Quote from: Welsh on Today at 01:23:47 PM

Quote from: DireWolfM14 on January 06, 2022, 04:13:29 PM

I can't disagree with most of what Andreas said, which I perceive to be advocating Bip32 HD wallets over single private keys stored on paper. He does specifically endorse the use of a purpose-built hardware wallet over other methods of generating seed phrases.

I do partially take issue with his statements about air-gapped PCs with open source OSs, however. Again, he seemed to be specifically opposed to their use to generate single private keys for printing, he never specifically opposed their use for generating seed phrases. Although I think using a properly air-gapped laptop/pc with an open-source OS is still quite safe, I tend to agree with Andreas that it takes a bit of technical know-how that could lead to mistakes by newbies.

Like I mentioned previously, he seems to be catering for the masses by using a blanket statement for the less technically minded which to be honest isn't a bad idea at all. I wish he was a little more clear that paper wallets aren't exactly a bad idea, and are just as secure, and maybe even more secure in certain instances, but does require some sort of proficiency, and understanding to secure well. Whereas, most hardware wallets protect from the common pitfalls, and are easier, while being decently secure to just plug, and play.

Obviously, there's still things that can go wrong, but I get the idea hes trying to push out there. Its time we start looking for as much adoption as possible, and making Bitcoin less complex, and therefore more accessible to the general user is how we would go about achieving that.

You bring up a good point about security. Properly stored and protected paper wallets are about as secure as you can get, and paper is among the best media for archival purposes. Andreas kind of glossed over the methods for storing seeds, yet for the masses, paper is one of the more practical methods of doing so. Most people won't have access to, or skills to use fancy equipment to make steel backups, and the steel products to store seeds can often be prohibitively expensive for many.

As for single private-keys that are printed out for storage or use of bitcoin, I tend to agree with him that there are better options. Personally I find single keys to be the best method of giving bitcoin as a gift in physical form, whether just a piece of paper or a DIY coin. I'll still be using them for those purposes from time to time.