Is it smart to use mtgox as your bitcoin wallet

[BitPanda]

I just opened an mtgox account. Woul it make since to use this as a primary bank for your bitcoins? It seems a little more safe than having them on some bitcoin wallet platform. I am somewhat of a newbie. So this may be a simple question with a simple answer. Thanks

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[1715290254]

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[flower1024]

I just opened an mtgox account. Woul it make since to use this as a primary bank for your bitcoins? It seems a little more safe than having them on some bitcoin wallet platform. I am somewhat of a newbie. So this may be a simple question with a simple answer. Thanks

i use blockchain.info as my spending wallet.
i use mtgox as a wallet for trading (and for receiving very small btc amounts to safe me from some fees)
i use a paper wallet for savings

it depends on how much money you trust mtgox. and they do have some withdraw limits which means you may not be able to transfer all your bitcoins if you need to.

[greyhawk]

This is about the worst idea possible. The MtGox wallet is a shared wallet, so if you ever intended to receive BTC in a transaction the money would land "somewhere" on MtGox, but not your account.

[flower1024]

This is about the worst idea possible. The MtGox wallet is a shared wallet, so if you ever intended to receive BTC in a transaction the money would land "somewhere" on MtGox, but not your account.

thats not really true

you have a fixed deposit address. but a very strong problem is, that if you withdraw money (eg playing sdice) the coins do come from a different address (which is NOT your deposit address).

^^ so its impossible for the receiver to just "return" coins (which sdice tries)

[justusranvier]

It is never smart to let a third party hold your bitcoins for you.

[greyhawk]

This is about the worst idea possible. The MtGox wallet is a shared wallet, so if you ever intended to receive BTC in a transaction the money would land "somewhere" on MtGox, but not your account.

thats not really true

you have a fixed deposit address. but a very strong problem is, that if you withdraw money (eg playing sdice) the coins do come from a different address (which is NOT your deposit address).

^^ so its impossible for the receiver to just "return" coins (which sdice tries)

Ah, thanks for the correction.

[Eri]

It is never smart to let a third party hold your bitcoins for you.

This.

[flower1024]

It is never smart to let a third party hold your bitcoins for you.

This.

+1

but if you want to trade you have to give away your direct access

[sounds]

Also it's likely you're in the US. Please be aware of the CoinLab deal.

If you're in the US your account will be handled by CoinLab. (You have a chance to decline this.)

Official Gox / CoinLab Integration and Transition FAQ

There may be other side effects of this change. Keep yourself informed, and consider keeping your BTC somewhere else for safety.

[justusranvier]

but if you want to trade you have to give away your direct access

I'd go as far as to say that daytrading is just a bad idea in general, but it is necessary for companies such as the payment processors who need to sell bitcoins in order to deliver local currency to their customers.

Personally I use exchanges only for buying bitcoins, and if I want to sell I do it otc or via in-person trades.

[Zomdifros]

MtGox is not the best option, as you are not in control of your own keys. Should you decide to use it anyway, make sure to activate two-factor authentication. There are numerous incidents reported on this forum where people had lost many coins due to their password being stolen.

I'd recommend the Blockchain wallet, even for savings, but if anybody thinks there are still security risks involved, I'm open to suggestion. Contrary to many people here, I do not believe a paper wallet is the safest option, unless you make sure your key isn't lost when your house burns down.

[kangasbros]

thats not really true

you have a fixed deposit address. but a very strong problem is, that if you withdraw money (eg playing sdice) the coins do come from a different address (which is NOT your deposit address).

^^ so its impossible for the receiver to just "return" coins (which sdice tries)

This "problem" is desirable privacy-enchanging feature to some. Troublesome if you want to gamble on satoshidice or deal with merchant who uses blockchain data for refunds (merchants should never do this IMHO).

[BitPanda]

Thanks so much for all the response.. let me explain to you guys why i even opened the account to begin with, i was trying to buy a domain name through domain4bitcoins and it needed to go through mtgox to make the purchace. i tried to do this without making the account and somehow the transaction was cancelled twice, i figured that it would work if i just put money into my mtgox account. I guess we will see if its going to make things any easier.

[kokjo]

history has shown that there is a sudden high unforeseen fee for letting a third-party handle ones bitcoins.

[Humanxlemming]

It is never smart to let a third party hold your bitcoins for you.

This.

+1

but if you want to trade you have to give away your direct access

+1

bitcoin is in the control of the miner if you go through third party that kind of kills the point.

[mobile4ever]

I just opened an mtgox account. Woul it make since to use this as a primary bank for your bitcoins? It seems a little more safe than having them on some bitcoin wallet platform. I am somewhat of a newbie. So this may be a simple question with a simple answer. Thanks

For me, I like having control over my own money. Where is your money safest -  with others or with you?


Bitcoin requires knowing basic computer security. If you use Windows, using a powerful password, having a useful anti-malware program, backing up your wallet regularly are basic things you can do to protect the money in your computer.

Apple and Linux are about the same.


Bitcoin is all about decentralization. Imagine if everyone kept their money in Mt Gox 

[Matthew N. Wright]

history has shown that there is a sudden high unforeseen fee for letting a third-party handle ones bitcoins.

Don't you mean discount? A five fingered one?

[Notanon]

Probably ok to use it for converting fiat into BTC and back and for getting used to the Bitcoin system in the first place, especially if you have a fiat currency other than the US Dollar or the Euro (in my case, the Australian Dollar), but I'd create an offline wallet (using the BTC Client or Bitcoin Armory and so on) and use that to store Bitcoins long term rather than risking leaving them all online where they can more likely be rendered inaccessible when you need them or stolen during a hacking attempt. I personally use Vircurex as a second online wallet for converting mined currencies back and forth, but will end up using Mt Gox to either convert fiat or cash out if need be, unless Vircurex eventually adopt the Australian Dollar at some stage.

[MarlboroMan]

nope its not smart at all