Advantages/Disadvantages of Blockchain.info and Bitcoin-QT Wallets

[tristan_luther]

What should I use?

[marcovaldo]

blockchain.info if you want something online, easy to use, without downloading and synchronizing every day

[Birdy]

blockchain.info - easy to use, good for small day-to-day use, not recommended for bigger Bitcoin amounts
inputs.io - has some more security (still not recommended for big amounts due to counterparty risk)
Bitcoin-qt - as secure as your computer, needs to download the whole blockchain (10 GB+, there are other local clients that don't need it though), no counterparty-risk
paper wallet/cold wallets - harder to use, most secure for long time storage and higher sums of Bitcoins


Just get started with one of the online-wallets or one of the light local clients (Electrum or Multibit) to learn the basics.
If you want to store larger amounts of Bitcoins, defnitely learn how to make paper wallets or cold wallets (and how to avoid screwing things up).

[tristan_luther]

Thanks for the reply, it makes sense. I have downloaded the entire blockchain but I am not sure where on my computer it is stored. I am using Linux Mint.

[Birdy]

Thanks for the reply, it makes sense. I have downloaded the entire blockchain but I am not sure where on my computer it is stored. I am using Linux Mint.

I don't know the path on Linux, but you could search for the file wallet.dat, the blockchain is also there
On windows it's C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
Keep in mind that all private keys to your Bitcoin addresses are saved in the wallet.dat, it's the most important file.

[tristan_luther]

Another question - what is the difference between a private key and a password? If I understand correctly, the public key is the bitcoin address to which people send bitcoins, but I have been unable to see the distinction between password and private key.

[Buffer Overflow]

Thanks for the reply, it makes sense. I have downloaded the entire blockchain but I am not sure where on my computer it is stored. I am using Linux Mint.

It is located in   /home/{username}/.bitcoin   directory.

[tristan_luther]

The thing is, there is no .bitcoin directory in my username directory. Puzzling.

[Buffer Overflow]

The thing is, there is no .bitcoin directory in my username directory. Puzzling.

Directories and files beginning with a period are hidden.

To view hidden files and directories in a terminal, use:    ls -a

[Birdy]

Another question - what is the difference between a private key and a password? If I understand correctly, the public key is the bitcoin address to which people send bitcoins, but I have been unable to see the distinction between password and private key.

public address: the address you can use in public to receive Bitcoins, every public address has a corresponding private address/key
private address: This is like the key to your public Bitcoin address, you need it in order to send the Bitcoins that are on there.
So yes, it kinda works like an password, but there are a lot of other things that require passwords, so it's better to use an other word for it to make a distinction. E.g. you could also encrypt your wallet with a password, but this has nothing to do with Bitcoin itself.

[marcovaldo]

You can put password to protect your wallet maybe? I don't know how your wallet works

[tristan_luther]

Another question - what is the difference between a private key and a password? If I understand correctly, the public key is the bitcoin address to which people send bitcoins, but I have been unable to see the distinction between password and private key.

public address: the address you can use in public to receive Bitcoins, every public address has a corresponding private address/key
private address: This is like the key to your public Bitcoin address, you need it in order to send the Bitcoins that are on there.
So yes, it kinda works like an password, but there are a lot of other things that require passwords, so it's better to use an other word for it to make a distinction. E.g. you could also encrypt your wallet with a password, but this has nothing to do with Bitcoin itself.

OK, I think I am beginning to understand. However, in order to send Bitcoins with blockchain.info I only need my password but not the private key. So, according to my understanding, this must mean that my private key is kept by blockchain.info and automatically used when I want to send Bitcoins. So if blockchain.info gets hacked, my private key would be stolen. On the other hand, using Bitcoin-QT, I have been able to find my private key using the debug console, but I do not see how to use that private key to send Bitcoins. When I try to send with Bitcoin-QT, it requires my encryption password but not my private key. So when I read that the private key is the most important part of Bitcoin security but I do not even need it to send Bitcoins, I am deeply concerned.

[Birdy]

OK, I think I am beginning to understand. However, in order to send Bitcoins with blockchain.info I only need my password but not the private key. So, according to my understanding, this must mean that my private key is kept by blockchain.info and automatically used when I want to send Bitcoins. So if blockchain.info gets hacked, my private key would be stolen. On the other hand, using Bitcoin-QT, I have been able to find my private key using the debug console, but I do not see how to use that private key to send Bitcoins. When I try to send with Bitcoin-QT, it requires my encryption password but not my private key. So when I read that the private key is the most important part of Bitcoin security but I do not even need it to send Bitcoins, I am deeply concerned.

The private keys of the Bitcoin-qt wallet are saved in the file wallet.dat (and encrypted with a password if you use one), whenever you send Bitcoins it will use the private key from the wallet.dat.
So, yes they are required in order to send Bitcoins. You just don't see it as the private keys are created in the background whenever you make a new address.
You can also import an address into Bitcoin-qt or blockchain.info by importing the private key.

[tristan_luther]

Thanks so much for your help everyone. I look forward to contributing to the Bitcoin community myself in the future.

[Bitcoinera.net]

Use bitcoin-qt if you want to be your own bank and know how to keep your pc safe and how to back up your wallet securely.
If its larger amounts of bitcoins i would do that in any case.