Crypto guru Vitalik Buterin shares tips for protecting crypto – Cryptopolitan
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently shared his advice for securing cryptocurrency in a Reddit post.
Buterin emphasizes the importance of using multisig and social recovery wallets to store funds, as they provide increased security and protection against theft or loss.
He also provides insight into the choice of guardians and how to instruct them to minimize the risk of collaboration and coercion.
Buterin’s advice
Multisig wallets and social recovery wallets are the key to self-storage, without having to be personally responsible for your entire security setup. Buterin personally uses a multisig wallet to store the bulk of his money, as does the Ethereum Foundation.
Social recovery wallets are easier to use, and when mature enough, Buterin recommends using them for hot wallets that store a small portion of an individual or organization’s funds, and multisigs for cold wallets that store an individual or organization’s savings.
Choosing the right guardians is crucial to securing crypto. Buterin suggests choosing guardians who don’t often talk to each other, ideally don’t even know each other, to minimize the risk of interaction. Guardians should also be on separate devices and ask a security question before authorizing an operation.
Buterin recommends instructing guardians to ask a security question that only the two of you and very few others know, such as the last time you met and what kind of food you had.
Guardians should also be tested at least once a year with a test operation, using half of the guardian for one and the other half of the guardian for the other. This ensures that your guardians have not forgotten or lost their accounts.
The future of guardian tech
One of the challenges with guardians today is that they do not yet exist to protect your financial privacy from your guardians. However, Buterin believes that this is a technical problem that can be solved technically. Guardians can protect a “lockbox” contract where the link between your account and the lockbox is hidden.
Getting the link to remain hidden even after a recovery requires more advanced ZK-SNARK technology, which is a problem that Buterin expects will be slowly solved over the next few years.
As the world of cryptocurrency continues to evolve and grow, it is important to prioritize security measures to protect your crypto assets. Buterin’s advice provides valuable insight into securing cryptocurrency, emphasizing the importance of multisig and social recovery wallets, choosing guardians who don’t know each other, and testing guardians at least once a year.
While the technology to protect the financial privacy of guardians is still evolving, Buterin is optimistic about the future of guardianship technology and the potential solutions that could be developed in the coming years.
