Topic: Whats the safest way to protect youre bitcoin? (Read 563 times)

I think most users first look at price and design, and you should visit their official sites and see what device would suit you more. In terms of price Ledger Nano S is a little cheaper (around 60 EUR), and Trezor One is 69 EUR. For users who can wait few months there will probably be additional discounts on Black Friday or in time of Christmas and New Year holidays.

Both devices are enabling safe storage of user private keys, and this is most important when it comes to hardware wallets. I am using Nano S for some time, and generally I can say that I am satisfied. There were some minor problems in past, but nothing serious that would endanger security of my crypto.

I also intend to buy Nano X by the end of this year, and use it on the go paired with my smartphone when I need to pay something in the physical store.


For this reason, it is most important to have a safe backup (24 words seed), and if device is broken, stolen, or damaged in any way you can always restore your wallet to any other hardware device, or in most desktop wallets. I am not sure how long one hardware wallet can last, it depends how it is used and stored. My Nano S is in mint condition after one and a half years of use.

As it all seems now,I think paper wallet is more secure way to store up and remember your private keys easily. Albeit hardware wallet is the best but how long should it last? Remember the durability is never forever and anything can happen via loosing it or it been faulty

I use Trezor and I must say that I am satisfied with them. It's stable and secure. I think it's cheaper if we talk about the default model.
Possible that is Ledger better options, there you can store more different assets, also I find more services which are compatible with Ledger than with Trezor.

Which of the two (Trezor and Ledger) is more preferable and why? What's the conceptual difference from a user's point of view?

If you want to try hardware wallet then those devices are currently the best choice, and if you ask why, answer is very simple. They are most trusted in crypto community, behind them are years of development and advancement to make better products. For now they have proven to be a safe way for storing crypto, but such devices are not resistant to some human stupidity, so some users manage to lost their coins even with hardware wallets.

If you only want to buy some coins and hold them for long-term then maybe better choice is to store them offline in form of paper wallets ( can be any other material), by printing private keys and storing them in a safe place.

In my opinion, the safest and the cheapest way to protect your wallet is Paper wallet. We can write the public/private keys and other information on a physical documents. Unlike other wallets, paper wallet cannot be hacked. Unless the user loses or it is stolen, the information stored should remain safe. Day-to-day you cannot access the coins, it is useful to hold for a long period.

Also, the hardware wallet is the most secure option but expensive. Less accessible to day-to-day crypto transactions or trading.

Finally, it is up to you to choose the right type of wallet for you.

The main thing is to have full control of your private key. Never use custodial wallets which have access to them.

Print out your private keys and store them on a boat.

With the rate at which the industry is growing there may be something developed which is better than the current paper wallets and hardware wallets so it is hard to predict where people will hold there funds.

you are talking about storing funds there and not for short time for a long time (5 years) and for storage the security is 0%. for usage, yes everything you said is correct. bitcoin.de is secure as an exchange and has been around for a long time and has been working fine and it is safe to use them as an exchange to go there and trade bitcoin. but when you are done trading you must withdraw to an actually secure wallet.
remember that it is not about bitcoin.de getting hacked, it may not even be hacked ever (although unlikely) but it is about YOUR ACCOUNT getting hacked!

additionally security is about you having control not a third party. when you use an exchange you are giving up that control to that third party. the whole point of bitcoin was no longer need them.

@ mjglqw

Sure, the fact, that an exchange havent been hacked for X years isnt a warranty, that it wont be hacked in the next Y years, but: Bitcoin.de is a german exchange and theyve got really ingenious security mechanisms, its not comparison to MtGox, its way stronger. I dont say, that its save, but it will be way harder to hack as other exchanges.

@ all

And the security of exchanges isnt 0%! Some people arent able to categorize percentages correctly, in their world there is only 0% or 100%. I dont care about people with such exaggerated opinions.

I said, that the safty of bitcoin.de is approcimately 50% for 5 years. If I would bet 1000 €, that bitcoin.de wont be hacked in the next five years, what would youre bet be? 100000000 Euro? Because you think, that bitcoin.de  has 0% safety, than you could bet as much as you want, right?

What would youre bet be? 10.000 Euro? So if I win, Ill get 10.000 Euro from you and if you win, youll get 1000 Euro from me? Then you would go out of 10% safty of bitcoin.de.

So please mention !realistic! percentes, no 0% or 100%.

@ pooya87

Sorry, it was a spelling mistake of me: Surely I meant, that bitcoin.de is an exchange and not an Onlinewallet. Ive now corrected my post, thank you.

Holding coins for a period of 5 years, even if its just for month i would recommend a hardware wallet like ledger or trezor. i personally own both and i can recommend both of them... ledger is a bit more comfortable since they released the ledger live software.

paper wallet is also a good way to store coins, when you know you will hold the coins for this long time...
all the other things you have mentioned i would never think about it

Well, it's not a bad idea to put a small amount of coins on your mobile wallet as your pocket money. In my opinion, as long as there is problem there is a solution or there will be a solution created for the problem to be solved. I think having a vast knowledge on how to keep your assets as safe as possible. I think it's what I can only think of about how to keep your crypto assest the safe


Actually, there is a solution that you won't lose the coins that has been stored in your mobile wallet. In my country, there is a site where it is used to buy/sell btc and it is also a wallet to store your BTC in which that it's what I am using to store my btc I have and they also have a mobile app. This is my solution on getting back the small amount of coins stored in the mobile wallet and let's put it in this situation that your phone is broken, stolen or you lost your phone for example so, that is why creating a back up will help you recover the small amount of coins that's been stored in the mobile wallet. I think that most mobile wallet is a mobile app then, if you have a mobile wallet app then it is best to install an Android Emulator on your computer and then you also have to Install the mobile wallet app in the android emulator you installed on your mobile phone so, even if you have lost your phone you can still access or log in your account you use to log in. Here is a link about Useful Application that you can use in a computer/PC and there is also a link in the thread about another android emulators that you can use to back up your mobile bitcoin wallet and some android emulators doesn't use much space when installed.

Mate. Like I said, you only store a small amount of coins on your mobile wallet, if you actually spend your bitcoin quite frequently. That way, if you ever lose your funds to some hacker, it wouldn't matter that much because it's only a small amount.

You might be surprised, but I personally know a few people that actually spends their bitcoin or use them for transactions frequently(both online or in person) hence they need easy access to the coins especially when they're not home. Not every single one of the total bitcoin owners are 100% holders.

Yes, separating funds is good and crypto investors should do it. However, I still don't agree that we have to separate funds and store part of them in phones. It's too risky, because there is another reason that we might more easily to lose our phones than computers or laptops. In my nations, there are still very limited real use cases for crypto that I can use my phone to pay expenses. I always sell my bitcoin or other coins from my computers.

I wish, but I'm definitely nowhere near being a "whale" but since I'm very security conscious(or paranoid), I still separate my funds.

I don't know, but .1 BTC is still a significant amount. Around $1,100 in today's prices. I'd personally still separate the funds. In the end though, it really also depends on the owner. If you're a holder and you really don't spend your bitcoin, ever, then store everything on a paper/hardware wallet.

I agree with you, but it seems right with whales. For small crypto investors, for example, someone who have just 0.1 BTC, he or she does not need to separate small fund into pieces on phone and hardware wallet. In such case, it is always bad idea to store fund on phones, IMO.

There's really nothing wrong with storing bitcoin or cryptocurrencies on your phone. Because how are you going to spend BTC elsewhere? It's a worse idea if you bring your hardware wallet everywhere. You just need to make sure to not store big amounts on your mobile wallet.

Think of your mobile wallet as your physical cash wallet, whereas you definitely wouldn't put $1000+ cash in it(unless $1000 is just spare change to you), and think of your hardware wallet as your bank/safe where you store 99%+ of your money.

I just keep my funds in a paper wallet and some small amounts on my blockchain wallet which I use by site or by mobile.

I never use crypto wallets on my phone or any kind of wallets on mobile devices, such as tablets. Mobile devices are always more vulnerable to potential threats. Moreover, those devices have limited screen, so they are less convenient for users, and sometimes might more easily cause wrong typing, order making, transaction moving, and so forth.

You're definitely still hugely overestimating it.

Oh boy this has gotta be the worst argument ever concerning security.

"Hackers can't hack X exchange/wallet because it's already X years old and never been hacked!"

Guess what, even Coinbase is vulnerable to hackers. Remember, MtGox and Bitfinex was once also one of those supposedly "very secure" exchanges.

you can either go with paper wallet or hardware wallet,
web/online wallet and exchange wallet is definitely out of the question

that is actually the worst wallet to consider, brain wallets are not as secure as you thought
yes your brain can't be hacked but a $5 wrench attack can make you spill out the words
and even if you didn't give it out, a hit on your head by that wrench can damage your brain

bitcoin.de is not even a wallet, it is a trading platform so it is a place where you should only go and buy/sell bitcoin not store it!

hundreds of users lose their money every month because they store it in a web wallet and lose it to all sorts of attacks including but not limited to phishing attacks, malwares, key loggers, ...
in addition to that when you are using a web wallet that doesn't even give you control over your private keys then it means the security of it is 0%.

it is an overkill in my opinion.

the only usage of web wallets should be for convenience not security. for example if you wanted to keep some small amount like $50 worth of bitcoin in a web wallet so that you could access it (like to do a purchase) from anywhere without having to carry anything with you.

Thank you for youre answers!   But did you all notice, that bitcoin.de isnt "a normal exchange", its an exchange with a lot of security mechanisms. This Onlinewallet even has got an own forum and they claim to be one of the safest Onlinewallets worldwide.

So in conclusion the safety of the Onlinewallets might be a little bit lower than I mentioned, but its not close to 0%! For example bitcoin.de never got hacked and the site is over 5 years old! The guarda wallet is relatively unknown and so I dont think, that it wont be the first target for hackers, right? To be unknown is a way to be relatively secure too.

Sure, hardwarewallets and paperwallets are the safest. I protect the large part (about 83 %) of my bitcoin in a hardware wallet (maybe it would be clever to buy more hardwarewallets and to devide my bitcoin, what do you think? ) and a small part in an Onlinewallet (about 8%) and other places (about 9 %). Is that "good/safe enough"?

How do you protect youre bitcoin/crypto?


Thank you very much for youre answers!!    

Greetings
Kryptozukunft

actually brain wallets are the least secure way of storing your bitcoin (private keys) because it has been proven that people are incapable of coming up with a truly random entropy needed to create a secure private key to store their funds. they usually end up with something that can easily be guessed.

Brain wallet would be the superior option because no one could ever find any physical copy of your key, this is assuming you have a functioning brain that won't forget what the words are in the future.  Your brain can't be hacked or stolen.

Definitely should be A LOT lower on your exchange probability estimations. You're completely overestimating their security, and completely underestimating the skills of some hackers, and that exchanges are always a hot target, and that exchanges get hacked a lot. It's pretty much just a matter of 'when' when talking about exchanges getting hacked.

5 years?? I will never even think of putting my coins in any exchange, even if it is the number one exchange in the market, not even in an online wallet, if you are going to store your coins for a maximum of 5 years the only choice I can think of 100% is the ledger or hardware wallet.

all the chances you mentioned here are wrong. the chances are closer to 0% to remain safe in any of these places because in most of them (such as exchanges and particular web wallets) you don't even own your private key not to mention that so far all exchanges without exception had an expiration date when they started scamming their users!


these all depend on the way they are created, stored and handled. if it is all done correctly then they are the safest options so your percentages are correct.

Please specify youre assessment of probability, that a bitcoin capital will be fully kept in shape after 5 years:


- Wallet on your phone
- Onlinewallet blockchain.com
- Onlinewallet guarda.co
- Other average Onlinewallet
- The exchange bitcoin.de
- Exchanges like binance
- Hardwarewallet, correctly set up, often used
- Hardwarewallet, correctly set up, rarely used
- Hardwarewallet, correctly set up, rarely used and with additional passphrase
- Paper Wallet, perfectly set up and with multiple encoding



This is my approximation:


- Exchanges like binance: 30%
- Wallet on the phone: 45%
- The exchange bitcoin.de: 50%
- Other average online Wallet: 60%
- Onlinewallet blockchain.com: 75%
- Onlinewallet guarda.co: 85%
- Hardwareallet: 97,5 %
- Hardwarewallet, correctly set up, rarely used: 99%
- Hardwarewallet with additional passphrase: 99,7%
- Paper Wallet: 99,9 %


Greetings Kryptozukunft