That's cool. I already ordered mine some months ago and that's why this comes to mind.
And yes, when I was in El Salvador I picked up a few tips, though I haven't implemented, just learning, around setting up less trackable situations. I hung out a bunch at the nostr:npub1ludxu99nnuj4hn0z7r0lcs49tswzlmegl2wqhq6492ccxp053emqn3dzq0 with a bunch of cool bitcoiners in El Zonte.
Unless you’re in a unique circumstance with heightened threat models, then you should be fine with the Bitkey.
Just make sure not to tell people where you have it or, ideally, that you have it. There is no way to delay access to the funds if an attacker catches you with the Bitkey in the same location.
I decided not to use it. I thought I'd be into it for the inheritance feature I was hearing about but as I sat with it more I felt it may not be that safe. But I am now totally forgetting how it functions... I never really used it. Is it basically because it doesn't have a seed phrase (does it?) and it's operated from an app, so a wrench attacker would just get in my phone and can access it if in the same location?
It doesn't use a seed phrase. Block holds a backup wallet for you. Therefore, if you lose both your phone and Bitkey, you must contact Block customer support to receive your lost funds. In short, not having a seed makes you completely reliant on Block and doesn't teach anyone anything about independent financial security. It just grants more unneeded convenience. Convenience >>> laziness.
If you lose the two other keys, Block holding the third key doesn't help. If you have a Bitkey, anyone attacking you will know that you must have a second key.
Not exactly right. If you lose your phone and hardware you can recover without Block with the cloud backup and trusted contact. Block just helps with the delay and notification, and if they are not available you have the Emergency Kit to do a sovereign recovery
The inheritance feature is a huge value added imo
The product is by no means unsafe. If you’re Snowden or a high profile public figure maybe you look somewhere else, but for the vast majority of people the security model is more than sufficient.
The user does not interact with a seed phrase for the recovery process. This is a benefit to most people if we are being honest. There’s a small group of people for which this is a dealbreaker as a primary wallet.
An attacker can force you to create a transaction and steal your bitcoin, but this is no different to most alternatives. This weakness is not unique to Bitkey. This is why it’s probably a good idea to keep the hardware in a separate location from your phone (locker, safety deposit box, etc.) if you’re gonna store most of your bitcoin there. This best practice apply to all HWWs, however. Products like the ColdCard have trick pins and login countdowns that protect against this scenarios, but those products are more complex and less user friendly than Bitkey.
Cool thanks for sharing. I by no means am any high profile public figure or have a lot of Bitcoin either...(I'd love to) But for whatever reasons and now it's been a few months so I am likely forgetting the whole reason why I decided to pause activating it. I think intuitively I want to learn the non mainstream pathways to pass onto folks. I think I was asking questions on here and it ultimately was not the right move at the time. It felt like I needed to sit on it and wait for more clarity.
Also it's seems like the inheritance feature would be useful if you put all or most of your Bitcoin there to pass it on?
You’re welcome. It’s a unique architecture, but I think it’s an all-around good product. If you have kids or a spouse, I would make sure whatever solution you choose has a robust and easy-to-access inheritance plan if you plan on storing a meaningful amount (which doesn’t take much if we think Bitcoin is going to $10M). I like Bitkey for most people because it is easy to use and has a free inheritance plan. The popular alternatives (Casa, Unchained, Nunchuk) have paid inheritance features.
I encourage you to set up the Bitkey if you already have it and play with it. And do the same with other products if you feel the need or want, and then it will be easier to decide what works best for you.
Thank you! All right, that's a solid advice.
