Author

Topic: Do bitcoin wallets work? It's safe? (Read 427 times)

legendary
Activity: 2618
Merit: 1105
November 20, 2017, 10:08:48 PM
#6
Having a wallet installed on a PC or smartphone doesn't matter, what matters are those adverts that pop-up and ask you to "install" their softwares that promise you to protect/safeguard your PC/phone from threats, but they are threats themselves to your machine/cell. It's better to keep one safe thing just for the purpose of Bitcoins' storage (you can buy a cheap smartphone and use it for the purpose of storing Bitcoins only - a cold storage). If you do not surf internet on it and won't download anything except your wallet, you are fine. If your PC is not safe when you visit some websites which have the potential to suck the computational power out of your PC without your consent to mine any coin, do you think wallets are that safe?
full member
Activity: 756
Merit: 103
November 20, 2017, 10:06:08 PM
#5
They are safe just like other purses, but you need to use specific PC or cellular for doing dealings or for obtaining larger resources. Online hackers plan so many things such as they focus on to you on Social press sites by providing rewards or similar type activities.

I would suggest you that use a mobile device for just doing transactions and secure that mobile ID for every login attempt.
hero member
Activity: 2786
Merit: 902
yesssir! 🫡
November 20, 2017, 09:12:51 PM
#4
Imo A 100% safe wallet doesn't exist. Because even if you run a full node or bought a hardware wallet, if you're careless problems will definitely arise.
Yes you can increase your safety depending on which type of wallet you use but most of the time you're the one who will keep your wallet safe so be sure
to read a lot as your wallet won't protect your bitcoins if you're installing tons of unknown applications (Just an example)

I've found a tl;dr of wallet types:

--Snip--
That being said, my own view on the topic:

Safest:
  • hardware wallet: both reasonably cheap and easy to use
  • airgapped pc: expensive and a little bit harder to use (you always have to transfer unsigned/signed transactions between an online and offline machine)
  • Paper wallet: very cheap and very secure if generated in the correct way, but hard to use (you have to sweep and discard the paper wallet each time you use it, then transfer the remaining value to a new paper wallet)

Medium:
  • Desktop wallet: free, but you need a clean PC and you NEED to encrypt your wallet (using a strong passphrase). Virusscanners/firewall are a must have

Unsafe-ish:
  • Android/Ios wallets: I call these ones unsafe because it's harder to verify the wallet's signatures, many people know less about their phone's OS than they know about their desktop's OS, and phones can easily get stolen/lost

Unsafe:
  • Any wallet where you're not the (only) one in controll of your private keys. This includes exchanges and online wallets
hero member
Activity: 1442
Merit: 629
Vires in Numeris
November 20, 2017, 03:43:56 PM
#3
Bitcoins are safe.. no need to worry about that..but are you safe?
Is your phone safe?
Bitcoins cant be hacked but your phone can be hacked and the hacker can get access to your wallet..
If you don't want to invest just $10 or $20 but more, you should get a hardware wallet (or a paper wallet, if you only want to accumulate and don't want to spend). Problem with paper wallet is that you have to have a virus and malware free PC when you want to move your coins in the future, which is not impossible, but a hassle. If you choose hardware wallet, it costs money but you can use it 100% safe on a PC full of viruses and malware...
member
Activity: 336
Merit: 10
November 20, 2017, 03:32:39 PM
#2
Bitcoins are safe.. no need to worry about that..but are you safe?
Is your phone safe?
Bitcoins cant be hacked but your phone can be hacked and the hacker can get access to your wallet..
newbie
Activity: 7
Merit: 0
November 20, 2017, 10:13:10 AM
#1
In my opinion the wallets have incredible security potential, but I'm apprehensive when I make a transaction, because hackers are at full steam just wanting what is earned with work. So the portfolios work, since those who are operating do not expose them too much.
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