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What kind of non-technical person is trying to buy and manage a bitcoin wallet in the first place? If the user is only willing to learn enough to keep the coin

What kind of non-technical person is trying to buy and manage a bitcoin wallet in the first place? If the user is only willing to learn enough to keep the coins in Coinbase, then this person has no business dealing with Bitcoin at all.

ceejayoz 9y ago
> What kind of non-technical person is trying to buy and manage a bitcoin wallet in the first place? I've had half a dozen non-technical friends ask me about getting into Bitcoin in the last month or so. Media attention, get-rich-quick, scams, etc. are all attracting hordes of people, to the point where the Coinbase app was #1 on the App Store for a while. Even the people running exchanges are getting hacked. What chance does a normal user have?
- AndrewUnmuted 9y ago
  > If the user is only willing to learn enough to keep the coins in Coinbase, then this person has no business dealing with Bitcoin at all.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    "It's the financial system of the future!" "Only techies can use it!" Pick one.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - theseatoms 9y ago
      By 1950s standards, most Americans are "techies". We learn what we have to in order to survive in a given environment.
      - ceejayoz 9y ago
        We use more technology, but we understand less about what makes it tick. Most of today's Americans can't change a flat tire, let alone the oil. 1950s America would laugh at us for that. Someone's ability to use a smartphone doesn't mean they're capable of patching the thing to keep it secure.
- alextheparrot 9y ago
  > Even the people running exchanges are getting hacked. What chance does a normal user have? I agree that actually securing a wallet, independently, as a non-technical user, is difficult. It is further exacerbated by, as you mentioned, the general hype around crypto related apps that promise to do this in a trivial way, which can often be traps. I also, however, think your final question presents a false dichotomy, as the two (Exchanges and users) have different threat models. Exchanges present a larger, highly lucrative target, meaning they are ammenable to expensive, targeted attacks as they can still be possible. The security model for an individual user can be to secure their coins in a way that is relatively secure (Maybe not as absolutely, as they are not experts), but more importantly to secure their coins in a way which a scalable attack against many users is not tenable. In this way, just because exchanges get hacked doesn’t necessarily imply that normal users don’t have a chance, as they have different threat models with their own nuances. Edit: Cleaned up some wording
- teekert 9y ago
  Ah man I had the same, how did you handle it? I regret helping anyone now, it was stressful and they underestimated the risk despite my constant nagging. Last week in BTC land was insane.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    My stock response is "treat it as gambling - put in only what you can afford to completely lose, because I feel like it's a massive bubble, but it's impossible to predict when it might pop".

ceejayoz 9y ago

> What kind of non-technical person is trying to buy and manage a bitcoin wallet in the first place? I've had half a dozen non-technical friends ask me about getting into Bitcoin in the last month or so. Media attention, get-rich-quick, scams, etc. are all attracting hordes of people, to the point where the Coinbase app was #1 on the App Store for a while. Even the people running exchanges are getting hacked. What chance does a normal user have?

AndrewUnmuted 9y ago
> If the user is only willing to learn enough to keep the coins in Coinbase, then this person has no business dealing with Bitcoin at all.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  "It's the financial system of the future!" "Only techies can use it!" Pick one.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - theseatoms 9y ago
    By 1950s standards, most Americans are "techies". We learn what we have to in order to survive in a given environment.
    - ceejayoz 9y ago
      We use more technology, but we understand less about what makes it tick. Most of today's Americans can't change a flat tire, let alone the oil. 1950s America would laugh at us for that. Someone's ability to use a smartphone doesn't mean they're capable of patching the thing to keep it secure.
alextheparrot 9y ago
> Even the people running exchanges are getting hacked. What chance does a normal user have? I agree that actually securing a wallet, independently, as a non-technical user, is difficult. It is further exacerbated by, as you mentioned, the general hype around crypto related apps that promise to do this in a trivial way, which can often be traps. I also, however, think your final question presents a false dichotomy, as the two (Exchanges and users) have different threat models. Exchanges present a larger, highly lucrative target, meaning they are ammenable to expensive, targeted attacks as they can still be possible. The security model for an individual user can be to secure their coins in a way that is relatively secure (Maybe not as absolutely, as they are not experts), but more importantly to secure their coins in a way which a scalable attack against many users is not tenable. In this way, just because exchanges get hacked doesn’t necessarily imply that normal users don’t have a chance, as they have different threat models with their own nuances. Edit: Cleaned up some wording
teekert 9y ago
Ah man I had the same, how did you handle it? I regret helping anyone now, it was stressful and they underestimated the risk despite my constant nagging. Last week in BTC land was insane.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  My stock response is "treat it as gambling - put in only what you can afford to completely lose, because I feel like it's a massive bubble, but it's impossible to predict when it might pop".