where are you keeping your coins (1 aug)

[Jon Connor]

Trezor. Just don't keep your coins on an exchange. Hold your own private keys. Ive definitely learned my lesson. bitcoinica, GLBSE, mt.gox, crypsy. Yeah... I've lost coins on them all and thankfully not all of them. 

[CowboyKiller]

You only need find wallet can give you permission keep private key as desktop wallet Electrum, Bitcoin Core ... If you have much Bitcoin and scared can loss in that time, use cold storage as Trazor, Ledger are best choice

[ImHash]

Some in my bra and some in my purse if you have your private keys then why not let your coins stay on web wallet? are they going to spend our sh*tcash the new coin? cold or hot bitcoins couldn't leave the private key.

[JimboToronto]

I keep all of my coins (except a small fraction of a coin in a hot "spending" wallet) safely offline. No exchanges, no wallet services, no other hot wallets.

Almost all are in a multitude of self-generated ice-cold "paper" wallets. These are created on a computer which is incapable of internet connection (no wifi, no ethernet cable) and stored as jpg files on encrypted micro-SD cards in multiple offsite locations. If I ever need to print them on actual physical paper, I have a printer that's never been connected to an internet-capable computer. Printer spooling buffers can be hacked.

I also have a Trezor hardware wallet that I use as "cool" storage, mainly as an intermediate layer between my cold storage and the internet. I use it to receive coins I buy from ATMs or directly OTC from individuals. I use it for smaller amounts of coins only, never more than a dozen coins at once. It's a convenient way to reallocate coins after scanning a paper wallet into an insecure hot wallet such as on an Android device.

My paper wallets I consider completely secure. I'm the only one who knows the private keys and I have multiple copies. The Trezor involves trusting the manufacturer and/or internal firmware.

If the Trezor is burned in a fire, I can restore another from the seed, but doesn't that also mean the manufacturer could as well? They obviously have access to the private keys. Otherwise they'd have been lost in the fire along with the coins in the associated addresses.

I trust no one.

[sailman]

I'm keeping some on bread wallet and copay on my iPhone. Going to get a trezor. Anyone have experience with these wallets?  My exchange is Coinbase but everyone is saying don't leave it there. Question- when you remove your coin from the exchange into say bread wallet, does your private keys come too?  Still learning about this. So I copy an address in "receive " in my wallet and paste it in Coinbase 'send'. Then I receive bitc. Is that my private key or if not, how do I get it?  Thanks.

[JimboToronto]

I'm keeping some on bread wallet and copay on my iPhone. Going to get a trezor. Anyone have experience with these wallets?  My exchange is Coinbase but everyone is saying don't leave it there. Question- when you remove your coin from the exchange into say bread wallet, does your private keys come too?  Still learning about this. So I copy an address in "receive " in my wallet and paste it in Coinbase 'send'. Then I receive bitc. Is that my private key or if not, how do I get it?  Thanks.

Before buying any Bitcoin everyone should learn the basics of dual-key cryptography and try to get a basic understanding of how Bitcoin works.

Each key, both the public and the private is a string of upper and lower case alphanumeric characters. When a new address is created, both keys are created together.

If you use an online wallet or keep your coins at an exchange, you're basically lending them to the exchange or wallet operators, the same as you're lending your money to a bank by depositing it into an account or putting gold bullion in a safe-deposit box. You have no control.

The exchange or wallet operators retain the private keys. If you withdraw coins from an exchange to an online wallet, it's the same as transferring money from one bank to another. You still don't possess the keys (or cash).

Hardware wallets like the Trezor are convenient but you still don't get to see your private keys. They are hidden within the device itself and you still have to trust the device's manufacturer.

The only way to truly own your coins is to generate your own addresses, either with a paper wallet generator or by running the Bitcoin program. Unfortunately operating Bitcoin a node entails accessing the internet and therefore makes you susceptible to hackers or malware.

This is why I choose to use paper wallets as described in my post above.

[NeuroticFish]

what the title says  

On paper wallets. I generated a few public/private key pairs and that's where I'll move/keep the Bitcoin until this wave passes.
This way, in case of fork, I will have something on both chains.

Right now I have some amounts on exchanges (for some speculation), but I expect to move out everything before August 1st.

[cryptocratic]

sorry for disrupting your topic but why to keep it and pray for smooth activation all the way down instead of buying back at whatever bottom it reaches?

[1982dre]

I have also put my BTC into paper wallets.

[batang_bitcoin]

I have to be safe and put it into an offline wallet writing it's private key and seeds so that it will be secure on my hands. And I don't wish my laptop to crash or have some failure but it's always better to have some back up because this isn't just about a file but its all about investment and money so I did wrote on a piece of sheet.

[Red John]

I currently keep them on several online walets and markets, but I'll swtih to Ledger nanos s asap

[AlcoHoDL]

The Trezor involves trusting the manufacturer and/or internal firmware.

If the Trezor is burned in a fire, I can restore another from the seed, but doesn't that also mean the manufacturer could as well? They obviously have access to the private keys. Otherwise they'd have been lost in the fire along with the coins in the associated addresses.

Wrong!

With a TREZOR, you (and only you) have access to your private keys! The 24-word seed is your road map to them. It is a one-to-one mapping. Only you know the seed, so no one else has access to your private keys, not even TREZOR's manufacturer! The algorithm that maps the seed to your private keys is open-source and is explained in the official BIP39 proposal [1]. If your TREZOR is burned in a fire, you can easily use your seed to get to your private keys, not only by using another TREZOR, but also several other hardware and software wallets which follow BIP39. It is an open standard. The manufacturer (or anyone) has no way of getting to your keys, other than by knowing the 24-word seed (which he obviously doesn't).

Your private keys are not stored somewhere in a server and you simply gain access to them using the seed. Your private keys are generated by the seed! There is a one-to-one cryptographic mapping between the seed and the keys. In other words, the seed is your keys, in the sense that the keys can be generated by the seed completely offline, using a known and standardized computer algorithm.

Currently, TREZOR (and similar hardware wallets) are among the coldest, safest, and easiest to use wallets you can have. Much easier to store and backup a single 24-word seed than an ever-increasing stack of paper wallets...

[1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki

[JimboToronto]

The Trezor involves trusting the manufacturer and/or internal firmware.

If the Trezor is burned in a fire, I can restore another from the seed, but doesn't that also mean the manufacturer could as well? They obviously have access to the private keys. Otherwise they'd have been lost in the fire along with the coins in the associated addresses.

Wrong!

With a TREZOR, you (and only you) have access to your private keys! The 24-word seed is your road map to them. It is a one-to-one mapping. Only you know the seed, so no one else has access to your private keys, not even TREZOR's manufacturer! The algorithm that maps the seed to your private keys is open-source and is explained in the official BIP39 proposal [1]. If your TREZOR is burned in a fire, you can easily use your seed to get to your private keys, not only by using another TREZOR, but also several other hardware and software wallets which follow BIP39. It is an open standard. The manufacturer (or anyone) has no way of getting to your keys, other than by knowing the 24-word seed (which he obviously doesn't).

Your private keys are not stored somewhere in a server and you simply gain access to them using the seed. Your private keys are generated by the seed! There is a one-to-one cryptographic mapping between the seed and the keys. In other words, the seed is your keys, in the sense that the keys can be generated by the seed completely offline, using a known and standardized computer algorithm.

Currently, TREZOR (and similar hardware wallets) are among the coldest, safest, and easiest to use wallets you can have. Much easier to store and backup a single 24-word seed than an ever-increasing stack of paper wallets...

[1] https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki

I stand corrected. I obviously need to read up on BIP39.

Thanks for the link.

[Wexlike]

Deep cold storage.

[lite]

I'm keeping my coins on trezor,electrum and mycelium, they're always been there and will be there for another 5-10 years. chain split will probably won't happen.

[maku]

I am totally not scared about August 1 and therefore I won't even move my coins from my blockchain.info wallet
Of course, it is risky, but I have faith that there won't be any complications connected to scaling upgrade. Yolo!

[Collider]

Its always a big risk to keep huge amount of bitcoins on trading sites as no one knows when it can disappear so I have kept very few coins on polo and rest I have kept safe in electrum wallet and whenever I need cash I transfer that amount to my localbitcoins wallet and sell them and transfer to my bank account.

[CryptoLenin]

Better to keep them away from exchanges till 1 aug on ledger nano or trezor

[alt213]

The safest way to keep your bitcoins is cold storage like hard wallet or paper wallets, 2nd choice is electrum wallet , personally i keep small amount of bitcoin on exchange for trading.

[tiggytomb]

Keeping them in a local wallet just in case, only ever really keep a small amount on exchanges.  I think it's the best thing you can do normally and especially over this uncertain period.