Never trust an online wallet, for those who don't know

[Pollak]

None of these online wallets are a 100% secure. The best wallet to have is an offline wallet that's not connected to anything.
These online wallets are kinda like a bank, they hold your bitcoins for you. Instead of you holding it in on a offline wallet. I myself use blockchain as well. I've never had a problem with my wallet. I use this for transactions and such.

[ThunderThomas]

None of these online wallets are a 100% secure. The best wallet to have is an offline wallet that's not connected to anything.
These online wallets are kinda like a bank, they hold your bitcoins for you. Instead of you holding it in on a offline wallet. I myself use blockchain as well. I've never had a problem with my wallet. I use this for transactions and such.

That's true, best thing to do. Online wallets are never a 100% secure so I wouldn't put everything that I own on there.
You never know what will happen to the site or what could happen.

[aizzaku]

I have noticed that many started trusting services that doesn't provide it's users with the private keys, the only online service you can trust is blockchain.info wallet, for the fact they provide private keys but even that is still not enough, I hardly use it for small transactions only.

Services such as Xapo is constantly banning users and keeping their bitcoins me included, you can't sue them for that because you agreed to their terms of service which states the following, they also support some countries and not others.

Read the damn https://xapo.com/terms/ and tell me of one thing protecting us and not their asses, you should only agree to that damn thing if they didn't keep private keys, if private keys are stored on your side instead, or they keep it but encrypted so them selves can't see it without your unlock key.

If you choose to use an online wallet for any particular feature such as credit card, please make sure to not use it as a storage for your life savings or big amounts.

Be decentralized, and online wallets should be more transparent about the shit they do in the background, it breaks all the things bitcion was invented for.

About time till bitcoin becomes just another FIAT system of numbers on screen that transfers between people and inside their (accounts).

You have been warned, you can troll, flame and do whatever you want, but at the end of the day you are the one losing their bitcoins.

Be safe.

The whistle blower ? thanx anyways for the info

[toy4lov3rs]

I have noticed that many started trusting services that doesn't provide it's users with the private keys, the only online service you can trust is blockchain.info wallet, for the fact they provide private keys but even that is still not enough, I hardly use it for small transactions only.

Services such as Xapo is constantly banning users and keeping their bitcoins me included, you can't sue them for that because you agreed to their terms of service which states the following, they also support some countries and not others.

Read the damn https://xapo.com/terms/ and tell me of one thing protecting us and not their asses, you should only agree to that damn thing if they didn't keep private keys, if private keys are stored on your side instead, or they keep it but encrypted so them selves can't see it without your unlock key.

If you choose to use an online wallet for any particular feature such as credit card, please make sure to not use it as a storage for your life savings or big amounts.

Be decentralized, and online wallets should be more transparent about the shit they do in the background, it breaks all the things bitcion was invented for.

About time till bitcoin becomes just another FIAT system of numbers on screen that transfers between people and inside their (accounts).

You have been warned, you can troll, flame and do whatever you want, but at the end of the day you are the one losing their bitcoins.

Be safe.

All those words when really only a few are needed.

If you don't own your private keys you don't own your bitcoins.

[ranochigo]

I wonder if online wallet allows user to export their private key, will it still be a concern?

I don't trust xapos wallet because it doesn't allow you to export your private key.

Security wise, no. Even if online wallets allow users to have access to their private keys, the online wallets do still have access to the private key. Online services can still potentially steal your Bitcoins. For it to be truly secure, privates keys must never be exposed to the internet, encrypted or not.

[agustina2]

Thanks for the warning Chief but still I will use online wallet because I don't want a hassle type of sending and receiving funds. Plus Im using my coins in trading so if I will just let it in a cold storage it will be a hassle one.

I know the risk of having an online wallet that's why all my coins are scattered just to prevent and minimize the possible loss if ever those online wallet you are talking about got wrecked which is highly at low chance for now.

[biggbox]

I wonder if online wallet allows user to export their private key, will it still be a concern?

I don't trust xapos wallet because it doesn't allow you to export your private key.

Security wise, no. Even if online wallets allow users to have access to their private keys, the online wallets do still have access to the private key. Online services can still potentially steal your Bitcoins. For it to be truly secure, privates keys must never be exposed to the internet, encrypted or not.

Thanks for the alert. Then we should also be wary of those vanity bitcoin address generating service too since they also have a copy of the private key.

[MaritiJames3]

I wonder if online wallet allows user to export their private key, will it still be a concern?

I don't trust xapos wallet because it doesn't allow you to export your private key.

Security wise, no. Even if online wallets allow users to have access to their private keys, the online wallets do still have access to the private key. Online services can still potentially steal your Bitcoins. For it to be truly secure, privates keys must never be exposed to the internet, encrypted or not.

Thanks for the alert. Then we should also be wary of those vanity bitcoin address generating service too since they also have a copy of the private key.

As far as I know, blockchain provides private keys, you could look into them. I've been using blockchain for awhile next to me offline wallet.
I never had an issue with them but there are enough people here on this forum who think other wise.

[sukamasoto]

I believe your reason is reasonable, but in my opinion even the strongest security has a flaw,

but because of that little flaw then its being called not secured is also not right,

but for once again its just my opinion, but then if we don’t store it at online wallet where is the safest place to store ?

But one suggestion that I agree is don’t store too many bitcoin in your account because if its lost nobody can track and return the bitcoin to you

[The Sceptical Chymist]

<snip>
I dont like using blockchain as it has a high transaction fees.
and it takes so long... and also blockchain is always down. thats what i dont like
with it. and yeah.. even in coinbase i can use 2fa and even cp verification in every transaction.
so i think its still safe. but thanks for the information.

Yeah, you got that right, and that's one of the reasons why I don't use that anymore.  I use the moon faucets pretty frequently and so I have a Xapo wallet, but I transfer the btc as soon as it reaches a few cents worth.  I trust them as far as I can throw them. 

Mycelium is the only wallet I really use and it's been good so far.  I don't claim to be an expert on btc, but you have the private keys with them, right?

[ranochigo]

<snip>
I dont like using blockchain as it has a high transaction fees.
and it takes so long... and also blockchain is always down. thats what i dont like
with it. and yeah.. even in coinbase i can use 2fa and even cp verification in every transaction.
so i think its still safe. but thanks for the information.

Yeah, you got that right, and that's one of the reasons why I don't use that anymore.  I use the moon faucets pretty frequently and so I have a Xapo wallet, but I transfer the btc as soon as it reaches a few cents worth.  I trust them as far as I can throw them. 

Mycelium is the only wallet I really use and it's been good so far.  I don't claim to be an expert on btc, but you have the private keys with them, right?

Xapo, Coinbase etc are great for fauceting since they pay the TX fees and won't result in a large part of your earnings taken away. However, I would still recommend people to move the BTC out as soon as there is a significant amount.

Mycelium does not have your private keys or does it get transferred out from your phone. They use central validation though.

[TastyChillySauce00]

<snip>
I dont like using blockchain as it has a high transaction fees.
and it takes so long... and also blockchain is always down. thats what i dont like
with it. and yeah.. even in coinbase i can use 2fa and even cp verification in every transaction.
so i think its still safe. but thanks for the information.

Yeah, you got that right, and that's one of the reasons why I don't use that anymore.  I use the moon faucets pretty frequently and so I have a Xapo wallet, but I transfer the btc as soon as it reaches a few cents worth.  I trust them as far as I can throw them. 

Mycelium is the only wallet I really use and it's been good so far.  I don't claim to be an expert on btc, but you have the private keys with them, right?

since my activity on bitcoin transaction not that high i think spending worth of 5cents isn't a problem,but which aspect make it too expensive for you?

[lihuajkl]

<snip>
I dont like using blockchain as it has a high transaction fees.
and it takes so long... and also blockchain is always down. thats what i dont like
with it. and yeah.. even in coinbase i can use 2fa and even cp verification in every transaction.
so i think its still safe. but thanks for the information.

Yeah, you got that right, and that's one of the reasons why I don't use that anymore.  I use the moon faucets pretty frequently and so I have a Xapo wallet, but I transfer the btc as soon as it reaches a few cents worth.  I trust them as far as I can throw them. 

Mycelium is the only wallet I really use and it's been good so far.  I don't claim to be an expert on btc, but you have the private keys with them, right?

since my activity on bitcoin transaction not that high i think spending worth of 5cents isn't a problem,but which aspect make it too expensive for you?

Why do you say the transaction fees are too high? You could set the fees manually and get the tx confirmed in the blockchain. If you not rush to send the transaction, you could include lower or zero fees.

[foxbitcoin]

I believe your reason is reasonable, but in my opinion even the strongest security has a flaw,

but because of that little flaw then its being called not secured is also not right,

but for once again its just my opinion, but then if we don’t store it at online wallet where is the safest place to store ?

But one suggestion that I agree is don’t store too many bitcoin in your account because if its lost nobody can track and return the bitcoin to you

You could use bitcoin core,  electrum,  or multibit wallets, which are safer than using online wallets.  The safest place to store bitcion is cold paper wallet, or hardware wallet Trezor.

[MaxTax]

I think the only time online wallets can be trusted is if they give you the private keys. I've been using blockchain for this exact reason.
Even though I don't hold much in my online wallets, it's still handy to use when I want to make a quick transaction.

[agustina2]

I think the only time online wallets can be trusted is if they give you the private keys. I've been using blockchain for this exact reason.
Even though I don't hold much in my online wallets, it's still handy to use when I want to make a quick transaction.

Blockchain online wallet does hold your private keys too even they gave you that. Online wallet is good for faster transaction. No harm trusting them. Just don't let all of your coins stored to that kind of wallet. And some wallet facing legal terms like Coinbase.

[Mukyasa]

I do not use online wallet. I only use the core client. It is difficult for the to trust the online wallet providers.

[coinzat]

I believe that nothing is secure 100℅ when it comse to technology at all. So if online wallets can not be trusted so desktop wallets are the same as it can be baked with viruses or defected apps

[kingofbitcoin]

Virus or apps? Maybe true to Windows, not much for Unix/Linux.

[jt byte]

This is why I only use online wallets for small transactions and if I want to buy something online. I don't have much on them either.
I prefer to use blockchain, they do give out your private keys to your wallet, even with those private keys, I am still very careful with that wallet and making sure not to hold much bitcoin on them.