Safe Cold Storage?

[El Cabron]

Is there is safe and well known service that offers a very safe and storage for btc? Like a vault? 

Thanks.

[terrytibbs]

mybitcoin used to

[CIYAM]

mybitcoin used to

I think that the null modem idea that is being discussed with Armory should make it fairly straight forward to create your own secure offline vault.

[Sukrim]

Paper wallets (printed on waterproof plastic) in bank vaults maybe?

How quick + easy should it be to access funds in this storage?

[Drifter]

Paper wallets are probably safest and easiest, as there's never a wallet created for a hacker or bot to attack. If you want your own "vault", buy a cheap netbook that you plan on keeping entirely offline and generate a wallet on there, then back it up elsewhere offline for copies, preferably encrypted at that point.

[John (John K.)]

Paper wallets ftw.

[cbeast]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure. Make them deterministic for multiple caches. I'm on a mobile or I would explain further.

Paper wallets are great for a non-techie.

[Sukrim]

Well, you can forget, die, have an accident... it's easier to have a backup for a piece of paper than your brain.

[jamesg]

Is there is safe and well known service that offers a very safe and storage for btc? Like a vault? 

Thanks.

- Buy a used laptop.
- Reformat the drive and install ubuntu.
- Install the bitcoin client and download the block chain.
- Create an address in the client and write it down.
- Send BTC to the address to test everything.
- Close the bitcoin client and shut down the computer.
- Take the computer to the bank and put it in a safety deposit box.

This is what I would consider very safe storage for btc in a vault.

[Sukrim]

No need to hook it up to the internet...

To confirm, you can check blockexplorer too. Also HDDs don't hold data as well as paper or metal/stone. A private key is not that long after all - it can be written, engraved, printed, encoded (even with erasure coding!) into a QR-code...

Armory for example has some nice features I think that can be useful for this kind of stuff.

[Sukrim]

Depositing is easy - withdrawal is the difficult part!

[MrGaSp]

Encrypted paper wallets?

Bury them in chests.

[payb.tc]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure.

can someone please remind the clueless how to convert an arbitrary string into a private key?

cheers.

[cbeast]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure.

can someone please remind the clueless how to convert an arbitrary string into a private key?

cheers.

1. go to bitaddress.org
2. select tab wallet details
3. type in a very secure phrase that you can still remember
4. send bitcoin to the public address.

[payb.tc]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure.

can someone please remind the clueless how to convert an arbitrary string into a private key?

cheers.

1. go to bitaddress.org
2. select tab wallet details
3. type in a very secure phrase that you can still remember
4. send bitcoin to the public address.

type in where? the only text input box i see on that page is labelled "enter private key".

oh, i also found this https://bitcointools.appspot.com but would highly recommend against it since it doesn't work offline.

[cbeast]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure.

can someone please remind the clueless how to convert an arbitrary string into a private key?

cheers.

1. go to bitaddress.org
2. select tab wallet details
3. type in a very secure phrase that you can still remember
4. send bitcoin to the public address.

type in where? the only text input box i see on that page is labelled "enter private key".

just try it. And yes, there are other ways to make them. Just do a search for brain wallet.

[payb.tc]

Brain wallets are the most safe and secure.

can someone please remind the clueless how to convert an arbitrary string into a private key?

cheers.

1. go to bitaddress.org
2. select tab wallet details
3. type in a very secure phrase that you can still remember
4. send bitcoin to the public address.

type in where? the only text input box i see on that page is labelled "enter private key".

just try it. And yes, there are other ways to make them. Just do a search for brain wallet.

tried it, got a popup saying "The text you entered is not a valid private key". anyway i realised it's basically a matter of doing sha256 hash of your string, which can obviously be done offline.

[Tuxavant]

tried it, got a popup saying "The text you entered is not a valid private key". anyway i realised it's basically a matter of doing sha256 hash of your string, which can obviously be done offline.

You're almost there, keep reading the dialog and click "ok".

[payb.tc]

tried it, got a popup saying "The text you entered is not a valid private key". anyway i realised it's basically a matter of doing sha256 hash of your string, which can obviously be done offline.

You're almost there, keep reading the dialog and click "ok".

sorry, nfi what you guys are talking about... that's why i said for the 'clueless'.


edit: okay finally worked it out... my 'very secure passphrase' that i was testing with was J#*(5%8923a which happens to be 11 characters long, and as it turns out, just shy of the 12 characters required to get the extra text on the popup dialog.

[Drifter]

You're phrase is probably too short, that's why it won't convert it. Enter a longer phrase and it should then convert.

Edit: Seems you fixed it.