How about adding 2FA for next wallet update?

[Chandu141]

Hey folks..

As the topic says, how about adding 2FA to the wallets even to the core wallets....?

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[pooya87]

you have to open a feature request with the wallet that you want to see this feature in.

but i don't think it goes that far, i personally don't like the feature in a bitcoin wallet because it adds a "third party" to something that is supposed to not need any third parties ever. not to mention that they are sometimes designed terribly like the blockstream wallet that is a 2of2 multisig that user can't do anything if someday the company decides they don't want to let the user spend their money. but even in better deisgns like Electrum (2of3 where user has 2) it still is not to my liking.

[AB de Royse777]

In Electrum, I think we have this option but with a third party server or something. It costs a little fees too. I have never used that so I do not have much idea.

Honestly speaking, without making it too complicated I think we are good.

[Chandu141]

In Electrum, I think we have this option but with a third party server or something. It costs a little fees too. I have never used that so I do not have much idea.

Honestly speaking, without making it too complicated I think we are good.

Now every exchange and other wallets having and suggesting to add 2FA
Some making it mandatory..


2FA can be added feature as optional imo...

you have to open a feature request with the wallet that you want to see this feature in.

but i don't think it goes that far, i personally don't like the feature in a bitcoin wallet because it adds a "third party" to something that is supposed to not need any third parties ever. not to mention that they are sometimes designed terribly like the blockstream wallet that is a 2of2 multisig that user can't do anything if someday the company decides they don't want to let the user spend their money. but even in better deisgns like Electrum (2of3 where user has 2) it still is not to my liking.

[NotATether]

Depends on what you mean by "2FA". If you're talking about SMS then those are handled by telecoms with questionable reputation and so they wouldn't be able to provide the necessary security to make wallets any more secure than they are today. If you mean One Time Passwords then you have the question of who's going to create and distribute the secret keys that will make them, which makes wallet creation a little more centralized.

Or maybe you mean using a hardware token to make OTPs that you can just plug in your computer and can authenticate wallets instead of with a password, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I am referring to devices like YubiKeys.

[hosseinimr93]

Now every exchange and other wallets having and suggesting to add 2FA
Some making it mandatory..

In exchanges and custodial wallets, whether you enable 2FA or not, you rely on a third party and you cannot spend you coins without their permission. If you enable 2FA, you just add another third party.

You should be your own bank and be independent from any third party.

[AB de Royse777]

Now every exchange and other wallets having and suggesting to add 2FA
Some making it mandatory..

Exchange and other service is using 2FA and Bitcoin core using 2FA are two different things. I would not want Bitcoin core to depend on any other third party service instead of having their own development.

[Chandu141]

Depends on what you mean by "2FA". If you're talking about SMS then those are handled by telecoms with questionable reputation and so they wouldn't be able to provide the necessary security to make wallets any more secure than they are today. If you mean One Time Passwords then you have the question of who's going to create and distribute the secret keys that will make them, which makes wallet creation a little more centralized.

Or maybe you mean using a hardware token to make OTPs that you can just plug in your computer and can authenticate wallets instead of with a password, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I am referring to devices like YubiKeys.

I am talking about google authentication

Now every exchange and other wallets having and suggesting to add 2FA
Some making it mandatory..

You should be your own bank and be independent from any third party.

[NeuroticFish]

I am talking about google authentication

The number generated by google auth is based on a seed and current time.
If that seed is saved on your computer, in your own wallet, what would be the point of having it? Anybody could look in Bitcoin core source code and find a way to generate your 2FA number after stealing your wallet.
That's why people tell you about 3rd party.

[ranochigo]

I am talking about google authentication

It's possible to integrate a way for you to only send the transaction with your OTP but that will only be as secure as your current password that protects your wallet.

You should be your own bank and be independent from any third party.

Which is the main problem; actual 2FA solutions requires a third party to be able to validate the OTP. It's futile for the 2FA keys to be kept inside the client as it'll only protect against the most basic attacks. For full immunity, you'll require the network to validate your code and that's not possible.

[o_e_l_e_o]

-snip-

This is correct. 2FA with an authenticator will not work here in the way OP wants it to.

Authenticators are based on a shared secret. Whenever you enable 2FA on a site, service, exchange, etc., the site in question gives you either a QR code to scan or a string of characters to enter in to your authenticator app. That is the shared secret. Whenever you go to log in to that site in the future, your app uses a hash of the shared secret and the current time (usually floored every 30 seconds) to generate your one time code. The site in question performs the exact same calculation and ensures that the values match.

To enable 2FA on your wallet (without involving a third party in a multi-sig arrangement, such as with Electrum and Trusted Coin), then your wallet must store that shared secret to ensure whatever code you enter is correct. Therefore, if someone steals your wallet file, they also steal your shared secret, which negates the entire point of it in the first place.


Speaking more generally, 2FA is designed to require something you have (the app on your phone) and something you know (your password) to enable you to log on. In terms of accessing a wallet, this is achievable using a hardware wallet with a passphrase, or an encrypted airgapped wallet. To access your wallet, an attacker needs something you have (your hardware wallet or your airgapped device) and something you know (your passphrase or decryption key).