Can someone school me on wallets?

[TheJacob]

I'm using multibit. All I need is the public keys backed up right? and back them up again if I add a new address.

Can I just open the files as text and print the public keys?

Do I need anything besides the public key(s) and password to recover the wallet?

[J_Dubbs]

So I feel like Coinbase has a good workflow for paper wallets. From what I see you just walk through their UI and it sets everything up, finally a sign of good UX practice in the BTC wallet system?! Am I missing something?

My plan is to move BTC from my primary wallet over to Coinbase and then print paper, seems easy enough with the most clarity. Seriously though, is there something that people know that I don't or was this solution simply overlooked?

[invisiblehand]

Watch out for coinbase--if the site shuts down, they keep your wallet file and your coins are stuck there unless they give you the wallet or reopen the site.

That's why I like blockchain.

[Dafar]

I'm with OP... I'm pretty lost with this wallet stuff. I'm pretty computer savvy but this whole process seems more extensive than it should be and prone to a lot of errors. I'm afraid of just wiping out my bitcoin somehow or losing my password. That's a LOT of money down to drain! There's got to be some youtube video or something with step-by-step instructions.


And this paper wallet thing sounds risky as fuck. Basically sounds like I would have to keep track of a piece of paper for years and if I lose it my money is gone. I'm 90% sure I would not be able to keep track of a piece of paper for years to come.

[seafarer124]

Nobody mentions Electrum.

I use Electrum which seems pretty easy and safe to use.

[J_Dubbs]

Watch out for coinbase--if the site shuts down, they keep your wallet file and your coins are stuck there unless they give you the wallet or reopen the site.

That's why I like blockchain.

What if I just use them to print paper wallets though? I mean, the odds they shut down in the same 10 minutes it takes me to figure out their paper wallet probably isn't a risk. They have a lot of backers, and being a company in the US I feel a bit more secure with them in a way.

Regardless, I'm trying to spread out a bit, multiple wallets for different purposes. Other side of the coin is the US govt could decide to block internet access to Blockchain.info. Sure, I know I know, probably not going to ever happen, but with them being in the UK I don't want to rely on them exclusively, especially when I have an easy paper-wallet option on Coinbase.

[J_Dubbs]

I'm with OP... I'm pretty lost with this wallet stuff. I'm pretty computer savvy but this whole process seems more extensive than it should be and prone to a lot of errors. I'm afraid of just wiping out my bitcoin somehow or losing my password. That's a LOT of money down to drain! There's got to be some youtube video or something with step-by-step instructions.


And this paper wallet thing sounds risky as fuck. Basically sounds like I would have to keep track of a piece of paper for years and if I lose it my money is gone. I'm 90% sure I would not be able to keep track of a piece of paper for years to come.

Agree completely.

I guess the tough thing is paper, hard drive, USB stick, offline PC; out of those choices I'd probably think paper is safest so long as it's a quality print and stored safely. I've had my car titles and birth certificate for most of my life, never lost those, so in that sense paper backups make sense. If I had a large balance though I'd probably get more creative with it, safe deposit box or fire-proof safe, laminate them, etc. Right now I keep spending my BTC mined on equipment, with the price drop it was easy to justify buying a small amount through Coinbase.

[luqash3]

J_Dubbs you need classes on e-wallets really that will be time wastage for you. Bitcoin is already under attack by powerful state china which is fully prepared to kill bitcoins forever so all you’re learning will go waste if bitcoin existence ends up so I would advise you to invest your time in other useful activities and forget bitcoins 

[flatfly]

This may help compare the different desktop clients:
http://dre.natverk.org/compare.htm

[deepceleron]

And this paper wallet thing sounds risky as fuck. Basically sounds like I would have to keep track of a piece of paper for years and if I lose it my money is gone. I'm 90% sure I would not be able to keep track of a piece of paper for years to come.

You could say the same thing about that paper money thing governments print. You would have to keep track of (a stack) of paper for years to come and if you lose it your money is gone.

You statement is actually applicable to old-fashioned paper money, but is not applicable to a bitcoin paper or offline wallet; you can make multiple copies of your money and store the copies in multiple locations or with trusted individuals. It can even be encrypted so that "found" copies can't be spent by other people.

A paper wallet is a long-term offline bitcoin address (and private key) that is secure, by not being (and never having been) stored on a computer, where it might be "hacked". Worse is an online wallet, money stored on someone else's wallet service, where the money is basically not yours anymore.

Here is a thread documenting creation of a paper wallet: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=361092.0

[J_Dubbs]

J_Dubbs you need classes on e-wallets really that will be time wastage for you. Bitcoin is already under attack by powerful state china which is fully prepared to kill bitcoins forever so all you’re learning will go waste if bitcoin existence ends up so I would advise you to invest your time in other useful activities and forget bitcoins  

Okay chapstick. Looking at your other posts I don't know what you add around here. I see you spend time crumb-snatching on faucets and stuff, pathetically asking people to help you uncover "hidden" costs before you venture into shaking your cup on a free service. Real deep economic analysis on cryptocurrency you provide on other threads, what a waste of time buddy. Good luck.

[Mikcik]

Yeah, this wallet thing also doesnt make me happy. The community should REALLY make it more easier if they want massive adoption, i was around computers from early age, and even that im not a programmer and this field goes totally around me, i think im "quite good" at computers (at least higher than avarage user), i build my own etc. But im "quite" clueless when it comes to these wallets (but i have to admit i didnt really read anything throughly about the issue, just "bits of info here and there") So i would like to ask a simple and stupiud question:

The bitcoins them selves always exist on the internet, within the blockchain. All the paper wallets, brain wallets, online wallets, "desktop wallets" (multibit etc.) are only a "means" of getting to the bitcoins, which exist within the blockchain...? (At least i has to be this way, because when you have a paper or brain wallet, you really cannot hold any bitcoin :-), you hold just the means of how to get to your bitcoins existing within blockchain).

Am i right...?

[J_Dubbs]

So now I have a paper wallet question...

The other week I sent .25 BTC over to a paper wallet that I generated off whatever one of the "good" paper wallet sites is- pretty sure I got the link from Blockchain.info or a tutorial related to them. Was planning to use Coinbase's paper feature that was built in, but they recently disabled the feature and they claim to be enhancing for a re-release. Anyways, so I used a website to generate a paper wallet. Let's think about that for a moment...

Okay.

See, the ironic thing is I used a computer and a website to create a paper wallet. So I print it, and I make a second print, and then I put both in baggies and store them in separate places. But is it not possible that whoever runs the paper wallet website has my private key somewhere? I mean, why would I assume they don't somehow collect all the generated private keys for some future evil plan to empty all the paper wallets and steal our paper wallet balances? Wouldn't that potentially be very easy? And it seems like because the paper wallet generator online doesn't offer any ongoing service they have no reason to aim for loyalty or repeat business, but if they can store a ton of private keys from paper wallets there's plenty of room for massive theft, right?

So now after trying out a paper wallet I'm even more confused about the best way to store my BTC. I'm syncing the QT wallet right now, and was thinking of using Armory, but I don't have full faith that my hard drive won't die someday.

So I guess I'm back on this wallet question. I'm willing to screw around with mining equpment for hours and days, but something like safe storage for my BTC, well I just want it done, easily, without a steep list of tasks. Am I expecting too much?

[un_ordinateur]

See, the ironic thing is I used a computer and a website to create a paper wallet. So I print it, and I make a second print, and then I put both in baggies and store them in separate places. But is it not possible that whoever runs the paper wallet website has my private key somewhere? I mean, why would I assume they don't somehow collect all the generated private keys for some future evil plan to empty all the paper wallets and steal our paper wallet balances? Wouldn't that potentially be very easy? And it seems like because the paper wallet generator online doesn't offer any ongoing service they have no reason to aim for loyalty or repeat business, but if they can store a ton of private keys from paper wallets there's plenty of room for massive theft, right?

Indeed. So you should always use an offline program to generate the paper wallet.

Wanna get really paranoid? Gegenrate the offline wallet from a computer which has never been connected to the internet, and wipe the computer after. Then you can be sure nobody will never know the private key except those who see the paper.

But it should not be necessary to go to such lenght. Using an offline program, open source ideally, should do the trick.

EDIT: The website is not completely pointless: The website does know the private key, and if they are evel, kept it and will empty the wallet someday. If they are honest, the dont kept anything. Withe a paper wallet, you only have to trust the website to be honest. You don't have to worry about a hack of your computer or something, because the private key is offline. So it does offer a stronger protection than a hot wallet, it's not just perfect.

[Stevenrm87]

Step 1 generate wallet on brand new OS that dosnt have any malware or anything.

Step 2 encrypt Wallet with strong passphrase

Step 3 send coins to new wallet

Step 4 take wallet.dat file and encrypt that using trucrypt (youll use another passphrase to lock this)

Step 5 upload encrypted wallet.dat to a cloud service like google drive and or external hard drives.

this is how I do it

[Stevenrm87]

YOu can also use an awesome program to manage passcodes that not even you would remember. Its called keepass

http://keepass.info/download.html (its free)

One you have this program you only need to remember 1 unique passphrase which unlocks the program. In the the program you can generate a new passphrase for every login you use. facebook, gmail, forums, wallets, etc (make sure to back up the keepass to an external source as well.

I think alot of people get "hacked" becasue they use their login credentials from mining pools and keep them the same for their btc-e accounts (for example)

All it takes is a rouge pool owner and he can just attempt to login to btc-e or other exchanges using the login credentials of his pool. I would imagine alot of people get fucked by this. Then they think they got hacked when in reality they just got jacked

[CurbsideProphet]

From my standpoint I find blockchain.info with 2 factor authentication and a second password for sending coins to be very secure and reliable.

This is not the same as other web wallets.

blockchain.info is fine for smaller amounts, a hot wallet used for transactions.  However, for long-term storage you're simply better going with a paper wallet or similar options.

[J_Dubbs]

So am I a lazy ass for saying all the suggestions are too much work? I work full time, grad school at night, surprised I even got my rigs setup; the last thing I want to do is dick around with a ton of steps! I'm not mad at you guys, in fact quite the opposite, I'm thankful for the responses. I'm just kinda peeved that in this regard, from a user experience perspective, Bitcoin is kinda broken. Accumulating a balance starts to lead into uncertainty with keeping it "safe", this will be a huge blocker issue for the mainstream... I'm looking for an easy way to keep it safe, key word is easy. I simply don't have random new computers kicking around with fresh operating system installs.

Also kinda curious. So you make a paper wallet offline, how does the network even know it exists? I mean, doesn't a part of the paper wallet process need to happen online, so that the wallet gets a parking spot on the Blockchain?

[J_Dubbs]

Step 1 generate wallet on brand new OS that dosnt have any malware or anything.

Step 2 encrypt Wallet with strong passphrase

Step 3 send coins to new wallet

Step 4 take wallet.dat file and encrypt that using trucrypt (youll use another passphrase to lock this)

Step 5 upload encrypted wallet.dat to a cloud service like google drive and or external hard drives.

this is how I do it

Can't you export the wallet.dat file from Blockchain.info? I'd think do that and then jump to your step #4-5, maybe??

[presidentcoin]

Wallets are so easy. You can find blockchain.info coinbase.com as a Online Wallet. Multibit and Bitcoin-QT as a local wallet. If you want a wallet you can access over the Internet, but want that your Bitcoins are local saved than i would us kryptowallet.org.
Here is the FAQ @ kryptowallet.org

• Where are my Bitcoins saved?
  Your bitcoins are saved in your Browser Cache and RAM.

• Can i access my Bitcoin from other Computers?
  
  Yes! Your passphrase is 128bit key and it is encrypted into a 256bit key which is stretched into 10 bitcoin addresses. If you access KryptoWallet we decrypt the key back into the bitcoin addresses and you have again access at a other Computer.
• Where goes the fees?
  
  The 0.0002 BTC fee go to us we need them, because we need to pay the running charges for our Server. The 0.0001 BTC fee go to the Bitcoin-Network as a Donation.

you can find more FAQ @ the Homepage