Which Bitcoin wallet is the most secure?

[blg425]

I am looking for a Bitcoin wallet that is the most secure. Is Armory the most secure? Would anyone recommend Green Address? I like the Green Address UI, mobile app and 2FA. Share your thoughts.

[1715066335]

1715066335

[Muhammed Zakir]

Armory is most secure wallet. It is entirely based on security unlike other wallets. Green Address is okay but I don't know whether it is much secure. Just my opinion.

  ~~MZ~~

[bigasic]

Armory is safe and also Trezor.. Armory is free and has many cool features. Trezor is easy and secure..

[Muhammed Zakir]

Armory is safe and also Trezor.. Armory is free and has many cool features. Trezor is easy and secure..

The problem of Trezor is that it isn't affordable by all because of the price. Now btcchip is available. It is still in Beta stage but like it is convenient and cheap. Green Address supports it and Electrum is going to support it in next update.

  ~~MZ~~

[blg425]

The problem of Trezor is that it isn't affordable by all because of the price. Now btcchip is available. It is still in Beta stage but like it is convenient and cheap. Green Address supports it and Electrum is going to support it in next update.

  ~~MZ~~

That btcchip USB Smart Card seems nice. I might buy one of these and use Green Address. Is there any worry about green address since they control it. What if their site/server goes down or gets hacked? Armory seems the safest, I am just too lazy to download the full node. 

[Muhammed Zakir]

The problem of Trezor is that it isn't affordable by all because of the price. Now btcchip is available. It is still in Beta stage but like it is convenient and cheap. Green Address supports it and Electrum is going to support it in next update.

  ~~MZ~~

That btcchip USB Smart Card seems nice. I might buy one of these and use Green Address. Is there any worry about green address since they control it. What if their site/server goes down or gets hacked? Armory seems the safest, I am just too lazy to download the full node. 

Why don't use wallet made by them rather than Green Address? OR just buy it now and use the wallet they made and wait till Electrum update comes. Then you can use Electrum.

  ~~MZ~~

[bitcoinsecurityproject]

Have you seen Aegis Wallet?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aegiswallet

It supports encryption via password or NFC tag. Your keys are encrypted at rest and all backups are AES 256 encrypted. It also supports Android Wear.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[voisine]

desktop wallets are not secure for non-technical users who don't understand how to secure a desktop system against malware.

I built breadwallet with the primary purpose of making a wallet that's a real bitcoin network client and can be used safely by anyone. iOS is the best protected against malware of the popular computing platforms, and all iOS devices are hardware AES encrypted by default providing strong security against physical theft.

[Muhammed Zakir]

desktop wallets are not secure for non-technical users who don't understand how to secure a desktop system against malware.

I built breadwallet with the primary purpose of making a wallet that's a real bitcoin network client and can be used safely by anyone. iOS is the best protected against malware of the popular computing platforms, and all iOS devices are hardware AES encrypted by default providing strong security against physical theft.

I really like to check it but it isn't available here(in India). Can you do something about it?

  ~~MZ~~

[voisine]

desktop wallets are not secure for non-technical users who don't understand how to secure a desktop system against malware.

I built breadwallet with the primary purpose of making a wallet that's a real bitcoin network client and can be used safely by anyone. iOS is the best protected against malware of the popular computing platforms, and all iOS devices are hardware AES encrypted by default providing strong security against physical theft.

I really like to check it but it isn't available here(in India). Can you do something about it?

  ~~MZ~~

breadwallet is currently available in the India app store: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/breadwallet-bitcoin-wallet/id885251393

In fact, India has the most downloads in the "Africa, The Middle East, and India" region according to iTunes download statistics.

[Muhammed Zakir]

desktop wallets are not secure for non-technical users who don't understand how to secure a desktop system against malware.

I built breadwallet with the primary purpose of making a wallet that's a real bitcoin network client and can be used safely by anyone. iOS is the best protected against malware of the popular computing platforms, and all iOS devices are hardware AES encrypted by default providing strong security against physical theft.

I really like to check it but it isn't available here(in India). Can you do something about it?

  ~~MZ~~

breadwallet is currently available in the India app store: https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/breadwallet-bitcoin-wallet/id885251393

In fact, India has the most downloads in the "Africa, The Middle East, and India" region according to iTunes download statistics.

Thanks! I couldn't find it earlier.

My feedback:
1) It is like hive. The address changes.
2) The private key can't be imported though we can sweep private key sweep. If the private keys can't be imported, why is it showing "import private key"?
3) Security is good.
4) GUI is pretty good!

I doesn't like bread wallet because of the "automatic address create" feature. Anyway it's good. I have another this to ask too, if it is like hive, why is another app needed? Does this offers anything more than hive offers?

  ~~MZ~~

[voisine]

Thanks! I couldn't find it earlier.

My feedback:
1) It is like hive. The address changes.
2) The private key can't be imported though we can sweep private key sweep. If the private keys can't be imported, why is it showing "import private key"?
3) Security is good.
4) GUI is pretty good!

I doesn't like bread wallet because of the "automatic address create" feature. Anyway it's good. I have another this to ask too, if it is like hive, why is another app needed? Does this offers anything more than hive offers?

  ~~MZ~~

Bitcoin addresses are intended for single use only. Reusing addresses makes it easy for an attacker to associate your transactions together and learn your identity and entire financial history if any transaction can be tied to you. I'm not aware of any popular wallets that aren't at least working on changing to be "deterministic" with address rotation. This is also required to achieve a passing privacy score on bitcoin.org

Hive for ios is a nice wallet, but it's a "server trusting" wallet, not a bitcoin client like breadwallet.

Regarding address import, regular users don't understand Bitcoin addresses anymore than they understand ip addresses. It would be a bad experience if they imported a key without sweeping, then the phone was lost and they restored on a new phone, and some of their money was gone because the imported key didn't get swept into a wallet key that was deterministically tied to their backup phrase. With breadwallet, users don't have to manage their addresses. The wallet does that.

[Billbags]

Have you seen Aegis Wallet?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aegiswallet

It supports encryption via password or NFC tag. Your keys are encrypted at rest and all backups are AES 256 encrypted. It also supports Android Wear.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Please explain the NFC feature of your app. My HTC phone has NFC, Do I need An external NFC tag to use? Do the Bitcoin ATM's use NFC? Is your apps NFC feature only related to password and not making transactions?

[Muhammed Zakir]

 =snip=

Regarding address import, regular users don't understand Bitcoin addresses anymore than they understand ip addresses. It would be a bad experience if they imported a key without sweeping, then the phone was lost and they restored on a new phone, and some of their money was gone because the imported key didn't get swept into a wallet key that was deterministically tied to their backup phrase. With breadwallet, users don't have to manage their addresses. The wallet does that.

Okay! So does this mean that the private key will be imported at the same time the BTC will be swept or only BTC will be swept? Can you implement an option to stop 'Address Rotating'? It would be good too!

  ~~MZ~~

[voisine]

 =snip=

Regarding address import, regular users don't understand Bitcoin addresses anymore than they understand ip addresses. It would be a bad experience if they imported a key without sweeping, then the phone was lost and they restored on a new phone, and some of their money was gone because the imported key didn't get swept into a wallet key that was deterministically tied to their backup phrase. With breadwallet, users don't have to manage their addresses. The wallet does that.

Okay! So does this mean that the private key will be imported at the same time the BTC will be swept or only BTC will be swept? Can you implement an option to stop 'Address Rotating'? It would be good too!

  ~~MZ~~

It only sweeps the balance into your wallet, which is the most intuitive for non-bitcoin experts.

Adding an option to stop the address rotation would compromise privacy, so no. Eventually we want to get to where users never have to see a bitcoin addresses, just like how they now don't typically ever see IP addresses.

[Q7]

Armory is certainly the best when it comes to security. The only thing i don't is that there are too many functions which can get confusing. Good and bad but generally is still the best. Using one right now after completed downloading the whole blockchain

[voisine]

Armory is certainly the best when it comes to security. The only thing i don't is that there are too many functions which can get confusing. Good and bad but generally is still the best. Using one right now after completed downloading the whole blockchain

Armory is a great option for people who are security experts and understand how to harden a desktop system against malware. A sandboxed, signed-code-only platform like ios is more secure for non security professionals. It uses the trustedBSD managed access control model for app separation.

[vhaasteren]

Armory is certainly the best when it comes to security. The only thing i don't is that there are too many functions which can get confusing. Good and bad but generally is still the best. Using one right now after completed downloading the whole blockchain

Armory is a great option for people who are security experts and understand how to harden a desktop system against malware. A sandboxed, signed-code-only platform like ios is more secure for non security professionals. It uses the trustedBSD managed access control model for app separation.

Armory offers an easy way to put your coins into cold storage, which is the safest way to store your coins. Unless you can offer that on your iOS app, you can't say you are more secure.

[voisine]

Armory offers an easy way to put your coins into cold storage, which is the safest way to store your coins. Unless you can offer that on your iOS app, you can't say you are more secure.

You can always write down your backup phrase and then wipe your wallet from the phone (it forces you to type in your backup phrase in order to wipe, ensuring you didn't make a transcription error).

Also I've read multiple accounts of people who've lost funds with paper wallets because everyone said that's what to use, but they didn't understand how change addresses work. If you have an HD wallet backup phrase instead of a single address paper wallet, that solves that problem. Even experienced bitcoiners have made mistakes leading to loss trying to manage paper wallets.

[Muhammed Zakir]

Armory offers an easy way to put your coins into cold storage, which is the safest way to store your coins. Unless you can offer that on your iOS app, you can't say you are more secure.

You can always write down your backup phrase and then wipe your wallet from the phone (it forces you to type in your backup phrase in order to wipe, ensuring you didn't make a transcription error).

Also I've read multiple accounts of people who've lost funds with paper wallets because everyone said that's what to use, but they didn't understand how change addresses work. If you have an HD wallet backup phrase instead of a single address paper wallet, that solves that problem. Even experienced bitcoiners have made mistakes leading to loss trying to manage paper wallets.

Paper wallet is most secure though there is some problem such as damages to paper but you can prevent it(most of them doesn't do). Back up phrase are very hard(est) to crack, but still there is a chance, less than 20% maybe. You don't want to really use "change address" feature if you don't know about it. Just use an address, store 90%+ of your BTC there and a small amount in a hot wallet.

   ~~MZ~~

[voisine]

Paper wallet is most secure though there is some problem such as damages to paper but you can prevent it(most of them doesn't do). Back up phrase are very hard(est) to crack, but still there is a chance, less than 20% maybe. You don't want to really use "change address" feature if you don't know about it. Just use an address, store 90%+ of your BTC there and a small amount in a hot wallet.

   ~~MZ~~

Thank you for illustrating my point. Change addresses are not optional. If you had significant funds in a paper wallet and assumed that when you spent a portion, the rest would remain on the paper wallet unless you used a "change address feature", then you would have lost your funds.

Also backup phrases (in breadwallet) have 128bits of entropy, so they are as secure as any bitcoin address. Bitcoin uses a 256bit ECDSA curve, and the strength of an ECDSA signature is about half the curve length.

[bernard75]

Tattoo.

[El Emperador]

- Bitcoin Qt
- Armory
- Electrum
- GreenAddress

But Electrum and GreenAddress doesn't need to download the whole blockchain, so I recommend these ones.

[HeroCat]

I think only Trezor wallet is most secure, also easy to use 

[mlferro]

for me, just Bitcoin Qt

[Muhammed Zakir]

for me, just Bitcoin Qt

If you are already using Bitcoin-Qt, then try to install Armory too.

   ~~MZ~~

[mlferro]

for me, just Bitcoin Qt

If you are already using Bitcoin-Qt, then try to install Armory too.

   ~~MZ~~

I will test, this wallet is off or on?
thanks for the tip

[Muhammed Zakir]

I will test, this wallet is off or on?
thanks for the tip

That's the best part. You can either use it as offline wallet or online wallet.

   ~~MZ~~

[mlferro]

I will test, this wallet is off or on?
thanks for the tip

That's the best part. You can either use it as offline wallet or online wallet.

   ~~MZ~~

Now I was curious !! a wallet which load blocks, and does not load blocks

how it works (is that now I have no time to download the portfolio), we that decides if we have time,  it carries the blocks, and so we use it as offline.
otherwise, if we do not have time, use it as online?

[Muhammed Zakir]

Now I was curious !! a wallet which load blocks, and does not load blocks

how it works (is that now I have no time to download the portfolio), we that decides if we have time,  it carries the blocks, and so we use it as offline.
otherwise, if we do not have time, use it as online?

You can create many wallet in Armory wallet. You can use one as hot and one as cold. Give some space for cold, so the encryption would be better. Bitcoin core is needed to use Armory online, else, it assume that it is being used as an offline wallet. It will run Bitcoin core in background. There are good back-up options. Try it!

    ~~MZ~~

[nauane]

I use multbit e Bitcoin Qt.
seem quite safe

[mlferro]

Now I was curious !! a wallet which load blocks, and does not load blocks

how it works (is that now I have no time to download the portfolio), we that decides if we have time,  it carries the blocks, and so we use it as offline.
otherwise, if we do not have time, use it as online?

You can create many wallet in Armory wallet. You can use one as hot and one as cold. Give some space for cold, so the encryption would be better. Bitcoin core is needed to use Armory online, else, it assume that it is being used as an offline wallet. It will run Bitcoin core in background. There are good back-up options. Try it!

    ~~MZ~~

Yesterday I had a very wrong idea about the meaning of a wallet is online and offline.
After seeing the definition could understand and that, indeed, this wallet seems to be very interesting.
I'll instal in my service computer tomorrow

[Mousepotato]

I use Armory, but it's only as secure as the OS/computer it's run on.

[Muhammed Zakir]

I use Armory, but it's only as secure as the OS/computer it's run on.

True but encrypting the Armory and Bitcoin folders with tryecrypt or 7zip would give an extra layer of security.

   ~~MZ~~

[Bitcoin Seller]

I would say Bitcoin Core is the most secure Bitcoin wallet , But it have a lot less feature then the other wallets like importing & exporting private keys & it also download the blockchain file which is big & takes time to do it .

If you can afford buying Trezor , just do it ! It is the most secure in my opinion.
If not , and you insist using Desktop wallets , then just go with Electrum , pretty easy to use & you can recover your wallet in case of failure in your computer with 12 words seed

[Muhammed Zakir]

I would say Bitcoin Core is the most secure Bitcoin wallet , But it have a lot less feature then the other wallets like importing & exporting private keys & it also download the blockchain file which is big & takes time to do it .

What do you mean? With Bitcoin core, you can import and export private keys easily. And yes, you will need to have atleast ~30+ GB to run Bitcoin core but this will be fixed with the upcoming long waited update.

If you can afford buying Trezor , just do it ! It is the most secure in my opinion.

You are right. If you can't buy Trezor, you can buy BTChip or Legder wallet. It is cheaper but secure like Trezor but have lower physical security.

If not , and you insist using Desktop wallets , then just go with Electrum , pretty easy to use & you can recover your wallet in case of failure in your computer with 12 words seed

You can also use Multibit-HD or Multibit instead of Electrum.

   ~~MZ~~

[blg425]

I prefer my trezor and only keep small amounts in my mobile wallet.

[noobtrader]

i use multibit on pc and mycelium on smartphone.

its great because i dont need to download huge blockchain

[gab0miner]

For me, Multibit + Truecrypt. Usability and security. 

[Corenin]

if you are looking for light client and don't want to download big blockchain then
go for
Armory
or multibit

and if you can download big blockchain then bitcoin core wallet is best choice

[errornone]

Paper wallet is most secure though there is some problem such as damages to paper but you can prevent it(most of them doesn't do). Back up phrase are very hard(est) to crack, but still there is a chance, less than 20% maybe. You don't want to really use "change address" feature if you don't know about it. Just use an address, store 90%+ of your BTC there and a small amount in a hot wallet.

   ~~MZ~~

Thank you for illustrating my point. Change addresses are not optional. If you had significant funds in a paper wallet and assumed that when you spent a portion, the rest would remain on the paper wallet unless you used a "change address feature", then you would have lost your funds.

Also backup phrases (in breadwallet) have 128bits of entropy, so they are as secure as any bitcoin address. Bitcoin uses a 256bit ECDSA curve, and the strength of an ECDSA signature is about half the curve length.

hi, thank you for your app, i love it.

i have a question: if my info is stored locally in the app/iphone, how is it possible to recover a wallet with the pass phrase? It recovers from where? where is my info for the app to recover it from?

second question: if 'tomorrow' you remove your app from appstore and i lose my current iphone, how will i recover my bitcoins? i need to buy a new iphone but can't get your app, because you removed it.

(im a newbie)


Thank you

[bernard75]

A tattoo in an invisible place is still the way to go security wise.

[voisine]

hi, thank you for your app, i love it.

i have a question: if my info is stored locally in the app/iphone, how is it possible to recover a wallet with the pass phrase? It recovers from where? where is my info for the app to recover it from?

second question: if 'tomorrow' you remove your app from appstore and i lose my current iphone, how will i recover my bitcoins? i need to buy a new iphone but can't get your app, because you removed it.

(im a newbie)


Thank you

Glad you like it. We designed it with newbies in mind, to help try to bring bitcoin to the whole world.

1) The information for your wallet is recovered directly from the blockchain, which is stored forever on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.

2) breadwallet uses industry standard BIP39 recovery phrases (I'm co-author of the BIP39 standard), in combination with the default BIP32 wallet structure. There are several wallets and recovery tools available on different platforms that you can use to recover funds. Also breadwallet is open source, so anyone with a mac can download Xcode and build and run it in the simulator. You can literally build it with one click. That said, we strongly recommend against typing your recovery phrase in other wallets and platforms. They are not built to the same security standards.

[voisine]

A tattoo in an invisible place is still the way to go security wise.

That makes it pretty hard to lose, but anyone who sees you naked can steal your money. O.o

[errornone]

hi, thank you for your app, i love it.

i have a question: if my info is stored locally in the app/iphone, how is it possible to recover a wallet with the pass phrase? It recovers from where? where is my info for the app to recover it from?

second question: if 'tomorrow' you remove your app from appstore and i lose my current iphone, how will i recover my bitcoins? i need to buy a new iphone but can't get your app, because you removed it.

(im a newbie)


Thank you

Glad you like it. We designed it with newbies in mind, to help try to bring bitcoin to the whole world.

1) The information for your wallet is recovered directly from the blockchain, which is stored forever on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network.

2) breadwallet uses industry standard BIP39 recovery phrases (I'm co-author of the BIP39 standard), in combination with the default BIP32 wallet structure. There are several wallets and recovery tools available on different platforms that you can use to recover funds. Also breadwallet is open source, so anyone with a mac can download Xcode and build and run it in the simulator. You can literally build it with one click. That said, we strongly recommend against typing your recovery phrase in other wallets and platforms. They are not built to the same security standards.

Thank you for the answers.

Your app is by far the best and the most simple to work. Thank you

[bernard75]

A tattoo in an invisible place is still the way to go security wise.

That makes it pretty hard to lose, but anyone who sees you naked can steal your money. O.o

And that makes you more worried than your smartphone being spyed upon?

[errornone]

two more question voisine:

can i have the same wallet replicated in more than one iphone?



why everyone says to backup my wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet) if with the pass phrase i can recover it anytime anywhere? i just have to keep my passphrase secure and don't need to backup nothing, because my information is on blockchain forever, right?


extra question: you copied the design of doughwallet app? or they copied you?

[Muhammed Zakir]

two more question voisine:

can i have the same wallet replicated in more than one iphone?

Yes but you should not IMHO. Click "restore backup"(IIRC) when starting app and enter backup seed/phrases. However, I don't know whether anything happens when 2 devices simultaneously fetch for same pub keys.

why everyone says to backup my wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet) if with the pass phrase i can recover it anytime anywhere? i just have to keep my passphrase secure and don't need to backup nothing, because my information is on blockchain forever, right?

Yes. You only need to backup phrase.

extra question: you copied the design of doughwallet app? or they copied you?

Doughwallet forked breadWallet.

[newb4now]

Armory is most secure wallet. It is entirely based on security unlike other wallets. Green Address is okay but I don't know whether it is much secure. Just my opinion.

  ~~MZ~~

Armory.

Some combination of your own full node will cold storage will always be the most secure

[errornone]

two more question voisine:

can i have the same wallet replicated in more than one iphone?

Yes but you should not IMHO. Click "restore backup"(IIRC) when starting app and enter backup seed/phrases. However, I don't know whether anything happens when 2 devices simultaneously fetch for same pub keys.

why everyone says to backup my wallet (https://bitcoin.org/en/secure-your-wallet) if with the pass phrase i can recover it anytime anywhere? i just have to keep my passphrase secure and don't need to backup nothing, because my information is on blockchain forever, right?

Yes. You only need to backup phrase.

extra question: you copied the design of doughwallet app? or they copied you?

Doughwallet forked breadWallet.

Thank you

can you explain better why i only need backup the phrase when 'everybody' in the internet says i must backup the entire database (private keys, etc etc) or i risk losing some funds? thank you in advance

[errornone]

Voisine, how breadwallet deal with this "problem"? https://i.imgur.com/69I56WJ.png

I have to spend all the bitcoins everytime i want to spend some?

[Muhammed Zakir]

Thank you

can you explain better why i only need backup the phrase when 'everybody' in the internet says i must backup the entire database (private keys, etc etc) or i risk losing some funds? thank you in advance

Because breadwallet is an hierarchical deterministic(HD) wallet. Unlike normal wallets, HD wallets have extended private/public key. All the private/public keys are generated from that extended private/public key. So, you only have to backup your extended private key.

Voisine, how breadwallet deal with this "problem"? https://i.imgur.com/69I56WJ.png

I have to spend all the bitcoins everytime i want to spend some?

No, you don't have to. The image is talking about cold storage(paper wallets, probably). Assuming you understand how transaction works, you will have to mention an address to receive 'change'. When you spend from paper wallet manually -- if you forgot to add a change address, change will be used as fees resulting in loss of that Bitcoins. However, in these wallets, here, breadwallet, it will automatically choose a change address to receive change. Therefore, you don't need to worry about change and you only need to spend Bitcoins you want to spend.

[merlinbfd]

Hi new to bitcoin here
I was just wondering, if one of these third party wallets was to somehow die or no more support given. how would i move my coins on to another address/wallet.
Is there a way to transfer you coins to another wallet provider without syncing to the network?

[hexafraction]

Hi new to bitcoin here
I was just wondering, if one of these third party wallets was to somehow die or no more support given. how would i move my coins on to another address/wallet.

If you are concerned about that, don't use a web wallet. Use one that you run on your own computer or smartphone.

[merlinbfd]

Ye so with a computer based wallet will that always work with the network. even if the developer decides to abandon the project.

[hexafraction]

Ye so with a computer based wallet will that always work with the network. even if the developer decides to abandon the project.

Not necessarily. The network may make a breaking change after teh wallet is abandoned. However, your private keys, needed to spend your coins, are recoverable and usable with a different wallet that is still not defunct.

[merlinbfd]

Ye so with a computer based wallet will that always work with the network. even if the developer decides to abandon the project.

Not necessarily. The network may make a breaking change after teh wallet is abandoned. However, your private keys, needed to spend your coins, are recoverable and usable with a different wallet that is still not defunct.

Thanks Hex thats the answer i was looking for