When talking about bitcoin wallet security, there are three things to consider: There are also several use-cases to consider: Comparing Bitcoin Desktop Clients Bitcoin Wallet Options Let’s start with the most secure method of storing bitcoins, and work our way backwards.“A paper wallet is a mechanism for storing bitcoins offline as a physical document that can be secured like cash or anything else of real-world value.” – https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet A paper wallet will protect you from theft, loss of electronics and obsolescence of software.The paper wallet will hold your private keys.A private key is the “secret number that allows bitcoins to be spent” (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key), as opposed to a public key, which is a not-secret (public) number that allows people to send you bitcoins.Here is some background to paper wallets, and links to software and tutorials for creating them: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet#Producing_safe_paper_wallets.

Paper wallets cannot be used in bits and portions, like a Multibit, Armory or Blockchain wallet.You have to send all of the bitcoins in the paper wallet in one transaction, to access any of the paper wallet’s coins.Both of these options allow you to download a program to your computer, then disconnect from the internet while you generate your paper wallet or wallets.bitcoin budTo create a paper wallet, Bank security boxes (at my bank, Vancity, costing less than $40/year) are inexpensive.bitcoin send money apiMake several copies of your paper wallet and store them with your bank.bitcoin blockchain hash algorithm/wiki/Executive_Order_6102, put ’em under your mattress or something.bitcoin tracking fund

Buying a cheap computer that stays offline and runs Armory, is the easiest way to create a BTC wallet that will protect you from online theft, and allow you reasonably easy access to your coins.It does not protect you from loss via theft of the computer; destruction of the computer, via fire or earthquake, for example; or computer malfunction.Do not rely on an offline Armory wallet as your only backup.litecoin 2011With an offline Armory setup, you create BTC addresses that can receive coins only.bitcoin auszahlungsdauerSo, if you want to beam coins to your Armory “safe,” you can do that with no fear of a hacker grabbing your coins while you connect to the internet to do it.pagare in bitcoinTo spend coins from your Armory safe, use an online computer, also running Armory, to create “unsigned transactions”, which you carry physically to your offline computer via USB stick.bitcoin garage sale

On the offline computer, you check the details of your transaction, “sign” it, then carry it back to the online computer, again via USB stick.Once there, you perform the Send transaction.There are a couple drawbacks to Armory.The first is that if you are on a Mac, running the latest OS, Mavericks, you simply cannot use it.Secondly, to use Armory, you must initially run Bitcoin-QT, the first software developed for bitcoin.bitcoin transactions sqlBitcoin-QT downloads the full blockchain to your computer (while online wallets just sync to the online blockchain).This can take over a day to perform and you need space to download it to.As of today, the blockchain is over 10 gigs in size.Lastly, if you get a corrupt block of data in your chain, you may experience kernel panic when Bitcoin-QT tries to download the chain.It’s not the end of the world, just a hassle to troubleshoot.These are online wallets.As such, they are not as secure as Armory.

You can take steps to make your use of them more secure, though.The Bitcoin Magazine article listed above rates Electrum slightly higher than Multibit; however that article may have been written before Multibit started using encrypted wallets. (/en/choose-your-wallet), thus it is more popular than Electrum.Don’t use “monkey” or “123456”, use a good passphrase and check its secureness: https://howsecureismypassword.net.Write it down somewhere, offline.As in the Armory offline setup, you can also buy a cheap computer, install Multibit, then leave the machine offline.You will still have to put this machine online to send or receive coins, so it will not be as secure as Armory.Alternately, you can install Multibit on a USB key, along with your wallets.For another layer of security, encrypt your USB key and for another, encrypt the “Multibit” folder on the USB key.Mac allows you to do this natively, or you can use True Crypt an open source, easy to use program for creating passphrase-protected volumes or directories.

True Crypt has the advantage of creating passphrase-protected directories that can be accessed by systems other than Mac.Notes on True Crypt Under Mavericks, you cannot double click the Installer to install.Right click on the installer icon, choose “Open With” and select “Installer (Default)”.OS X tutorial in using True Crypt: http://www.psych.ubc.ca/services/pit/crypt….pdf Include a copy of the Multibit program AND a copy of Multibit’s source code on your USB key.“Holding the source code is more durable than the application binary: Operating systems change much more rapidly than languages and compilers Source code is normally in ASCII text which is the most durable of all information formats Source code provides much more detail about file recovery than a binary It is assumed that anyone making plans for the long term storage of the files would automatically think to keep a copy of the application. For your smartphone, use a wallet that supports 2 factor authentication, and use it.