Kraken will educate us on COVID-19 security:

COVID Security: A Free Kraken Webinar w/ Nick Percoco – September 25 @ 14:00 UTC

COVID-19 security? Never thought about it that way...

LOL, yeah, that could be a DeFi project. And titanium doesn't rust (i.e., a mindrust-proof product). This is big.

I hear you man, I'm concerned too, that we'll end up filthy rich, but unable to enjoy our riches... No joke.

The question is: sell it for what?

I have a 2nd house. A nice house. I got some offers to sell it. But then I thought, do I need the money? I don't. So, why sell it? To put some money in the bank "for the future"?

I've kept my 2nd house. Of course, there's the option to convert it to corn (I know I'm going to be crying when I read this post 5 years from now), but I still want to have a hedge against any "unforeseen extinction event".

Maybe sell 50% of your stash "when moon"? Or sell whatever you need to do certain things. And keep selling as your needs develop?

{...insert Morpheus/Neo meme here...}

Yes, there will be dips.
Yes, there will be peaks.
Yes, there will be pumps.
Yes, there will be dumps.

Just Zoom Out^TM, chill, and have a beer!

If you're scared about a dip, you need some HoDL training...

Don't give them your coins.

A rusty nut won't budge, and that's about the only good quality of a rusty nut.

HoDL.

Wow, bonds & ISAs @ 0.01%? Who would put their wealth at the hands of a bank with such low rates?

I remember a long time ago I had an ISA which paid more than 5% interest. I was using it as a small second salary back then. Looks like we'll soon be paying banks to hold our own money.

Goodbye fiat, hello Bitcoin!

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

Very true what you're saying. 6 months is a good time frame to spot most troubles ahead.

Also important is to pass the "live together" test. It's all nice and sweet when you only meet to go out and have fun. Only when you live under the same roof will you know if you can really be together.

Anyways... I think The Dude is a ladies' man, so I'm pretty sure he won't have trouble getting another princess soon... If I had a daughter, I'd send her his way... Nice guy, coiner (most importantly), and a guaranteed life of luxury and pleasure...  What more could a girl ask for?

Thanks Dude! Couldn't have done it without you guys ('n' gal).

Don't worry about GF... Usually it's better to break up sooner rather than later, as it complicates things if you try to make it work for too long...

Her loss. Almost feels like the Laszlo pizza story. LOL. I bet she'll message you in a couple of years...

What you just said is even more WOW!

Thanks Jay, I appreciate it.

The above result just shows the sheer computing power of the Bitcoin decentralized supercomputing entity (wow, that sounds like coming from a Terminator movie). The age of the universe comparison doesn't really have any practical usefulness though. If you spit on the ground, the saliva coming out of your mouth will contain many more atoms than the seconds since the age of the universe. So what? Doesn't really mean anything...

But such comparisons do put things into perspective, and we do like BIG numbers (especially when it comes to the BTC/USD value).  

So, according to the above numbers, it takes only about 3 milliseconds (0.003 seconds) for the Bitcoin network to perform as many calculations as there are seconds since the birth of the universe!

In other words, in every second that passes, the above process is repeated more than 300 times!

Wow! Just WOW!

Thanks guys! And equally to all WO members!

As Jimbo would say... Go WO, go!

That, sir, is a work of art, and a piece of WO history!

I'm sure BobLawblaw (and xhomerx10) will approve.

#nohomo

Thanks so much VB1001, for giving me the turning merit, and to JSRAW for his kind generosity and good suggestion re. my Plausible Deniability Wiki! Big thanks to ivomm, xhomerx10, bitebits, and all WO brothers (and sister).

Almost all merits have come from WO members for posts in the WO thread, and that means a lot to me.

Keep on being who you are, and keep making WO the best place on cyberspace for all things, Bitcoin or not.

HoDL strong!

Bitcoin gave mankind,
What banking never allowed:
Financial freedom!

Most people fear it,
And think it's a Ponzi scheme,
As banks told them so.

But those with insight,
Like Neo in The Matrix,
Swallowed the RED pill.

50 coins per block,
Starting a revolution,
With code, not with guns!

Whatcha gonna do?
Support it or reject it?
I know where I stand.

500 Euros,
Take a few seconds to print,
In fiat printers!

Try printing Bitcoin,
And you'll quickly realize,
What a fool you've been!

#7sundayhaikus

Very good post, thanks.

I hope jbreher and the other big blockers read it (I'm saying this in a positive way, not intending to offend anyone...).

Happy Saturday everyone!

proudhon + gembitz = BULL!

Honfirmed!

Many thanks for this. I was suspecting there were hard limits in the number of characters, imposed by the devices and the algorithm, but was not aware of them. It's good to know. 50 characters can still make a very strong passphrase, and may even be too long to ensure you remember it, so the principle still holds, I guess.



Very true. Plausibility can be killed by leaving behind traces of hidden wallet activity which cannot be explained. Tails is an excellent way of dealing with this.



I can't stress this enough! Case 2 would most likely be caused by the coin holder himself, who may have been boasting and showing off his stash. Big mistake! Even the mere mention of being involved in Bitcoin, combined with a few major changes in one's life (something expensive they've bought, resigning from a job, etc.) would point to a healthy Bitcoin stash, and a $5 wrench is too damn cheap.

Stay safe, and, when it comes to Bitcoin, apply the Manhattan Project's motto:

Good points, thanks.

Hello to the Bitcoin community,

At the suggestion of fellow Wall Observer (WO) Thread brother, JSRAW, I'm re-posting here in the [Beginners & Help] section, something I posted about plausible deniability, in response to a question asked by another brother, Karartma1, in the above thread. I hope it helps to better understand the different ideas and concepts involved, and make better use of available tools and techniques to safeguard ourselves and our coins.

---

Plausible deniability, as it applies to Bitcoin, is the ability to plausibly deny ownership of your Bitcoin when required to reveal your stash (legally, or by force).

Case 1 (legally): You cross the border to another country, and, upon inspection, customs find your Trezor in your briefcase, or find a wallet s/w on your phone. They may force you to reveal information about your stash. In fact, there are laws that make it a punishable crime not to reveal your passwords in such cases, and if you don't, you may be arrested and detained. What do you do? Can you just say "guys, it's empty!"? They will say "OK, show us!" How can you circumvent this?

Case 2 (by force): You are a coiner. You tell about your coins to friends and relatives. All in good faith. They are impressed by your newfound wealth. They are so excited that they tell their friends about you and how smart you are. Word spreads. You end up being kidnapped and forced (by torture) to reveal your stash. Can you just say "guys, it's empty!"? I don't think so. How can you circumvent this?

Deniability won't help you in such cases, unless it's paired with plausibility. With Trezor (and Ledger, etc.), in addition to the 24 words that make up your seed, you are allowed to enter another (25th) passphrase (word, sentence, any alphanumeric string). This will result in a wallet (key) that is totally different to the one without the 25th passphrase. In fact, when you connect your Trezor and are asked for the 25th passphrase, you can type anything you want, and it will lead to different valid wallets, depending on what you typed. In this way, you can have (in fact, you already have) an infinite number of wallets, all of which have your seed in common, but are cryptographically unrelated, in the sense that access to one such wallet is completely isolated from any other wallet.

The central idea that you must understand, is that you already have all these wallets, whether you want them or not. There is no switch that you can use to enable or disable a wallet. It's already there. Think of this as driving on the highway, and there are infinite number of exits. Your 24-word seed is the highway, and the 25th passphrase determines the exit you want to take. The exits are all there, an infinite number of them, and they all lead to valid wallets. Of course, all these wallets will be empty when you visit them (well, not necessarily, but that's another discussion). The highway itself is also a wallet (no passphrase entered). This is why it's not advisable to use a seed without a 25th passphrase. Because, in this case, if someone finds your seed, he can enter your highway, and if your coins are on that highway, he can steal them from you. But if you use a 25th passphrase, the highway will be empty, and containing an infinite number of exits. Which exit to take? He needs to know the 25th passphrase, which he won't. Your coins are safe.

How is all this related to plausible deniability? You can use the 25th passphrase to plausibly deny ownership of your coins. You set up your Trezor as normal, writing down and backing up your 24 seed words. What you then do, is transfer a very small amount of Bitcoin (say, 0.1 BTC) to the wallet without a 25th passphrase (the highway). You put that 0.1 BTC there. Then, you reconnect your Trezor, but this time you enter a 25th passphrase, let's call it {normal_pass}. You end up on a different, empty wallet. In there, you transfer a bigger amount of Bitcoin, large enough to persuade someone that it's everything you've got, let's say, 10 BTC. You don't transfer all your stash there, just that 10 BTC. You then reconnect your Trezor, but this time you enter a very strong 25th passphrase, let's call it {really_strong_pass}. You end up on yet another empty wallet. In that wallet you transfer the remaining of your stash, say, 100 BTC.

What have you achieved by doing the above? With just one seed (written on paper and backed up) and 2 passphrases in your head, you have spread your stash in the following three different, cryptographically unrelated wallets (i.e., having access to one of the wallets does not grant access to any of the other wallets, and does not prove that you are using any other wallet):

No passphrase: 0.1 BTC
{normal_pass}: 10 BTC
{really_strong_pass}: 100 BTC

Case 1: "Sir, can you please unlock your wallet for us?" -- "Why?" -- "We want to see how many coins you have." -- "But, isn't this private information?" -- "Yes, but Law XYZ, that was passed after 9/11, to combat terrorist activities, gives us authority to do whatever we want!" -- "Oh, hmmm, I'm not comfortable with this..." You play difficult, you ask to see the law, trying to stall them. After a while, and when the pressure on you becomes too much, you say "OK, I don't like this at all, but here you are." You connect your Trezor to your laptop, and just enter the PIN (no 25th passphrase). You have just entered the "highway" wallet, which contains 0.1 BTC. "There you go, motherfuckers! Fuck you!", you scream! They say, "Sir, I'm afraid we'll have to confiscate your wallet and the coins." -- "Sure," you reply, "take it and stick it up your bum, you fucks!" You hand them your Trezor and they let you pass. When you arrive safely at your destination, you simply enter your seed to any wallet you want (Trezor, Ledger, Mycelium), and you log-in with the two "25th" passphrases, confirming what mathematics have guaranteed for you, which is that your 110 BTC are there, untouched, waiting for you.

Case 2: You are tied to a chair, and a big guy asks you for your Trezor PIN, "or else I'm going to cut your fingers one by one!" You try to resist at first, but quickly reveal the PIN. They see the 0.1 BTC. But they're smart. They know you have more! They begin to torture you, at which point you have to be prepared to take some beating and even lose a finger! You have to resist as much as you can. When you can't take it anymore, and you're screaming and crying like a little girl, all humiliated and seemingly completely wrecked, you reveal {normal_pass} to them. They enter the 25th passphrase and see your shiny 10 BTC in there. "Gotcha!" they shout! They transfer the funds, destroy (or take with them) your Trezor, and leave. The next day, you enter your seed in another wallet, enter {really_strong_pass} and confirm that your 100 BTC are there, untouched, waiting for you.

The above are idealized scenarios. You can be sure that, if you go out and about boasting to colleagues, friends and family that you own 100+ BTC, the thieves will cut your fingers, arms, legs, and even your dick (if you have one), before they get your entire stash! Plausible deniability is a great tool to protect us and our Bitcoin, but we also need to exercise common sense and maximise our OPSEC. No need to go out boasting about how much Bitcoin we have. A fool and his BTC are soon parted. Don't be a fool.

That's the best way I can describe plausible deniability, while keeping my typing and word count to reasonable levels. I hope it helps someone out there.

Stay safe!