Do you own your private keys with Desktop Wallets? - page 2.

Ayers

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

private key are inside the wallet.dat file, if you want to save just your private key, you need to use the command line in the debug windows, this is dumpprivatekey "your address"

Qartada

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?)

The seed isn't your private keys. Your seed is used to generate your private keys (in what's called a deterministic wallet), and the point is for it to be backed up easily (you just right down your seed and store it somewhere safe like a bank safety deposit box, in case you lose access to your wallet).

Quote from: elektra

, but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

Your private key is a 128-512 bit number, typically 256. It can be represented in several ways.

pooya87

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

maybe good is not the correct word to use here. Desktop wallets are better than Web Wallets. because the wallet will be located on your desktop and chances of a hacker trying to hack an individual is less than a hacker trying to hack the website/server containing all the wallets (phishing attacks, ... to get your password to that website for example).

what is best is cold storage. where you cut all the access to your wallet from the outside world.

as as it was said, with all wallets you have private keys, they are the only thing that you need to spend funds. if you don't see them, it is by design to prevent confusion for newcomers who may not fully grasp the importance of securing their private keys and may give that to others instead of their public key.

timerland

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

As long as you are in control of your own private keys you are good to go. You don't even need a desktop client per se. A desktop client is just a UI that makes your life easier so you don't need to create raw transactions yourself and stores your private keys for you. To see your private keys you have to export the keys first.

A paper wallet would work as well. In fact it's probably more secure than a desktop wallet because everything is offline and you don't need to worry about viruses infecting your wallet. Or, you could try a hardware wallet.

The seed you're talking about is BIP39. As long as you have that seed, you have control over your private keys as well because you can import that into any other wallet and it'll reflect your balance.

magneto

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

Yes. It doesn't even necessarily need to be desktop wallets. Even blockchain.info allows you to get your own private keys, export and import new keys into your wallet and sign messages. The only wallets that won't let you do that is the wallets that i call exchange wallets. These include coinbase, coinjar, btc.com wallet etc. They don't let you control your own keys because your wallet is essentially a claim of their total bitcoin reserves.

The seed i'm assuming you're talking about the 12 word mnemonic that you copy down when you get a new wallet. There is no need to store the private keys if you have that because the keys are derived from that mnemonic. So you're somewhat still directly in control of your own keys. Either way, using a wallet which allows you to create and control your own keys is a good habit to get into.

squatz1

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Yes, you do own the private keys which is a key difference between Desktop Wallets (DW) and Web Wallets (WW) which is the main reason that people are saying the good quote which is "If you don't own the keys, you don't own the coins" this is due to the amount of "hacks" that have occurred within the entire BTC community.

Personally, I think the perfect mix between something that is WW and DW is something like BitGo which is giving you access to half of your keys so you're going to be the one in control though you still get the efficiency of using something that is a web wallet.

malami

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 04:09:11 PM

Quote from: malami on June 11, 2017, 04:01:03 PM

Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

Yes that backup file has the information for your private key embedded on it and usually encrypted with a password in addition. Its also possible to get the raw private key (string of letters and numbers) but depends on which wallet you use.

¨

But that backup file only works with that particular wallet? Or could I extract my key somehow from it to use in another wallet if I needed to?

Yes if its in a standard wallet format then you can use the backup file with another wallet if you needed to.

elektra

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Quote from: malami on June 11, 2017, 04:01:03 PM

Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

Yes that backup file has the information for your private key embedded on it and usually encrypted with a password in addition. Its also possible to get the raw private key (string of letters and numbers) but depends on which wallet you use.

¨

But that backup file only works with that particular wallet? Or could I extract my key somehow from it to use in another wallet if I needed to?

malami

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Quote from: elektra on June 11, 2017, 03:58:45 PM

From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

Yes that backup file has the information for your private key embedded on it and usually encrypted with a password in addition. Its also possible to get the raw private key (string of letters and numbers) but depends on which wallet you use.

elektra

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From what I have heard Desktop Wallets are supposed to be good because "you are in control of your own keys". But I have never seen a private key when I have downloaded a desktop wallet. Sometimes you get to make a seed, which I think is the same thing (?) , but often you only get to backup a file. Is that file your private key then?

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