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Bixin - Secure Bitcoin Wallet

Latest release: 4.4.6 ( 14th April 2022 ) 🔍 Last analysed 25th April 2022 . Custodial: The provider holds the keys Not functioning anymore
3.8 ★★★★★
91 ratings
10 thousand
22nd March 2017

Jump to verdict 

Help spread awareness for build reproducibility

Please help us spread the word discussing the risks of centralized custodians with Bixin - Secure Bitcoin Wallet  via their Twitter!

Do your own research!

Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

If you find something we should include, you can create an issue or edit this analysis yourself and create a merge request for your changes.

The Analysis 

Update 2022-04-16: This app is not available anymore.

App Description

  • Cryptocurrency Wallet with IM enabled
  • OTC Market
  • Margin Trading
  • Rig Store
  • Exchange
  • Mutual-wallet
  • Interest
  • Escrow

The Site

The site specifies Bixin’s security measures:

Bixin owns the top security team in the industry. We build a mature risk control system to monitor abnormal data in real-time and ensure the security of users’ accounts and transactions. Technologies such as hot/cold wallet separation, multi-signatures, and military-grade hardware encryption mechanisms provide a bank-level guarantee for your digital assets.

Deposit & Withdrawal Tutorial

Review is required when Internal transfer ≥ 100BTC o External transfer ≥ 50BTC, which will be handled within 24h.

Account Security

Please keep your login/payment password safe, be sure to use your own identity documents for real-name verification, and try to register your account with your own phone number. If you have problems with your account, please contact the online customer service as soon as possible.

User Agreement

Section III. User notes, 2nd clause states:

You understand and agree that in order to protect your data storage security and diversify risks, you authorize the Company to transfer your digital assets to third parties in accordance with certain rules and proportions, and authorize the Company to entrust the third party to handle related matters, within the scope of the agreed services at the first in this Agreement

Verdict

If a wallet requires a review process for withdrawal amounts greater than X, then it means that the operators have the prerogative to allow or deny such a transfer. KYC, plus the provision stating that third parties will have control of user’s assets means that this is a custodial service which means the app cannot be verified.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

As the provider of this product holds the keys, verifiability of the product is not relevant to the security of the funds!

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Custodial!

Is the product self-custodial?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Custodial: The provider holds the keys".

A custodial service is a service where the funds are held by a third party like the provider. The custodial service can at any point steal all the funds of all the users at their discretion. Our investigations stop there.

Some services might claim their setup is super secure, that they don’t actually have access to the funds, or that the access is shared between multiple parties. For our evaluation of it being a wallet, these details are irrelevant. They might be a trustworthy Bitcoin bank and they might be a better fit for certain users than being your own bank but our investigation still stops there as we are only interested in wallets.

Products that claim to be non-custodial but feature custodial accounts without very clearly marking those as custodial are also considered “custodial” as a whole to avoid misguiding users that follow our assessment.

This verdict means that the provider might or might not publish source code and maybe it is even possible to reproduce the build from the source code but as it is custodial, the provider already has control over the funds, so it is not a wallet where you would be in exclusive control of your funds.

We have to acknowledge that a huge majority of Bitcoiners are currently using custodial Bitcoin banks. If you do, please:

  • Do your own research if the provider is trust-worthy!
  • Check if you know at least enough about them so you can sue them when you have to!
  • Check if the provider is under a jurisdiction that will allow them to release your funds when you need them?
  • Check if the provider is taking security measures proportional to the amount of funds secured? If they have a million users and don’t use cold storage, that hot wallet is a million times more valuable for hackers to attack. A million times more effort will be taken by hackers to infiltrate their security systems.

But we also ask:

Defunct!

Is the product still supported by the still existing provider?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Not functioning anymore".

Discontinued products or worse, products of providers that are not active anymore, are problematic, especially if they were not formerly reproducible and well audited to be self-custodial following open standards. If the provider hasn’t answered inquiries for a year but their server is still running or similar circumstances might get this verdict, too.