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I'm very interested in trading/investing in bitcoins but I don't have confidence in any of the markets. Every few months there is another story about an exchang

by xntrk 14y ago

I'm very interested in trading/investing in bitcoins but I don't have confidence in any of the markets. Every few months there is another story about an exchange getting hacked and people on the site losing their coins.

ArchD 14y ago
If you're concerned about security, just use the exchange for trading but keep no long-term balance with them. Keep your coins under a pillow in your home and exchange security is almost a non-issue. If you're talking about the psychology of the market or your own emotions, that's a different can of worms.
nicpottier 14y ago
This seems to be largely solved now. There are numerous digital wallets that do client side encryption, so even if they are hacked, your funds should be safe. Two that I looked at were https://www.strongcoin.com https://www.strongcoin.com and https://www.blockchain.info https://www.blockchain.info, the latter winning out after some test driving, just because it is larger and has a nice Android client.
- TylerE 14y ago
  Until they get hacked, and if history is any guide, they will get hacked.
  - nicpottier 14y ago
    I suppose there is the possibility of a hacker changing their actual content so that things AREN'T done client side, and therefore being able to decrypt the keys. In that case any user who used their site with that malicious code would be compromised. That is a very real threat, I grant you that, but it is a hell of a lot better than what the state of the art was a year ago when a hacker got everybody's information once they got root.
  - hollerith 14y ago
    Or the client-side computer gets hacked and the attacker gets the passphrase with a keylogger.
sneak 14y ago
So don't keep your coins in an exchange - store your keys locally, offline.
JoachimSchipper 14y ago
To be fair, that's mostly solved by keeping your bitcoins on your own machine/in cold storage. Buy/sell a little at a time, never keep a lot of money on any (one) exchange/wallet, and so on. (I'm very skeptical of bitcoin, but if this were the only problem, it would be worth working around it. At least for me, but then I know/like digital security...)

by xntrk 14y ago

ArchD 14y ago

If you're concerned about security, just use the exchange for trading but keep no long-term balance with them. Keep your coins under a pillow in your home and exchange security is almost a non-issue. If you're talking about the psychology of the market or your own emotions, that's a different can of worms.

nicpottier 14y ago

This seems to be largely solved now. There are numerous digital wallets that do client side encryption, so even if they are hacked, your funds should be safe. Two that I looked at were https://www.strongcoin.com https://www.strongcoin.com and https://www.blockchain.info https://www.blockchain.info, the latter winning out after some test driving, just because it is larger and has a nice Android client.

TylerE 14y ago
Until they get hacked, and if history is any guide, they will get hacked.
- nicpottier 14y ago
  I suppose there is the possibility of a hacker changing their actual content so that things AREN'T done client side, and therefore being able to decrypt the keys. In that case any user who used their site with that malicious code would be compromised. That is a very real threat, I grant you that, but it is a hell of a lot better than what the state of the art was a year ago when a hacker got everybody's information once they got root.
- hollerith 14y ago
  Or the client-side computer gets hacked and the attacker gets the passphrase with a keylogger.

sneak 14y ago

So don't keep your coins in an exchange - store your keys locally, offline.

JoachimSchipper 14y ago

To be fair, that's mostly solved by keeping your bitcoins on your own machine/in cold storage. Buy/sell a little at a time, never keep a lot of money on any (one) exchange/wallet, and so on. (I'm very skeptical of bitcoin, but if this were the only problem, it would be worth working around it. At least for me, but then I know/like digital security...)