[- Hardware Wallets - Multisig Wallets - Normal Wallets - Paper Wallets - Web Wallets - Dedicated Cold Wallets]

Hey guys, it's Decoded!

One of the most essential things when it comes to a cryptocurency like bitcoin is to have somewhere safe to store it. It's almost impossible to brute force into your bitcoin wallet, however it's worlds easier to drop malware into a computer that takes your passwords and wallet files. So how best to store your bitcoin?


-Coindesk, Bitcoin Security

I'll categorise wallets into six parts::

- Hardware Wallets
 - Multisig Wallets
 - Normal Wallets
 - Paper Wallets
 - Web Wallets
 - Dedicated Cold Wallets

Hardware Wallets
A hardware wallet is a bitcoin wallet that uses physical storage. At the moment, this is definitely one of the best storage options available. The current norm of these is the concept of your private key being stored on the physical wallet itself, either in a credit-card-like chip, or an encyrpted storage form. They are coded specifically so that malware cannot access the private keys. Therefore the only way to succesfully retrieve your private key is to have a virus intercept the recovery key given to you when initializing the wallet.


-Trezor hardware wallet

This wallet is best for a single user.

You can find a thread listing these here: https://forum.bitcoin.com/alternative-clients/overview-bitcoin-hardware-wallets-secure-your-coins-t200.html

My personal recommendation is simply based on budget.

<$2o: Ledger HW.1 (My personal choice and what I currently use. One downside is that it cannot sign messages. Review here: http://www.cryptodot.com/home/hardware-wallet-review-ledger-hw1)
<$40: Ledger Nano (Exact same as the HW.1 but with different build quality and a leather card slip. Cannot sign messages.)
<$70: Ledger Nano S (A cheaper alternative to the more expensive trezor, however the trezor is more flexible. Not sure if able to sign messages)
~$100: Trezor Wallet or KeepKey (The latter is more fashionable, however the former is more trusted and more rigid/sturdy).
>$100: Case Wallet (This wallet is more gauged toward the everyday spender. You can send only through scanning QR codes, but it is a standalone device and you can send it from almost anywhere without an accompanying computer.)

Pros:
 - Great security
 - Not the broadest range to choose from
 - Great portability
 - Good value for security

Cons:
 - Not free
 - Vulnerability when first generating recovery seed
 - Owner needs to remember/keep recovery seed

Multisig Wallets

Multisig wallets are wallets that take advantage of multiple signature technology. A wallet has an odd number (usually 3) of private keys, which are held by more than one party. There are many uses of this -

If a hacker gains control of only one private key, they will need more to have control over the wallet.
If there is a group transaction, an equal amount of power can be distributed between parties
In a p2p trade, the odd key can be used by an escrow/middleman

-BitGo visual explanation of the multisignature process

This wallet is best for a single user or small group.

A good list of these wallets can be found here: http://bravenewcoin.com/news/the-best-multisignature-wallets-for-2016/

My personal preference is BitGo, as they were the first to release their wallet with multisig and is supposedly have been developing their wallet the longest. They also have insurance, a huge plus.
NOTE: The recent bitfinex hack has been linked with BitGo, due to both BitGo and Bitfinex having compromised keys. They supposedly have fixed this issue.

Pros:
 - Some wallets provide insurance
 - High security, low effect on performance and user experience

Cons:
 - Wallet provider and 3rd party can team up and steal your coins
- If the provider is compromised, effectively everyone using it has the same security as a normal wallet

Normal Wallets



A normal wallet is a wallet that is akin to Bitcoin Core, without any add-on security measures. These wallets can be split into two categories, SPV and Full wallets. These can be password-encrypted, however a simple keylogger can get past these security measures.

This wallet is best for a single user

Full wallets download the whole blockchain, the public ledger of all bitcoin transactions in history, currently totaling to over 100 gigabytes. This is a hassle for some people as they may not have enough storage, or cannot bear to sync their wallet for almost a week for the first time, downloading the whole blockchain from scratch.

SPV wallets only download the block headers of each block, which in comparison to the whole blockchain, is tiny.  The wallet will connect to external nodes to retrieve their copy of the blockchain instead, only retrieving the information they need and effectively removing and sync times. The problem with these however is that your information is at the hands of the node your wallet connects to. A malicious node could easily lie to your wallet about your balances and transactions. In actuality they will stay the same, but could cause you a heart attack.

Pros:
 - Traditional wallet, has all core features
 - Ability to host full node
 - Normal wallets provide powerful in built tools and a console that most other wallets don't
- SPV wallets are lightweight

Cons:
 - No security besides encryption that is password-encrypted
 - No 2FA
 - Full wallets take up a LOT of space
 - No more CPU mining capability

Paper Wallets

This wallet is best for long term storage, for use of a single user.

These wallets, usually used for long term storage, are made of - yes, you guessed it - paper. A paper wallet is a private key and a bitcoin address printed on a paper, usually with accompanying QR codes to make it easier to send and withdraw from. The use of these is that if generated properly, the private key will never touch the internet and also any malware. You will want to generate one offline, and print it offline. However a good virus may still operate while your computer is offline, and could still take the private key and send it to the hacker once you bring the computer offline. That's if you do bring it back online.

To load up the wallet, you deposit into the public key. To send from the wallet, you will need to open a bitcoin wallet application on your computer and input the private key.

A good thing about a paper wallet is it's lifespan. Good ink and paper will take years to start fading, especially if in a place like a bank vault, where it is temperature controlled. If you store your private key in a USB, the memory chip may some day just crash.

Pros:
 - Long lifespan
 - Cheap to produce
 - The "poor man's cold wallet"

Cons:
 - Not as portable as a hardware wallet, since it can be destroyed, ripped or damaged easily
 - Can get lost easily

Web Wallets

These wallets are hosted on the internet. These are usually the some of least secure wallets, after normal wallets. This is because in most cases,  when using a web wallet, you are not actually in control of the funds. The website is. They hold your bitcoin and when you send bitcoin, they send it for you. There is only one exception to this list. Blockchain.info. They hold your bitcoin private key for you, but as an encrypted payload. They have no access to it, however they are in control of it. As if you have the key, but they have the chest. Only you can access it by putting in your password, where your browser decrypts the payload live. Blockchaininfo also supports two-factor authentication, where they ask you for a phone, email, sms or google authenticator code before sending you the payload. Another level of security.


-Image of my own wallet - Transactions removed for privacy

This wallet is best for a single user.

The problem with this is of course if blockchain,info goes down. Down goes your information, and if you have not saved a backup of your private key, you're doomed. But if you were to save a backup of a private key, then you would need somewhere safe to store it like a dedicated USB. USBs these days only cost a tiny bit less than a Ledger HW.1, so why not get that?

Pros:
 - Convenience
- Accessible from anywhere online

Cons:
 - Very low security

Dedicated Cold Storage

This form of storage, as opposed to the common term "hot wallet", (a wallet constantly connected to the internet) is very much the opposite. It is a wallet that has never touched the internet. A dedicated cold storage solution is a dedicated device that has never touched the internet. It is a costly but impossible to hack into when done properly.


-blog.adafruit.com - You can use a relativelyinexpensive device like a Raspberry Pi to host your cold wallet

To use this solution, you need your dedicated unit, which will generate the offline transaction hash, signed with the private key. You copy this transaction hash to your computer which is connected to the internet, and broadcast it. Therefore the computer that holds the private key has not touched the internet in this procedure.

This wallet is best for use of large companies. It's overkill for a single user, unless they have a whole lot of funds stored.

To send the bitcoin, all you need is for the offline wallet to generate a receiving address, and send your bitcoin to it.

Pros:
 - Very high security
 - Good for commercial use

Cons:
 - Has to be manually overseen
 - Very hard to automate
 - Overkill
 - Costs alot

Personal Notes

Honestly, I wouldn't choose anything but a hardware wallet. They are the most secure, and relatively cheap when compared to a cold storage solution. If you really don't want to spend anything however, use a multisig wallet like BitGo. If you're a company that handles a large amount of bitcoin, like an exchange, only withdraw what you need every day from cold storage, so if you get hacked, only that small amount will be taken, not your total amount in storage.

I personally own a HW.1 and have never been happier. May even be upgrading to a trezor soon.

This post was taken from my forum.bitcoin.com thread, and I only just realised that I should post it here too ^_^

Thanks for taking the time to read this! If you liked this post or found it useful, please post! Discuss what could be added, and what could be changed. Cheers!

So lets say I have a brand new account that has a name I like. Is it possible to change my name to that account? Alternatively, would it be easier for me to just request a name change?

Or do I need to be a Donator to change my name?

[16DDKSNgtHUtzcnLp6FMZQ4FxJCSBGHsJu]

These coins are not mine. I am auctioning these on behalf of BitKilo, who is extremely busy atm.

Take a look at these sweet coins! Two matching pristine #31/100 coins, silver and rose gold, both rated by ANACS PF68. I would've bought them if I had a place to put them. My current coins are sitting inside my PC like mantlepieces... They look great and would work starting, or adding to a collection!



Starting bid: 0.01BTC
Bidding increments: 0.005BTC
Auction ends: 1 week after this listing is posted (Or uh... 168 hours, if you're into that kind of thing)
Sniping: Any bid made in the last 10 minutes of the auction will extend the auction by another 10 minutes.

- Shipping is paid by the winner.
- Secret reserve will be announced once met.


I will be escrowing this trade.
I will ask for payments to only be sent to 16DDKSNgtHUtzcnLp6FMZQ4FxJCSBGHsJu.
PGP key can be signed on request. Payment will be released when buyer receives the goods, and disputes will be resolved publicly, bitcointalk style.

Title. Currently, two levels is extremely restrictive. Only very select few get to choose who is in and who is out. With a third trust level being added, it'll balance things out. The amount of people on default DT will go from ~50 to 300+ (If I'm not mistaken)

That, and for other reasons

Let's discuss!

-

Hey guys, I've had my eye on the newly released Oneplus 5 for a while now

I'm looking for someone who has a decent amount of trust relating to the trade of physical goods, to order a phone for me, receive it, and then send it over to Sydney, Australia. I've bought a couple of coins before from the US doing this, but never something more than $250. Would be a good experience, I guess.

Collectibles section would've been a good place to ask, since lots of people there are trustable and do a lot of trades, but I don't think this post fits there.

Thanks!

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of a 1.5 BTC trade on Localbitcoins. We are waiting for the seller to confirm the Bitcoin arriving in their account. How long does this usually take? It's between two different banks.

Since it's currently a Saturday, would it be fair to say that it would only process the transfer sometime in the afternoon on Monday?

With all the talk of Segwit and Litecoin, it brings me to think about the highly anticipated Lightning Network. Besides the fact that it offers lower fees than on chain transactions, everyone is hyped about the idea of having lightning fast transactions.

But some people dont transact their Bitcoin daily, or they don't care how long their transaction takes to confirm. Are you one of these people? Do the faster confirmation times appeal to you?

The title says it all.

Trusted members get priority and we can discuss further rates if needed. I need $45 AUD in PP, not the equivalent in USD. My $1.5 should cover the exchange rates.

PP goes first in most cases, since it can be charged back.

Hey guys,

This has been happening to me for months now. I receive a transaction, however Mycelium does not show that incoming transaction. No matter how many times I refresh, or even close the app and reopen it, it doesn't update. I have spam refresh for a couple of minutes or even reload the wallet before the transaction comes up.

I'm using a Ledger wallet, so the wallet is read-only.

Anyone else facing this issue?

I'm trying to start up my Bitcoin node again, and my VPS is pretty much only restricted in its storage space, as I use it as a video hosting service for my friends and I (Scrapes videos off of YouTube, when YouTube is restricted)

I have about 50GB of storage, is there a way that I will be able to sync my node up without maxing out? From what I understand a pruned node requires a full install, and after everything is done, only then does it prune it's database.

So, is there a way for me to skip this verification step? Or even for when it's syncing, it will download a block, verify it from the previous block, and then delete the previous block?

"Bitcoin is banned in many countries"

I see lots of newer users and even some older, more experienced and knowledgeable users on this forum say it. Where did it come from? If you hand half a brain to read Bitcoin news (coindesk, cryptocoinsnews and news.bitcoin.com are my go tos), you would realise that all recent events regarding governments and Bitcoin are mostly just anti-money-laundering restrictions, not bans against cryptocurrency.

Hey guys, I have been looking into altcoin. All of the PoS coins here are premined, so I can't really find out the answer to my question.

PoS requires no mining AFAIK, so how is the first block generated, since no one owns any coins (since none have been created), how do you stake the first block?

Basically, how is the genesis block of a PoS coin created?

Hey guys, here's a little dump of my code for you guys to read. It's to help me learn node.js. http://pastebin.com/FAYNzGvM

Currently, it's giving me "invalid sign", which is extremely weird, even when I give my actual secret. I don't see what i'm doing wrong, I have even cheated and gone onto other user's API projects that work, and found that I am using the same encryption code as them. What am I doing wrong? I'm guessing it's something to do with line 24.

Thanks!

Hey guys, I'm looking for a couple of AWS codes.

I don't want to spend much, I just overspent my free tier credit on Amazon and don't want my super short IP that I randomly generated going away, along with all my code saved on there. I need a code to repay this, and hopefully fund me for the near future.

I'm not really willing to pay more than $5 for a $100 code, as I see these go by for cheap all the time. If you have one with credit that doesn't expire, I will pay double.

I am not going first, you will receive your payment after I use the code and everything checks out.

Hey guys, I'm not sure if I'm simply overlooking something, but I remember reading some time in the last that last halving, it costed less than $300 to create a Bitcoin. Do I just generally tossed the idea around that nowadays, the value would be double, due to the halving. I realise that this may not be the casee, since due to Moore's Law (Which may not be accurate due to the small amount of research being done into ASICs), the performance of new technology doubles every two or so years, and since a halving is every four years, the price to create a Bitcoin could be much, much different.


So - How would I do this? I can't seem to get my head around this, I'm tired and trying to work this out in my head on the bus.

Being carbon fibre, this keychain looks brand new and is extremely durable. I've kept it on my desk, on a ring with my ledger wallet and other things that are softer than it, so if anything, the keychain would be the one scratching everything else.

Looking to do a raffle for this item. Since it's pretty cheap, I might combine it with my Used Ledger HW.1 auction.

Another auction, 0.002 BTC for each of the 16 slots.

I don't think I had my head screwed on right when I purchased the HW.1, because I should've bought two. I guess I was afraid they were going to be horrible.

I have a limited 1-of-25 Electrum edition HW.1. I'm thinking of auctioning it off, with 16 slots at 0.002 BTC each.

The thing is used, however I have no interest in stealing your Bitcoin and you can generate your own seed if you don't trust me.

If you want, I can throw in a box I made for a school project, as long as you pay extra shipping fees.