Question about wallet - page 2. | Bitcointalksearch.org

MoonShadow

legendary

Activity: 1708

Merit: 1010

Quote from: Garrett Burgwardt on June 10, 2011, 04:34:11 PM

You don't have to, but it's just default policy to use a new address for every transaction.

Using a different address can improve your anonimity, but if you would rather just give a different address to each person that you transact with, those addresses are still good forever. So you don't have to tell a new address to your friends just because you changed the address that the client displays.

Dude65535

full member

Activity: 126

Merit: 101

Quote from: lonestranger on June 10, 2011, 04:32:48 PM

Question 1: Why should I generate new addresses?

The practical reason is that it helps you know where the bitcoins came from. If you give each person you deal with a different address you know who sent the bitcoins by which address received them. The paranoid reason is that by using a different address each time it makes it harder to tell which transactions came or went from a single person.

You must backup again when the number of times you have sent coins + the number of new addresses you have created is 100 higher than the last time you backed up. For safety you should do so at 50 or earlier. If you want to be paranoid about wallet backups you should back up every time you make a new address or send bitcoins. Receiving bitcoins does not require a new backup.

The wallet stores proof of ownership of an address rather than the bitcoins. The bitcoins are stored on every computer with a copy of the block chain but your wallet is what allows you to spend yours.

The reason you may need a new backup after sending coins is that one or more group of coins you have received is sent with part going to the address you sent them to and the rest going back to you at a new address. If that new address is not in your old backup you will lose those bitcoins.

MoonShadow

legendary

Activity: 1708

Merit: 1010

Quote from: mrjoebruno on June 10, 2011, 04:17:45 PM

Does the wallet.dat need to be backed up after each transaction? Its not clear. I've back it up plenty of times and was just wondering if it was necessary after each new BTC received. I'm guessing yes but wanted to make sure.

No, because the client automaticly generates 100 keypairs for future use upon first boot. It will use a new keypair with each send by default, and everytime that you hit the 'new address' button. Those keypairs (and addresses) are good forever, so as long as you back up at least as often as once every 100 transactions you will be okay.
You can also tell it to make a lot more for you by starting it with
the -keypool=somenumber switch.

foo

sr. member

Activity: 409

Merit: 250

Quote from: lonestranger on June 10, 2011, 04:22:45 PM

I want to see the answers to this because I am so confused about the wallet! I just encrypted my wallet.dat, I think, using truecrypt. That is, I encrypted a BACKUP of wallet.dat. But the original wallet.dat is sitting there on my drive unencrypted and seemingly vulnerable as hell! I still don't get how to have a long-term, deep storage wallet and another spending money wallet.

Any help with this stuff would be most appreciated. Might even get a tip!

Bitcoin will eventually encrypt wallet.dat, but it does not yet do that.

To have a secure "savings account" wallet, I would suggest installing Bitcoin inside a VirtualBox VM. That way any viruses on the host computer can't access the wallet. You only need to boot up the VM when you want to spend coins, you can receive them while Bitcoin isn't running, and check the balance on blockexplorer.com.

Garrett Burgwardt

sr. member

Activity: 406

Merit: 256

You don't have to, but it's just default policy to use a new address for every transaction.

lonestranger

member

Activity: 115

Merit: 11

I like long walks on the beach, shaving my head...

Question 1: Why should I generate new addresses?

Pieter Wuille

legendary

Activity: 1072

Merit: 1181

Each wallet already contains 100 "future" keys that aren't used yet, but will be for new transactions. If you have a backup and did at most 100 transactions (sent) since then, you should be fine.

lonestranger

member

Activity: 115

Merit: 11

I like long walks on the beach, shaving my head...

I want to see the answers to this because I am so confused about the wallet! I just encrypted my wallet.dat, I think, using truecrypt. That is, I encrypted a BACKUP of wallet.dat. But the original wallet.dat is sitting there on my drive unencrypted and seemingly vulnerable as hell! I still don't get how to have a long-term, deep storage wallet and another spending money wallet.

Any help with this stuff would be most appreciated. Might even get a tip!

mrjoebruno

newbie

Activity: 21

Merit: 0

Does the wallet.dat need to be backed up after each transaction? Its not clear. I've back it up plenty of times and was just wondering if it was necessary after each new BTC received. I'm guessing yes but wanted to make sure.

Topic: Question about wallet - page 2. (Read 3497 times)