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bitpay / wallet

Bitpay Wallet (formerly Copay) is a secure Bitcoin and other crypto currencies wallet platform for both desktop and mobile devices.
http://bitpay.com/wallet
MIT License
3.8k stars 1.74k forks source link

Feature to help users stop losing their funds #7310

Open avibrazil opened 6 years ago

avibrazil commented 6 years ago

People lose their funds because crypto currency is not easy to understand and to manage. BIPs 32, 39 and 44 help but this is still not for everybody.

Copay could help if it generates a PDF that includes the phrase, associated derivation paths, current funds as a reference and short instructions on how to restore it somewhere else. Users could download or send it to themselves. Asking users to just copy their BIP39 phrase is not enough and still confusing.

This PDF or documentation should include information similar to this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TRnLywLYsVi8iYIfGq3ALrBP9kL_Y5goPD4YvSJAekU I organized this document to hand it off to my wife (not a technical person) in case I die or something bad happens.

For this suggestion to be effective and secure, the initial generated wallet MUST have a password.

Also, additional wallets that user creates might reuse the same phrase by default (or let users generate a new one with the cost that is one more thing for him to manage).

Also, derivation paths are key and as important as the phrase itself, so they need to be more under the spotlight, not hidden in advanced options. Also, “m/44'/0'/12'” is cryptic, while the only relevant information for the user is the “12”. The “m/44'/0'” part is obvious from the coin type and from standards, so it can be hidden in forms.

Copay designers made recent UI changes to the way wallets are created with the objective to make things easier. But it’s not, and it doesn’t promote good practices. When I coach friends with their wallets, I always need to dig into advanced forms for things that are essential, such as phrase password and derivation paths.

Let’s fix this !

Thank you in advance.

avibrazil commented 6 years ago

I just tested Coinomi wallet on Android.

I think they are making a good UI job by putting the phrase in the spotlight and from there creating wallets for multiple coins. Same phrase, multiple coins.

Its just that its apparently not open source, or maybe its not anymore. Their git repo says its inactive: https://github.com/Coinomi/coinomi-android

mr10008 commented 6 years ago

I like your suggestion, Avi. Thanks!

I'm just testing Copay/Bitpay recovery and I'm still not clear how you got the Derivation paths for different sub-wallets. When I open Wallet Information in the app I can see Derivation Strategy as BIP44 - that's all, but you have these different values, like m/44'/145'/0 for Bitcoin Cash, checking etc. How did you got them?

I had a thorough look at many wallets including Coinomi, but got discouraged by the reviews here:
https://www.cryptocompare.com/wallets/coinomi/ and it's not open source anymore.