I’m a Bitcoin pleb who finally mustered enough courage to exchange a decent amount of fiat into Bitcoin. Is Coldcard the “gold standard” for a cold wallet or should I look at others? Also, I guess I should get a safe for storing my seed — is that what everyone does? I read https://werunbtc.com/coldcard
Discussion
Yea can't go wrong with cold card. Seed phrase in a safe is good too. Look into steel plates for your seed phrase.
What’s the difference? More DIY and cheaper?
The lack of a “secure element”. While coldcards implementation is so laughably better than ledger, it’s not a fair comparison (there’s just zero competition to CC in this respect), a stateless design has the advantage of no illusion to security. When you pull the power to a seedsigner, your seed isn’t stored on the device, thus falling back to your storage design’s native security assumptions (where/how you store your seed(s)).
Granted, the cost to attack a cold card’s stateful design is $250k+, so I’m really arguing about something out of scope for many.
However, the planned SS port to esp32 hardware further lowers the cost, adds optionality, and increases supply chain attack resilience (the argument is “what if someone hw hacks the suppliers”; search “supermicro bloomberg” for an example).
Does Cold Card work with a piece of desktop or Android software? If so, what is their software called?
It works with practically all bitcoin-only software. I recommend Sparrow.
Seedsigner is awesome but managing seed QRs cards is not really practical for most people. I don't see it as a cold storage solution personally. And yes I built one and use it.
Seedsigner is not a cold storage solution, it’s a signing device. In your instance, the seedQR is one part of the storage solution. What medium it’s imprinted on, where you keep it, how you access it, and when it’s accessible are other components of that storage solution.
Right, I understand. The problem is it only really makes sense in a multisig setup. Why would I want single sig QR codes laying around with my seed phrase, just another thing to have to secure. But a multisig wallet with a Seedsigner as one of the keys makes sense. Problem is most people can't set up a 2FA on Coinbase let alone a 2 of 3 multisig with a watch only wallet.
Unless you delete the key from your coldcard, you’re already leaving your naked singlesig laying around and have a second item to secure.
So my Coldcard gets stolen along with my Seedsigner and seed QR code. Which offers more protection in a single sig wallet in this situation? The Seedsigner? Lol.
Whataboutism is a lose/lose game. Thief beats your ass or worse until you give up the pin is the likely scenario there.
Trade offs, all the way down.
Yes.
Yes.
Get a different wallet and do a multi sig wallet with passphrase
Get a safe for the seed. You can also get safe deposit boxes at banks and store part of your phrase in them.
Definitely give #[2] Passport a look too, similar guts, but with camera for QR code signing support
For sure.
Coldcard 💯
There is no second best.
The video of the next Gen Colcard is on Reddit.
🤝
Yep. Coldcard 100% T
A safe does not sound very safe ❌
Security through obscurity ✅
(I do like to keep my seed in a safe that often accompanies me on boating trips 😉)
It may be a good idea to split it a bit.
Trezor is also a decent hw wallet, but good passphrase is a must for security.
Also make sure that you have enough of backups in different locations. You are more likely to lose/break your wallet than anyone actually trying to steal your coins.
For me i prefere Trezor model T. With Shamir backup you get multiple seeds which you can hide in different places and for recovery you just need 2 from 3, 3 from 5,… depend on youre choice. So you can hide one at home, second in bank, third in some family member…
1. I personally recommend devices by companies that do not split their engineering and QA effort across hundreds of shitcoins...so ColdCard is a great option there. They are bitcoin only.
2. I think more important than a safe would be a passphrase to go along with your seed phrase. Keeping your passphrase separate from your seed is a good way to approximate other multi-factor scenarios without much of the complication.
3. Consider getting a steel plate to preserve your seed phrase through time and the elements.
4. This probably wont be the last device you buy, nor the last seed you generate. Secure elements become outmoded, or you may want to try multisig.
5. Practice recovery. Practice recovery. Practice recovery.
Coldcard 💯🤝
Also multi-sig is not always necessary in every case. But def keep multiple copies of your seed in different locations.
https://robotechy.com/collections/frontpage/products/seedsigner-3d-printed-pill-case , it’s a good way to store your seed. You should check it out!
Congratulations on making the step to becoming a Bitcoiner! 🎉 Coldcard definitely has a very good reputation. It's considered secure and easy to use. Secure storage of your seed is extremely important. A safe is a good option. Also consider steel wallets, they're fire and water resistant. 👍💪 #BitcoinLife
So, does anyone use a wallet for their Nostr keys? Is that necessary?
Bitbox. https://bitbox.swiss/
Made in Switzerland - the county where storing money was invented ;)
Might be bit difficult with shipping. Idk.
pv 🤙
SeedSigner, SpecterDIY, Coldcard, Foundation Passport.
Sparrow as Wallet software.
Free zero to hero training program on SeedSigner + Sparrow here: