Nostr Web Client

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?

DRE 7mo ago

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.

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Discussion

Diyana 7mo ago

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?

DRE 7mo ago

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.

Diyana 7mo ago

Thank you! All right, that's a solid advice.