First off, I want to say thanks for keeping at it while everyone else is chasing fairies or pumping and dumping on each other. Why people cant see how amazing this technology is, is beyond my understanding. But I love it, I get to load up on Grins @ 5-6 cents each.
I have seen a few people complain about the price, and interactive transactions, but I love both. The low price, and the fact that someone cant just take funds without me agreeing to it. All transactions should be interactive. The amount of times I have had funds taken from my account or I have been double charged by “accident” without me accepting the charges has me sold on interactive transactions. I can tell you from experience, the bank will let the charge go through, even if there was a clear double charge, make it out as if you are trying to get something for nothing, and give more rights to the store than the individual. They will not even pause the charge to allow an investigation. They take your money, force you to return to the store and ask for your money back.
As for the price going down, I love it even more. Price goes down, I load up. I can honestly say, I have never been happier to see the price of something I buy go down as I have been with Grin.
Now for my stach:
At this moment my phrase has been sitting on my desk for far too long. My plan is to use a steganography software and store it in a pic and keep the pic on Protonmail. The main reason for doing this is that I want to use Grin like a deposit box I can get to any time I want, from any place.
I’m not too familiar with data banks( just sci-fi), or how to set one up. Is this a path worth looking into instead of keeping it on Protonmail?
Is this a bad idea, am I missing a security flaw that I cant see?
You really need a local or hard copy. What happens if proton mail gets shut down? Also you run the risk of your data being intercepted during transmission If you store it on a hosted platform.
Some Bitcoin technologists say store the seed on a fireproof piece of metal, but that might be overkill the other way.
Seems like a waste, why not digital? Easier to move with across borders, no one asking you whats in this drive, or open it, or we are keeping it.
Thats what I was worried about and started thinking about data banks. Or hidden files on tor. I just dont know much about them. I plan to start reading up on them, but was looking for some tips as to which route to take.
Yeah that’s why I said local or hard. If you store it on an air-gapped, secure device I reckon that would be fine as long as the device doesn’t die. I’m not a security expert though so that’s just my analysis. Would definitely not go cloud storage route though
By local im assuming you mean hard disk. I’m trying to avoid using any device where I have to have a physical object. I might send the pic to friends and family. They wont know, plus it will be encrypted.
My keys are stored in Bitwarden and then I have a physical Yubico key to access my Bitwarden account. Plus another Yubico as a backup that I keep in a bank vault in case my primary key gets damaged/lost.
FYI, you may reconsider the long-term backup yubikey in your bank.
Most electronic devices are not rated for longevity… Meaning in just a few years you have very low guarantee the drvice still works or still contains your secret data. This problem is worsened by environmental factors (temperature, radiation, etc).
In general, electronics can be good for convenient security, but should not be relied upon for longevity.
Best practice is to balance security and recoverability. One way to do this is by having multiple backups.
For example:
Secure your mnemonic on paper (not digital unless you add extra encryption/security). I once had a grin wallet being eating by little Beatles , no kidding, easy way to avoid this is by using stone paper. Stone paper is unaffected by water, it does not burn well but can be destroyed by direct fire if needed and most certainly will not be eaten by bugs. IMO stone paper is the sweet spot between ease of use, affordability and resilience. You can buy the Stonebook wallet, which is cool but a bit expensive, or just by cheaply 12$ for 4 100 page stone paper notebooks
Keep a copy of your wallet on a USB stick at home or in the bank. I would prefer this option over the cloud since you will probably notice if it will go missing. Since the wallet is encrypted and secured by a password, it ok to store it in the cloud if you trust your cloud setup and use 2FA to access your cloud backup.
Check that you have access regularly to ensure your funds are recoverable. This is something most people forget, but especially if you have one large wallet (cold wallet) for the majority of your funds, check once a year that you can access the wallet and its backups. One advantage/disadvantage of Grin, depending on your view, is that your cold wallet needs to be online. Therefore, the chance you will store your majority of funds on a wallet you can no longer access is very small since you to access the wallet to receive funds.
If you have someone you completely trust, do tell them about the backups you made. A lot of funds get locked forever due to great security but poor recoverability. In case you die, have a stroke or just severe memory fuck-up, it is good your loved ones can recover your Grin and other crypto funds.
, no kidding, easy way to avoid this is by using stone paper. Stone paper is unaffected by water, it does not burn well but can be destroyed by direct fire if needed and most certainly will not be eaten by bugs. IMO stone paper is the sweet spot between ease of use, affordability and resilience. You can buy the 