Quote from: mark coins on January 13, 2016, 03:06:26 PM

Quote from: evanagreer on January 13, 2016, 03:03:57 PM

Hey All -

I started buying BTC about a month ago in a Coinbase account. I have transferred some of the BTC to Xapo...

I keep seeing people mention how important it is to not lose your private key. To write it down and put it in a safe deposit box.

What is the private key? Is it just my wallet address?

Thanks!

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key

coinbase and xapo doesnt give you full control over your private key, dont use them to store large amount of bitcoins

Coinbase is partially due to their insurance policy. As long as it's Coinbase hacked and not your account where it's your fault they are suppose to have a insurance policy to cover it. If they gave out private key it would defeat their idea of how they keep it secure.

But you are 100 percent trusting Coinbase with your coins as without having private key nothing you can do to recover if they ran off or something (which granted is very small possibility).