Considering bitcoin wallets?

While the bitcoin protocol is secure, wallets on the otherhand are under constant seige from hackers. Choosing a bitcoin wallet and understanding the security guidelines will go a long way toward ensuring your bitcoins remain safe. The underpinning premise to securing bitcoin wallets is that security resides with the holder of the wallet and corresponding key. If you decide to hold your bitcoins at home or somewhere else, then you are responsible for securing the keys and media e.g. computer, hard drives, USB flash drives, paper wallets etc. That includes securing the printing of paper wallets from hacker attacks on your printer. Likewise, if you decide to choose an online wallet for it's ease of use and hosted security, remember that at present there does not exist such a thing as FDIC insurance for bitcoin accounts. With that in mind, if you decide to go with an online wallet, then determining the best of breed becomes paramount. With no federal deposit insurance and very little in the way of regulations, replacing bitcoins that become lost or are stolen is ultimately at the discretion of the company or possibly a court. In researching the subject I have heard computer security experts say they wouldn't feel comfortable storing bitcoins on their own machines. This leads me to believe that for the vast majority of users, an easy to use and secure online wallet will make the most sense and become the model for mass adoption. Coinbase, a San Francisco based world leader in online bitcoin wallets has over 720,000 active users. It uses a combination of hot & cold storage security protocols to maintain approximately 90% of customer funds offline with keys held in vaults which are spread around the world. The international digital wallet provider recently raised $25 million (dollars) from Andreessen Horowitz in a series B funding and that's a very big deal, the biggest ever in fact for a bitcoin company. Coinbase is also integrated with the US banking system which may lower overall privacy but adds legitimacy and trust to the service. It would appear bitcoin technical talent and smart money is increasingly coalescing around a coinbase nucleus.


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