Quote from: thejaytiesto on May 27, 2016, 05:56:48 PM

I just saw this review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hLFsBuDT0

guy puts the Cryptosteel inside a fireplace, leaves it burn for 10 minutes, throws it from a building into concrete, runs over it with a car... and after all this destruction, you can still read the seed, so I think it's a pretty good cold storage method.

whats the point? it might be fire proof and shock proof but its not very usable. its for archive, not cold storage. the whole point of cold storage is that its still accessible and usable, just safer. crypto steel is like write-only-memory.

hardware wallets like trezor or ledger let you keep your bitcoins in cold storage, BUT, still be able to access them via pin/pass codes. the bitcoins are safe... but most importantly also easily accessible whenever you want. you can spend them in small amounts. you wont ever compromise your key, nor will you suffer if you use it on an untrusted or compromised computer. there can be key loggers or screen grabbers running and you can still safely use your trezor. not so with cryptosteel. your bitcoins are no longer safe the moment you try and access them! and they're not safe from thieves either.

hardware wallets keep your keys safe, and they don't ever come out. the device does the signing for you. there is NO WAY of reading the keys from the devices. Whereas crypto steel is easy to read the key. you just open it up and voila. Any thief who steels your crypto steel has stolen your keys. not so with a trezor or ledger!! And with crypto steel, even if you welded it shut, you could still read the keys with X-rays or perhaps even some security scanners (penetrating radar etc).

archiving off something like the cryptosteel is the same as writing it down on a piece of paper and filing it in a fireproof safe (or two).

it serves very little purpose and its security versus usability is too compromised. pointless imho.

that said, i bought a couple. just for fun. but i don't intend to use them for genuine cold storage!

Warning... CryptoSteel or any similar archival product isn't a safe nor reliable way of keeping your bitcoins safe. its almost as unsafe as a paper wallet. the moment you need to use it, you're at risk (from a compromised computer that you have to enter the private key) and any theft of the cryptosteel or paper wallet means your bitcoins are gone along with it. i prefer to stay with hardware wallets for more reliable security and convenience. ideally with multi sig as well.

the physical nature of the product will give people a false sense of security, which is why I'm being strong with the warning.