Laws of Bitcoin

[wack slacker]

The above tips may seem helpful to those new to bitcoin, but for us, they are too ordinary. Buy bitcoins at discount and sell when you raise their value or hold until you run out of cash. If you have bitcoins stored on your computer, install an anti-virus software because they may find a way to retrieve your data and also your bitcoins.

[Ucy]

They are reasonable points.  I do not totally agree with few (esp 3) though.
I guess I would call this "8 advice (or maybe 8 rules) on using Bitcoin safely . But rules (and laws) have to based on good foundational/basic principles.

So, I would consider Law in this context a strong word, and the points/advice have to be good and reasonable to become widely accepted as law. Enough consensus and research is required to make it a law.  Once it becomes a law, it'd pretty hard to change without proper consensus and research/hardwork.

[Twentyonepaylots]

In short just use your common sense in dealing with bitcoin. It would be your fault if you do a mistake with all of the laws, with a decade of bitcoin's existence you should have done your homework regards to it.

1. Never discuss your bitcoin - Of course don't be that fool to become an easy target for anyone.
2. Not your keys, not your bitcoin - Well technically it's yours you are just letting them, a third party service to hold it without your full control.
3. To good to be true - Some of them are true, but most of them are not!
4. your seed, your key - same with physical keys, don't let anybody have it.
5. double or triple check - you know what happens when you got the wrong recipient. When sending funds especially when you are using a browser you could just use the CTRL+F tool so you'll see if you pasted it right.
6. Check links - Never click links that is so suspicious to you or random emails that has been sent to you.
7. Everyone has their opinion - Listen but don't depend on them
8. Invest - this is very self-ware, you should know what you afford.

Common sense is the key!

[HeRetiK]

~

Can you describe and explain the whole process of validation of bitcoin address? As I understood, addresses are checked automatically by wallet software and in case address is not valid (checksum is wrong), software will not process the transaction. What it means is that we have to trust software and rely on it, right? What if user wants to use web based wallet or an exchange, how can he be sure that web wallet or exchange is coded competently and validation mechanism is actually built-in? What will happen to a transaction, if it were sent to invalid address? Is it even possible to send coins to invalid address or it will be rejected by bitcoin network?

https://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know

Why did they put "usually"? In which cases bitcoin network allows you to make typos and send transaction to an invalid address? Is there any specific script?

The checksum is only validated by the wallet software and not the Bitcoin network. So if for some reason your client doesn't validate the (malformed) address before submitting it to the network those coins would be gone. I'm not aware of any cases of people accidentally burning bitcoin due to missing address validation on the client side though.

As for what would happen to those coins -- they'd still be visible on the blockchain but just not spendable.

[ChiBitCTy]

I can't say I really disagree with anything on this list and it's a good reminder for myself.  I practice everything on this list, but I think if you send out bitcoin often then most of you'd probably be guilty of not double/triple checking addresses like we should be.  Andreas Antonopoulos ( If you're not familiar with him, definitely become familiar) always preaches number 1.  He often says let me be the one to talk about bitcoin, don't ever talk about your own.  He's right.  People are too happy to give up their private information, private financial information to boot. 

[Sanugarid]

I just wanna highlight these two for our beginners out there. I see these two as their main problem when they first enter the market knowing less  about the crypto market.

3. If It’s Too Good To Be True - Nobody in this world wants to give you free
Bitcoin. Nobody wants to double your Bitcoin. Nobody wants to offer you a
business opportunity. It's a scam. It's a scam. It's a scam.

I don't wanna be a hypocrite, we all enter the crypto market because we see an earning opportunity from it, it's 2020 who else does not want money?? but beginners always tend to fall for this old investment promises, too good to be true, 10x? 20x? if the project succeeded? reaches the target capitalization? double investment in just weeks? Man the market is built with uncertainty, this is all you need to know.

7. Everyone Has An Opinion - Everyone has an opinion on Bitcoin. Take it with a
grain of salt. Never listen to one single individual and do your own research.

Another common beginner mistake, they always buy someone's opinion especially when it comes from a popular person or someone that is close to him. I mean there is nothing wrong listening to their opinion but you should consider the fact that the market's core is speculation, you can't really tell where this all are going to, especially the price.

[shoreno]

i agree on all rules except on number one , you can discuss the number of your coins to the people because it encourage them to invest too  . not all people are criminal and are going to steal your coins and not all people have a huge number of coins  .

 its also possible that some books can be manipulated and they can put wrong infos with it , thats why its better that we have to read on other sources and not all on the media are lying .

[carlisle1]

I do think, we should try at least to tell our loved one's about our seed phrase. It will do us enough good in case something bad happens.

Not only for the People we love but must be to the people who loves us more,because we Know that money is the source
 of all evil and if you only rely to those people that you love they may turn or find that they don't really loves you and Will
 have interest in your Cryptos,be secretive sometimes and choose only the people that you are 100% sure of helping and
supporting you whatever you do.

It better for them to access it than our bitcoin disappearing totally without the reach of anybody.
The unexpected can happen anytime without notice

yups things happen thats why we must be ready about our funds because there is no way that others can recover our funds
 once we die and did not Give the phrases and seeds to the people that deserve to have this funds.

[Lorence.xD]

The last one is just a common sense, I mean why would you push your chips all the way when you know that the return will not be immediate. Most of the rules do make sense but I do think most of them can be condensed into common sense, a lot of red flags for promotion? Common sense, Letting other's opinion cloud your judgment? Common sense, Not bragging about your wallet? Common sense. If you know what you are doing then you are good to go, the more you know.

[tbterryboy]

All the laws are correct. People are fond of asking me questions on how many bitcoins I have , and I see that as a very dumb question, it’s like asking me how much I have in my bank account. There are things that are meant to be kept to yourself and not to the public, and when people ask me this question, especially it comes from people who talk about Bitcoin, I don’t give them any answer, because it’s none of their business.

Storing your whole coins on an exchange is wrong, people should have different wallets and exchange that are reliable. You have two wallets that are reliable and then have one exchange that you will be using for trading, whether decentralized or centralized, any one of them that works for you.

[milani]

I adore all these points!))) Perfect list I would like to admit. But the most I like the last one - 8th. I would replace it to the first place, on the top of this list and all existing lists like this one. And I would add this point - every time be ready to lose because there is always such a risk in every direction where assets and investments are. Lots of people forgot about this golden rule and after they lose something they do not blame themselves for their recklessness, but they blame others, different processes and coins and so on)))

[hulla]

This is a wonderful crypto laws which should be recommend for crypto newbie and unconscious investors/traders but it an embarrassment that only few of them will put it into practise cause I have seen alot of people on this forum which still consider coinbase and others exchange site as a wallet. While some are still the victim of Roi and I think the number 1 law should learn and understand the risk of crypto investment

[cryptoperkele]

1. Never Discuss Your Bitcoin - Don’t ever disclose the amount of Bitcoin you
have with anyone. Ever.

I understand the need to brag. Need to tell at least someone about something you are very interested in. I have friends bragging in 2015 about making money with altcoins, without realizing that they just made a target on their back. Last years they have just told everyone that they have lost everything in hacks and scams. Funny enough people believed them.

2. Not Your Keys, Not Your Bitcoin - If your Bitcoin is not stored safely in your
wallet, you do not own it. If you leave Bitcoin on an exchange, you do not own it.

This i controversially kinda disagree with. It's a liberarian dream to be your own bank but with that comes with a huge responsibility. Real banks are going to be way harder to rob and you most likely aren't providing that level of security.

If you are afraid of exchanges being hacked, you might as well be worried about being hacked yourself. Things have evolved since MtGox, Mintpal and Cryptsy, at that time it was clear that every exchange was shady, and those were the big ones. There weren't any KYCs or any kind of regulation anyway.

I mean there will be hacks and exit scams in the future too, but there's a huge difference putting money in some shady place "that haven't exit scammed yet", like Yobit, then with holding your money public places like coinbase.

Also lots of places have set a new standard and these days you can assume that they have insured their holdings.

However, if you are worried that irs or someone is confiscating your money because you haven't been paying taxes and you have been hiding your money from the government, that's a whole another issue and i understand why you need to keep your private key. However i don't understand why you wouldn't just pay taxes.

[o_e_l_e_o]

If you are afraid of exchanges being hacked, you might as well be worried about being hacked yourself.

If you are taking about large exchanges such as Coinbase or Binance, then the exchange being hacked should probably be the least of your concerns when storing your coins there.

Far more likely is your individual account being hacked, either through social engineering, through your email being hacked, through SIM jacking, through your phone or laptop being stolen, through being phished, or some other commonly occurring technique. Even accounts with 2FA enabled are hackable.

Or perhaps the exchange decides that you have done something incredibly immoral with your money, such as deposit it to a casino (gasp!). Oh dear, now your account is shutdown and all your coins are confiscated, permanently.

Or perhaps your government decides to revoke that exchange's license to function in your country. Again, your coins are now locked and irretrievable.

Or perhaps there are some shady employees at that exchange, and suddenly the cold wallets have been emptied.

Or perhaps it turns out the exchange was using customers' deposits to lend out and invest elsewhere, as Huobi was caught doing, and they make some bad investments and lose your coins.

Or perhaps they just go bankrupt?

Even then, Coinbase narrowly avoided a significant hack last year after several of their employees fell for fake emails. Binance was hacked for $40 million last year.

Your funds are not safe on exchanges. Not your keys, not your coin.

[Yatsan]

Found on Reddit:



https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/igxcli/the_8_laws_of_bitcoin/

Text version:

1. Never Discuss Your Bitcoin - Don’t ever disclose the amount of Bitcoin you
have with anyone. Ever.

2. Not Your Keys, Not Your Bitcoin - If your Bitcoin is not stored safely in your
wallet, you do not own it. If you leave Bitcoin on an exchange, you do not own it.

3. If It’s Too Good To Be True - Nobody in this world wants to give you free
Bitcoin. Nobody wants to double your Bitcoin. Nobody wants to offer you a
business opportunity. It's a scam. It's a scam. It's a scam.

4. Your Seed Is Your Key - Your 24 word seed gives access to your Bitcoin. Back
up your seed and store this in a secret place offline. Anyone that has this seed
can take your Bitcoin.

5. Double, Triple, Quadruple Check - When sending or receiving Bitcoin, double,
triple, and quadruple check that the addresses are correct. One incorrect
character can cause you to lose your Bitcoin.

6. Check Those Links - Anytime you buy, send, or receive Bitcoin, make sure you
have a verified legitimate link, url, or website. There are a lot of scamming
websites aimed at taking your Bitcoin.

7. Everyone Has An Opinion - Everyone has an opinion on Bitcoin. Take it with a
grain of salt. Never listen to one single individual and do your own research.

8. Investing - Never invest more than you can stand to lose.

This really makes sense. I think those are really essential laws that must be followed here in Bitcoin so that we can secure our cryptocurrencies and keep ourselves safe in this industry. The laws state are somewhat already basic and common but still those are essential to be known most specially for the newbies out there that are still not familiar so that they not easily get fooled by other crypto users which are commonly known as scammers and hackers that would do everything for the good of their own sake.

Good thanks that the OP have shared such essential information although many of us do already know it, but the other members in the forum will make use of it specially those newbies and Juniors that are still starting and making their own path of journey towards Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency as well.

[decodx]

Good thanks that the OP have shared such essential information although many of us do already know it, but the other members in the forum will make use of it specially those newbies and Juniors that are still starting and making their own path of journey towards Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency as well.

I agree. Although all this is still quite unknown to me, everything I have learned is thanks to this forum. Unfortunately, I don't own a lot of Bitcoin, but it's never too early to think about security.

[panganib999]

This is sincerely right. All of those that have been stated by on the 8 Laws of Bitcoin is definitely good and this must be known by the other members most specially the new ones so that they could familiarize themselves on the ideas that they must learn about to avoid getting caught up by those hackers and scammers who are taking the advantage on the weaknesses of the new individuals who were just starting to build up their own Bitcoin pathway towards success.

All of the laws stated are indeed the basic ones but still one of the important concepts that must be known and not to be skipped for there are certain people who skip this simple ideas thinking that they can already stand on their own. Admit that you still must learn something for you do not certainly know anything. Be teachable and accept the fact that even simple things can save you up on any situation since the basic things in life are the important concepts that people mostly taken for granted.

[BitcoinerFromS]

I totally agree to these rules, I almost once got scammed but thankfully I've decided to google and here I am

[FlightyPouch]

I don't know but for me shouldn't this be a rule and not a law? Correct me if Im wrong though. Since there are those people that broke these laws and no one knows what that is as they say it, on one above the law. On the other hand a rules is something that couldbe a guide for the people use bitcoin. This is just my opinion though.

[verita1]

There are some people who don't take these recommendations seriously and even venture to other ideas or are careless when it comes to handling their bitcoin addresses. It is good to remember them and always put them into practice.

In crypto we do not stop learning, we must continue in constant learning because technology evolves to satisfy our needs.
Double check is my favorite law both at my bitcoin address and on websites.

I believe that the laws must include security (2FA and 3FA) that we must use when accessing an exchange platform.