  You have to decide how likely they are to be able to deliver on that promise given the various risks that exist.

On the other hand, blockchain.info/wallet is a wallet.  You maintain exclusive control of your private keys.  If you keep a backup of your blockchain.info wallet, the blockchain.info website could disappear right now, and you'd still be able to access your bitcoins from other wallets.  They are unable to spend, steal, lose, or otherwise control your bitcoins.

Well, make it simple like this. Using other bitcoin storage methods, and use it on your phone, you are fucked when your phone is fucked. But you can access to your storage online and protect it,for example, lock it ,using blockchain

You can make backups easily.

maybe because they are confused with "bitcoin blockchain" and the site "blockchain.info" ?

You should back up every wallet you use on a regular basis!

Personally, I use the following wallets (= I own and control the BTC because I have the private keys) on a regular basis:

Bitcoin-QT from https://bitcoin.org because running a full node is good for the network.  Everyone that can should run a full node as often as they can.  Encrypt the wallet with a stong unique password.

https://blockchain.info/wallet with a very strong unique password and 2FA.  Because I can access my coins from anywhere in the world.  All I need is a computer connected to the internet.

Bitcoin Wallet for Android from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet because it is cool to just carry around a few Bitcoins on my phone just in case I need them and this is a very nice wallet.

I back up all of them on a regular basis.

As far as accounts (= don't control/own the actual BTC - I have an IOU from them) go:

I keep some coins at https://localbitcoins.com for trading

I keep some USD and BTC at https://www.bitfinex.com for trading.

Other things to note about the https://blockchain.info/wallet

Built in paper wallet function - which I use for cold storage.
Inexpensive CoinJoin transactions.  I wish this was manditory as it would fix the fungibility issue if everyone used it.
Full mixer for those that really want to mix their coins.

I usually store trivial amounts of BTC (<$500) in my Blockchain.info, because even though they never receive the unencrypted private keys, they can still go down. I ALWAYS recommend a desktop client for storing large amounts of Bitcoin.

Blockchain is in my opinion the best online BTC wallet. It's great for easy access to the BTC you may wish to send and receive in the near future. No need for the Blockchain to sync, updates straight away, great wallet. However all web wallets are open to attacks and closures, so for savings and long term safe storage I would recommend a combination of offline QT and paper wallets. :)

because it's a brand, it got its name out and we trust them now :D

blockchain.info allows backups per mail and dropbox.
so its not a problem if they are down (but i never had that problem though)

i only use them for small amounts too.
big amounts need to be locked ;)

Most times I've seen someone lose bitcoins from blockchain.info it's because they sent a backup to their compromised email.  so be careful with that.

Are the wallet backups password protected when they're sent via email?

Email backups are encrypted with your account password, but be careful because if a hacker gains control of your email, or dropbox account, he could use it to spend your coins (if he knows your password), even bypassing 2-factor authentication.

Blockchain.info has a nice feature, which lets you decide a different password required to spend your coins. This is supposed to reduce further the risk of being stolen because your private keys would stay encrypted until you really need them.

Yes, but it's a lot easier to crack a password offline than online because there's no rate limiting.