Topic: Newbie qestion about wallets (Read 1093 times)

I would not suggest them since you often hear of stupid things they do so that one gets the impression they are unable to code. Which is a prerequisit to be trustworthy.

Better use something like electrum portable. Backup your wallet files completely (if you don't use portable version you need to backup the wallet file too) on a second harddrive and in an encrypted truecrypt volume in the cloud. Additionally back up the seed mnemonic. Then your coins should be safe.

Nope. Do not store big amonut of bitcoin or for long term in web wallet.

For long term, you can choose between paper wallet, or hardware wallet.

Check out here https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

Im liking what I hear about electrum...  Thanks guys, very helpful

By storing your own keys. Please try to understand this; blockchain.info is online service. If you open wallet with them, your wallets private key is on their servers. They own your key, they own your coin. You just have password which you can use to move those coins. You have the right to move them around - to use them, but you do not have the private keys solely with you. Blockchain.info has it. In this situation, if blockchain.info decided to close the site, take the coins and run, they could do it. If blockchain.infos servers get destroyed completely in World War 3 for example your coins are gone too.

So how you can make your coins your? Store them yourself. Use desktop wallet, where YOU have your own private keys, not anyone else. One of the best desktop wallets where you do not need to download the whole blockchain is Electrum. I use it myself and can definitely recommend. Cold, offline wallet is even better and I would recommend that for any bigger amounts or if you simply know you are going to hold, not spend. Paper wallet is secure enough if done correctly but there is also hardware wallets like Trezor, which allows you to also spend your coins from 'offline' wallet quite easily.

Look these things up, read and learn! Bitcoins basics are essentially very easy to understand when you get the grip of it.

Without private key, no one can spend it hence, Bitaddress.org or Electrum (paper wallet or desktop clients). Shared wallets do not allow users to control their private key or have knowledge of the private key and is hence unsecure.

Thanks bro, much appreciated.

thats exactly what im asking...   how do I make MY bitcoins MIne, permanently unless I spend it?

you can learning paper wallet at here
https://blockchain.info/wallet/paper-tutorial
use https://www.bitaddress.org/ "the highest trusted site" to create new paper wallet

nothing, and this si the reason why you should not trust someone else holding your money, never

besides that they hah some security holes in the past

im really just wanting to give a few btc to my nices & nephew.  where theyll be able to cash out 10yrs from now....

Coinbase is a good company, they have been around for quite sometime and I used to use them. However, they do not allow users to control their private key and is hence inconvenient if they ever get offline. Coinbase has an insurance policy too. However, read their TOS carefully, they prohibit users from associating their transactions with several kinds of activities.

Electrum uses HD feature which allow users to only backup seed and all keys will be generated from that seed. It is quite secure IMO and does have acceptable privacy as they send the change to a change address.

bitcoinpaperwallet.com uses the same technique as bitaddress.org. I would download the script offline and inspect it carefully for bugs or exploits. But that is if you don't trust them.
Nothing essentially. Blockchain.info uses 2FA as a security against hackers and only downloads the backup if it's correct. Most service use it against client side hacking. If they run, they would still need your encryption code if they have never inserted a script which capture user's password. For other shared wallet, if they run, nothing would protect you.

question because im a moron...  what good would a 2fa do if blockchain or other service just up and ran?

coinbase? Any opinions on that? Also I heard maybe electrum?   the guy above, https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ im gonna read up first, but looks cool...  Again, thanks guys, im learning alot from yall  

A suggestion from me is that when you activate 2 factor authentication try to use Authy and not the google authenticator because once you loose your phone there is no backup, so with Authy you can use it in many devices and back up it.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your input

I would only use blockchain.info web wallet as a spending, not for storing long-term. Best and easy solution for long-term is probably to create a paper wallet as others have suggested. Take a moment to learn, it will be worth it for you.

id only use for a need to basics and not use as a main wallet given the fact of many people having past and present problems. If you want a light and effective wallet that works on many platforms use bither https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/ann-bither-simplesecure-bitcoin-walletdesktop-148-606238 Been using since I got fed up with Bitcoin qt crashes and massive amounts of data being downloaded moved to a lite and very effective wallet.

Blockchain.info wallet was dropped from the Bitcoin.org's list of official wallets because of their unreliability and buggy behavior in the last few months. So this pretty much answers your question should you use it.

Stay away from online wallets altogether. Hardware and paper wallets for long-term, Electrum, Multibit and Mycellium for daily spending!

No. No online wallet should be good for long term storage. Whereas, in the short term, with small amount, blockchain.info passes marginally due to their frequent downtimes and vulnerabilities. 2FA won't secure you from server side attack or if it's bugged.

I recommend bitaddress.org for address generation. They use browser RNG and mouse movement for added entropy which is random enough. Download it offline and print it using a printer. To be extra safe, try to unplug it for several minutes after printing to clear cache. To spend, use mycelium wallet cold storage function.

Here's a list of other bitcoin wallets you can consider, depending on your needs and preferences.

Link: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet