Trust No One

[superfire]

appreciate the advice!

[1714170830]

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[1714170830]

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[1714170830]

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[Dbex]

Trust is implicit. Nothing is known for sure, but I freely (and carefully) give myself up to the intersubjective web.

[johnmatrix]

Lol, good that i dint sell my hause to buy BFL hardware

[kripto]

Maybe a bit paranoid but nevertheless good advice.

[rhouek]

I don't even trust myself.

[deniro]

This is good stuff!

I just hope I would have read this like year ago :/

[blazespinnaker]

Yeah, assume there's a reasonable chance anyone is going to steal your money and not delivery.

[adamthefishman]

Trust but verify.

Get positive feedback about the person/company from several people from several different sources.

[sv4ol84a6v79a46ilby]

Seriously. Don't trust the exchanges, don't trust online wallet services, don't trust your anti-virus software, and don't trust anybody online.

If you absolutely must trust someone with your bitcoins, for the love, choose carefully!

• Do you know their full name?
• Do you know where they are located?
• Have they demonstrated trustworthiness in the past?
• Are they asking you to trust them? (red flag)
• Do they have insurance?

Insurance? Impossible, you say. Not so!

When I needed people to trust me to hold bitcoins for a contest, I deposited 50 bitcoins as a bond with a well-respected forum member, so that even if I did something stupid and lost people's money, they would still be reimbursed. You can read about it here: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=10008.0

Consider carefully who you will trust. With bitcoins, elaborate scams may be profitable. For instance, someone may develop trust for their user name over many months with small transactions on this forum, then take advantage of that trust to make off with a lot of money. Such a scam would only be worth doing on this forum. No other forum in the world would be worth the effort.

If you want someone to hold your bitcoins for you, there are NO online services that have the transparency and security to make me comfortable using them for storing bitcoins for more than a short time in small amounts. The only way to do it is like I did - choose someone whom you believe to be trustworthy, and approach them. If they approach you, or in any way say or insinuate that they are a trustworthy person to hold your coins, STAY AWAY.

If you are thinking that I might not be trustworthy, since I am writing this post about the issue, you are approaching the appropriate level of paranoia.

If you want to store your bitcoins with maximum security, there are lots of resources about how to do it, such as this: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

Here's my summary:

1. Put all your coins in a new wallet that has never connected to the network
2. Encrypt that wallet with the maximum security you can find, using the most secure password you can keep track of
3. Delete the plaintext wallet, and distribute the encrypted wallet to every piece of physical media you own, store it online, and send it to several people you trust

Don't think you can generate and remember a secure enough password? Create a super-long password, and store clues to help you remember it. For instance, your password clue file might say:

My standard password + My throwaway password (backwards, all caps) + &#$%@ + First two sentences of first paragraph of page 19 of my favorite book (include all capitalization and punctuation) + My wife's mother's middle name + My son's favorite superhero + My favorite number times 8734 + food my wife hates (backwards, all caps) + 9-digit number stored with my paper will + 10-character password stored in my safety deposit box + . . . .

You can go on in this way to create as long a password as you want. Store this password clue file with your encrypted wallet, and optionally encrypt both with a simple standard password to keep out snoopers.

In this way, not only can you recover your coins from your "savings account" at a later date, if you get hit by a chicken truck tomorrow and die, your loved ones can probably piece together your password and recover the coins too (better make sure you trust them, and that between them they have or can get the answers to those clues).

I recommend that you practice your wallet encryption and recovery a few times with a small number of coins, until you are very comfortable with the process before you try it with the bulk of your savings.

And remember, this is how most bitcoins services get started:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lgm4poF3JWE/TgsHwby-BlI/AAAAAAAADwQ/twan94HT6p4/020.jpg

Comic from: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=13903.0

Hey, this is some great advice. I'm definitely going to do 1, 2, and 3. although presently I don't have any bitcoins.

[DrSid]

Thanks

[GrapeApe]

No problem

[UCOGoach]

Good info!

[ronnymil]

Should I buy a Butterfly mining machine now? they say that I shall receive it only in July.
Is that realistic?

[wordofmouth]

Oh boy should have read all this earlier !

[angelgeeks]

Very good! Thanks!
In an attempt to start buying and selling or accepting bitcoins...I've been signing up with some of these online brokerages or whatever they are and they want to know more about you than the IRS. If this is how things are going to go down...I think I might have to take my chances with the devil I do know versus the one I don't.
It's been very disconcerting and while I hope things get better soon, I'm of the opinion that this is going more towards a government type regulated way versus a pro-liberty pro-privacy way.

[JayBro]

Really helpful tips!

Thank you kind sir!

[cacophonous]

I gotsa some land fo' sale fo' ya in tha Florida bayou thatsa gonna be prime beachfront inna some few years.

[BulletCoin]

I think we need some kind of trust service with trusted persons/profiles with their accounts. Some API magic there and it could be used in different services.

[lmotaku]

I don't know where I stand. Although I don't trust anyone, and the only time I'll actually use bitcoins is probably to transfer it into USD, from a respected, well known exchange. I kinda laugh at the password suggestions. The things you mention like, my "wife's favorite food, mother's maiden name, plus, plus, plus plus" is laughable. No offense to anyone who does this sort of thing, but personally, I see no reason for this.

Security is for "dumb" people.(Again, no offense intended.) What I mean is, the less informed, those who don't really understand what security is. First off, there was already an article on this subject about long passwords vs short password, etc. Some will create stupid passwords like "god" "ego" "ihaveabigdick" and expect this to be secure, and have the guts to complain when something goes wrong, so it forces companies like Microsoft to make required passwords insanely more stupid in order to fend off the stupid people.

What I do is this: Throw away accounts: Facebook, Microsoft(Hotmail), Google/Gmail, sites like that, get my simplified password, my middle name(13 chars)(I have two), or my last name(9 chars) followed by a question mark, because I'm forced to because of tinfoil hat people, and "security dumbdumbs". Where is my middle name? Not on Facebook, not on Google, no where online. Only family knows my middle name, or friends that happen to ask me. Though, really, middle names aren't really a discussion.
I also don't casually tell them that this is my password.


Secure, where I have the choice: One of my middle names(7 chars), 1337'ed. Question mark sometimes added for "security" as to not easily be "bruteforced", ps: Never been hacked, ever. Never have had a single account stolen, robbed, taken over, whatever in over 12 years being online, using the same exact password schematics.
 

[Monarch]

Don't trust online wallet services, even Gox ... use Armory or another offline wallet, you are never safe on internet.