Bitcoin storage options?

[Baron]

Coinbase already stores 97% of it's bitcoins offline, and they have an insurance policy in place that exceeds the value of their stored bitcoins in the event of hacking or theft of some other type.

 

[marcoPolo21]

thanks all,

I will probably stay on Coinbase, for now

so,
you Can make backups of Bitcoins, correct ?
[it's not like a dollar bill, or a gold coin; lose it, and you're out of luck]

marc

 

[m1nt]

look up Trezor

 

[marcoPolo21]

as far as daytrading, or swing trading bitcoins -
with a 2% commision roundtrip?

good luck!

marc
:eek:

 

[Pekelo]

Cautionary tale:

7200 coins stolen from a cold wallet of http://bter.com/ :

http://np.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2vylrm/btercom_offline/

"If the key was on an internet-connected device it's not cold storage."

 

[Pekelo]

Money of the future, 3 exchanges were hacked in the last few days. Comedy gold at its best:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Buttcoin/comments/2vzhim/another_exchange_hacked_ironically_named_excoin/

"We noticed the hot wallets dwindling but assuming it was members moving their funds off site during the DDOS, we loaded all the cold balances onto the site so that users would not have withdrawals interrupted during our periods of up time.This fatal mistake allowed Ambiorx to continue to drain the site."

In plain English they were providing the thief with more and more money from their cold wallets!

"Roses are red
Fiat is crime
Sorry you got hacked
Bitch I got mine"

 

[marcoPolo21]

I asked Coinbase if they kept "back ups" of [my] bitcoins, in Cold Storage,
and they said it was not for [my] public information.

I'm still [reading] trying to understand what bitcoins are.
Are they a just information on a hard drive?
And,
can they be backed up, or is it only possible
to have once instance of a bitcoin, like a paper dollar, or gold coin?

I will continue to read.
Reddit has lots of information; almost too much.

thanks all
marc

 

[Pekelo]

I'm still [reading] trying to understand what bitcoins are.
Are they a just information on a hard drive?
And,
can they be backed up, or is it only possible
to have once instance of a bitcoin, like a paper dollar, or gold coin?

Well, it is a lots of things, not all of them were intentional:

-payment tool (push version, no refund type)
-digital currency
-an illiquid stock (shallow market depth)
-protocol
-risky investment vehicle
-daytrading tool
-information network (you can put info into the blockchain)
-pyramid system (first comers making money out of newcomers)
-could be used for voting
-excellent criminal usage for quick, hard to catch payments (best for black mail type of crimes)
-public ledger (quasi anonymous)
-a crazy exercise in human gullibility and mass psychology
-constant provider of incredible entertainment for thinking type of people
-etc.etc.

But basicly it is just a bunch of numbers on your computer or on a piece of paper or even on a physical coin.

Yes it can be both backed up but also can be one instance (like the physical bitcoins) although you have to trust the maker, that he didn't write down the numbers more than once...

You can find plenty of more detailed explanations and FAQs online, but if you want to read critical views of bitcoin (and you should) I advise to read reddit.com/r/Buttcoin

You see cult believers don't like to promote negative views and criticism of their system....

 

[marcoPolo21]

Thanks Pekelo,

mostly, I just wanted to know if they can be "backed up"
like on 2 different hard drives, in different locations
[I will sleep easier knowing this is possible]

I will take your word for it, for now,
until I read it somewhere else, that they can be backed up.
If a bitcoin were like a dollar bill or a gold coin - you lose it,
no matter how, it's gone,
I would have to wonder how the general public will accept bitcoins, in the future

marc

 

[Pekelo]

I would have to wonder how the general public will accept bitcoins, in the future

Well, just think about this, the general population, specially the older ones have trouble using a TV remote control. Now compared that with the difficulty of securing a bitcoin wallet and you get your answer...

-----------------------------------

Also, horror story for you, 100 BTCs most likely lost due to bad SDD:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2w8x26/how_to_recover_btc_from_wallet_on_raid_0_ssds/

-------------------------------------

Another day, another exchange hack, this time it is Chinese with 3000 coins lost:

"It's actually 4 exchanges hacked in the last two days:

CaVirtex
Bter
KipCoin
Excoin
Also HitBTC froze withdrawals for no reason yesterday and I haven't heard any updates, so maybe even 5."

I also have to advise to read too much r/bitcoin It has became a cult, and they downvote any critical post or even post of exchange hacks, so only good news gets around. There is an interesting subreddit called r/changemyview and that one has some interesting debates about bitcoin....