The best Bitcoin cold storage?

[ManeBjorn]

LOL
Now that one is killing me with laughter.
Unfortunately you are right.   

Everyone knows Mt Gox is the perfect Bitcoin cold storage solution.

[TheButterZone]

*cough* http://www.bitcoinclassifieds.net/ad/5693_Tekton_532_in_letter__number_stamp_set/

[Cassius]

LOL
Now that one is killing me with laughter.
Unfortunately you are right.   

Everyone knows Mt Gox is the perfect Bitcoin cold storage solution.

Yes, great way to make sure your coins are out of reach of anyone...

[pengoau]

sounds like the government can implement its human chip via cold storage, if you believe in conspiracy theories.. heh.

Whats more secure than embedding ya wallet in yourself.

Take worth a million dollars to a whole new level.

[eximo]

I have my casascius coins hidden in my freezer!

[freebit13]

sounds like the government can implement its human chip via cold storage, if you believe in conspiracy theories.. heh.

Whats more secure than embedding ya wallet in yourself.

Take worth a million dollars to a whole new level.

Until you need them and have to pull them out your nose like Arnie in Total Recall 

[Sheldor333]

Best way. Write down your private key and put it in this. It is not fire and water resistant. Bury it somewhere and there. Done. Safe. 

[hjbuell]

So... you are going to make an end of the world proof cold storage, which will then allow you to collect your Bitcoins from cold storage and exchange them... uh... yeah.

Makes perfect sense, because, you know, physical mediums are exactly what Bitcoins are all about.

I get that you want a cold storage to keep your coins safe, and I get that this is best practice (I support it too), but leather punches and etching the codes into metal and stone?

Have you considered a tattoo? Likely less expensive than the other options. You could even get it tattooed backwards on your forehead so that you could read it in a mirror, but no one else would know. Or you could tattoo it in between your ass cheeks. Surely no one would look there - of course, how you would read it when the hair grows back might be an issue.

Oh, I know! Maybe you could paint them on a canvas, and then paint another painting over top of it. Then they could make a movie about it. Or, perhaps you could just get some of that glow in the dark paint - or even some black light paint - unless, you know, you have Goth or Goth Lite (Emo) friends.

Just saying man. What you want to do with preserving the information and protecting it is a bit extreme - especially considering that all I need to steal your money in America is a signed check. Did you know that it is that easy in the US to steal money? Yep - it sure is - because account security is largely based on the ID of the person receiving the money, and the ability of banks to prosecute them if they commit fraud. It doesn't always work though.

Of course, none of these methods will protect it from the pirate killing ninjas the NSA sends out to read people's mail and see what kind of toilet paper they have used.

So - deep breath, and consider what it is you're really trying to accomplish here before you start stockpiling cans with rolled metal lids so you can open them on rocks when the world ends (all while secretly having your Bitcoin info etched in the bottom of the rock).

Oh yeah - no offense either. I have a tin hat too.  

[Abdussamad]

I have my casascius coins hidden in my freezer!

Are they the chocolate kind?

[dreamspark]

You could do a Gox by putting a number on your watch only wallet screen which shows a balance but never actaully check the cold address to update it.

[Ente]

Guys, what do you think about buying an android phone with the sole purpose of keeping bitcoins? would that be safe?
One could encrypt the backup folder onto a USB stick or your computer, and keep the phone in cold storage - never mind having a sim card or anything.

would the bitcoin app for Android phones be secure to do this? you could also set a key to unlock your phone.

Android is bad news for malware. Cold storage should be just that: totally offline.
I've experimented with the punches. I modified a python script on mini private keys (google it for the original) to use only caps and numbers. You still get 145 bits of entropy, which is stronger than the original Casascius coins and should do the job fine.
I'd been playing with the idea of coin rings for my wife's Christmas present, so I banged an all-caps mini private key into a 50 eurocent coin (Nordic gold, thick, malleable, hypoallergenic...) and turned it into a ring using a mandrel and hammer. Nice, chunky, manly ring with the code faintly visible on the inside (especially after being given the fire treatment like in Lord of the Rings). The one problem is that anyone who knew that's what it was could steal your coins, but 1) that's true of any form of cold storage, 2) they'd have to know about it, and 3) they'd have to get it off my finger first, and then get to a computer faster than me (I memorised the code for good measure).

I'd love to make these for other people, but haven't figured out a straightforward way of doing it without trust. Unlike Casascius, I'm not prepared to give out my home address in the interests of transparency.

If I ever own enough btc to make it worthwhile, I'll probably experiment with saline etching of stainless steel and bang some more keys into aluminium blocks, like little metal bricks. Reckon you could hide them in stud walls, under floor boards, or wherever - varnish or oil them to make sure there would be no corrosion first if they came into contact with damp.

A riddle:
Why is Charlie Shrem called "four-finger Charlie" by his friends?
All right, that's an easy one ;-)

Ente

[E.exchanger]

Letter and Number Stamp Punch  will be the best thing to do 

[BitOnyx]

Our advancement in technology left a lot of people in rather uncomfortable position when they can't store wealth in more traditional way. Those containers are trying to mimic solutions we used to have for gold and coins for rather long time.  I am a bit surprised we haven't go further with solutions. More advanced, less reliable on battery's, low temperature and physical damage. some of those odds and ends are even a bit nostalgic, to hold our virtual belongings on necklace or key chain. 

I'm afraid we need more advanced solutions. Storing meta-currency is bit different and we should't think about like a normal data. Maybe plastic version of paper print.

[Catanonia]

Have it engraved under a ring on your finger.

Get a trusted jewleller to do it and never give him or let him copy the key / phrase and make sure you are present when they do it.

Simple, always on your person and if on a wedding ring, never comes off.

[gollum]

Have it engraved under a ring on your finger.

Get a trusted jewleller to do it and never give him or let him copy the key / phrase and make sure you are present when they do it.

Simple, always on your person and if on a wedding ring, never comes off.

I got a better one:
Write half of the private key on your ring, and half of if on another ring that a family member keeps.
A thief would need both of the rings to steal your coins.

And you should of course have "backups" of the rings in case of loss: keep the backups at two different bank vaults.

You should also go to two different jewelers to engrave half of the private key, none of them have the full key so they can't take your coins, unless they know each other and collude to steal your coins.

[botolo86]

I have my casascius coins hidden in my freezer!

Sorry if the question has been answered elsewhere. Is it correct to assume that the creator of these coins may have a copy of the secret key? I am not saying that he has a copy or that he intends to use it. I am talking about technical possibility.

[DannyHamilton]

Sorry if the question has been answered elsewhere. Is it correct to assume that the creator of these coins may have a copy of the secret key? I am not saying that he has a copy or that he intends to use it. I am talking about technical possibility.

A technical possibility? Absolutely.

Casascius has about as good of a reputation in the bitcoin community as anyone can have.  He has stated that he absolutely does not maintain records of the private keys.  You have to decide for yourself if you trust that claim or not.

[Cassius]

Guys, what do you think about buying an android phone with the sole purpose of keeping bitcoins? would that be safe?
One could encrypt the backup folder onto a USB stick or your computer, and keep the phone in cold storage - never mind having a sim card or anything.

would the bitcoin app for Android phones be secure to do this? you could also set a key to unlock your phone.

Android is bad news for malware. Cold storage should be just that: totally offline.
I've experimented with the punches. I modified a python script on mini private keys (google it for the original) to use only caps and numbers. You still get 145 bits of entropy, which is stronger than the original Casascius coins and should do the job fine.
I'd been playing with the idea of coin rings for my wife's Christmas present, so I banged an all-caps mini private key into a 50 eurocent coin (Nordic gold, thick, malleable, hypoallergenic...) and turned it into a ring using a mandrel and hammer. Nice, chunky, manly ring with the code faintly visible on the inside (especially after being given the fire treatment like in Lord of the Rings). The one problem is that anyone who knew that's what it was could steal your coins, but 1) that's true of any form of cold storage, 2) they'd have to know about it, and 3) they'd have to get it off my finger first, and then get to a computer faster than me (I memorised the code for good measure).

I'd love to make these for other people, but haven't figured out a straightforward way of doing it without trust. Unlike Casascius, I'm not prepared to give out my home address in the interests of transparency.

If I ever own enough btc to make it worthwhile, I'll probably experiment with saline etching of stainless steel and bang some more keys into aluminium blocks, like little metal bricks. Reckon you could hide them in stud walls, under floor boards, or wherever - varnish or oil them to make sure there would be no corrosion first if they came into contact with damp.

A riddle:
Why is Charlie Shrem called "four-finger Charlie" by his friends?
All right, that's an easy one ;-)

Ente

Ha.... I don't keep much on my ring.
Wonder if Shrem was wearing it when he was arrested, and if any of the cops was smart enough to copy the private key off it.
I'd like a way of making them that minimises trust. Any ideas?

[Ente]

Ha.... I don't keep much on my ring.
Wonder if Shrem was wearing it when he was arrested, and if any of the cops was smart enough to copy the private key off it.
I'd like a way of making them that minimises trust. Any ideas?

Trust, security against what?
There are many risks here. Robbery for the ring, robbery for the coins, the goldsmith steals your stuff, you want to quickly access your funds, inheritage, the list goes on and on.. :-)

So, generally speaking, we don't need one solution, but a whole system. And this one will be different depending on use case.

Ente

[freebit13]

Does anybody have any experience with https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ and how trustworthy are they?

Or does anybody know how I can verify if the live CD with the paper wallet printer software can be trusted?

I've made paper wallets from there and it seems like one of the 'safest' methods there is.

The code is open source so you can check it: https://github.com/cantonbecker/bitcoinpaperwallet

There are also PGP signatures so you can check your downloaded file is uncorrupted.

Best method is to download the source and run it on an offline comp to generate and print wallets and then format that comp.

I've also imported from these wallets into blockchain.info without issues.

Hope that helps.