How safe is bitcoin address?

[alva5763]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

[notlist3d]

This would vary more to how safe is your wallet.  Bitcoin mining is not safe or unsafe for post part.  You point it to pool, pool sends to btc address. (Yes your pool info could be hacked in bad setups but you would notice it going to other address).

I suggest reading about hot and cold wallets.   With a good cold wallet it can be very secure.

[cryptworld]

No,anyone can empty your account knowing your public address, only way someone can empty your account is knowing your private address
Or in case you use coinbase,knowing the password of your coinbase account

[notlist3d]

No,anyone can empty your account knowing your public address, only way someone can empty your account is knowing your private address
Or in case you use coinbase,knowing the password of your coinbase account

Coinbase also have the "vault" or something to that effect to lock it down.  There is ofcourse paper wallets.

And always hardware wallet's aswell.

[Muhammed Zakir]

Nobody can't spend from *your* Bitcoin address *without your* permission. However, if the signature in transaction has low randomness, your private key can be leaked and thus, can spend your Bitcoin. The chances for happening this are very low. It happens mainly when using a buggy client and maybe when using Android too.

@OP: I highly recommend not to use Coinbase. It is not a secure wallet. I advice you to use a desktop wallet such as Multibit, Bither and Electrum.

[pooya87]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

your bitcoin is safe as long as:
1) you use a secure wallet which is not online wallet. use bitcoin core, armory, Multibit, Electrum, ...
2) you don't give anyone your private keys and keep them secure.
3) keep your computer safe from malware, keylogger, etc
4) in case of online wallets try using 2FA and strong password

[Mikestang]

The only way you can receive bitcoin is to give out your (public) address, so yes, it is safe as has been noted.

[DannyHamilton]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address.  Can anyone then empty your account with this address?

Yes, it is safe. No, they can't take any of your bitcoins if the only thing they know is the address.  If they only have a bitcoin address then they can only send bitcoins to the address.  They can't spend any bitcoins that are received at that address.

Now, it is important that you use a well written wallet to generate that address.  It is possible for a wallet to be poorly written and to allow multiple people access to the same address.  It is also recommended to generate a new address for EVERY transaction that you receive.  It is possible for wallet software to be poorly written and to leak security information when creating a transaction.

I use Coinbase address.

Then you don't have any addresses.  Those addresses that Coinbase shows you are addresses that are owned and controlled by Coinbase.  Any bitcoins sent to any of those addresses are bitcoins controlled by and owned by Coinbase.  Coinbase has given you an "account" in their database. When they receive bitcoins at those addresses, they stash them away and then update the "account" entry in their database to indicate that they promise you that they will send an equivalent amount of bitcoins anywhere you ask on your behalf.  You have to decide if you trust them to make good on that promise or not.  Since your account is under the control of Coinbase, they CAN "empty your account" if they decide to (or if they are required to by law).

Thanks in advance.

You're welcome

[Rmcdermott927]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Another good thing to do would be to invest in a Trezor hardware wallet.  They are considered to be incredibly secure.   They are around $100, so it just depends on how much BTC you have if it would be worth it to you or not.

[ranochigo]

Nobody can't spend from *your* Bitcoin address *without your* permission. However, if the signature in transaction has low randomness, your private key can be leaked and thus, can spend your Bitcoin. The chances for happening this are very low. It happens mainly when using a buggy client and maybe when using Android too.

@OP: I highly recommend not to use Coinbase. It is not a secure wallet. I advice you to use a desktop wallet such as Multibit, Bither and Electrum.

The android security vulnerability happened a long time ago. It was due to a design flaw that directly affected the randomness of transaction ID, not the private key. Android is still secure enough for daily usage since they have fixed it and this could have happened to any client.

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Another good thing to do would be to invest in a Trezor hardware wallet.  They are considered to be incredibly secure.   They are around $100, so it just depends on how much BTC you have if it would be worth it to you or not.

I agree to that. However, you can also use a offline computer like a raspberry pi and install electrum in it. You can transfer info from an online computer to the offline one and sign the transaction there then broadcast it on the online computer. The best part is, it cost much less than a trezor wallet.

[randy8777]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Another good thing to do would be to invest in a Trezor hardware wallet.  They are considered to be incredibly secure.   They are around $100, so it just depends on how much BTC you have if it would be worth it to you or not.

well, why paying to secure your coins while you don't need wallet hardware to do the job right. beside that. not every one is happy with their trezor...

[notlist3d]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Another good thing to do would be to invest in a Trezor hardware wallet.  They are considered to be incredibly secure.   They are around $100, so it just depends on how much BTC you have if it would be worth it to you or not.

well, why paying to secure your coins while you don't need wallet hardware to do the job right. beside that. not every one is happy with their trezor...

And honestly a paper wallet done right is very very secure. Assuming best conditions a paper wallet is hard to beat.  It is low cost, can easily have a few copies, secure software out there to do it with.

Also a big thing is it's been proven to work.  A large number have used them.  It's due to the person if there is a problem not the paper wallet (in most cases)

[mayflor2]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Bitcoin addresses themselves are very safe.    They biggest security issue lies with where the keys themselves are being stored.  If your wallet is on your PC that is infested with spyware, that's BAD.   Only keep small amounts of BTC online.    Utilize paper wallets or trezors for offline storage.

[dominicg]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

As long as your using some good rated wallets you're good. It's pretty safe and you need not worry about your bitcoins getting stolen.
Welcome to the Crypto World

[notlist3d]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

As long as your using some good rated wallets you're good. It's pretty safe and you need not worry about your bitcoins getting stolen.
Welcome to the Crypto World

More important then "good wallets" is cold vs hot.  You should keep most of your coins in cold storage this way even if infected a virus cannot jump from computer to a piece of paper.  If it's a hot wallet a virus or other could possibly get to it.

So the type of wallet is a big factor.

[michinzx]

using coinbase's address might not be a good idea, get a wallet and use your own addresses generated from the wallet.

[Bitdonator]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

Another good thing to do would be to invest in a Trezor hardware wallet.  They are considered to be incredibly secure.   They are around $100, so it just depends on how much BTC you have if it would be worth it to you or not.

I see that some people who use Trezor reporting about malfunctioning.
Better make BIP encrypted paper wallet, and spend that 100$ to buy BTC

[Amph]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

As long as your using some good rated wallets you're good. It's pretty safe and you need not worry about your bitcoins getting stolen.
Welcome to the Crypto World

More important then "good wallets" is cold vs hot.  You should keep most of your coins in cold storage this way even if infected a virus cannot jump from computer to a piece of paper.  If it's a hot wallet a virus or other could possibly get to it.

So the type of wallet is a big factor.

you can run a hot wallet with a good amount, if it is well isolated, or if you run it inside a VM and use another VM to download suspicious things, it's not that easy for a virus to exit a VM and enter in another, usually normal malware/virus can't do that, you need an exploit or something that take control of the machine at kernel level

[ranochigo]

Hello. How safe is it to input a bitcoin address into a site eg to receive bitcoins you need to give your bitcoin address. Can anyone then empty your account with this address? I use Coinbase address.
Thanks in advance.

As long as your using some good rated wallets you're good. It's pretty safe and you need not worry about your bitcoins getting stolen.
Welcome to the Crypto World

More important then "good wallets" is cold vs hot.  You should keep most of your coins in cold storage this way even if infected a virus cannot jump from computer to a piece of paper.  If it's a hot wallet a virus or other could possibly get to it.

So the type of wallet is a big factor.

You missed a part. How are you going to spend it? True that cold wallet is the best way to keep Bitcoins but it doesn't help if you use an infected device to scan the code and make a transaction. Private key could be easily compromised if you do it this way. The best way is to buy a raspberry pi and reinstall the OS, download electrum and create a wallet [Don't worry nothing will ever happen if you connect it to a internet. Especially when its Linux].
You can then download electrum on a online computer and then create an unsigned transaction, transfer it to an USB drive then sign it there. Bring it back and broadcast it on the online computer. It's far more secure this way.