[mattbillenstein]

I looked at crypto a little for a startup - the thing that isn't usually mentioned is the huge downside of custody. Not your keys, not your coin - and holding those keys securely, think fire, theft, hacks, backdoored hardware wallets, etc - is really really hard to get correct. And if you mess up once anywhere - poof - all your money is gone and there's nothing you can do to get it back.

[UltraSane]

Exactly. Crypto is like having all of your money as cash that thieves can teleport out of your safe. It must be incredibly stressful to have most of your wealth in crypto knowing this.

[nytesky]

Yeah who in this world has never had to reset a password? That’s what this means. That laser inscribed metal fob with you keys on it may as well be made of platinum.

And I’ve never felt clear on how people trust wallet, hot or cold — at some point they connect to the internet for transactions, and all the vendors seem suspect. I really doubt most users are building their wallet from code reviewed cryptographically signed source… but maybe I’m wrong?

[mattbillenstein]

I think most users have no clue how any of it works - there are so many footguns doing it yourself that probably an exchange like Coinbase is the best bet, but again, not your keys, not your coin...

[throwawaycoins]

I lost 13 bitcoins when the TradeHill exchange disappeared.

A decade later, I have 0.2 bitcoins in Coinbase. I want to move to owning my own keys and it's hard to be confident in avoiding footguns.

Any advice on how to securely transition to owning my own keys would be much appreciated.

[UltraSane]

Best you can do is to split your crypto among many different hardware wallets and some metal cold storage wallets. Maybe even try to memorize at least one wallet password. It just seems so stressful.

[throw101010]

> That laser inscribed metal fob with you keys on it

Unless you manually inscribe it with a laser (good luck), that wouldn't really be a great idea unless the computer assisting you in the inscriptions is completely air-gapped.

Stamping/manually engraving your seed on fire resistant stainless steel (308 is my preference) is still one of the most "air-gapped" way to do this.

> at some point they connect to the internet for transactions,

Some don't, for example ColdCard. It is possible to use it without ever connecting it to a computer. Using a power source and a USB cable, they even offer a way to avoid using power adapters (using common batteries) as these tend to become "smarter" these days and could one day be the source of an exploit.

[nytesky]

I guess with QR codes the ColdCard is fairly airgapped. Nifty. Is it a trustworthy company? Is the intermediate PSBT human readable — can you confirm contents before submitting to network?

I almost feel like crypto bros are all into HODL because spending coins is just too much effort!

[throw101010]

Coldcard/CoinKit have been in this space for few market cycles now and don't have major leaks/issues (unlike their major competitors who both leaked cusotmer data, putting their customers at risk considering the product).

I'd say for hardware wallets they are as trustworthy as it gets. And they open sourced both their firmware and hardware schematics so it's easier/possible to verify what you are using, if you have the abilities to do it.

The PSBT format isn't human readable (binary), it's following a BIP standard and open source tools exist to decrypt it... or simply use reputable wallets which support this format. And yes before signing a transaction you get a summary of the transaction/fees decoded by the ColdCard device. You then reconfirm it in the wallet you use to broadcast it before sending it on Bitcoin's network.

> I almost feel like crypto bros are all into HODL because spending coins is just too much effort!

A hot wallet is really no hassle to maintain and use, keep whatever you are willing to lose in it (like you would do in your real world physical wallet with cash... if you still have one of these). For larger amounts HW are more of a hassle... like it's more of a hassle to go to the bank to deposit/withdraw large sums. The differences are that Bitcoin is open 24/7, doesn't tell you what you can/can't do with your money, doesn't add/charge more fees each month for service you didn't ask for and most importantly isn't at the mercy of a single political actor deciding to devalue it more by increasing the national debt. It will be affected by markets like all things, but its total supply is quote certain at least.