Topic: Do you trust yourself to manage your own private keys? (Read 6905 times)

I trust myself to manage them but I am also a security conscious person.

I doubt I would trust an average user or nontechnical user to safely manage their own keys.

I trust myself to manage my own keys, but I acknowledge that I am a VERY exceptional case. 

Unless the security of desktop operating systems (*cough* windows *cough*) gets a hell of a lot better, I don't think most people can.

Maybe you can do it, but the vast majority (99%+) of the world population has no idea how to protect their computers - even people who worked as "IT security experts" for years occasionally fail to keep Bitcoins secure (e.g. Antonopolous).

Xapo, do you think that all people are idiots unable to administer their own belongings? And your mission is to help poor, undecided people and store their private keys in your online vault? Because there - in you hands people's keys are forever safe. And no hackers, nor any other calamity could ever take out these keys... Right...

Came here from another thread... Damn, if you don't have 100% trust in yourself to keep Bitcoins, that's pretty risky, in my opinion. Don't take me wrong, but if one can't store his own Bitcoins, he loses something that is, in my opinion, one of the biggest advantages of Bitcoin when we compare it to fiat: you can safely store the funds yourself without the fear of getting robbed, if you know how to do it.

If someone hasn't got the will to search for methods to protect his funds, and to find time to implement these methods... Maybe he should just have fiat.

Criticism often comes to online wallet providers (Xapo, Coinbase, etc) saying, if you don't own your private keys, you don't actually own your bitcoin. On the other hand, if your cash is in a traditional bank, you don't really own your cash either. The only possible difference, traditional banks have been around longer, and more people trust them. Many bitcoin users who criticize bitcoin vaults, store their cash in a traditional bank. Hypothetically, if Bank of America, or Barclay, or DeustcheBank announced they've invested millions into a highly protected, advanced, security architecture, would you trust someone to store it then? I personally don't trust myself to store my own bitcoin, for now. That could change in the future, but right now, I'm not a fan of the options, as the technology depends too much on my ability to maintain hardware, or, not lose something. I think about pictures, movies, files, documents, I had on my computer 10 years ago (and I always backed up), and I probably couldn't retrieve a single one without relying on a cloud-based service (Facebook, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.). I have no idea where the original photos of my trip to Indonesia in 2008 are, but I know that album is still easily accessible on Facebook. Are critics right to say, don't use an online wallet provider, it's not safe?

In the U.S. that's because a checking account is insured by the FDIC and highly regulated by the government.  The banks also most undergo extensive third party audits for both financial status and security practices.  Futhermore, and perhaps most importantly, the banks have extensive powers to reverse payments.

There aren't any Bitcoin businesses yet that can say that they have all 4 of those features (full deposit insurance, regulations, security and financial audits, and transaction reversal powers).

better ask him to delete your private keys now he still don't know what it is.
if he does know what it is and it has decent enough value, then your friend might not be much of a friend anymore.