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MyCryptoVaulet.net Cold Storage Coins

🔍 Last analysed 29th April 2022 . Leaks Keys Not functioning anymore
4th March 2015
9th March 2019

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Please help us spread the word discussing build reproducibility with MyCryptoVaulet.net Cold Storage Coins  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.

What is a bearer token?

Bearer tokens are meant to be passed on from one user to another similar to cash or a banking check. Unlike hardware wallets, this comes with an enormous "supply chain" risk if the token gets handed from user to user anonymously - all bearer past and present have plausible deniability if the funds move. We used to categorize bearer tokens as hardware wallets, but decided that they deserved an altogether different category. Generally, bearer tokens require these attributes:

  • Secure initial setup
  • Tamper evidence
  • Balance check without revealing private keys
  • Small size
  • Low unit price
and either of these applies:
  • Somebody has a backup and needs to be trusted.
  • Nobody has a backup and funds are destroyed if the token is lost or damaged.

The Analysis 

Background

Announced via Bitcointalk on March 4, 2015 mycryptovault.net started with ~450 vault coins with the following:

  • Singles: Bitcoin Equivalent of $10.00USD +Shipping(worldwide)
  • 10 Stack: Bitcoin Equivalent of $75.00USD +Shipping(worldwide)
  • 50 Stack: Bitcoin Equivalent of $300.00USD Free Shipping(worldwide)
  • 100 Stack: Bitcoin Equivalent of $500.00USD Free Shipping(worldwide)


MyCryptoVault announced on March 9, 2019 that they would be closing their shop because the “volume is too low”

Product Description

Similar to Casascius Coins Leaks Keys! Defunct! the public key and the private key are printed via sticker on the coin. The end user is the one who would be printing the paper (sticker) wallet to attach to the back side of the coin.

Analysis

Printing the private keys on a piece of paper requires a bit of nuance on the part of owner. While the metal coin might survive say, a fire, the paper component is problematic indeed. Once that has been overcome, the token would then have to be brought on to another system or wallet in order for a transfer to commence.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

This product requires sharing private key material!

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Leaks Keys!

Does the device hide your keys from other devices?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Leaks Keys".

Some people claim their paper wallet is a hardware wallet. Others use RFID chips with the private keys on them. A very crucial drawback of those systems is that in order to send a transaction, the private key has to be brought onto a different system that doesn’t necessarily share all the desired aspects of a hardware wallet.

Paper wallets need to be printed, exposing the keys to the PC and the printer even before sending funds to it.

Simple RFID based devices can’t sign transactions - they share the keys with whoever asked to use them for whatever they please.

There are even products that are perfectly capable of working in an air-gapped fashion but they still expose the keys to connected devices.

This verdict is reserved for key leakage under normal operation and does not apply to devices where a hack is known to be possible with special hardware.

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.