[vertex-four]

What if you left your phone or laptop in the taxi? You could say that at least for the laptop, your wallet should be encrypted with a password... but you're depending on everyday people picking good passwords then, which we all know they don't do.

[atweiden]

Storing your coins in a multisig address will mitigate this threat. Look for multisig service providers to offer MFA address security this year. I expect several will tie into major wallets and be very easy to use.

If you're keeping serious amounts of cash in a physical wallet, it's on you to remain vigilant about not leaving it out in the open. Same principle with Bitcoin, although I'd say losing your phone with a Bitcoin or two in it won't be quite as devastating since the digital wallet can exist in multiple locations simultaneously. If someone steals your phone, you can restore a backup of the wallet and transfer out the coins just to be sure.

[vertex-four]

> Storing your coins in a multisig address will mitigate this threat.

Assuming you mean a 2-of-3 address, where one key is on the laptop, one is a password-derived key, and one is... stored at home or with a friend, I suppose, in case the laptop is lost?

We must assume that (a) your laptop is never stolen while the wallet is decrypted, which implies making absolutely certain that end-users never leave their laptop unlocked, and (b) that nobody ever threatens violence in order to get the password, aka the rubber hose attack.

The only way to prevent this from happening in an irreversible payment system is to ensure that the end-user does not have access to all their money at one time, especially while on holiday. This is an absolute downside in comparison to credit cards.