Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Which wallet do you store the majority of your BTC in?
by
DannyHamilton
on 31/12/2013, 07:47:03 UTC
The poll is missing some common choices:

  • Electrum
  • blockchain.info (which is a "hybrid" wallet)
  • Exchange such as MtGox, Coinbase, BTC-E, BitStamp, etc ( I suppose this could be considered a "web wallet")
Yeah I forgot about electrum so just added it.  I would consider blockchain.info an online web wallet as well even if it's hybrid.

If you consider blockchain.info a "web wallet", then you should probably have a separate entry in the poll for "Unregulated, Uninsured, Unaudited, bitcoin bank account" (i.e. MtGox, Coinbase, BitStamp, BTC-E, localbitcoins, etc).  There is a significant difference between those types of "accounts" and a web "wallet" such as blockchain.info.  With blockchain.info (like with any other bitcoin "wallet") the user has access to their private keys.  They can back them up, and they can use them to access the bitcoins even if the website is shut down or seized.  With the "accounts", the user does not have any access to the private keys.  They are essentially donating the bitcoins to the service in exchange for an implied promise from the service to return the bitcoins on request.  If the site disappears or is seized, the bitcoins are permanently lost.