Topic: I got it all wrong from the beginning - page 2. (Read 347 times)

You have started a good topic, it works as a piece of information for those who are not aware of this fact and a reminder for those who already know it. Well, both ways a good discussion it is, which most of the newbies don't question about. As they think they are storing their tokens on some drive or servers of the TW or any wallet.

The only thing that matters is you should consider a non-custodial wallet for your tokens or coins. Because "if you don't own the keys then you done to own the tokens or coins". Simple as that but if you chose the way of having seed phrase to yourself then you are the only person who will be responsible for the loss (if any happens) you will be keeping track of your keys and must make sure that it did not fall into the wrong hands.

And if you choose a way of custodial wallet like of some exchange wallet where you don't have the chance if keep a key for yourself because they are the ones with keys. And they can lock or do whatever they want to do with your tokens. How scary is that?

But many repeated exchanges have built enough trust among users that people don't even hesitate to store thousands of dollars on those exchanges.

In online works, security is very important, because If the phone you are using has been lost, if you have put a screen lock, a pattern or key lock then other users can't open it easily but if these security system hasn't been implemented then it would be difficult for the users to keep himself safe from the loss of his apps. So, there should be always some locks inside the mobile phone like fingerprint on every app, whether that includes your wallets which you are using and this also includes the YouTube channel information if someone has any. So, all this information would be safe.

But the seed phrase you have imported should also be saved on a USB, or in your laptop, and should be at least in three places. For example, if you lost your mobile phone and your laptop got dead, then it will be present in your USB. I hope you understand!

Take note it's a bad security practice if you import the seed phrase into a different wallet software.
Sample if you generated a seed phrase from Coinomi it's not advisable to import it into Trustwallet, Electrum, or any wallet. That's a bad habit if you keep continue to do this you just make your wallet exposed to more potential security risks and privacy leaks.

Always remember that the security of your wallet is your responsibility and always follow the best practices to avoid potential risks.

Just one thing to add to what you said. You are probably talking about generating seeds/private keys and importing those in 3rd-party wallets because importing addresses won't get you anywhere as your coins will be non-spendable without the private keys. Bitcoin Core doesn't support the import of seeds. You can only import private keys into this software.

While doing so make sure you don’t fall into the risk of embedding them into app locks because most people use this app locks to password their applications like wallet and it is very risky because this third party locks can have access to things on the app that one wouldn’t be aware of.


Read the replies above, even if it is your phone, it is a bad culture to be importing your seed phrase or keys on different devices, it creates redundancy to that seed and should any of the phone or device get caught with malwares that get your seeds them been even on other phones will be exposed. Develop the culture of storing them offline or in single device and then use watch only wallets on the others if need be


It is actually hard to extract private key from some closed source wallets except maybe you use the mnemonic seed to extract it from ioncoleman but there are some that can actually gives one the private keys. But the biggest thing in avoiding closed source wallets is the fact that you can even be able to see the source code and most of them make changes unknowingly to the users. One can’t even find out how is keys were generated or even maybe they have back door to store it. Closed source wallet should be definitely avoided

Too many risks with crypto wallet OP, the idea of having to type in your recovery seed into a new wallet using your keyboard scares me, this is why I still have some love to paper wallet, they are offline and there is no fu*k up from wallet softwares or some stupid back door happening, even the hardware wallets can get messed up from the manufacturer through updates.

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It's risky to be in crypto honesty, but it's just too risky to be out of Bitcoin, I consider learning everything to limit that risk so I suggest you do the same thing too.

Don't go around doing stupid thing on your phone, make sure you import recovery seed into a phone that's brand new, because old phones are unsafe, you never know the type of person that used the phone last.

Avoid stupid keyboards on play store, they might have access to every words you type on the phone and that includes you improving your recovery seed into your crypto wallet, better stick with OEM keyboard.

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I am used to creating wallet offline and the day it goes online is the day I am ready to sell everything in that wallet, I monitor using my public address only, it's safer for your crypto wallet to be offline than online.

It is not an option to produce, but if the wallet does not give you a private key, it is most likely closed source and therefore you cannot trust it. Avoid using any closed source wallet, it is not well audited and there is no option to extract the private key.
As mentioned above, to enhance the security of your account, try to reduce exposure of seeds to the Internet or include them in other wallets.

I advise you to learn the basics by reading the book “Mastering Bitcoin”^[1] or watching Andreas’^[2] videos.

[1] https://github.com/bitcoinbook/bitcoinbook
[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWCJCWOxBYSi5DhCieLOLQ

it best practice to always lock your important apps with password or finger print. Also ensure all security setup on the wallet is activated. This will secure your wallet from intruders if the phone get loss. If you have private key without a high security measure, the new holder of the phone can enter your wallet and transfer your asset.

Securing your is the most important. Login to your wallet on different phones is not too idea, if you will do that, make sure it's your phone, else you stand the risk of been hacked.

Keep note: if you generating an address from Trust wallet aka not secure because of closed source and you generate it through online, you can't expect it's already safe when you import it to secure wallet e.g. Bluewallet, Electrum, Bitcoin Core etc. This is because the closed source in Trust wallet make everyone don't know what they do with the customers' address.

So the best way is generating address in a secure wallet and use it in a secure wallet too.

A wallet without its private keys is just a watch-only wallet that you can't do much with. If there are no private keys, there is no signing and broadcasting transactions from that phone. And if you can't do that, then the whole mobile wallet losses its point.

If you said they are wallet it shows your private keys can be manipulated that is, its through those app you can generate your private key and without any of them you can't generate keys and seedphrase to have your public address. So alternatively you can call them wallet as the name implies but someone to say that aren't wallet then you are trying to complicate issues among those who doesn't have a deeper revelation on how they are being configured and operated. Yes there is nothing argue about all you said, technically they are correct but analytically the noob needs to follow due processes to understanding more better.

But however you need to keep your keys and seedphrase out of your phone to another device or flash drive maybe to your system, and before your phone to get misplaced or stolen you needs a solid password otherwise if your phone isn't in security lock then there are every probability that someone can use your phone to transfer all your assets if your phone is without a good security locked.

If you lose your phone, someone might gain access to it, penetrate a weak wall of security, and get to your wallet and keys. You shouldn't recommend to people to keep using the same wallets that a 3rd-party somewhere might be trying to get into.

But even if you are the only person in possession of the keys, it's still not the best way to use the same seed across multiple wallets and devices. Why? If one of those wallets gets hacked, it's as if all your wallets got hacked because they share the same seed/keys. If one wallet turns out to have weak RNG or malicious developers who backdoor it or make it vulnerable, it's as if all your wallets are like that. Ultimately, you lose your coins. It's better to spread them out among wallets generated by trusted software/hardware on safe devices. 

Which is exactly why continuing to use a wallet whose keys are left on a phone you lost and someone else stole potentially weakens your security and makes you vulnerable to theft.

You seem don't understand importance of mnemonic seed, private key and risk when you import your private key or mnemonic seed.

When you do it, do it offline.

When you are considering to import your wallet mnemonic seed to a website, a wallet software, you must know you are leaking it to a third party if that website or wallet software has back doors.

I advise you don't import your wallet mnemonic seed to any wallet software if you want to do it to have an experience or to satisfy your curiosity. It's risky.

Technically a "wallet" file contains your keys (public or public and private), addresses, transaction history and unspent transaction outputs (aka coins).
Your seed phrase is the "master" key that would create all your keys, this is why the only thing you need to backup is that phrase and you can recover it using any wallet software that supports the algorithm; but you still have to create a wallet to get all your keys and transactions and sync to be able to know your balance and spend.

Technically what we discuss here is jut a key derivation function and KDFs existed before bitcoin and blockchain technology.
This technology is revolutionary for many reasons such as being able to create decentralized money.

Yes thats how it worked actually. As long as you have the seed phrase kept somewehere else besides the phone you used then you can always plug in that on new device and check your wallet. Sometimes having it written on a piece of paper and securing it is much better than save it somewhere online. Thats a back up plan that everyone must be accustomed too.

LOL I've been wondering for a long that the app I have on my phone is my wallet and all that. I had no idea that I had misunderstood this. Let me now explain what I recently learned about your wallet.
Let's start with the fundamentals of wallets for people who are new to this area.
 
It's not a wallet in the conventional sense, whether it's Metamask, Electrum, MEW, Trust, Coinomi, Atomic, or any other program you consider a wallet.

Actually, you can use these wallet software to securely maintain and access your cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and other blockchain assets.

Your private key or seed phrase is what makes up your wallet.

For illustration:

It provides the option to produce a seed phrase or private key when you install Metamask.
Other programs like Trust, MEW, and Atomic may all access your ETH if you use the same seed phrase across them all.
Therefore, the next time you download a wallet app, you won't need to create a new seed phrase; instead, you can import the one you already have to manage your current funds across different apps.

It's important to know that seed words are incredibly versatile and let you manage assets on any platform.

Your phone was lost?

No issue. Get a new one, put your seed phrase in whichever wallet you choose to install, and then. Because no other entity has access to your information, it cannot be hacked or copied.

Blockchain technology is so revolutionary because of this.

It's also important to stress that you should never give someone your private keys. The only access point to your blockchain assets is through your keys, which ensures their security.