Paper wallets are arguably more secure than other methods of storing your private keys. Paper wallets alone are vulnerable to physical theft. When discussing secure methods of storing bitcoins, I have always recommended using an Encrypted Paper Wallet. This post seeks to instruct interested community members in creating a Encrypted Paper Wallet.

Before I begin with the guide, I am going to list some of my criteria:

• The Encryption/Decryption method must be strong.
• The Encryption/Decryption method must be platform independent.
• The Encryption/Decryption method must be open source.
• The Encryption/Decryption method must be client sided and capable of functioning without the internet.

Finding an encryption/decryption method that matched all the above criteria was not easy. At one point I was using Notepad++ with nppcrypt, but that solution fails due to it's Windoze only limitation. After much searching, I found pidCrypt, which meets all the criteria.

The Guide:
Prerequisites:

• Open Office
• A QR Code Generator, I used this.
• A bitcoin private key that you wish to safely store.
• A brain.

Steps:
1. Download this, and this.
- FILE1: A standalone/offline AES-CBC pidCrypt implementation.
- FILE2: A template to create encrypted bitcoin paper wallets in the size of credit cards.
2. Encrypt your private key using the first file from step one and a cryptographically strong password(30+ characters with no dictionary words.)
- ADVICE: I would do this step offline. I've not had a chance to look through all of pidCrypt's code.
3. Take the result from step 2 and create a QR Code for it.
4. Open file 2 from step 1 in open office writer.
5. Drag the QR Code from step 3 to the top-left side of the box in the open office writer template from step 1.
6. Paste the output from step 2 on the top-right side of the box in the open office writer template from step 1.
7. Print.
Congratulations if you managed to follow all the above steps you should have an encrypted credit card sized bitcoin paper wallet.

Here is an example of the end result.
I'm certain others could make this prettier and easier.

If the links break, let me know and suggest some better no registration file hosts.

Hope this guide/My work are useful to somebody out there.
If not, all good, most of this I did primarily for myself anyhow.

Watch dogs is a upcoming open world shooter, officially to be released on the 27th.
It was leaked early in the morning on the 23rd.

There have been rumors that there is a bitcoin miner lurking in some of the leaked versions.
Is anybody here able to confirm this?
What kind of sniffed packets would reveal the presence of a miner?

Greetings,

One concern some new users may have, the ability to brute force a keypair.
As opposed to using advanced math to tell them, just let em try!

I created this simple batch script to allow them to try

Code:

@echo off
if "%1"=="" goto usage
if "%2"=="" goto usage
echo Now entering the brute force loop.
echo Press CTRL+C at any time to cancel the loop.
echo The loop will only stop on it's own when/if it successfuly brute forces the desired public address.
set count=0
:loop
if exist Brute.txt del Brute.txt
vanitygen64.exe -q -o Brute.txt %1
FOR /F "tokens=1 delims=" %%A in ('FIND /C "%2" Brute.txt') do SET tmp=%%A
set tmp=%tmp:~-1%
if "%tmp%" == "1" goto end1
set /A count+=1
echo  You have now failed to brute force %2
echo %count% times!
echo Press CTRL+C at any time to cancel your pointless attempt!
goto loop
:end1
rename Brute.txt %2.txt
echo Congratulations, You brute forced %2?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
goto end2
:usage
echo Brute.bat Pattern FullPublicAddress
echo Pattern should be the first 5ish characters of the public address.
echo FullPublicAddress should be the fully public bitcoin address 
echo which you want to attempt to brute force.
:end2

It uses vanitygen, just create a new batch file in the vanitygen directory and paste this script in it.
By default it uses the 64bit binary, If you don't have a 64-bit system just remove 64 from line 10.

If anybody questions the ability to brute force keypairs, feel free to refer them here so they can try for themselves.

EDIT: I have made many edits with fixes/improvements to script, I may make more if I think of any useful improvements.
Unfortunately VanityGen's version of quiet(-q) is not the standard version.

Greetings,

If anybody is looking for a affordable VPS.
BlueVM is currently offering 60% off(for the life of service) to any new users. Use the code "INVITE" for 60% off on blue 2 or higher.

Being a user of this service I wouldn't give it high recommends.
Don't expect the 99.95% they claim, also don't expect courteous support.

The price makes the flaws bearable, I wish I could get the 60% off.
$4 USD for 2GB + 2GB(swap), 4 cores, 100GB disk space, and 3TB bandwidth.

If anybody is interested in buying credits for bluevm with BTC send me a PM.


Anyhow, Maybe this offer will help somebody.

Recently I upgraded to a full sized PC Tower.

I elected to buy a cheap pci to usb card with a internal port and permanently mount my USB Block Eruptor.

It may not make much, but it is there forever(or until it wears out)(or I otherwise NEED that pci slot) to help the network.

Today I made a debit card purchase,
My card issuers website indicates "pending."
Are debit/credit cards any more instant than a Bitcoin transaction?

I have seen a few approaches to readily usable BTC.
They rely on 3rd party payment processors who provide equipment/fees.

I'm sure that with adequate client side security, zero confirmation transactions can be secure.

I would like to see open source development of such a technology for merchants to easily accept such payments without buying new equipment or paying extra fees.

I will now list some features that I think would increase reliability and safety of such technology,
1 Client-sided balance database for bitcoin addresses with balance/A way to quickly find the balance of any address.
2 The ability to search all unconfirmed transactions and identify a client who is attempting to double/overspend
3 The ability to send user generated tx's without the private key being revealed to merchant.
4 A low-tech credit card size device that can create transactions on the fly, without revealing the private key to the merchant.
There are many more features that would be useful, if you can think of some, share em.

Maybe this thread might inspire a competent developer group to attempt this project.

Two months ago I purchased a USB Block Eruptor 336MHash ASIC.
The 336Mhash is much better than my GPUs 30Mhash.

The fiat conversion rate fluctuates too much for me to pay attention anymore.
I figure a BTC is worth about $1,000USD.
So my goal was to obtain 0.01BTC with the ASIC.

As far as I'm concerned the ASIC has been a success and paid for itself in two months.
I decided to retire it and save it as a souvenir due to the rapid difficulty increases we are likely to see soon.

It was a fun experiment
I feel bad for anybody buying the block eruptors for more than $10usd or 0.01BTC, especially at this point when the new round of ASICs are coming out.

[What if a person used the script for illegal content?]

Greetings,

Yesterday my VPS was being transitioned to a new server,
during which I was looking for a solution to host a simple no-frills html website.

I found a few options, they had too many ads.

So I created the hostless script.
It uses a PHP GET variable to allow the content to be in the url.

It occurred to me, What if a person used the script for illegal content?
I would have no reasonable way to block/remove illegal content, short of taking down the script.
If a person used my script for illegal content, could I be prosecuted/held responsible?
Using Base64 images, any image that is illegal could be displayed using my script.(Subject to uri limits imposed by PHP/the browser)

I doubt any lawyers come here, however perhaps one of you has some experience in a similar circumstance.
EDIT: Would DMCA content provider protections apply to my script?
If so, would I be able to refuse take-down notices on account of the fact that I don't host anything?

Thanks.

To recap recent events,
A few news stories brought attention to BTC,
The BTC price skyrocketed a few times to ~$1200USD,
The day traders thought BTC was stock and sold in panic.
No surprise to the BTC enthusiasts the price has rebounded to above $1,000USD per BTC.

Let us all take a moment to laugh out loud at these day traders.
BTC is not the stock market.
I suspect quite a few of these low intelligence day traders pulled out at or below the cost they paid to get in.
If you were one of the fool day traders who sold your BTC for less than what you paid,
please post here so we can publicly ridicule you.

EDIT: Let the laughter grow louder as the day traders get their funds/btc stuck on Mt.Gox!!!!!! ROFLAMO!!!!!!!

A paper wallet is a great way to ensure the longevity of your bitcoins.
If your OS/hardware fails, it will allow you to access your funds.

When you print the paper wallets that are currently commonplace,
it is not secure against physical theft.

This guide aims to inform individuals a few ways
they could go about securing their paper wallet.


Encryption at its core is altering data in a way that makes
it difficult/impossible to access by unauthorized individuals.

The easiest way for a end user to secure their private key would be to use a easily available tool.
Such as WebCrypt.

If you are more adventurous/concerned you could choose to do custom encryption.
To give a example I will share a excerpt from a open source php script I created when I was young.

Code: (php)

// The two functions below borrowed from http://www.phpit.net/code/binary-text/
function bin2text($bin_str)  // A function to convert Binary to Text
{ 
    $text_str = '';  // Initilize a blank string
    $chars = explode("\n", chunk_split(str_replace("\n", '', $bin_str), 8)); // Split the Binary into groups of 8
    $_I = count($chars);  // Figure out how many characters there are
    for($i = 0; $i < $_I; $i++  ) // As long as a charcter exists
		$text_str .= chr(bindec($chars[$i])); // Convert it to binary
    return $text_str; // Give the converted text
} 

function text2bin($txt_str) // Convert text to binary
{ 
    $len = strlen($txt_str); // Figure out how long the string is
    $bin = ''; // Initilize a blank string
    for($i = 0; $i < $len; $i++ )  // As long as there are more chars to convert
    { 
        $bin .= strlen(decbin(ord($txt_str[$i]))) < 8 ? str_pad(decbin(ord($txt_str[$i])), 8, 0, STR_PAD_LEFT) : decbin(ord($txt_str[$i])); // Convert them to Binary
    }
    return $bin; // Give the binary
}
// The two functions above borrowed from http://www.phpit.net/code/binary-text/

function encrypt($txt) // Encrypt the data
{
   $mtxt = $txt; // Copy the given data
   $len = strlen($txt); // Check the length of given data
   $o = array("A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z","a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j","k","l","m","n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z"); // An array with the alphabet
   $n = array("A","S","D","F","G","H","J","K","L","Q","W","E","R","T","Y","U","I","O","P","Z","X","C","V","B","N","M","a","s","d","f","g","h","j","k","l","q","w","e","r","t","y","u","i","o","p","z","x","c","v","b","n","m"); // An array of alphabet substitutes
   for ($cur_pos = 0; $cur_pos < $len; $cur_pos++) // As long as the string is still going
	for($i=0;$i < 52;$i++) // Run through the letters
		if ($txt[$cur_pos] == $o[$i]) // If you find a letter needing to be encrypted
			$mtxt[$cur_pos] = $n[$i]; // Encrypt it
   return $mtxt; // Return the encrypted text
}

function decrypt($txt) // Decrypt data
{
   $mtxt = $txt; // Copy the given data
   $len = strlen($txt); // Check the length
   $o = array("A","B","C","D","E","F","G","H","I","J","K","L","M","N","O","P","Q","R","S","T","U","V","W","X","Y","Z","a","b","c","d","e","f","g","h","i","j","k","l","m","n","o","p","q","r","s","t","u","v","w","x","y","z");
   $n = array("A","S","D","F","G","H","J","K","L","Q","W","E","R","T","Y","U","I","O","P","Z","X","C","V","B","N","M","a","s","d","f","g","h","j","k","l","q","w","e","r","t","y","u","i","o","p","z","x","c","v","b","n","m");
   for ($cur_pos = 0; $cur_pos < $len; $cur_pos++) // As long as the string is still going
	for($i=0;$i < 52;$i++) // Run through the letters
		if ($txt[$cur_pos] == $n[$i]) // If you find a letter needing decrypt
			$mtxt[$cur_pos] = $o[$i]; // Decrypt it
   return $mtxt; // Return the decrypted text
}

function encrypt2($bin) // Convert binary to something less obvious
{
   $mbin = $bin; //  copy the given binary
   $b = array("0","1"); //  An array with binary
   $r = array("Haa","Ha"); // An array to replace binary
   for($i=0;$i < 2;$i++)// For 0 and 1
   {
      $mbin = ereg_replace($b[$i],$r[$i],$mbin); // convert them
   }
   return $mbin; // Return a less suspicious string
}

function decrypt2($bin) // Convert a less obvious string to binary
{
   $mbin = $bin; // Copy the given string
   $b = array("0","1");
   $r = array("Haa","Ha");
   for($i=0;$i<2;$i++) // For 1 and 0
   {
      $mbin = ereg_replace($r[$i],$b[$i],$mbin); // Change your less suspicous string back to binary
   }
   return $mbin; // Return the binary
}

if(isset($_GET['e'])) // If the user want to encrypt
{
   // GTU stands for Give To User
   $gtu = encrypt($_GET['e']); // Change the letters around
   $gtu = text2bin($gtu); // Convert the changed letters to binary
   $gtu = encrypt2($gtu); // Encrypt the binary
   if($am == 1 && isset($_GET['et'])) // If you have chosen to allow email and they filled out the email address
   {
      if(mail($_GET['et'],$_GET['es'],$gtu)) // Send a mail
         $mail = "Mail Sent"; // If the mail was sent tell them
      else 
         $mail= "Failed to send mail"; // If the mail failed to send tell them
   }
}
else if(isset($_GET['d']))
{
   $gtu = decrypt2($_GET['d']); // Get a weird string and convert to binary
   $gtu = bin2text($gtu); // Convert the binary to text
   $gtu = decrypt($gtu); // Change the letters to how they should be
}

What the above custom encryption will spit out is a bunch of "HaaHaHaaHaHa".
Printed on a paper it would like utter nonsense waste of ink.

With a little creativity and patience you can create your own encryption.


I hope that this guide will aid/inform somebody.
Perhaps make BTC in general feel just a little bit safer.

Since the cost of BTC skyrocketed, all kinds of cheaper options are available.

Any android phone(all of them are cheaper than $800USD)
Most laptops/desktops/tablets(seriously most of them are less than 1BTC)
All iPhones/IPods

Also, what does Trezor actually do?
It stores your BTC, It is no better than a overpriced paper wallet anyhow.

Also, Does Trezor not rely on a computer?

Would be much better to get a T-Mobile capable tablet with t-mobiles free 200MB tablet data.
You could put the tablet in Airplane mode when you do not want to transfer BTC, Then transfer your safe bitcoins anywhere that T-Mobile can provide you free data.

I've never had the good fortune to own a casascius physical BTC.

It would be really cool if somebody(with more rep than me)
created a Gold Rogers style One Piece
with a huge amount of BTC loaded on it.

I would propose doing it as a way to promote BTC and possibly get lots of people excited/informed.

The ideal way to do it is VIA Donations from other BitCoin fans interested in helping it grow.

Once a set amount of BTC is obtained(via donations?) they would be loaded into a physical btc(casascius or custom) then hidden in whatever state the organizer of this event lives in.
Only clue to the BTCOne Piece would be the state/country that it is hidden in.

Hopefully at that point traditional news outlets would run a story about this incredibly valuable modern day hidden treasure.


I would love to be the one to organize it, I doubt anybody would trust/donate to me.
So, Anybody with more rep in the bitcoin community willing to take up/refine/execute this idea?

TX: 8d37a10fdd6d39ee9ccc39f296ebbf028c7cce4b85a3b6208efd97920ba3eb2a

As you can see I was charged a 0.0002 BTC fee

Was this fee required or a flaw in blockchains policies/applications?

Thanks

I bet BTC will reach the $1000USD mark at least once before 12:00AM 11/28/2013 PST

Pretty exciting news for BTC in general.

I'm predicting that at this point BTC is likely to rise in price, with some minor drops.

My little 336MHasher is doing reasonably well if the prices stay this high

EDIT: Apparently the BTC ticker will not work here

Greetings,

I would like to get a serious miner.

I can pre-order the 2TH/s TerraMiner IV or the BFL 600GH/s.

TerraMiner is standalone and has far supperior hash rate.
BFL Has no real advantages.

Is cointerra reputable and likely to ship items on time?
Is it likely BFL will break their trends and ship on time?

I am pretty sure I want the 2TH system, I just have never heard of cointerra before.

Greetings,

I am interested in buying a bfl 600GH ASIC.

Butterfly labs has a history of horrible ship times,
Is it likely they will be able to deliver their bulk orders early 2014 as promised?

Are the values I get at http://www.alcula.com/calculators/finance/bitcoin-mining/ likely to be accurate for the processors?

Will these very powerful ASICs raise the difficulty to the point that they become less valuable?

Thanks.