The safest way to store Bitcoin is in your memory

[joblessminer]

This is how you do it:

1. Buy a hardware wallet
2. On it, generate a wallet from a 24-word seed (or fewer words)

Extra steps for the ultra paranoid:
-. Format (reset) the hardware wallet, then restore it from the 24-word seed.
-. Test with a small sum that you can receive and send Bitcoins from your new wallet.

4. Create a story which can help you remember all the seed words in order (this is a mnemonic technique, http://www.vocabulink.com/article/how-to-write-a-memorable-mnemonic-story)
5. Memorize said story, test yourself that you know it after 4 hours, 1 day, 4 days, and after that weekly.
6. After one month, format (reset) the hardware wallet, then restore it from the 24-word seed that lays in your memory.
7. If you've been successful until now, move your funds to the hardware wallet, then format it again and throw any recording of the seed words that you might have laying around the house.

Your savings are safer than ever now.

[namjar]

This is a good thing, and i know a friend who is doing exactly the same in order to protect his bitcoins, but i think that it is useless, what if you have an accident and you lost your memory? You will lost all your life savings too.

4. Create a story which can help you remember all the seed words in order

I disagree, i really think that having all your funds in hard wallet is the most safest thing (and we agree on that) but the whole thing about remembering the phrase is a mess, i would not suggest it to anyone, specially because of what i said before it, you can easily lose your funds if you have an unexpected accident.

Your savings are safer than ever now.

[joblessminer]

This is a good thing, and i know a friend who is doing exactly the same in order to protect his bitcoins, but i think that it is useless, what if you have an accident and you lost your memory? You will lost all your life savings too.

Having lost your memory means that you are not you anymore, therefore who cares what happens to this other person?
Also, losing the memory means you'd forget your password to your hardware wallet anyway.

[kotajikikox]

This is a good thing, and i know a friend who is doing exactly the same in order to protect his bitcoins, but i think that it is useless, what if you have an accident and you lost your memory? You will lost all your life savings too.

4. Create a story which can help you remember all the seed words in order

I disagree, i really think that having all your funds in hard wallet is the most safest thing (and we agree on that) but the whole thing about remembering the phrase is a mess, i would not suggest it to anyone, specially because of what i said before it, you can easily lose your funds if you have an unexpected accident.

Your savings are safer than ever now.

yeah I agree with your opinion and suggestion mate, I think for me the safest way to protect bitcoin write your password or privatekeys in a piece of paper and store it into vault and anything happen in our life like the memory lost make sure your privatekeys tell your very trusted person example mother, son especially wife or husband.

[pat4cryptoreal]

It is ideal to have the paraphrase stored may be not in your computer, It can be in hard disk and also memorizes the paraphrase in case there is no access to the hard disk.

[Argoo]

I do not think that remembering a lot of words that are not related to each other in terms of semantic meaning as a seed for entering a hardware purse with bitkoy, is a good way to store access to your wallet. It is necessary to take into account that each has his own temperament, mentality and after a while they will begin to doubt their memory, become nervous, panic and lose access to their wallet. It is better to hide somewhere a copy of the printed seed or a floppy disk with the necessary information.

[ajmapalo22]

I am not good on memorizing words so I don't think this would help me though there are instances where I could remember some passphrase still I am afraid to do it with my bitcoin because the moment we forgot our phrase that't the moment we will lost every bitcoin we have in our wallet but I try one thing that is sending my code in every email address I have atleast with that I always have a back up

[GreatOrchid]

I do not understand those people who are still having their private keys or their seeds on a hard disk, it is not safe, probably having the money on coinbase is more safer than having it in a hard disk.

It is ideal to have the paraphrase stored may be not in your computer, It can be in hard disk and also memorizes the paraphrase in case there is no access to the hard disk.

if you are going to store your coins by that way, then why dont you spend $65 and buy a ledger nano? Or just $79 and buy a trezor (which is much more safer than the Ledger, and noob-friendly)

I have a ledger, and a trezor too, and i can really say that both are much more safer than just having your coins on a hard disk, or just using a paper wallet.

[woas4]

24 words is VERY easy to forget. I wouldnt recommend anyone doing this. I constantly forget my 4 digit pin on the bank and i use it all the time... sometimes your mind just bugs out and you lose important information (maybe you can remember it later, but would you gamble your entire portfolio on this?). Just get a hardware wallet and keep your seed secured and in a safe place, much easier and less stressful.

[xBitHodler]

"The safest way to store Bitcoin is in your memory" - wrong
"The safest way to store Bitcoin is in your hard drive" - wrong

Your bitcoins never leave the network. Information about each address is stored on nodes which synchronize with each other. To move your bitcoins around you have to broadcast a transaction which has to be signed with the correct private key. You can either try to remember your private key or 12/24 seed which will be used later to regenerate your keys. I prefer using hardware wallets but some people recommend using a separate, offline computer to sign transactions.

[HeRetiK]

[...]

Your savings are safer than ever now.

If you actually manage to successfully memorize your seed phrase, you are now susceptible to the $5 wrench attack.

https://xkcd.com/538/

I'd rather not have the ability to get snatched off the street and extorted into releasing wallet seed phrases, thank you very much. Also it apparently is getting more common to get asked for social media and email credentials when crossing international borders. Sooner or later they might do the same with wallet seed phrases.

[NewBet]

HAHAHA this is the dumbes tthing I have heard, brain wallets are the dumbest thing ever and if you think you are going to remember forever you must be really stupid. You are going to forget your keys 100% and imagine if you get amnesia or alzeimers and then you are the only one who remembers the keys but you forget them, then say goodbye forever to your Bitcoins!

[GreatOrchid]

OF COURSE, that is why i told to the OP that the best thing that he could do is just buy a hardwallet and forget about it, just wrote the 24 words on the paper and that is it.

24 words is VERY easy to forget. I wouldnt recommend anyone doing this. I constantly forget my 4 digit pin on the bank and i use it all the time...

And probably he would not be holding more than one million dollars in that wallet, so why should he worry too much about that?

I think that you are suffering a huge paranoia about getting your bitcoins stoled, and that is the reason of why you are creating a whole setup like if you were planning something from the fbi-interpol.

Just buying a hardware wallet or a paper wallet is okay.

[LTU_btc]

Your idea sounds interesting, but I don't agree that's safest way to store Bitcoin. 24 words phrase it's too easy to forget, especially if you won't use it for a long time. If you will forget even single word, you change it to another, or you change word order, your Bitcoins will be lost.
Nowadays we have to remember so many passwords for different websites, PIN codes, phone numbers and people often forget these things. Personally, 24 words phrase is too long to remember, especially because my memory isn't perfect.

[salihno71]

This idea is also not bulletproof. What happens if you forget a word? Not in one month but maybe in couple of months, one year or more? What happens if you are unlucky and suffer the amnesia? I don't trust my memory to that extent that i would consider this way of storing the coins safe.

[Ch1bi]

This is how you do it:

1. Buy a hardware wallet
2. On it, generate a wallet from a 24-word seed (or fewer words)

Extra steps for the ultra paranoid:
-. Format (reset) the hardware wallet, then restore it from the 24-word seed.
-. Test with a small sum that you can receive and send Bitcoins from your new wallet.

4. Create a story which can help you remember all the seed words in order (this is a mnemonic technique, http://www.vocabulink.com/article/how-to-write-a-memorable-mnemonic-story)
5. Memorize said story, test yourself that you know it after 4 hours, 1 day, 4 days, and after that weekly.
6. After one month, format (reset) the hardware wallet, then restore it from the 24-word seed that lays in your memory.
7. If you've been successful until now, move your funds to the hardware wallet, then format it again and throw any recording of the seed words that you might have laying around the house.

Your savings are safer than ever now.

I don't agree with this method of keeping it in your mind. If you're on symbol off all your coins are gone, unless you have perfect recall I wouldn't recommend doing this. It's probably best to just to keep your keys in a hardware wallet or put away on paper in a safe place.

[thatboy]

First post.

Do people think a burglar will break into your house, find a piece of paper with 24 words on it, assume it's for BTC and steal it? 

[asayoyaasa]

First post.

Do people think a burglar will break into your house, find a piece of paper with 24 words on it, assume it's for BTC and steal it? 

except that thief really looking for it. But seriously never ever try to remember it by your self i mean have a backup would be really great, you never now what will going to happend though.

[jseverson]

I don't know about this. I mean, I'm sure it could work for a handful of people. People with photographic memory exist after all. Using this method, your coins would be pretty much invulnerable to external attacks, but it only takes one forgotten word for you to lose your coins forever. If you were assessing the risk of losing your coins via theft by storing your seed in a secure place vs you being able to adeptly remember your seeds, I'd say you're more at risk by trying to remember your seeds.

I honestly have no idea why people are so paranoid about writing down their seeds. There are plenty of ways to secure it. Personally, the way I would go about it is storing it in a personal bank vault. If you don't have access to that then there is always the concept of hiding it in plain sight. Scatter some old books and notebooks around and some random thief, which is already unlikely to know about your coins, will take hours upon hours to stumble upon it.

[entrepmind23]

24 words is VERY easy to forget. I wouldnt recommend anyone doing this. I constantly forget my 4 digit pin on the bank and i use it all the time... sometimes your mind just bugs out and you lose important information (maybe you can remember it later, but would you gamble your entire portfolio on this?). Just get a hardware wallet and keep your seed secured and in a safe place, much easier and less stressful.

Yeah right! It is easy to forget the 24 words even if you memorize it for one straight month. Doing this might be the safest way to protect your portfolio but there is a possibility that you will lock out yourself in case you forgot the seeds. The best way for me would be to print the seeds and store it in a safe place like a vault because no one can access it except you unless you give others the key to your vault.

You also have to consider the cons in just using your memory like being in an accident where you lose your memory (I hope it will not happen) then you will have no access in your portfolio. What if you will be busy and then forget some of the words because there are so many things cluttered in your mind so you lock out yourself..