r-r-r-Rugpull?

Sorry for bumping this up, but let's say you have an address with some coins on it but dust lands on it. What do you do when you need to move the coins? Do you do something like this?

Your coins => New address

Dust => Throwaway address

Isn't that still a risk because once the dust lands on your coins someone can still look up address history and see your coins moving away to a new address?

I got the same notice on my side. I opened the email in Gmail and it says "Dec 1." Was this just a delayed email?

You just need to encrypt the private key. Encrypting an image is more annoying. bitaddress.org => Create wallet with BIP38 encryption. If the encryption is truly as strong as its claimed you should be able to show everyone that wallet you just printed. I need to do a little more research, but it sounds like I can just print those at work and not really worry about it getting stolen. I wouldn't print an unencrypted private key on a public printer though.

Can't you get out through coinbase still?

I think BIP38 is the last thing I need. I don't have access to a printer at home so I need to print it out at work. Even though I'm fairly confident no one will suddenly find ONE PDF of the thousands of pages that get printed a day with my private key, it's still better if it's encrypted. Plus, this way I feel better about having multiple backups, such as storing a PDF version.

Actually I'd probably encrypt the PDF and store it somewhere local as well.

How common is malware? I'm a moderately capable computer guru I'd say, and I have never gotten infected, except once when I was in high school and young and naive. I downloaded something suspicious and I KNEW it was suspicious too. I clicked on it once and intended on rightclicking to hit Scan or Delete (I forget a bit), but I accidentally double clicked. I knew it was going to screw me too and I saw the whole thing just unfold in front of me in slow motion. Freaking virus screwed my whole computer up.

But honestly, with all the spyware and malware out there I think there's FAR more people just infected with something stupid that annoys them or spams their computer more than there are people whose logins and passwords are actually getting stolen by keyloggers. Is it just me or this whole keylogger/malware stuff is getting overblown?

With all these Bitcoin thefts out there, how many people have actually gotten funds stolen because their passwords were logged? Most of the issues I've seen so far relate to:

• Terrible password choice leading to easy guessing and Brainwallets getting snatched
• Reuising passwords that were likely compromised in some other leak (Adobe, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Not using 2FA while having a crap password
• Losing digital wallet files
• Losing paper wallets, misplacing, etc.

And this is why I continue to ask why with cold wallet storage, people are going full tinfoil hat. The issues right now are more user issues more than anything. The way Blockchain is setup, there are some concerns such as keyloggers, or the site getting compromised with a MITM attack, but there's nothing really inherently wrong with Blockchain. It's more than sufficient if you setup a strong password and 2FA if you're really scared. Even if the site gets hacked and people steal your encrypted wallet, so what? It's encrypted. If you chose a good enough password, that's like having people hack Brainwallets and trying to generate phrases to guess seeds. In an ideal world, nothing gets compromised, but I think given that most people have issues with losing things, properly storing things on their computer, those real world user errors are a bigger threat to cold wallet storage and hot wallet storage, than with sites getting hacked, computers getting keylogged, MITM attacks, etc.

Just because you're a pro doesn't mean you follow standard data protection procedures on your home computers. I'm a computer guru, and honestly only *some* things are backed up on my computer. If my hard drives die, I lose a lot of things--many of which are replaceable, and in 2011 after the mtgox hack, I guarantee you I wouldn't have cared too much if $200 worth of BTC could've gotten lost. Yeah I'd shrug it off, get a little irritated, and that's it.

Sometimes you just forget things. There's a reason why in a professional work environment, if you work in IT, there's SOPs and checklists you follow before throwing equipment out with possibly important data. With personal stuff, you sometimes just do a quick check in your brain and then bam. I'm a prolific ROM flasher on Android and I love continuity. While I've managed to flash my phones probably 100+ times, I've managed to keep all my texts from 2007 and on. I've managed to keep my Whatsapp conversations intact since 2010 except the one time just one month ago when I accidentally wiped my /sdcard folder. Am I now a newb? It's easy to mess things up, but if I were doing this for work, I'd be extra careful. We all know that you *should* do a Nandroid before you flash, or you should have multiple layers of redundancy, and have offsite backup, blah blah blah, but hindsight is always 20/20.

You can only use a fully decrypted private key. If you are able to import an encrypted wallet it's because the wallet software likely can detect what kind of encryption and then proceed to ask you for the passphrase to decrypt it (e.g. a BIP38 encrypted private key).

Honestly, your backup should be the encrypted version of it unless you seriously have troubles remembering your passphrase. If you're using some ridiculous 12 word passphrase, then write it down, but keep it separate. Otherwise, you're better off with a plaintext private key that you keep safe.

I don't think it's too complicated if you put your heart into it, but neither is rooting your phone using ADB. It's just not for the average person I don't think. I can see people using Bitcoin-Qt or Electrum on their normal computer, and likely this is how 95% of the average bitcoin user will use their coins... either in a hot wallet or a local wallet, but never truly shielded like everyone keeps recommending.

The thing is Electrum doesn't work that well unless you run it on an offline computer right? Does the general public setup separate offline rigs and want to deal with USB transfers? I doubt it.

(x-post from Newbies, but hoping for more discussion here)

I've been lurking here for a while and after reading about wallets, and all the recent thefts, and a bit about cold storage. I haven't taken the plunge into cold storage yet, so feel free to destroy my points here. Also I have a ton of questions too, so would appreciate some answers.

Basically, my goal is to understand what proper bitcoin storage would mean, and what solid ways there are for the general public. No I don't mean the few enthusiasts out there. It's the same thing how if your uncle asks you what new computer he should get, you don't tell him to build his own and get a GTX 790 or whatever. We're talking general public.

From what I know about cold storage, it seems a bit difficult to deal with.

• Not everyone has an offline computer. I have 4 computers in the house, 2 laptops (both online), 2 desktops, both online. I suppose I could use my NAS to create a VM and make a live CD. So here's where you think I'm a tech guy right? But no, I'm not that smart either. I'm a Linux noob and it'd probably take me forever to figure out how to install Electrum or Armory.
• Then what? Do a bunch of USB transfers? Sounds complicated, and a LOT of work.
• Lack of liquidity too. My fiat assets might not all be that liquidable, but selling stock is pretty straightforward, and even transferring emergency funds from a 3 months high interest savings account is pretty easy too.

Well what about a paper wallet you say? This is definitely easier. I can go to Bitaddress and print something quickly, but wait! I don't even have a printer at home. So what if I use the one at work? Uhh, that's like leaving a giant fingerprint left on the printer. And once again you ask what about getting a cheap printer to print at home? Once again I'm tasked with the issue of offline computers. The maybe so-so method would be to use a BIP38 address through Bitaddress as that's secure as hell (or so we think right?). I mean technically it's supposed to be secure enough where I can flaunt my Private Key, in which case, I'm probably somewhat OK printing at work.

So here's my take if I were to use paper wallets:

• Print a few Bitaddresses w/ BIP38 encryption and a STRONG password
• Store a PDF version encrypted with TrueCrypt on my Dropbox which has 2FA
• Hide the paper copy somewhere at home. I don't have a safe, nor do I think it makes sense unless people are putting their life savings away in BTC.
• I would avoid paper wallets unless I had BIP38, because I don't see a reasonable way to print stuff for me. Plus, without encryption protecting my private key, I feel like I would have to minimize the number of copies circulating around and therefore I think I'd be prone to misplacing copies

So I come back to Blockchain or Coinbase. Both have 2FA capabilities and Blockchain even has a 2nd password function. As much as enthusiasts say Blockchain is no good, isn't it technically pretty solid? No passwords stored on their servers, encryption done locally, blah blah blah. If one uses Blockchain with a STRONG password and 2FA, and even a second password, is there much to worry about? I guess there's a few weaknesses

• Emailed copies float around and if you have old copies with weaker passwords, this will be a weak link
• Wallet could be potentially taken offline to brute force attack
• Website or extension could be potentially compromised for MIM attacks. I find it disturbing Chrome auto updates extensions like that, but I suppose not all extensions are mission critical anyway, so I guess that's why they do it.

There's also the issue of a keylogger. Maybe it's a good habit at this point to use LastPass or something where you copy and paste the password in instead of typing it. I guess there's also the issue of whether or not you trust Blockchain, but it seems if you trust them, that if one doesn't have the password, then they're truly screwed. As for Coinbase, I didn't even touch on them, but given how they're in the US and the NSA is all over that stuff... eh I don't even know.

Anyway, at this point I just don't see a reasonable secure wallet storage method for most average people. Electrum and Armory are great, but you need vast resources. Paper wallets for the general public will be the equivalent of keeping a password written on a sticky note--easily misplaced, and likely not stored properly. Blockchain can be compromised with crappy passwords, but there are the right tools out there to effectively secure your Blockchain.

Anyway I'll stop ranting.

Coinbase?

Care to explain which 7990s, and what your Motherboard slot setup is? Do you have 2 free slots between your PCIEs?

Also it might not hurt to put a custom cooler on the first 7990 as that one will get significantly hotter. I did not mine with 7 series, but I did do it with the 5 series back on a slower board with only 1 free slot in between. The lower card could tolerate far more OC and there was an easy 10C if not more difference.

I'm curious as to the wealth distribution. Like what's the top 1%? Top 5%? Top 10%? 20%? Bottom 50%?

I've been lurking here for a while and after reading about wallets, and all the recent thefts, and a bit about cold storage. I haven't taken the plunge into cold storage yet, so feel free to destroy my points here. Also I have a ton of questions too, so would appreciate some answers.

Basically, my goal is to understand what proper bitcoin storage would mean, and what solid ways there are for the general public. No I don't mean the few enthusiasts out there. It's the same thing how if your uncle asks you what new computer he should get, you don't tell him to build his own and get a GTX 790 or whatever. We're talking general public.

From what I know about cold storage, it seems a bit difficult to deal with.

• Not everyone has an offline computer. I have 4 computers in the house, 2 laptops (both online), 2 desktops, both online. I suppose I could use my NAS to create a VM and make a live CD. So here's where you think I'm a tech guy right? But no, I'm not that smart either. I'm a Linux noob and it'd probably take me forever to figure out how to install Electrum or Armory.
• Then what? Do a bunch of USB transfers? Sounds complicated, and a LOT of work.
• Lack of liquidity too. My fiat assets might not all be that liquidable, but selling stock is pretty straightforward, and even transferring emergency funds from a 3 months high interest savings account is pretty easy too.

Well what about a paper wallet you say? This is definitely easier. I can go to Bitaddress and print something quickly, but wait! I don't even have a printer at home. So what if I use the one at work? Uhh, that's like leaving a giant fingerprint left on the printer. And once again you ask what about getting a cheap printer to print at home? Once again I'm tasked with the issue of offline computers. The maybe so-so method would be to use a BIP38 address through Bitaddress as that's secure as hell (or so we think right?). I mean technically it's supposed to be secure enough where I can flaunt my Private Key, in which case, I'm probably somewhat OK printing at work.

So here's my take if I were to use paper wallets:

• Print a few Bitaddresses w/ BIP38 encryption and a STRONG password
• Store a PDF version encrypted with TrueCrypt on my Dropbox which has 2FA
• Hide the paper copy somewhere at home. I don't have a safe, nor do I think it makes sense unless people are putting their life savings away in BTC.
• I would avoid paper wallets unless I had BIP38, because I don't see a reasonable way to print stuff for me. Plus, without encryption protecting my private key, I feel like I would have to minimize the number of copies circulating around and therefore I think I'd be prone to misplacing copies

So I come back to Blockchain or Coinbase. Both have 2FA capabilities and Blockchain even has a 2nd password function. As much as enthusiasts say Blockchain is no good, isn't it technically pretty solid? No passwords stored on their servers, encryption done locally, blah blah blah. If one uses Blockchain with a STRONG password and 2FA, and even a second password, is there much to worry about? I guess there's a few weaknesses

• Emailed copies float around and if you have old copies with weaker passwords, this will be a weak link
• Wallet could be potentially taken offline to brute force attack
• Website or extension could be potentially compromised for MIM attacks. I find it disturbing Chrome auto updates extensions like that, but I suppose not all extensions are mission critical anyway, so I guess that's why they do it.

There's also the issue of a keylogger. Maybe it's a good habit at this point to use LastPass or something where you copy and paste the password in instead of typing it. I guess there's also the issue of whether or not you trust Blockchain, but it seems if you trust them, that if one doesn't have the password, then they're truly screwed. As for Coinbase, I didn't even touch on them, but given how they're in the US and the NSA is all over that stuff... eh I don't even know.

Anyway, at this point I just don't see a reasonable secure wallet storage method for most average people. Electrum and Armory are great, but you need vast resources. Paper wallets for the general public will be the equivalent of keeping a password written on a sticky note--easily misplaced, and likely not stored properly. Blockchain can be compromised with crappy passwords, but there are the right tools out there to effectively secure your Blockchain.

Anyway I'll stop ranting.