Ok. So I am tired of following crypto news daily and all the BS talk and FUD that goes with it. I am looking to just delete all my crypto apps etc and hodl for 5-10 years and forget all about it in the meantime.
Currently have ADA staked on Daedulus but it seems to be getting bigger and taking longer. Will that be a huge issue in the future if I just left it on there or is a hardware wallet a better idea?
Will I still have to write down and store in a safe a set of keys for that like the Daedulus wallet also?
Thanks in advance guys.
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The ADA are not in Daedalus, they are on the blockchain, protected by your seed phrase.
You can just use a totally different wallet app in ten years.
Hardware wallets are an alternative to the seed phrase. They can also be used with different wallet apps. They also have a seed phrase, so you can set up another hardware wallet if yours gets broken. But you never give that seed phrase to a computer, just to the hardware wallet itself.
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Don’t forget to check the pool from time to time…
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Forgot to mention, I was also considering stamping the seed phrase into steel sheet to put in safe as an alternative. Dont really want to add another layer of potential issue with a hardware wallet if its not necessary. Just thinking if I need to get access in a hurry then when it comes to syncing in say 5-10 years then it may take days as by that time node would be huge.
As said, you can just use Yoroi, adalite.io, ccvault.io, … or whatever wallet apps are still and newly there, then.
Aware of that. yes.
So the seed phrase for DW would be relevant for a sync with say yoroi, that would subsequently be much quicker, if I needed to get access to funds in a hurry say?
Yes! It’s the seed phrase for your wallet, not for Daedalus specifically. You just happen to have created it with Daedalus. Could have also been one of the others.
And: They will have to come up with a solution for truncating the databases, anyway. It can’t stay so that every node has to store the whole transaction history of everyone forever, in my opinion.
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Not really an issue. Sure it will average out overall but a good point nonetheless. Thanks.
Thanks for all your input here HeptaSean, great help! So hardware wallet not really a requirment as I see it then - if for example I had the seed phrase stamped into steel and buried for 5-10?
As long as all devices you had the seed phrase on are secure, it’s not a problem.
I have to say, though: The reports here show that often the devices were not as secure as people thought.
For Daedalus, there are less attacks (probably more due to being a less profitable target than to inherent security), but there are some.
Still doesn’t mean that it means anything for your security. I’m also quite sure that my setup is secure. (Still have a hardware wallet.)
Interesting. So say I delete Daedulus from my mac altogether and didnt install or use some newer alternative say, I would have no worries and my ADA would still be safe?
This is just us chewing the fat ofcourse. Is there any other consensus on this?
Forgive my ignorance or lack of knowledge. Thank-you.
Yes, to get at your ADA, a malware targeted quite specifically at Daedalus would have to have been there, before you delete it, to either
- keygrab or screenshot your seed phrase, while you entered or received it, or
- get the file with the secrets out of the Daedalus directory and keygrab or brute-force your spending password (that is used to encrypt these secrets).
That is both not impossible. It happens to quite some people on all operating systems. But it definitely needs your computer to be infected with some malware. It cannot happen purely remotely.
Only you can say, how safe you keep (and have kept) your computer and how sure you are about that. There also are enough (most?) people who don’t get any troubles.
As soon as it is physically deleted, nothing more can happen.
You should get a hardware wallet. If you ”forget” about your ada, your computer will be recycled by the time you start thinking about it. Malware will only get better.
I think Im more likely to forget about a HW over a laptop but that is an interesting point you make Freddy, thank-you. It is obvious that technology is a huge hurdle, Moores law, hacking etc but do you you have much more evidence to suggest that the likes of the current ADA platforms wouldnt be around in say 5-10 years or is that too much of a crystal ball topic?
If I was deleting the software and stamping sp into steel to go in safe for fire prevention I would think that would be a better alternative to a HW.
If the wallet (app) is completely deleted, the recycling and the malware getting better make less difference. The attackers would have to scan empty drive space for the remnants. Possible (if not overwritten), but not that likely.
Nobody can say if any of the cryptocurrencies are still there in 10 years, let alone if they have any value by then.
If Cardano is still there, then: If another fork like Byron-Shelley happens, it might be a hassle to move the funds to the then-supported format, but it will probably be possible. And I don’t think such a fork is planned. The further updates leave the address–wallet–key handling mostly as it is, I think.
Hardware wallets do not help much in that regard. They just store keys and are not a mystical wonder thing storing crypto currencies directly. If the handling of these keys in a crypto currency changes, funds protected by hardware wallets have to be migrated in the same way as funds protected by seed phrases.
Do you want to do that manually yourself or at least only with tools that are not in any way connected to a network ever?
When I was thinking about something like that, I figured that I would need a service for that, which makes it totally insecure and worse than paper written with my own hand.
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Exactly, I just see the HW for me as another potential hurdle further on down the line if Im honest.
As for sp on steel sheet - my tools - by my hand. Only doing it as a prevention against fire and it would be hidden/integrated into safe, perhaps welded.
Use RAID5,6 like technique to split the phrase into multiple chunks. Use different stamping service providers to stamp the parts. Go to the shop in person or use different emails/computers and deliveries although that wouldn’t be secure enough. Store the stamped pieces in different physical locations (again Raid analogy) Hehe sounds too much like a Holywood like scenario I guess… 
maybe simple paper + Raid5,6 technique would be enough 
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Sounds like youre just over complicating things there to me.
Hammer - metal stamps - sheet of steel/ally - bish, bosh, done - store.