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This may be a stupid question but I dont understand every aspect of bitcoin so bear with me. Is Bitcoin access coupled with one private key or multiple? Say s

by shroom 9y ago

This may be a stupid question but I dont understand every aspect of bitcoin so bear with me. Is Bitcoin access coupled with one private key or multiple? Say someone has 10 bitcoin on their computer and a private key so its only accessible from that computer. That computer holds a lot of value. If the computer gets stolen theyve stolen all the bitcoins with it? Given that the secret to the private key can be broken at some point in the future. Or is there a way for the user to claim back his/ger bitcoin by creating a new key with same secret?

umanwizard 9y ago
Most wallets have a way of deterministically generating private keys from the same pass phrase. So you would enter the same pass phrase, it’d generate the same key, and you’d be fine (assuming the thief hadn’t spent your bitcoins to his own address yet)
diego 9y ago
You don't want to store your private key unencrypted on a computer ever. If someone gets a hold of a private key, they control all the bitcoin under that address. However they acquire the private key doesn't matter.
- shroom 9y ago
  Thanks! Reason Im asking is first ive Never traded btc and second I have friends who started and I can imagine they know anything about crypto, private keys, secrets etc. I might need to point this out to them if they continue with this.
  - nicky0 9y ago
    Most crypto traders don't even hold their own bitcoin. The exchange holds it for them.
superquest 9y ago
Often times you can create a wallet with a "recovery seed" -- which is usually a sequence of 12 words. This seed can be used to recover the secret.
colemannugent 9y ago
The private key is the secret. Someone who steals it does not have to break anything. In this case it is similar to a physical lock on a safe: if you lose the key to the safe you just have to accept that you no longer can access the contents of the safe. You can have wallets that are protected by multiple keys, but there is not a whole lot of wallet software that does this in an easy to use way right now.
- smokeyj 9y ago
  https://copay.io/ https://copay.io/ An open source wallet by bitpay with good support for multi-sig transactions.
sova 9y ago
Please, ask away, it's easier to clear up things when you have access to the experts, like on HN. If you purchase Bitcoin through an exchange, typically you don't have the private key, you just trust the exchange to do all the nitty gritty for you. If you generate a new address with a wallet software, it'll have a private key (that is much longer than the deliveryAddress.length) and you can move your funds from an exchange to this address (whereupon you'll have complete control). If you lose the private key it's [basically] impossible to recover with brute force, which is the point. If someone takes the physical hard disk from you and you have no backup of the info, yes, it's gone. If you somehow have your info stolen, but still remember it (via air-gapped pc text file or something) you can move the funds before they get swiped. Again, use wallet software to generate a new address with a new private key and repeat. So either you have a really good way to store your private addresses so you can still use your coins in the future, or you trust an exchange to hold the coins and you don't play in that realm at all. Those are the most popular options currently.

by shroom 9y ago

umanwizard 9y ago

Most wallets have a way of deterministically generating private keys from the same pass phrase. So you would enter the same pass phrase, it’d generate the same key, and you’d be fine (assuming the thief hadn’t spent your bitcoins to his own address yet)

diego 9y ago

You don't want to store your private key unencrypted on a computer ever. If someone gets a hold of a private key, they control all the bitcoin under that address. However they acquire the private key doesn't matter.

shroom 9y ago
Thanks! Reason Im asking is first ive Never traded btc and second I have friends who started and I can imagine they know anything about crypto, private keys, secrets etc. I might need to point this out to them if they continue with this.
- nicky0 9y ago
  Most crypto traders don't even hold their own bitcoin. The exchange holds it for them.

superquest 9y ago

Often times you can create a wallet with a "recovery seed" -- which is usually a sequence of 12 words. This seed can be used to recover the secret.

colemannugent 9y ago

The private key is the secret. Someone who steals it does not have to break anything. In this case it is similar to a physical lock on a safe: if you lose the key to the safe you just have to accept that you no longer can access the contents of the safe. You can have wallets that are protected by multiple keys, but there is not a whole lot of wallet software that does this in an easy to use way right now.

smokeyj 9y ago
https://copay.io/ https://copay.io/ An open source wallet by bitpay with good support for multi-sig transactions.

sova 9y ago

Please, ask away, it's easier to clear up things when you have access to the experts, like on HN. If you purchase Bitcoin through an exchange, typically you don't have the private key, you just trust the exchange to do all the nitty gritty for you. If you generate a new address with a wallet software, it'll have a private key (that is much longer than the deliveryAddress.length) and you can move your funds from an exchange to this address (whereupon you'll have complete control). If you lose the private key it's [basically] impossible to recover with brute force, which is the point. If someone takes the physical hard disk from you and you have no backup of the info, yes, it's gone. If you somehow have your info stolen, but still remember it (via air-gapped pc text file or something) you can move the funds before they get swiped. Again, use wallet software to generate a new address with a new private key and repeat. So either you have a really good way to store your private addresses so you can still use your coins in the future, or you trust an exchange to hold the coins and you don't play in that realm at all. Those are the most popular options currently.