Are hardware wallets really secure enough? Is the complexity of the setup and execution part of the risk model? What are the most likely ways that you will lose your bitcoin? What is the best way to store your mnemonic seed and passphrase?

If you want to see more about key management practices, check out this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPQwGV1aLnTtAmzmz6uVE0kTKXtaGX1zY

More on Trace Mayer’s monetary sovereignty initiative: https://www.proofofkeys.com/

CORRECTION: At 9:13, I referred to paper as “Stone Age technology.” While I was trying to convey the simplicity of the tool with such a phrase, this is not historically accurate as paper-making is not generally thought to have begun until thousands of years after the Stone Age.

This question is from the January monthly subscriber session, which took place on January 26th 2019. If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

RELATED:
How do I choose a wallet? – https://youtu.be/tN6b62sEpsY
Secure, tiered storage system – https://youtu.be/uYIVuZgN95M
Hardware wallets and attack surface – https://youtu.be/8mpDcBfNA7g
Setting up secure storage devices – https://youtu.be/wZ9LxLLvfXc
What is a private key? – https://youtu.be/xxfUpIV9wRI
How do mneomonic seeds work? – https://youtu.be/wWCIQFNf_8g
Using paper wallets – https://youtu.be/cKehFazo8Pw
Wallet design and mass adoption – https://youtu.be/WbZX6BDZJHc
Cryptographic primitives – https://youtu.be/RIckQ6RBt5E
Public keys vs. addresses – https://youtu.be/8es3qQWkEiU
Re-using addresses – https://youtu.be/4A3urPFkx8g
Passphrases and seed storage – https://youtu.be/jP7pEgBpaO0
Coin selection and privacy – https://youtu.be/3Ck683CQGAQ
Multi-signature and distributed storage – https://youtu.be/cAP2u6w_1-k
Nonces, mining, and quantum computing – https://youtu.be/d4xXJh677J0
Is quantum computing a threat? – https://youtu.be/wlzJyp3Qm7s
Spam transactions and Child Pays For Parent – https://youtu.be/t3c0E4fkSNs
Orphan blocks and stuck transactions – https://youtu.be/MsdW0CTYwyY
Miners, pools, and consensus – https://youtu.be/JHz7LM4ncLw
Software distribution security – https://youtu.be/_V0vqy046YM
Protocol development security – https://youtu.be/4fsL5XWsTJ4
Geopolitics and state-sponsored attacks – https://youtu.be/htxPRTJLK-k
Sanctions and censorship resistance – https://youtu.be/DeXe5eGRl7E
How to get people to care about security – https://youtu.be/Ji1lS9NMz1E
Honest nodes and consensus – https://youtu.be/KAhY2ymI-tg
Why running a node is important – https://youtu.be/oX0Yrv-6jVs
Wallets, nodes, and monetary sovereignty – https://youtu.be/8Hb3tUn8s4E

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

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Would you like to help me translate these videos into other languages? Follow this link for instructions on subtitling: https://antonopoulos.com/video-translation-subtitle-initiative/

MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://amzn.to/2xcdsY9

Translations of MASTERING BITCOIN: https://bitcoinbook.info/translations-of-mastering-bitcoin/

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://amzn.to/2ykmXFs

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://amzn.to/2IIG5BJ

Translations of THE INTERNET OF MONEY:
Spanish, ‘Internet del Dinero’ (v1) – https://amzn.to/2yoaTTq
French, ‘L’internet de l’argent’ (v1) – https://www.amazon.fr/Linternet-largent-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/2856083390
Russian, ‘Интернет денег’ (v1) – https://www.olbuss.ru/catalog/ekonomika-i-biznes/korporativnye-finansy-bankovskoe-delo/internet-deneg
Vietnamese, ‘Internet Của Tiền Tệ’ (v1) – https://alphabooks.vn/khi-tien-len-mang

MASTERING ETHEREUM (Q4): https://amzn.to/2xdxmlK

Music: “Unbounded” by Orfan (https://www.facebook.com/Orfan/)
Outro Graphics: Phneep (http://www.phneep.com/)
Outro Art: Rock Barcellos (http://www.rockincomics.com.br/)

source

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28 COMMENTS

  2. Morning Andreas.

    I have an absolute noob question.
    I have EOS accounts, and over the last few months started looking at Bitcoin.

    I seem to be confused whereby Bitcoin keys seem to be different to EOS accounts.

    In short, I bought a ledger to hold cold storage, but am unsure how it works.

    I have set it up with recovery seed etc, and then installed the Bitcoin APP, but am hesitant because I have not associated any private keys to it.

    Am I merely being a numpty?
    Are the keys already in it?
    Can I just send my exchange based BTC to it now?

    I feel this is probably far simpler than I imagine it. Chuck me a bone please LOL

  6. Can you make a video about setting up a BTC full node and have it connect to a wallet? Like a full tutorial, low iq proof. Paid video or whatever, I'm sure everyone wants to see and is tired of hearing about it.

  7. Hi Andreas, great answer. Thank you !

    Did you manually edit the google subtitles?
    Some words have been added in square brackets like "Ledger" becomes "Ledger [Hardware Wallet]".
    Some things have been removed like "Umm so here's the thing." –> "Here's the thing:" and phrases changed.
    "The different audiences, different groups of people are going to have different risk models and they're also going to have difference ahh tolerances for technical complexity" –> "Different groups of people will have different risk models and tolerance for technical complexity".

    Just curious as to whether you uploaded the subtitle script, or whether google AI made the modified script from the audio.

  9. The key reality is that most people simply will not take all of these extremely onerous steps of writing seeds and phrases on separate pieces of paper, in triplicate, to then store them in multiple locations, in order to protect their cryptocurrency. This whole process needs to be made much simpler or crypto will never achieve mass adoption. There must be a way to combine cryptographic protection with 2 factor authentication to so that there can be one electronic storage space to back up what the user also writes down and stores in their home, or another secure location.

  14. 100% Security should be proportionate to amount at risk combined with your technical abilities. Use your brain. Think through possibilities.. Know features of hardware wallets available.

  23. i think the guy that ask the question probably wants to add complex security layer on top of what he has. this is dangerous as too much security without proper management is dangerous.

  24. i think the guy that ask the question probably wants to add complex security layer on top of what he has. this is dangerous as too much security without proper management is dangerous.

  25. Anton, another great video. I have a question for you, if you or others on the thread could answer. I have 95% of my bitcoin on a Ledger. It has a 24 word seed phrase, which I have memorized. However, I don't know how to test it it works! I don't want to buy another Ledger and enter it in that. I'm hesitant to enter that phrase into a different wallet (Enjin etc.). What is the 'best' (compromise between convenience, security, cost?) way to test if a seed phrase backup works? Thanks!

  26. Simple you use the Blue Protocol wallet way way better than a trezor or ledger and has additional security features no other wallet has , basically the most secure wallet presently available

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