Pi Wallet - Secure your coins now

[Aswan]

Hello,

I am Mario, director of CryptoCoins Consulting Ltd. Some time ago we have presented our Pi Wallet - a secure offline hardware wallet - on another sub-forum. We have since improved our selection and want to present to you the current stage of the product including a small FAQ.

You can have a look at it here: Pi Wallet

A lot of people are scared to lose their coins - and thats quite reasonable. The Solution? Just save your bitcoins offline. Unfortunately this limits the use of coins in so far as you'll get problems when you eventually want to use them, because thats where you have to connect to the internet.
Armory solved that problem by providing an option to sign transactions offline. I am sure some of you already use it. The problem with such a secure armory offline wallet is that you need an additional offline computer where it runs on.
While some of you use an old computer for armory, others don't have that option and they have to buy a new one and set it up.

We addressed that problem by developing Pi Wallet.
Pi Wallet is like one of these offline computers - just better:

-unlike a lot of notebooks Pi Wallet doesn't have a wireless connection

-with Pi Wallet easily fitting into your hand you save a lot of space and you can even take it with you easily if necessary

-unlike a notebook the Pi Wallet device can be easily separated from its hard drive, the SDHC card.

-you can take your coins wherever you want by just moving the card around

-Pi Wallet comes with 2 SDHC cards so you can always have the backup card stored on a safe place

-since Pi Wallet comes with everything already pre-installed, you don't need to set up anything except your wallet, which is done with a simple click

-there are videos available on pi-wallet.com which explain in detail how to use Armory so you won't have to read up on it

-with Armory you can have a copy of your wallet allowing you to create receiving addresses and unsigned transactions and check your balance on an online computer running Armory without having to expose your private keys

As you can see we have improved existing and working Solutions. Pi Wallet is small - it fits into your hand, it can be used right away when delivered, it uses the most secure and feature rich bitcoin client and it allows a fast and secure creation of backups (digital+paper)

Of course the deployed operating system as well as Armory are open source.
Everyone can build is own Pi Wallet. Tutorials can be found at Build your own.

Don't forget to grab your bitcointalk discount of 5% by entering "bitcointalk" during the checkout process. This discount Code will only be valid for 10 purchases.



FAQ

Q: Who are you?

A: We are CryptoCoins Consulting Ltd., a company founded in summer 2013. We are working on implementing and improving cryptocurrency related solutions by allowing easy access to the crypto world for everyone.


Q: Can I trust you?

A: Shut up and give us your money!
Just kidding. Unlike a lot of other people who start offering similar things these days, our company is registered in the German trade register ( Register Number: HRB 92523 ) and the UK trade register (Company Nr. 08586031). On the Legal Disclosure page of our website you can also get our companies address in Germany and in the UK, you can see the names of the directors and we published our VAT tax number there.
We are trying to be as transparent as possible and do not hide behind privacy protecting domain services etc. If anything goes wrong, you can find us.

Q: Why should I buy from you instead of someone else offering a similar thing, maybe even cheaper?

A: When you buy Software or Hardware to store your bitcoins, you should be careful who to trust. If you receive a compromised piece of hardware and/or software, your coins could get ripped off when sending the to the seemingly safe storage. When the person you bought this from is also anonymous, you will have no way to get back your coins, ever.
Even tho you might not be able to know is a hardware/software is compromised, you can do your best to check who you are doing business with to you can get back to them when something goes wrong. We do our best to be as transparent as possible when it comes to disclosing information about who we are. While we have a reputation to lose, others who don't disclose any informations can't lose a reputation.
You should be especially careful if things get offered to free and even more so if the one offering it for free does not have some kind of Legal Disclosure.


Mario
CryptoCoins Consulting Ltd.

[Aswan]

Some of you have asked for a download version for people who already have a Raspberry Pi and an SD/SDHC Card readily available. We have added an image to our selection that you can apply to an SD/SDHC Card to get your Pi Wallet right away. The image can be purchase here: Image.

The download version is not limited in functionality.
However, the hardware version will be an easier and more convenient solution for securely storing your bitcoin; especially for beginners.


Additionally, I want to introduce our new Free Downloads section where you can download an Image containing a working Electrum and Multibit client for the Raspberry Pi. Both clients can be easily accessed by using the desktop shortcuts. For using the Multibit or Electrum, the Raspberry Pi should be connected to the internet.

We have a discount code for people on bitcointalk.org granting you a 5% discount on your purchase. Just enter "bitcointalk" without the quotes during the checkout. This code is valid for 10 Purchases.

We're looking forward to getting some feedback regarding the website and the selection.

Mario
CryptoCoins Consulting Ltd.

[coinrevo]

thanks for your work! combining this with a small printer & paper wallets would be a good added bonus.

one could make a separate distro based on a minimal linux. I'm probably building my own, but this should supported.

[Aswan]

thanks for your work! combining this with a small printer & paper wallets would be a good added bonus.

one could make a separate distro based on a minimal linux. I'm probably building my own, but this should supported.

You can already create paper wallets using armory and save them on a USB stick which you can use on a USB supporting printer. However, we are always working on improving Pi Wallet so we are thankful for every suggestion and we are going to look into it.

[Aswan]

Due to the increased amount of orders within the last 2 days, our Pi Wallet is currently sold out.
However, a new batch will be delivered within the next 3 days. Orders have been re-enabled on the website, but you will

probably have to wait an additional 2-3 days until your order can be shipped.


We want to thank all our customers  and we apologize for the delay,

Mario
Pi-Wallet.com
CryptoCoins Consulting Ltd.

[Aswan]

Nice stuff!

Thanks.

Pi Wallet has been restocked. All orders will be processed today.

[SebastianJu]

Its an interesting idea though i have some questions since i didnt use armory or wallets on linux yet.

How can armory run on a SD-Card that is 8GB only? On windows you need armory and bitcoind with the complete blockchain which means 30GB minimum on disk space. Is bitcoind on linux somehow using less space or how does this work?

I noticed that pi wallet is a normal linux with armory installed and only the wallet is encrypted. I would like to see it completely hidden. I mean why should someone be able to see what he has there? So is it possible to encrypt the whole sd-card so that you have to insert your password before booting? Something thats similarly secure like Truecrypt? Maybe even with hidden and decoy OS? That would sound to me like something really secure since just in case you meet some thugs that want your coins you could give them the decoy pass where a wallet with some spare coins is inside. No one could proof that this wouldnt be the real deal then.

You claimed theres a backup SD-Card. How is the backup working in case you create addresses on one sd-card? I mean the second sd-card has to be updated too. Simply copying the cards or is there some mechanism that the second armory knows the new addresses automatically?

Sorry that i didnt search for myself but since you know the area i thought i might ask you simply.

[Aswan]

Its an interesting idea though i have some questions since i didnt use armory or wallets on linux yet.

How can armory run on a SD-Card that is 8GB only? On windows you need armory and bitcoind with the complete blockchain which means 30GB minimum on disk space. Is bitcoind on linux somehow using less space or how does this work?

I noticed that pi wallet is a normal linux with armory installed and only the wallet is encrypted. I would like to see it completely hidden. I mean why should someone be able to see what he has there? So is it possible to encrypt the whole sd-card so that you have to insert your password before booting? Something thats similarly secure like Truecrypt? Maybe even with hidden and decoy OS? That would sound to me like something really secure since just in case you meet some thugs that want your coins you could give them the decoy pass where a wallet with some spare coins is inside. No one could proof that this wouldnt be the real deal then.

You claimed theres a backup SD-Card. How is the backup working in case you create addresses on one sd-card? I mean the second sd-card has to be updated too. Simply copying the cards or is there some mechanism that the second armory knows the new addresses automatically?

Sorry that i didnt search for myself but since you know the area i thought i might ask you simply.

I have left this project because I decided it's time to pursue other things. However, I can still tell you how Pi Wallet works and how it's used.

The Armory on the Pi Wallet doesn't need the blockchin. This is because it doesn't actually create transactions, it only signs them. To use Pi Wallet, an additional copy of Armory is run on an online computer. This Copy has all the addresses required to create transactions and receive bitcoins, but it does not have any private key; so your bitcoins are save even if someone gets possession of your Online computer or the files saved on it. In Armory, this is called a "Watch only copy" even though I prefer the term "Observer wallet".

Both SD Cards come without any private key and without and root/chain keys so you can either use the Pi Wallet to create a new Wallet or feed it private keys and/or root/chain keys.
Usually armory uses root/chain keys for deterministic wallets. Using the root and the chain key, Armory can create New private keys and new addresses without private key which are always the same regardless of which device they are created on. Because of this, if the 2 SD Cards get fed the same root/chain key, they will always produce the same private keys and addresses. Therefore it is only required to set up the backup once and it will be able to sign all transactions that are received with addresses generated by this one root/chain keypair.
The same goes for the observer wallet on the online computer. It creates receiving addresses which both SD Cards already have the private keys to thank to the deterministic nature of the wallet.

For the hidden installation: Plausible deniability is alway a nice thing to have. However, right now this is not supported by Pi Wallet. As I said I have left the project to pursue other things which is why I don't if there are plans to get it implemented.

[SebastianJu]

Sounds a bit like electrum with the additional server. So there is a public server that handles the transactions? If so thats not for me unfortunately since i see a risk in having a server being able to see all transactions, addresses and budget. I mean one hint and you can look into someones wallet. Of course only when you own the (electrum) , created a server or hacked one.

But thanks for answering...