Best/Most Creative Cold Storage Method

[marhjan]

I wonder how many BTCs should one have before becoming this paranoid

A lot less than it used to be...  500btc is no longer a trivial amount of money.  Ah some of the btc I wasted in various places lol

[OlgaA524]

Encode private key by a well known book that you can find in any library and most homes.

3 fields of say 6 characters sequence:

000312000035000003 for one character where 000312 = page number, 000035 = line number, 000003 = column number

Then you can become more paranoid and alternate page, line, column for first char then line, column, page for second. Then you can do it in hex, then backwards etc   Imagination is a limit.

[Snipes777]

I wonder how many BTCs should one have before becoming this paranoid

Depends on current/future value of those coins. At 100/BTC then maybe going north of 50-100 would require some paranoia. At some arbitrary future value of 100,000/BTC then .1 or .05 would require the same security  measures. Always hard to determine, but for me it is more a fun project to create a crazy intricate code/masterpiece to hide my coins rather than a practical cost/ risk analysis. I want to have fun and make something unusual.

[pa]

I'd like to use a 3D printer to print QR codes for private/public keys in the center of some opaque solid plastic object that would have to be broken/cut in half to reveal the codes.

More durable than a paper wallet and could be hidden in all manner of innocent-looking 3D structures. . . .

[Ente]

I'd like to use a 3D printer to print QR codes for private/public keys in the center of some opaque solid plastic object that would have to be broken/cut in half to reveal the codes.

More durable than a paper wallet and could be hidden in all manner of innocent-looking 3D structures. . . .

I like that idea!
How about some fugly chinese "may wealth be upon your path" statue?
With the current exchangerate-action there is no excuse to not have a 3D printer by now ;-)

Ente

[b¡tco¡n]

How about your fingerprint as the basis for the hash? (you'd need something to convert a fingerprint to a 'string')

[marcus_of_augustus]

How about your fingerprint as the basis for the hash? (you'd need something to convert a fingerprint to a 'string')

Like from a fingerprint scanner input?

[Dabs]

I didn't get to post this earlier, but another creative idea (which is extreme) is to.

1. print and laminate or engrave on metal or hard plastic.
2. pour melted wax around.
3. put in bigger wooden or plastic box.
4. pour cement around.

You get a block of cement when it's dry. You will have to break open the cement but since there is a box, the contents of the box is protected. The wax is also additional protection for the object which actually holds the private key for your bitcoins.

The problem with fingerprints is that it has to consistently give the same output. Fingerprint scanners work by comparing your scan of right now, with something it stored previously, and checking to see how much of before and now is the same. It can't give the exact same output all the time, because of finger orientation, so I don't know how a hash of your fingerprint would be secure.

Also if you wound your finger with a blade cut or something, or it grows a pimple, then the scan would fail.

[eldentyrell]

i actually have the equipment to do small scale metal etching. i'd offer the making of cold storage wallets, but to etch the private keys i'd have to see them. never really figured out a way around that i was comfortable with. any ideas?

I'm planning to order 580 laser-engraved "scrabble tiles" -- 10 each of the 58 characters allowed in a bitcoin private key.  The idea is to use some inexpensive non-oxidizing metal.  I'll epoxy the sequence of characters that forms my private key onto a backplate and then melt/destroy enough of the leftovers so that I have an equal number of each of the spare letters remaining.  And then destroy the laptop that produced the key, of course.

The result is an engraved private key that will probably outlive my descendants, produced without having to trust the guy operating the laser engraver (or having to buy+operate one myself).

[marcus_of_augustus]

I didn't get to post this earlier, but another creative idea (which is extreme) is to.

1. print and laminate or engrave on metal or hard plastic.
2. pour melted wax around.
3. put in bigger wooden or plastic box.
4. pour cement around.

You get a block of cement when it's dry. You will have to break open the cement but since there is a box, the contents of the box is protected. The wax is also additional protection for the object which actually holds the private key for your bitcoins.

The problem with fingerprints is that it has to consistently give the same output. Fingerprint scanners work by comparing your scan of right now, with something it stored previously, and checking to see how much of before and now is the same. It can't give the exact same output all the time, because of finger orientation, so I don't know how a hash of your fingerprint would be secure.

Also if you wound your finger with a blade cut or something, or it grows a pimple, then the scan would fail.

Yes, this is all true. What could be used though is the facial recognition software that works on 8-26 (depending on quality) unique numerical coordinates for features on the human face. That could be the basis for a brain wallet or hashed, etc ...

[Atruk]

I didn't get to post this earlier, but another creative idea (which is extreme) is to.

1. print and laminate or engrave on metal or hard plastic.
2. pour melted wax around.
3. put in bigger wooden or plastic box.
4. pour cement around.

You get a block of cement when it's dry. You will have to break open the cement but since there is a box, the contents of the box is protected. The wax is also additional protection for the object which actually holds the private key for your bitcoins.

The problem with fingerprints is that it has to consistently give the same output. Fingerprint scanners work by comparing your scan of right now, with something it stored previously, and checking to see how much of before and now is the same. It can't give the exact same output all the time, because of finger orientation, so I don't know how a hash of your fingerprint would be secure.

Also if you wound your finger with a blade cut or something, or it grows a pimple, then the scan would fail.

Concrete might actually not be the best material for this because it can be rather corrosive, especially while it is curing...

[Rassah]

My savings account private key is generated using the VIN number of my new car. Shhh! Don't tell anyone 

[justusranvier]

My savings account private key is generated using the VIN number of my new car. Shhh! Don't tell anyone 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iW-8xPw3k