Topic: Check It Out!: Bitcoin vault offering insurance is 'world's first' (Read 738 times)
I don't know why you guys are so negative about this. This is a good thing.
January 12, 2014, 07:09:32 AM
LOL do they store the hard drives in liquid nitrogen for "deep cold storage"?
January 12, 2014, 04:24:02 AM
Service is worthless since it doesn't protect customers from having their bitcoins stolen by the people claiming to insure them, but I'm sure they'll rope in lots of people who will regret it later.
January 11, 2014, 02:22:03 PM
Quote
One of the main concerns people have with Bitcoin is that it's quite difficult to store securely
sure ... copy/paste a wallet.dat in multiple key or card is the most difficult task in the world.
and change format a doc in odf to LibreOffice is the main graal for all geek people...
I think you don't realise how difficult it is for non technical people to do this "simple thing" and be sure to not mess anything.
January 11, 2014, 01:32:56 PM
Quote
One of the main concerns people have with Bitcoin is that it's quite difficult to store securely
sure ... copy/paste a wallet.dat in multiple key or card is the most difficult task in the world.
and change format a doc in odf to LibreOffice is the main graal for all geek people...
January 11, 2014, 01:27:19 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25680016
10 January 2014 Last updated at 11:06 ET
Bitcoin vault offering insurance is 'world's first'
"A Bitcoin storage service that insures deposits of the digital currency against loss and theft has launched in London.
Elliptic Vault uses "deep cold storage", where private encrypted keys to bitcoins are stored on offline servers and in a secure location.
The facility's founders say they are the "first in the world" to offer insurance for Bitcoin owners.
Stolen bitcoins cannot be recovered as all transactions are irreversible.
Online wallets used to store bitcoins have been subject to a number of cyber-attacks and some users have also suffered from accidental loss.
James Howells lost about £4.6m when he threw away his hard drive, forgetting that he had bitcoins stored on it.
Unlike money stored in a conventional bank, bitcoins are not insured and there is no way of retrieving them once they are gone.
'Obvious step'
"One of the main concerns people have with Bitcoin is that it's quite difficult to store securely," Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson told the BBC.
"Offering people insurance seemed an obvious step."
But convincing an insurance firm to trust the nascent currency was not an easy task.
"It was very difficult to find an insurer," said Mr Robinson, an Oxford graduate with a PhD in physics who started the company with two friends.
"The industry is very conservative and they did not understand Bitcoin.
"They were also influenced by the negative publicity Bitcoin received, although this has improved since Silk Road [an online marketplace] was taken down and stopped dominating the Bitcoin agenda."
Layers of security
The company is underwritten by Lloyd's of London, which will give people "more faith in the Bitcoin system", according to Emily Spaven, managing editor of CoinDesk, a digital currency news site.
Insurance payouts will be calculated using the Bitcoin to US dollar exchange rate at the time a claim is made.
Elliptic's focus is on storing bitcoins as securely as possible, using what Mr Robinson calls "deep cold storage" techniques.
Bitcoin keys are encrypted and stored offline. There are multiple copies, protected by layers of cryptographic and physical security.
The copies are accessible only via a quorum of Elliptic's directors.
Illicit financing
Elliptic's launch comes as Bitcoin has been making news around the world, with governments deciding how to legislate for the currency.
Singapore has become one of the first countries to issue guidance on taxation for Bitcoin businesses, although it also said it was monitoring transactions to detect illicit financing by criminals and terrorists.
Bitcoin was less fortunate in China, where the largest online marketplace, Alibaba Group's Taobao, said it would ban virtual currencies.
In December, the country's central bank ordered financial institutions to halt Bitcoin-related services and products.
There was a breakthrough for the currency in the US, however, where Overstock.com became one of the first major online retailers to accept Bitcoin on Thursday."
What do you athink about this?
Thanks for reading!
10 January 2014 Last updated at 11:06 ET
Bitcoin vault offering insurance is 'world's first'
"A Bitcoin storage service that insures deposits of the digital currency against loss and theft has launched in London.
Elliptic Vault uses "deep cold storage", where private encrypted keys to bitcoins are stored on offline servers and in a secure location.
The facility's founders say they are the "first in the world" to offer insurance for Bitcoin owners.
Stolen bitcoins cannot be recovered as all transactions are irreversible.
Online wallets used to store bitcoins have been subject to a number of cyber-attacks and some users have also suffered from accidental loss.
James Howells lost about £4.6m when he threw away his hard drive, forgetting that he had bitcoins stored on it.
Unlike money stored in a conventional bank, bitcoins are not insured and there is no way of retrieving them once they are gone.
'Obvious step'
"One of the main concerns people have with Bitcoin is that it's quite difficult to store securely," Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson told the BBC.
"Offering people insurance seemed an obvious step."
But convincing an insurance firm to trust the nascent currency was not an easy task.
"It was very difficult to find an insurer," said Mr Robinson, an Oxford graduate with a PhD in physics who started the company with two friends.
"The industry is very conservative and they did not understand Bitcoin.
"They were also influenced by the negative publicity Bitcoin received, although this has improved since Silk Road [an online marketplace] was taken down and stopped dominating the Bitcoin agenda."
Layers of security
The company is underwritten by Lloyd's of London, which will give people "more faith in the Bitcoin system", according to Emily Spaven, managing editor of CoinDesk, a digital currency news site.
Insurance payouts will be calculated using the Bitcoin to US dollar exchange rate at the time a claim is made.
Elliptic's focus is on storing bitcoins as securely as possible, using what Mr Robinson calls "deep cold storage" techniques.
Bitcoin keys are encrypted and stored offline. There are multiple copies, protected by layers of cryptographic and physical security.
The copies are accessible only via a quorum of Elliptic's directors.
Illicit financing
Elliptic's launch comes as Bitcoin has been making news around the world, with governments deciding how to legislate for the currency.
Singapore has become one of the first countries to issue guidance on taxation for Bitcoin businesses, although it also said it was monitoring transactions to detect illicit financing by criminals and terrorists.
Bitcoin was less fortunate in China, where the largest online marketplace, Alibaba Group's Taobao, said it would ban virtual currencies.
In December, the country's central bank ordered financial institutions to halt Bitcoin-related services and products.
There was a breakthrough for the currency in the US, however, where Overstock.com became one of the first major online retailers to accept Bitcoin on Thursday."
What do you athink about this?
Thanks for reading!
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