Topic: I am not really a newbie , but I have a few newbie questions :P (Read 921 times)

This ^^ , So If I want to contribute but ONLY use Multibit for my transaction ease and backup I can have the bitcoin core But ONLY do my transactions on Multibit... Correct?

Yeh the reason Iam using bitcoin core is because I read somewhere that multibit & electrum uses its own servers and this and that I could be left with no access and this scared me.. now I know this is not the case I may only use multibit for my transactions.


I think this is pretty much it I am up to speed with it all now.

Only you can answer that question.  Why are you using Bitcoin Core if you are happy with MultiBit?


Bitcoin Core has slightly (very, very slightly) better security, and better privacy.  In general for most people, the security improvements are not significant enough to matter. Also, if you are running MultiBit then you are not running a full node and therefore are not contributing to the security and stability of the bitcoin protocol.


Yes.  It would be a lot like someone who is not technically minded or computer literate trying to use the internet in the late 80's and early 90's.  Bitcoin is still in its infancy, and is still considered to be "beta" software.

Now its getting clearer thanks for putting up with me....

SO if I use 1 address for EVERYTHING then a paper wallet of THAT address is Indeed a backup of all my BTC , IF and ONLY IF I use something other than bitcoin core and again IF and ONLY IF I do not have Any other addresses in that wallet.


Ok So this leads to me to question why I am even using the Bitcoin Core wallet if I initially started using Multibit, Multibit takes up 100000000 times less space and Synchronizes quickly  and is EXTREMELY easy to backup.

Or is there any reason why I should keep the core rather than multibit? All I care about is My Bitcoin being safe and me not loosing the wallet

I was just thinking....  Imagine someone that is not technically minded or computer literate trying to understand this. My God!

There are significant differences between how Bitcoin Core works, and how MultiBit works.


MultiBit allows you to have multiple addresses in the wallet.  I think it starts with a single address by default, but you can create as many more address as you like.  That way you can have one address that you give to your friend when they want to send you bitcoins, and another address that you use when you mine, and another address where you receive other bitcoins.  There is no requirement to only have one address.  I generate a new address for EVERY TRANSACTION.  That way I can always connect a transaction to its purpose.  It also makes it difficult for anyone that sends me bitcoins to know the total amount of bitcoins that I have.


Only if that is the only address that has ever received bitcoins in the wallet, and then only if you are using a wallet that doesn't generate a new address for every transaction. In the case of Bitcoin Core, it does use a new address every time you send a transaction.  Therefore you are often not sending from your receiving address. (actually bitcoin doesn't have a concept of a "sending" address).


Paper wallets are not meant to be a backup of your wallet.  Paper wallets are meant to be an offline replacement for an online wallet.  You generate the paper wallet, then you send the bitcoins from your online wallet to the paper wallet.  If done properly, the paper wallet has never been online and therefore is not "hackable".  This makes a very secure long term storage.  You can make multiple copies of the paper wallet and store it in multiple secure locations.

Paper wallets are not good for bitcoins that you will be spending frequently.  Especially with Bitcoin Core.


With default settings, Bitcoin Core pre-generates the next 100 addresses (and private keys) that it will use.  It keeps these all hidden from you in a pool of unused addresses.  Whenever you choose to create a "New Address", or send a transaction, Bitcoin Core takes the next address from this queue.  This means that when you create a backup of the wallet, you are backing up the next 100 addresses that will be used.  If you use up more than 100 addresses after creating the backup, then the backup isn't good anymore.

If you plan to do a lot of transactions, and generate a lot of addresses, then you can increase the size of the unused address queue so you won't have to backup as often.

I may not know exactly how bitcoin core wallet works, I thought it is similar to multibit, in the sense of - I have 1 Address which I ALWAYS use, this is the address I give to people if they want to send me bitcoin, this is the address I use when I mine , this is the address where all my BTC has EVER been sent too. I thought when I send bitcoins to people I am sending the bitcoin from this address?

If I only use this one address for everything why would the core create a new address without me knowing. This basically renders all paper wallets useless if you use the bitcoin core wallet right?


EDIT: SO if I backup the Bitcoin Core and I make transactions after the time of the backup this means the core has now new addresses and that backup is now useless , i am really confused

A paper wallet has a key to an address, not necessarily to an entire wallet.  A wallet is a collection of one or more addresses, and the private key for each.

Each private key has exactly one and only one bitcoin address.  Bitcoin Core generates a new address (and as such a new private key) every time you send a transaction, and sends some (or all) of your bitcoins there. It doesn't tell you about this address, and keeps it hidden from you.  Because the wallet is aware of this hidden address, it is able to keep track of the balance and display it to you.

So, to answer your question:
"Are you saying this new address is now not accessible with that Private key?"

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying.

THis jogged my curiosty, I actually thought a paper wallet is just a KEY to your wallet.  I am not totally confused when you say bitcoin core creates a new address. Are you saying this new address is now not accessible with that Private key 

Awesome guys, Now to read all the responses and learn some more..

Again Thanks guys!!

Hmm I cannot comment on the difference btween Multibit and Bitcoin-core. It is very important to backup the .wallet files if you use Multitbit.  Make several copies of them.


Your data is worth money, so you want that data to be safe.

Several things you could do:
 - use encryption
 - make multiple backups
 - split money across multiple wallets
 - store the data on different machines

It is slightly more susceptible to a coordinated attack.  There are certain circumstances where an attacker with the right resources could isolate your wallet from the rest of the network, and feed it a false history.  See Section 8. "Simplified Payment Verification" in the original Bitcoin Whitepaper for more details.

Also, MultiBit re-uses bitcoin addresses for change, while Bitcoin Core uses a new address for every transaction.  This increases the security of the cryptography slightly and increases privacy a bit.

In both cases, the security of MultiBit is sufficient for nearly all uses.  These "weaknesses" are more theoretical, and require unusual circumstances before they become a problem.


There are many Electrum servers, and you could run your own server if you need to.  As you've mentioned, you could also export your private keys from Electrum and import them into some other wallet if you find it impossible to connect to any Electrum servers.


Correct.


Electrum uses deterministic addresses.  This means that every private key (and every address) that has bee generated by the Electrum wallet can be regenerated from a single secret piece of information.  The Seed is that secret piece of information.

Bitcoin Core and MultiBit generate new private keys and addresses completely randomly.  Therefore, if you don't have a good backup of every private key in the wallet, then it can become impossible to every determine what the private key was after a catastrophic loss.  With Electrum, all you need to backup is the Seed, and with that one piece of information you can rebuild every address that the Electrum wallet ever created.  Note, the Seed will not allow you to regenerate private keys that have been imported into Electrum from elsewhere, only those that Electrum generated.

The passphrase is used to encrypt the private keys after they are generated.  This prevents someone else from getting the private keys form the wallet.


Yes.  None of these wallets are designed to stay synchronized with other wallets that are using the same private key.  They are all designed with the assumption that they are the only instance of a wallet with their particular private keys.  As such, you can encounter situations where the balances get move to addresses that you didn't expect, or that one wallet is aware of a transaction that another wallet is not aware of.  This can, at best, create confusion for you, and, at worst, lead to a permanent loss of bitcoins.


Paper wallets are not useful as a backup for a Bitcoin Core wallet.  Every time you send a transaction, Bitcoin Core creates a new address that it doesn't tell you about and moves some (or all) of your bitcoins to that new address.  Make sure that you have at least one good backup of Bitcoin Core stored in a safe place.


Having the same bitcoin address on two different wallets that are both in use will lead to confusion and other problems.  This is a bad idea.  It is entirely possible that some of the bitcoins are stored associated with an address that you are unaware of.  If you are lucky, you might be able to access your entire balance on one of the two wallets.  In this case, yes, you could import all of the necessary private keys to the re-installed wallet with the new passphrase.  If you are unlucky, you will lose bitcoins using this process.


Accessing bitcoins from your phone reduces the security of your wallet.  If you are comfortable with your phone having access to your entire bitcoin balance, then why have the computer wallet at all?  Generally, I put large amounts of cash in a bank, keep a smaller amount at home where I can quickly and easily access it, and then carry an even smaller amount in my "wallet" in my back pocket.

Giving your phone access to your entire bitcoin balance is a bit like carrying around your entire life savings in your pocket.  This just doesn't seem like a good idea.

As has already been mentioned, the only wallet that I know about that allows you to access a single balance from both a computer and a phone is blockchain.info.  This is a hybrid web-based wallet.  You'll have to research it and decide for yourself if the security they provide is adequate for your needs.

I doubt that there is a significant difference between Multibit and Bitcoin core regarding security. But to answer this question properly one would have to study the source of both clients, which I did not.
With Electrum you still have your wallet and thus your private keys on your machine, so you can still access your coins if they go south (or north or anywhere for that matter). This would require another programm where you can import your private keys to, yes.


Correct. The Electrum seed is a way to reduce the chance of you messing up. Randomness is a difficult thing to implement, so this seed will make sure that you will generate the exact same private keys. Electrum basically assumes that the initial seed is enough randomness to ensure that the private keys you get will not be the private keys of someone else. Since their seed is 128 bit the chances of a collision are indeed very slim.


Downside: it costs CPU time and memoryspace
Upside: I dont know why you would need two different wallets at the same time, esp. if they are controlling the same addresses.


You probably have the wallet files encrypted. Encrypting the "apps" does nothing.
Paper wallet sounds good depending on the way of creation (e.g. brainwallets are bad).
Backup on USB is fine, but those drives might fail as well. You maybe want to make more than 1 backup, just in case and depending on the amount of coins you have.
You could engrave a private key somewhere

I also like n of m paperwallets. Where you need e.g. any 3 of 5 paperwallets to restore the private key. This allows for several secure places without a single point of failure.


Yes. You have the same private keys stored twice, as long as you access one you can spend your coins asoiated with the private key.



I assume its the same address and thus the same private key. If you forgot the password you can export the private key from bitcoin core into a new multibit wallet and be fine. Just make sure there are no other addresses. You need the private key for each address in order for this to work.


Same as with other wallets as long as the phone has access to the same private keys your computer has you can spend the same coins. Id rather not do this though, since phones are easily lost/stolen etc.


To each unique address there is a unique private key that can be copied as ofter as you want. See e.g. this famous address:
https://blockchain.info/de/address/1JwSSubhmg6iPtRjtyqhUYYH7bZg3Lfy1T
the private key is derived from the phrase "correct horse battery staple" and thus 1000s of people have the private key. Everyone of them can spend the coins that go to that address. If you have some spare and are in a fun mood, send some there and watch how fast they try to get it elsewhere

I hope I could answer your questions. If you have more feel free to ask.

You can do this with a blockchain.info account. I suggest you should have one wallet at home for your 'savings' or main account, and a blockchain.info one just for any daily purchases etc. Blockchain.info is very safe if you set up all the safety/security features like 2-factor auth and a second password etc and I recommend it.

OK I was wondering about Encryption, multiple offline wallet apps but same BTC wallet address and access...

So basically I have Multibit & Bitcoin CORE as my main wallets, I also have electrum which I hardly use anymore and I also have a laminated card I made with the wallet and the Private key and a USB with my keys , wallet.dats etc.....

Questions -


1. Is Multibit as safe as Bitcoin-Core? if not why not.... I heard electrum has its own servers so if they are down your money is locked in there unless you have another wallet to access this wallet right???

2. I am guessing the private key for a certain address is exactly the same no matter where you retrieve it, whether, electrum, Multibit or bitcoin-CORE?? I also have an Electrum Seed, what is this and why is this needed if I have a passphrase.


3. If I have 2 wallets open on my computer using the same wallet address , is there any upside or downside to this? I personally find it easier and less confusing having one main wallet.

4.  This is how I have protected my wallet address>>>>>>>>>> I have Both wallet apps encrypted with a passphrase I also have a paper wallet and A backup on my USB. Anything else?

5. If I forgot my walletphrase from one walletAPP , BUT I rememeber the passphrase in my OTHER wallet app, Both these apps are the SAME exact btc wallet address, does this mean I can access my coins from the app that I remember the passphrase for and I can just delete the wallet app which I forgotten, possibly re-install the app then import the private key and make a new password which should then give me back access to that same wallet?? I dont get how this works. Eg; Multibit wallet address 1122 = forgot passphrase cannot access coins ------Bitcoin core wallet address 1122 = Remember passphrase means I can access the coins that were stuck in the multibit wallet. Does this mean I can NEVER use multibit ever again for this wallet? or by re-installing I can create a new pass?

ONE LAST QUESTION -

I would like to have my bitcoin wallet on my phone, Is there a way to link my wallet to my phone for example if I am out somewhere and I decide to spend some bitcoin but I forgot to transfer some funds to my phone wallet, how do I access my main wallet? I think its just easier to use your main wallet everywhere Just like having 1 bank account ##, You access this account from an ATM, Computer, Phone app, Telephone Etc etc.... All links to the same bank account... I want to try do this with my BTC address, For now I will use my Computers and my Phone