Topic: Protecting your coins - page 2. (Read 2304 times)

I prefer this method, but make the passphrase better...

This is a frasspase 27 beetles
and it might be lame
but it is the key l1m3 p13
2toTWOt00 my fortune and fame

This is exactly why I made Armory Offline Wallets.  

(1) Get a super-cheap laptop.  Disable all ethernet/wifi adapters
(2) Generate a wallet
(3) Make a watching-only copy of the wallet, transfer to online computer with USB key
(4) Generate addresses and monitor transactions the same way as a full wallet

If someone steals your online wallet, they get nothing!  When you want to spend the coins, get out your USB key

(1)  Create the transaction as normal, but "Send" button will be grey'd out.
(2)  Click "create unsigned transaction"
(3)  Copy it to a USB key, take it to the offline computer
(4)  Click "Offline Transactions-->Sign Transaction"
(5)  Save the signed transaction (automatically overwrites the unsigned one)
(6)  Take to online computer and "Broadcast"

The process of spending coins from an offline wallet is less than 60 seconds once you get the process down, and the whole interface walks you through the process.


The Armory Offline Wallets page describes not only how to use the feature, but also has a section titled "I'm Scared!" which describes a process you can follow to convince yourself it works.  You should always make a backup (paper is best), put a few BTC in it, and then once or twice a day execute a small offline tx, to yourself if necessary.  You'll find that it always works, 100% of the time.  After 3-100 days, you'll eventually realize that there's nothing to be scared about and that it actually works -- flawlessly.  Not to mention you have a backup just in case!  

There is no better way to secure large amounts of Bitcoins.

I made the interface because so many people have complained about not feeling safe.  This way, you don't have to rely on any external service.  You can keep your money stored on a computer without any internet access... and anyone who gets your online (watching-only) wallet gets nothing, except knowing what addresses you own -- but they can't spend your Bitcoins!

Download bitaddress.org or a similar tool that will create a private key by doing a SHA256 hash of a passphrase. Use it offline to be sure that noone ever sees the private key.

Create a long passphrase and repeat it to yourself 10 times every night when you go to bed. It's not hard to remember a long passphrase as long as it makes any sort of sense and by repeating it every night it will be virtually impossible to forget it. Write a little poem or something.

This is a passphrase
and it might be lame
but it is the key
to my fortune and fame

You'll feel pretty safe when the phrase you chose is stuck in your head. Also, you don't have to rely on any service to still be there, knowing that it's simply a matter of doing a SHA256 hash.

I think the best is to keep an encrypted Satoshi-client wallet with enough funds for daily use, then store the rest in a small pile of offline wallets (either USB or paper), and only import as many as you need on a known-clean computer when you're ready to spend.  Think of it like a checking and savings account.

The level of physical security you use to protect the paper/USB should correspond to the level of measures you'd use to protect that much cash or gold.  100BTC = file folder.  1000 = home safe.  10,000 = safe deposit box.  100,000 = a proper vault.

Im getting to the point where i have so many coins im starting to worry about them. Im wondering what you guys do to protect yours. I have mine spread around. Some in deepbit, some in MTgox, a few different wallets, on several hard drives, and USB sticks. But despite all that im still concerned with their safety. Is there anything else i can do to play it safe?