BitGo, Coinbase Vaut or Paper Wallet for secure long term storage

[pooya87]

here is what i gathered so far while using bitcoin:
if you...
1) have around 1BTC any wallet with a strong password and 2FA is good as long as you have the private keys not the wallet service offering it.
2) don't want to spend it for a long time (a couple of years) use paper wallet
3) want to spend but also hold for long time in a cold storage, using a cold storage with Electrum is easy enough. you create the tx on your online PC, transfer the unsigned tx to the offline PC sign it with the Electrum there then transfer tx to online PC and broadcast
4) if you are willing to spend money for a bitcoin wallet then choose a hardware wallet like trezor,...

*) one thing is certain, Coinbase Vault or anything that is similar to that and you are trusting a third party with your bitcoin IS NOT SAFE

[PilotofBTC]

From your list I don't find the best option because coinbase does not allow you to control the private key and your funds 100%,

I don't think that's true if you chose the multi-sig option:

https://www.coinbase.com/multisig

sounds like the Bitgo multisig wallet actually.

[TastyChillySauce00]

i guess paper wallet is the best option , easy to be renewable,easy to get,but the main problem is it's easy to lost but if you keep atleast so many copy of it and save it in different place which you know that it's secure and will never be touched by everyone,it'll be fine

[Leonard2016]

From your list I don't find the best option because coinbase does not allow you to control the private key and your funds 100%,

I don't think that's true if you chose the multi-sig option:

https://www.coinbase.com/multisig

sounds like the Bitgo multisig wallet actually.

even if you hold one signature and they hold the other, it would still be trusting a third party to hold half of it and you may get hurt.

besides you can do all these things yourself with a simple paper wallet so what is the point of that.

[TippingPoint]

Paper wallets, but really just the private keys.  That look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

But can be made to look like this:

5Kb8kL
f9zgWQno
gidDA7
6MzPL6T
sZZY36hWX
MssSzNyd
YXYB9KF

And practice restoring them, to make sure you know what you are doing.

[Kakmakr]

Fuck paper wallets. Get a Trezor and no worries. Just store your 24 word seed securely.

There have been people who has hacked Trezor wallets with special tools, so it's not as secure as you might think. Yes, the person who wants to hack the Trezor has to have physical access to the device, but it's still possible. A paper wallet, created correctly is basically hack proof at this moment and it will cost you nothing.

The Trezor will cost you $99, so it's up to you. ^smile^

[Herbert2020]

as long as you are creating the private keys "with the right code (or wallet)" and also doing it on "and always offline computer" and also keeping those keys offline and you are the only holder of those keys then you are using the safest way of holding bitcoin.

so anything like coinbase vault or any other service that is similar falls under the category of "less" safe.

[streazight]

So, paper wallet created on air gapped computer seems to be the most secure. But it has downsides like hard to spend if needed, could be lost, could get destroyed (sure keep several copies).

I guess there's also Trezor, but that cost money and I guess could become damaged.

You can laminate your paper wallets, this way it can last longer and only theft or a fire is a issue. The trezor comes with paper sheet where you write your 24 words seed to recover your trezor wallet anytime if your trezor become damaged or lost. If you have spare 1/8 BTC for the trezor, buy it. If not, laminated paper wallets is good option as well.

It's still not exactly the best form of storage, though, and your best bet for storage is going to be a hard wallet.
If you have over 10 bitcoins, you should be able to afford to buy a hard wallet already it is not such a big cost when you are deliberately looking for security for protecting your bitcoins.

[ethereumhunter]

i think i will choose USB bitcoin wallet and blockchain. because with USB bitcoin wallet, i can take it to everywhere i go, and i can use it with easy. and maybe i will fill my mycelium with at least 0.5 BTC, not much as 1-2 BTC. the rest maybe i will use blockchain.

[thejaytiesto]

BIP38 is an absolute must for paper wallets. If you have a paper wallet and you haven't got it encrypted I guess you are up for a hard awakening since sooner or later someone will steal your wallet and he'll have full access to the private key. BIP38 should be enabled by default when you create a paper wallet.

[PilotofBTC]

From your list I don't find the best option because coinbase does not allow you to control the private key and your funds 100%,

I don't think that's true if you chose the multi-sig option:

https://www.coinbase.com/multisig

sounds like the Bitgo multisig wallet actually.

even if you hold one signature and they hold the other, it would still be trusting a third party to hold half of it and you may get hurt.

besides you can do all these things yourself with a simple paper wallet so what is the point of that.

They hold 1 key and you hold two. Two keys are needed to spend. Technically, they hold two keys, but one is encrypted with your password. So, in theory, they can't spend your coins, and you can spend them without them. It looks pretty much the same as Bitgo.

[PilotofBTC]

BIP38 is an absolute must for paper wallets. If you have a paper wallet and you haven't got it encrypted I guess you are up for a hard awakening since sooner or later someone will steal your wallet and he'll have full access to the private key. BIP38 should be enabled by default when you create a paper wallet.

So, do you feel a BIP38 encrypted paper wallet is safe enough to store on line like in Evernote or Dropbox for example?

[PilotofBTC]

Paper wallets, but really just the private keys.  That look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

But can be made to look like this:

5Kb8kL
f9zgWQno
gidDA7
6MzPL6T
sZZY36hWX
MssSzNyd
YXYB9KF

And practice restoring them, to make sure you know what you are doing.

So, you're suggesting what? Generate a priv key, and write it down rather than printing it on paper?

I always wondered about those split paper wallets you can create too, but never understood exactly how they worked.

[TippingPoint]

Paper wallets, but really just the private keys.  That look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

But can be made to look like this:

5Kb8kL
f9zgWQno
gidDA7
6MzPL6T
sZZY36hWX
MssSzNyd
YXYB9KF

And practice restoring them, to make sure you know what you are doing.

So, you're suggesting what? Generate a priv key, and write it down rather than printing it on paper?

I always wondered about those split paper wallets you can create too, but never understood exactly how they worked.

No.  I export the private key, change the formatting slightly, label it something else like "urine test results from lab", and print it.  Then put it in a binder with medical documents.

[dothebeats]

Paper wallets, but really just the private keys.  That look something like this:

5Kb8kLf9zgWQnogidDA76MzPL6TsZZY36hWXMssSzNydYXYB9KF

But can be made to look like this:

5Kb8kL
f9zgWQno
gidDA7
6MzPL6T
sZZY36hWX
MssSzNyd
YXYB9KF

And practice restoring them, to make sure you know what you are doing.

So, you're suggesting what? Generate a priv key, and write it down rather than printing it on paper?

I always wondered about those split paper wallets you can create too, but never understood exactly how they worked.

No.  I export the private key, change the formatting slightly, label it something else like "urine test results from lab", and print it.  Then put it in a binder with medical documents.

That seems to be a genius way of keeping private keys! No one would ever think of it as a paper containing something worth taking for. I honestly think that it would work nicely as long as you don't screw up on the sequence of the segments of the private key. Also, the good news is that it isn't susceptible of any theft because who the hell would take other's medical records anyway?

[marky89]

BitGo sounds great but I still have to trust them a bit right. Also, are they still secure? Didn't bitfinex supposedly use them and still go hacked, or what that because bitfinex just didn't keep their keys/password secure enough?

I can't believe BitGo is being suggested here as a long term storage solution in light of what has happened.

Even if we believe the best case scenario (for BitGo) -- that they allowed Bitfinex to run an insecure implementation of their software -- that's still incredibly damaging to their reputation. You can't bill yourself as the top Bitcoin security firm in the industry, act as co-signer for the largest USD exchange in the world, co-sign 120k BTC in stolen BTC, then throw your customer under a bus after you actively participated in the loss.

Sorry, but no. If Bitfinex insisted on an insecure implementation, BitGo should have terminated their contractual relationship in the interests of their customers and reputation. Instead, they rubber stamped the 2nd largest theft in Bitcoin's history. Incompetent monkeys.

How could anyone consider using BitGo? We should be lobbying exchanges to end their relationship with BitGo, if anything.

[pogress]

They hold 1 key and you hold two. Two keys are needed to spend. Technically, they hold two keys, but one is encrypted with your password. So, in theory, they can't spend your coins, and you can spend them without them. It looks pretty much the same as Bitgo.

So what is the point of coinbase multisig ? When you lose one of your two keys then you could still spend your coins with coinbase help, thats it ? But it is a question whether coinbase or other service like BitGo going to be around in 10 years...

If you plan to dont touch your Bitcoins for so long then paper wallet seems best option to me. Hard to imagine Bitcoin value after so long time. Do not encrypt the paper wallet so the Bitcoins are not lost when you lose the passphrase after so long time.

[PilotofBTC]

Yea, I have no idea the whole story of what happened and it seems Bitgo should be in some way culpable.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised there is no consensus here.

[PilotofBTC]

They hold 1 key and you hold two. Two keys are needed to spend. Technically, they hold two keys, but one is encrypted with your password. So, in theory, they can't spend your coins, and you can spend them without them. It looks pretty much the same as Bitgo.

So what is the point of coinbase multisig ? When you lose one of your two keys then you could still spend your coins with coinbase help, thats it ? But it is a question whether coinbase or other service like BitGo going to be around in 10 years...

If you plan to dont touch your Bitcoins for so long then paper wallet seems best option to me. Hard to imagine Bitcoin value after so long time. Do not encrypt the paper wallet so the Bitcoins are not lost when you lose the passphrase after so long time.

Forgetting/losing a password is going to be an issue no matter what method you chose, Paper or Trezor or Desktop wallet, etc. So you feel better security is to lock up the paper wallet rather than encrypting it eh?

[pogress]

Do not encrypt the paper wallet so the Bitcoins are not lost when you lose the passphrase after so long time.

Forgetting/losing a password is going to be an issue no matter what method you chose, Paper or Trezor or Desktop wallet, etc. So you feel better security is to lock up the paper wallet rather than encrypting it eh?

All you need is to hide the paper wallet well, then the risk of physical theft is very small. The advantage is you dont need to remember any passphrase (you would need to store the passphrase somewhere as well). I using paper wallets and I think much bigger security concern for Bitcoin is computer malware, so I feel well hidden paper wallets with visible (unencrypted) private key is no security concern at all - it is like buying trezor, writting the 24 words to the paper sheet as is recommended and hide it well to have backup, these 24 words on the paper sheet are unencrypted as well and are equivalent of visible paper wallet private key.