'Best' Bitcoin wallet

[luke.watson]

Hi guys I'm relatively new to the concept of Bitcoins, I had heard of them a few months ago but never really cared for the idea until now. I am thinking of getting into the bitcoin world by buying and selling with the currency I have MultiBit setup on my computer but have decided to use BlockChains online wallet as I think it will be easier and will allow me to access it globally rather than just from my pc.

Obviously as I have chosen to chose and online wallet there will always be a slightly higher risk of security but as I stated before I can access the account from anywhere and it is very easy to backup and if my computer dies I will always have access to my wallet..

As bitcoin users which method do you prefer, and which method do you think is safer, if my business model works I will be handling fairly high numbers of bitcoins and obviously would like my wallet to be as secure as possible

I read aiwk171's article on how to have a 100% secure wallet which was quite interesting and actually seems like a very good idea

So what do other people use?

[ny2cafuse]

I like blockchain's wallet.  It's convenient, and the Android app is pretty slick.  Notifications of transactions is kind of nice through the day.  *looks at phone* "Sweet! More bitcoins!".

[tom1]

Blockchain.info together with a YubiKey should be safe

[DannyHamilton]

I find that https://blockchain.info/wallet is much safer than Coinbase.

With blockchain.info you can have a copy of your wallet sent to you so you can still access your bitcoin if blockchain.info were to suddenly disappear for some reason.  Also with blockchain.info your private keys are encrypted, making it impossible for them to steal/spend your bitcoin unless they were to modify the javascript to store your password.  If they did that, you'd hear about it in these forums pretty fast.

With coinbase, you are turning over control of your bitcoin completely to the people who run the website and trusting them to send the bitcoins where you ask them to.

[01BTC10]

Blockchain.info for small amount.
Electrum on a safe computer for medium amount.
Armory on a dedicated offline computer for large amount.
PaperWallet for long term storage.

[DannyHamilton]

^^ This ^^

[frga13]

I use Blockchain.info & Coinbase.com

[battmann]

I use blockchain.info and strongcoin.

I like the ability to import wallets into blockchain and use them for the various things I use my wallets for; the raffle, bitmit, savings, etc.

[darkmethod]

So far I'm very happy with Coinbase and Blockchain.

[Jace]

The problem with blockchain.info/wallet is you can never be 100% sure the site is (and will always remain) legit.

If the site owner or administrator turns evil, or somehow some hacker gets access to the webserver or anything (e.g. a fraudulent employee at the hosting company where blockchain.info is hosted, or whatever), you're screwed. They can alter the javascript so that the private keys (which are normally decrypted client side and never leave your PC) are secretly sent somewhere in the background. Nobody would notice until it's too late.

Don't get me wrong, I totally trust the people behind blockchain.info and I'm absolutely sure they have nothing but good intentions. But I prefer a system where I simply don't need to trust anyone.

I've only got some spare change in a blockchain.info wallet.

I got most of my savings in a dedicated Ubuntu Live install, which runs completely offline (disabled any network connections and removed all network interfaces). Generated a bunch of private keys (using a local private key generator) and stored them in a TrueCrypt container. Made multiple backups of the container (both in my house as well as several online locations) and exported the public addresses (not the private keys) to my regular Windows environment. So I can always access the addresses and send coins there. To spend the coins, I use a local script that allows me to create and sign transactions in Ubuntu, copy the transaction data to USB or whatever and I can send it to the network (from within Windows) later on. So my private keys are literally *never* exposed to anywhere outside the Ubuntu environment.

I don't think it gets any safer than this. And it sounds complicated but it actually works quite well, and in fact I don't need to get lots of money from my savings that often.

[DannyHamilton]

The problem with blockchain.info/wallet is you can never be 100% sure the site is (and will always remain) legit.

Correct, there is ALWAYS a trade off between convenience and security, however there is a browser plug-in that you can install that will alert you if the javascript that you've received from blockchain.info is modified.

It is definitely safer to run a local wallet (such as Armory, Electrum, or MultiBit), and the absolute safest is to generate a key pair in an operating system that has never connected to the internet and wipe the system clean when you are done.

If you are going to use a web hosted wallet though, blockchain.info is better than any of the alternatives.

[21after2]

If you gotta use an online wallet, blockchain is the one to use. I have it on my phone to keep a few BTC on me if I want to buy something in person (which isn't often in my area, lol).

I prefer MultiBit myself. Doesn't load the whole blockchain and it's very easy to use.

[Jace]

Correct, there is ALWAYS a trade off between convenience and security, however there is a browser plug-in that you can install that will alert you if the javascript that you've received from blockchain.info is modified.

That's probably gonna be quite often, as I assume they are frequently developing or improving their wallet? (just guessing though, never tested this)

[e4xit]

I like blockchain! and you can backup to your computer you wallet file