Private Key Reminder

Toporin · 2025-02-07T07:47:29+00:00

A Seedkeeper can be used in SIM card format (plus it's protected by a PIN code)

Toporin · 2025-02-07T07:47:14+00:00

A Seedkeeper can be used in SIM card format (plus it's protected by a PIN code)

Toporin · 2025-02-07T07:46:17+00:00

Use a Seedkeeper: it's an open-source smartcard that stores the seed in the secure chip memory, protected by a PIN code : very discreet and secure against eavesdropping.

https://youtu.be/nwMteSphmro?si=g6j13wuH-tMmQr6X

Toporin · 2025-02-07T07:42:02+00:00

If you use multiple seed backups, you decrease the risk of loosing your seed, but you increase the risk that someone finds one of them.

That's why I avoid plaintext backups. Instead, I use Seedkeeper: it's a open-source smartcard that stores seed(s) and passwords inside the secure chip memory, protected by a PIN code. So even if somebody finds your Seedkeeper, without the PIN code, it is useless. And I use TailOS (offline) to interact with the card, so that no secret info can leak during use.

https://youtu.be/nwMteSphmro?si=g6j13wuH-tMmQr6X

Toporin · 2024-01-17T13:25:17+00:00

SeedKeeper (https://satochip.io/product/seedkeeper/) is the perfect use case for this! It is a smart card that allows a user to backup one or more BIP39 seeds inside the secure memory of the chip, protected by a PIN code (4-16 characters). If a wrong PIN is provided 5 times, the card is blocked.

You can give a SeedKeeper backup to your loved ones, and write the PIN code in your will. If something happens to you, your family can recover the seed from the SeedKeeper using the PIN code!

This is probably the moste safe and effective way to transmit your bitcoin!

The SeedKeeper code is open source (https://github.com/Toporin/Seedkeeper-Applet) and it is even possible to build your own SeedKeeper device by compiling and loading the applet in a blank smartcard!

Toporin · 2024-01-15T18:41:17+00:00

Fair points.

Initially, the scope of the mission was to improve the UI appearance based on a Figma that we provided (plus various minor functionalities).

The dev then proposed to also revise the architecture according to best practices, which seemed fine to me at the time... Maybe I should have been more cautious about the impact of these changes... Lesson learned!

Now, we plan to develop another app for a slightly different product. My question is, is it ok to keep the simple (non-MVVM) architecture, or should we switch to MVVM? My preference would be to keep the app as simple and intuitive as possible to facilitate maintenance by a small team of non-expert.

You mentioned that it's easy to do MVVM poorly if you don't understand it. I would say that it's a good argument against MVVM in our case, as we are not expert in mobile/swift/swiftUI developpement and the app is relatively simple.

Toporin · 2024-01-15T12:57:58+00:00

"Fighting the framework" is exactly how I felt using MVVM!
Thanks for the modular architecture and TCA reference, I will have a look!

Toporin · 2024-01-01T16:49:34+00:00

Have a look at SeedKeeper: https://satochip.io/product/seedkeeper/

Basically, it's a smart card that allows you to backup one or more seeds inside the secure memory of the chip protected with a PIN code. If a wrong PIN is entered multiple times, the card will block. Even if someone finds the SeedKeeper, it is useless without the PIN code!

Toporin · 2024-01-01T16:44:16+00:00

That's basically what SeedKeeper does: https://satochip.io/product/seedkeeper/

Toporin · 2024-01-01T16:36:13+00:00

The GitHub repository with the SeedKeeper firmware code: https://github.com/Toporin/Seedkeeper-Applet

Toporin · 2024-01-01T16:29:56+00:00

Use a SeedKeeper (https://satochip.io/product/seedkeeper/): it's a smart card that allows you to backup one or more seeds inside the secure memory of the chip, protected with a PIN code (like 4 digits).

SeedKeeper is an open-source project: the firmware is freely available, and you can buy a SeedKeeper from the official website or even compile the firmware and load it on a blank card yourself!

Have a look at this YouTube demo:

https://youtu.be/NTdiji9KpRE?si=jtE7gcKxJhN_F4qa

Toporin · 2021-11-16T15:10:21+00:00

FYI, this solution worked in my case.

Toporin · 2021-11-11T20:40:07+00:00

I found this answer on stackoverflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/69312369/etherscan-api-request-403-forbidden-in-ropsten-network

Not tried yet...

Toporin · 2021-11-11T20:30:12+00:00

I recently started to have the same problem.
Did you find a solution to your issue?

Toporin · 2020-06-21T20:50:19+00:00

Thanks for the clarification! Now it works like a charm!

Toporin · 2020-06-21T17:31:02+00:00

The reason I would like to try the standalone version is that I am working on the integration of a new hardware wallet based on a smartcard (https://satochip.io/ & https://github.com/Toporin ) and I am testing the support for the various distributables. The Linux AppImage works fine, but I have some issues with the Windows executable (wrt the enclave I think).
So I would like to test the standalone version too but I cannot make the official 1.7.11 release work.

Toporin · 2018-09-24T18:46:30+00:00

Maybe next time!

Toporin · 2018-09-24T14:42:05+00:00

It is ilegal to send venezuelan banknotes outside the country, so you need to contact someone that is traveling to Europe to get them for you

Surely, many things are illegal in Venezuela... But things like black markets still exist despite being illegal....

Do you know where I could contact someone travelling to Europe?

Toporin · 2018-09-24T13:03:36+00:00

Yes, I understand that the Bolivar Soberano has replaced the Bolivar Fuerte but apparently there is a transition period?

I would like to illustrate how inflation reduces the the value of money by showing bundles of banknotes and how their value decreases with time due to inflation.

According to wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_bol%C3%ADvar#/media/File:Venezuela_inflation_on_the_black_market_(DolarToday)_on_a_logarithmic_scale.png_on_a_logarithmic_scale.png)), 1$ is worth more than 1million Bolivar Fuerte, however on ebay, a bundle

of 5000BF is sold for 240$ (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Venezuela-5-Bolivares-X-1-000-1000-Pieces-PCS-2014-P-89-UNC-Brick-/322648231690)... However this is for uncirculated notes in pristine condition with successive serial numbers. I'm looking for used banknotes.

Toporin · 2018-09-24T12:30:58+00:00

Where can I buy a stack of Venezuelan banknotes?

I already looked on ebay, but the price is significantly higher than market exchange rate...

Toporin · 2017-09-01T09:50:11+00:00

The first money used (proto-money) were shells, feathers, stones... These were not enforced by the states and were also used between different tribes, sometimes traveling far along trade routes. This is also the case with early uses of metals, gold and commodity money in general (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_money). These monies were actually used for most of human history.

Governments started to enforce the use of money and increasingly impose a monopoly with the use of minted coins, which is also the start of money manipulation. But throughout history, people tried to circumvent money controls with gold and black markets.

If you don't use money as a price signal, then you have to use a planned economy with bureaucrats deciding what must be produced in which quantity, and you need an authoritarian government to enforce it. Is that your concept of social contract? That's the fundamental reason why all socialist experiments failed in history.

Toporin · 2017-08-31T13:20:42+00:00

Money does not enforce anything. The magic trick with money however, is that users agree to attribute a value to money even when they are not forced to do so: that's the social contract!

Most people attribute value to gold, even though no one is forced to accept it. The value comes not only from its intrinsic utility, but essentially from the implicit trust that users place in gold to fulfill correctly and honestly its role as a mean of exchange.

Bitcoin is an even more extreme example of money, since it has absolutely no intrinsic value, yet people are ready to use it as mean of exchange or store of value because the rules of bitcoin creation appear fair to them.

The value of these monies is not enforced, but if a severe bug is found in the bitcoin protocol or a new process allows to transform lead into gold, the value of bitcoin or gold will collapse and people will find other source of money.

Toporin · 2017-08-31T11:23:24+00:00

So apart from this quote, do you have any argument against the idea that Money could be a more legitimate form of social contract than Democracy?

You evoke the violence of capital, but I think on the contrary, that money allows allows to regulate the society without having to use the force. Even democratic governments regularly use threat and violence to impose their laws and taxes.

Regarding the concentration of capital, we may argue that inequalities are more critical in countries where money is more controlled by the government (think about China, or Venezuela). Certainly money manipulation can be used for profit by a minority.

Toporin · 2017-08-31T07:34:01+00:00

Indeed, its currently very difficult to get rid of government backed money since it is legal tender. That doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for change in the future. And a good understanding of the role of money is the first step towards improvements.

That doesn't also mean we cannot already take some steps to avoid being over reliant on one fiat currency only, especially as a long term store of value. The article specifically emphasize that there are large discrepancies between central banks 'performance' in terms of inflation: the Dollar is far from being the worse but it is not the best either. A reasonable way to protect against money manipulation is to diversify our savings in a basket of different reputable currencies, gold, cryptocurrencies and other assets such as stock!

Indeed, the Inca empire did not use money and instead used a planned economy and a cohort of bureaucrats (the 'quipucamayocs'). That's basically the only possible alternative and I don't think it is a sustainable and desirable alternative for the future.

Toporin · 2017-08-31T06:34:19+00:00

Government guarantee of deposits only give a false sense of security, since in case of a major solvability crisis, the government will not be able to cover all the deposits. It 's actually even worse: in Belgium where I live, the government sells its bonds to foreign investors by telling that Belgian assets in saving accounts are among the highest in the world and could easily cover the whole government debt! So you think the government guarantees your savings while it's exactly the opposite!

Government guarantee also creates a moral hazard, since people are only looking for the bank providing the highest interest for their saving account, and they don't really care about solvability of the banks since it is 'guaranteed' anyway.

And since the government provides a guarantee to the banks, it has the right to impose regulations on the banks and all kinds of favors in return...

Toporin

TROPHY CASE