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One thing I don't get is... why is everyone storing their bitcoins in someone else's house? Why not store them yourself? To own bitcoins is to own a cryptograph

by jordigh 13y ago

One thing I don't get is... why is everyone storing their bitcoins in someone else's house? Why not store them yourself? To own bitcoins is to own a cryptographic private key. Why is everyone trusting someone else with the ownership of these keys?

cecilpl 13y ago
Because people are used to dealing with the regulations that go along with other people storing your money. Most people trust places like a bank, an investment brokerage, or paypal to store money, and not have it be "lost to hackers". There are banking regulations and insurance policy that have been around for 100 years to protect people from that kind of thing.
skwirl 13y ago
Probably for the same reason most people don't store cash under their mattress and store it in a bank instead. Of course, storing Bitcoins on your laptop is even more risky than storing cash under your mattress. Someone has to physically enter my house to steal the cash, but to steal my bitcoins? All they need is a virus, spyware, out of date OS, out of date router firmware, out of date NAS firmware, a zero day exploit, etc. and they can drain me of my coins from anywhere in the world. Then of course there is the risk of simply losing the coins. An accidental deletion. A hard drive failure. Losing a laptop or having it stolen. You have to back everything up, you have to back it up offsite, and you have to trust the offsite backup. You have to keep your machines securely locked down. All of this requires the user to be quite tech savvy. This will never change for storing coins locally... so if Bitcoin is going to be the "currency of the future" to be used by the masses then secure banks and exchanges have to be a thing. They also have to be a thing for lending and investing, anyway.
- logfromblammo 13y ago
  And people don't now realize that their mattresses are not connected to the Internet, and therefore the perfect place to securely store a currency that requires a computer to steal it. Though I think I'd put those paper printouts with the QR codes on them in a fire-resistant box, at least.
- walden42 13y ago
  I keep mine in a brain wallet. I can lose my house and my bank account, but my coins will always be in my head (and anyone else's head I share it with). That's something to think about.
  - jordigh 13y ago
    Yeah, like an electrum seed?
    - walden42 13y ago
      Yep.
- wehadfun 13y ago
  Doesn't seem like Mt.Gox or this joke of a company is any safer than your a wallet on your computer.
infinii 13y ago
Because the majority of BTC owners at the moment are speculators without technical savvy to create their own wallets. Storing BTC on these free online wallets is easier and humans will usually take the easier path.

by jordigh 13y ago

cecilpl 13y ago

Because people are used to dealing with the regulations that go along with other people storing your money. Most people trust places like a bank, an investment brokerage, or paypal to store money, and not have it be "lost to hackers". There are banking regulations and insurance policy that have been around for 100 years to protect people from that kind of thing.

skwirl 13y ago

Probably for the same reason most people don't store cash under their mattress and store it in a bank instead. Of course, storing Bitcoins on your laptop is even more risky than storing cash under your mattress. Someone has to physically enter my house to steal the cash, but to steal my bitcoins? All they need is a virus, spyware, out of date OS, out of date router firmware, out of date NAS firmware, a zero day exploit, etc. and they can drain me of my coins from anywhere in the world. Then of course there is the risk of simply losing the coins. An accidental deletion. A hard drive failure. Losing a laptop or having it stolen. You have to back everything up, you have to back it up offsite, and you have to trust the offsite backup. You have to keep your machines securely locked down. All of this requires the user to be quite tech savvy. This will never change for storing coins locally... so if Bitcoin is going to be the "currency of the future" to be used by the masses then secure banks and exchanges have to be a thing. They also have to be a thing for lending and investing, anyway.

logfromblammo 13y ago
And people don't now realize that their mattresses are not connected to the Internet, and therefore the perfect place to securely store a currency that requires a computer to steal it. Though I think I'd put those paper printouts with the QR codes on them in a fire-resistant box, at least.
walden42 13y ago
I keep mine in a brain wallet. I can lose my house and my bank account, but my coins will always be in my head (and anyone else's head I share it with). That's something to think about.
- jordigh 13y ago
  Yeah, like an electrum seed?
  - walden42 13y ago
    Yep.
wehadfun 13y ago
Doesn't seem like Mt.Gox or this joke of a company is any safer than your a wallet on your computer.

infinii 13y ago

Because the majority of BTC owners at the moment are speculators without technical savvy to create their own wallets. Storing BTC on these free online wallets is easier and humans will usually take the easier path.