Why I recommend storing your Bitkey in a safe deposit box at a bank, if you have a lot of bitcoin

00:01 Hey everyone. If you have a lot of
00:03 Bitcoin, you should absolutely have the
00:05 vast majority or even all of it stored
00:08 on BitKey rather than on an exchange
00:11 like Coinbase or uh Robin Hood or
00:15 anything else, any centralized exchange.
00:18 But you might wonder, well, why do I
00:19 recommend you keep your bit key if you
00:22 have a lot of Bitcoin? Um, and by a lot,
00:24 I mean, you know, tens of thousands,
00:26 hundreds of thousands, etc. a lot,
00:28 whatever a very lot is to you. Why do I
00:31 recommend that you keep the BitKey
00:33 device in a safe deposit box at a bank?
00:36 First of all, what is a safe deposit
00:38 box? Uh, every single bank, uh, you
00:41 probably never noticed when you bank,
00:42 but every single bank has safe deposit
00:44 boxes, which are little lock boxes that
00:47 are in the side or back of the bank, and
00:50 you can rent those. Typically, they cost
00:52 about $30 per year for the smallest
00:54 size. So that comes out to uh $2 and
00:58 half dollar $2.50 a month. So just $30 a
01:01 year. So super super cheap. And that
01:03 gives you a tiny little place the size
01:05 of a shoe box maybe to store your
01:08 valuables. And of course Bit Key is tiny
01:10 so it easily fits. So why do I recommend
01:13 you keep Bit Key there? Well, for two
01:14 reasons. One, it creates time separation
01:18 between when you decide you want to move
01:21 your Bitcoin or send it someplace and
01:23 when you actually do. in that time
01:25 separation, it gives you more time to
01:28 think about whether what you’re doing is
01:29 a scam. So, for example, if somebody
01:32 calls you uh or reaches out on WhatsApp
01:34 and says, “Hey, I have a Bitcoin trading
01:37 service. You know, if you send me my
01:39 your Bitcoin, I’ll send you 10 times as
01:41 much of it back in 30 days,” or some
01:43 crazy offer. Then the time it takes you
01:45 to go to the bank to grab your bit key
01:48 to hold it to the back of your phone to
01:49 send the scammer or the hacker your
01:52 Bitcoin. There’s some time for you to
01:54 think about that. It’s not something
01:55 you’re just going to suddenly do live on
01:57 the phone with somebody, a scammer that
01:59 claims they’re with technical support
02:01 for somewhere and they need to validate
02:03 your identity and you need to send them
02:05 all of your Bitcoin to validate your
02:07 identity or that they’re with tech
02:08 support of Google or Coinbase. Um, I’ve
02:12 never heard anybody claim to be tax
02:14 support from BitKey, but eventually
02:16 scammers and hackers will start claiming
02:17 to be tax support from BitKey. You know,
02:20 they’ll get around to every uh Bitcoin
02:22 service eventually. And anyway,
02:24 regardless, or they call you up and they
02:25 claim that you owe back taxes and a
02:29 warrant is out for your arrest and the
02:31 police are coming to get you and if you
02:33 send all of the Bitcoin to satisfy your
02:35 tax bill right now, that they will call
02:37 off the law enforcement that is coming
02:40 to hunt you down. Anyway, scammers and
02:42 hackers basically are trying absolutely
02:44 everything to separate you from your
02:45 Bitcoin. Well, if your bit key is in a
02:48 safe deposit box at a bank, then it
02:50 takes you some number of minutes or
02:52 hours uh to get it. And in that time,
02:55 you can think, wait a second, what is
02:56 the probability that the IRS is really
02:59 after me with armed, you know, IRS
03:02 agents? And is this really an IRS agent
03:05 I’m talking to on the phone who’s
03:06 claiming I need to send them all of my
03:08 Bitcoin, otherwise they will arrest me,
03:10 etc., etc. So, it creates some time, but
03:12 what it also does is it keeps you from
03:15 being in a position that if you get held
03:17 up at gunpoint, which is never going to
03:19 happen, but we plan for everything, even
03:22 the extremely unlikely scenarios, you
03:24 get held up at gunpoint. Um, and it
03:27 creates an opportunity for you to tell
03:29 your asalent when they say, “Transfer me
03:33 everything of wealth that you have. Give
03:34 me all your jewelry. Give me your
03:35 wallet. And send me any cryptocurrency
03:38 you have on your phone.” It gives you
03:40 the opportunity to comply with that
03:42 request because you don’t have a lot of
03:44 crypto on your phone because you cannot
03:46 send them your bit key uh crypto uh
03:50 bitcoin specifically. You cannot send it
03:52 without going to the bank. Well, you’ll
03:54 notice that there’s, you know, all sorts
03:57 of news reports of people getting held
03:58 up at gunpoint and robbed and all this
04:00 sort of stuff. In 0ero% of those stories
04:04 does the gunman escort the person to the
04:07 bank to withdraw money at the bank. Now,
04:10 why is that? It’s because bad guys do
04:12 not want to go to the bank. Because
04:14 banks have armed guards. Banks have
04:17 little buttons under the counter where
04:18 when you push them, it locks everything
04:20 down, closes the door, and calls the
04:23 police. And banks have security cameras
04:26 everywhere. And the parking lot of the
04:28 bank is monitored by security cameras.
04:31 Basically, banks are the last place that
04:33 someone wants to go who is trying to
04:35 extract value from you. If they wanted
04:37 to rob a bank, they’d go rob it, which
04:39 is un unlikely and uncommon. But if they
04:41 want to rob you, they want to do that in
04:45 the privacy of a gas station parking lot
04:48 or a home invasion or something, which
04:50 again, it’s not going to happen to you,
04:52 but we should plan for everything. So in
04:54 those situations, virtually never does
04:57 an asalent in the real world escort the
04:59 person to the bank because they don’t
05:01 want to go to the bank. Um, so if you
05:04 have your Bit Key device in a bank safe
05:06 deposit box and you are assailed in real
05:09 life by someone who tells you to give
05:11 them all of your valuables, again,
05:14 jewelry, wallet, and transfer any crypto
05:16 you have on your phone, then you can do
05:18 that and say, “Well, I can’t really send
05:20 you that much because all I got’s a
05:23 small working balance for my Coinbase
05:24 debit card in Coinbase, and the rest of
05:26 it’s in Bitkey, and I can’t transfer it
05:28 from my phone uh without my BitKey
05:31 device.” And so at that point, you give
05:33 the attacker everything you have access
05:35 to and there’s nothing else you even
05:37 could give them. So that is way better
05:40 than walking around with, you know, tens
05:43 of thousands, hundreds of thousands or
05:45 whatever of any kind of cryptocurrency
05:47 on your phone because if you’re walking
05:49 around with it on your phone, then you
05:52 are in a position where somebody could
05:54 force you to transfer it to someone
05:55 else. So if your bit key device is in a
05:58 safe deposit box at a bank then you uh
06:02 it mitigates that risk. Um so uh that
06:06 means a safe deposit box for your bit
06:08 key device requires you to go to the
06:11 bank to transfer large amounts. Now you
06:13 can set up a limit in bit to transfer
06:17 small amounts. So so let’s say you have
06:20 I don’t know pick a number $100,000 of
06:22 Bitcoin. I’m going to pick a number that
06:23 is would be a lot for most people. Let’s
06:25 say one Bitcoin. Let’s say you have one
06:26 Bitcoin that’s $105,000 of Bitcoin. You
06:30 can set up Bit Key where you can
06:32 transfer 1,000 or $2,000 or $5,000 per
06:35 day. Which means in a situation where
06:37 things go bad, you could transfer a bad
06:40 guy the amount of Bitcoin at the daily
06:43 limit. But again, if that’s only set up
06:45 to 1% or 2% or 5% of your Bitcoin, that
06:48 means you can’t transfer the rest of
06:50 that Bitcoin unless you did it over a
06:52 very extended period of time, like
06:54 $2,000 a day for 50 days if your limit
06:57 is set at 2,000 and you’ve got $100,000
06:60 of Bitcoin. Again, all of that just
07:02 builds in a lot of safeguards to make
07:05 sure that, you know, if you’re held up
07:08 at gunpoint, um there’s really nothing
07:10 that could happen. So, I will not go for
07:13 security reasons. I will not go in to uh
07:16 any of the details of my own security
07:18 setup other than to say I do not walk
07:20 around with the ability to transfer any
07:22 meaningful amount of Bitcoin to anyone
07:25 at all. So, if anyone wants any
07:28 meaningful amount of Bitcoin, it’s not
07:31 available on my phone. My security setup
07:33 involves a lot of complexity even for
07:35 me. It involves, you know, dogs. It
07:38 involves uh armed guards. It involves
07:41 time delays. It involves geographic
07:44 separation. It involves a bunch of other
07:46 things I’m not going to go into the
07:47 details on. But the short take is it is
07:50 a very complicated multifaceted process
07:53 that to move large amounts of Bitcoin
07:55 for me takes a long time and uh is
07:59 exactly the opposite of the process that
08:02 anyone would ever want to go through if
08:05 they were trying to get my Bitcoin. So,
08:08 I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about,
08:09 okay, if somebody wanted my Bitcoin, how
08:12 would they go about trying to get it?
08:13 And that I’ve done everything in my
08:15 power to make it very hard for them not
08:17 only to get my Bitcoin, but very hard
08:20 for me to get my Bitcoin in a situation
08:23 where I am under duress. Um, and that is
08:26 a great deterrent is to just make it as
08:28 hard as possible uh to do that. Now, I
08:31 do not recommend my setup to people
08:33 because it’s way too complicated and
08:35 involved, you know, for the average
08:37 person. But, um, if you’ve got any
08:40 amount of Bitcoin that you consider to
08:42 be a really large amount of Bitcoin,
08:44 then the simple thing, the easy step is
08:46 get a bit key and move most or all of
08:48 your Bitcoin to the Bitkey. If you have
08:51 a lot of Bitcoin such that even having
08:53 the bit key in your house makes you
08:55 nervous. I mean perhaps you live in a
08:57 high crime area uh where home invasions
09:00 are common. Uh I do not live in a high
09:02 crime area. Home invasions are virtually
09:05 non-existent where I live. Uh I can’t
09:08 say it would never happen but it would
09:09 be extremely unlikely and the nature of
09:13 you know security cameras in my case you
09:16 know my house has security c you know a
09:18 whole security apparatus. So, and I have
09:20 an enhanced concealed carry weapons
09:22 permit, so I can carry a gun 24/7 and
09:25 all that good stuff no matter where I
09:26 am. Anyway, but again, the average
09:29 person, I’m not saying the average
09:30 person needs to do any of that. The
09:32 average person should take common sense
09:34 precautions, which involves just putting
09:36 your Bitcoin on Bit Key, not just having
09:39 it on your phone. And second, putting
09:42 your Bit Key device somewhere more
09:43 secure than your house. Again, if you
09:45 live in a high crime area or even if you
09:47 don’t, it’s great in a situation if
09:50 there’s a home invasion or something
09:52 like that to be able to honestly tell
09:54 whoever it is that yes, I will give you
09:56 everything of value that I possibly can
09:58 and I’m sorry, the arrest I just can’t
10:00 give you. So, for example, if you have
10:03 the reason I like a safe deposit box is
10:05 for because for essentially for $30 per
10:07 year, you are renting from the bank
10:10 armed guards and cameras and security
10:13 systems and all of the things that you
10:15 may not want to afford yourself. Like in
10:19 my case, I would never keep a BitKey
10:21 device at my house or anywhere else
10:23 where it was easily accessible by me.
10:26 But again, um if you have a small amount
10:27 of Bitcoin, it may make sense to keep it
10:29 at your house. If you have a moderate to
10:31 a large amount of Bitcoin, I would
10:32 absolutely keep keep your BitKey device
10:34 at a bank. First of all, that means it
10:37 is not available to you except during
10:39 business hours. Again, other than
10:40 whatever the amount is that you’ve set
10:42 up that you can transfer without your
10:44 BitKey device, which again, maybe that’s
10:46 1%, maybe 2%, maybe 5% of your Bitcoin,
10:49 but it’s some small number. Um, or if
10:51 you have a lot of Bitcoin, it’s a very
10:52 small number. uh so small enough that
10:55 again it’s immaterial as to whether it’s
10:58 part of your Bitcoin stack. Um but
11:00 essentially as long as your bit keys at
11:02 a bank then that means over the nights
11:05 and weekends which are some of the times
11:07 that crime happens you know banks
11:09 banking hours are only I don’t know 20
11:12 or 25% of all the hours in the week that
11:15 means 75% of the time which is nights
11:18 and most of the weekends and all of that
11:19 the bank is closed which means your
11:21 bitcoin and your bit key is un
11:24 unaccessible to you but it also means
11:26 it’s unaccessible to uh someone who
11:28 wants to get
11:30 And again, in a situation where your
11:33 bank closes or burns down or something
11:35 like that, you can always transfer the
11:37 Bitcoin off little by little based on
11:39 the daily limit or go through the uh the
11:42 recovery process that Bit Keith
11:44 provides, but that recovery process has
11:47 at least a 7-day waiting period. And
11:49 they’re planning to introduce a
11:50 configurable option. So, you can set it
11:53 for even longer to 14 days or 30 days or
11:56 even six months or something like that
11:58 where if the bank burns down your bit
11:60 keys in it, uh you can replace it with
12:02 another bit key, it just requires a
12:04 waiting period and you can set that
12:05 waiting period long enough that it will
12:08 massively deter anyone that might be out
12:12 for no good. So, anyway, to recap here,
12:15 uh the best way to keep your Bitcoin out
12:17 of the hands of hackers and scammers is
12:20 to move it onto BitKey. The best way to
12:22 keep it out of the hands of not only
12:25 hackers and scammers, but also physical
12:28 asalants in the real world is to keep
12:30 your bit key somewhere other than where
12:32 you usually are. And the best place to
12:35 do that is in a safe deposit box at a
12:37 bank. Because like I say, at a bank, you
12:41 are effectively renting for $30 per year
12:44 the security of a bank. That means the
12:46 cameras, the buttons that call the
12:48 police, the buttons that lock the doors,
12:51 um the camera systems that cover the
12:54 parking lot and the bank itself. Like
12:56 all of that security, you’re effectively
12:58 renting from the bank for for $30 per
13:01 year, which is super cheap. so that
13:03 whenever you want to move large amounts
13:06 or medium amounts of Bitcoin, you’ve got
13:08 to go to the bank, uh, get your Bit Key
13:10 device out of your safe deposit box,
13:12 hold it to the back of your phone, and
13:15 then you can move Bitcoin, which again
13:17 is not something that your average
13:19 attacker uh, wants to do. Now, in my
13:22 case, again, I’ve built in significant
13:24 geographic separation, so it’s not even
13:26 that simple. It’s even more complex than
13:28 that. But for the average person, I
13:29 think for the average person, your local
13:31 bank, wherever you bank, if you bank at
13:34 a local bank, and you don’t even have to
13:36 be a customer there, you can just uh,
13:38 you know, go get a bank. I think it
13:40 pretty much anybody can get a safe
13:42 deposit box at a bank. Um, the way a
13:44 safe deposit box works is you walk in,
13:46 you go to the teller, you tell them you
13:48 want to access a safe deposit box. You
13:50 have to have your safe deposit box key
13:51 with you. They have a safe deposit box
13:53 key as well. So, safe deposit boxes
13:55 require two keys. You have to show your
13:57 ID to make sure it’s you. You have to
13:59 sign so they can check your signature
14:01 against the signature on file and then
14:03 they give you access to the safe deposit
14:05 box. So once you’re familiar with the
14:07 routine, you know, it’s not a
14:09 complicated process. It’s easy and again
14:12 the kind of the Bitcoin you store on Bit
14:14 Key should be Bitcoin that you don’t
14:16 plan to use, you know, for the next 2 or
14:18 3 years. So it should require very
14:21 infrequent or almost non-existent trips
14:24 to the bank. um you still want to go to
14:26 the bank every 6 or 12 months or maybe
14:28 every, you know, at least every 12
14:29 months or 18 months just to eyeball your
14:32 bit key, make sure it’s still there.
14:34 Make sure that your uh safe deposit box
14:37 is paid up and that you haven’t somehow
14:40 forfeited it because you didn’t pay the
14:42 $30 for a year or something like that.
14:44 So, it’s still worth checking in on it
14:45 every 6 or 12 months just to eyeball it.
14:48 Uh touch it to the back of your phone to
14:50 sync it up, make sure that everything is
14:53 still good. it’s still worth doing that
14:54 just to sort of uh uh do a health check
14:57 on it. Uh and you can just do that in
14:59 the interface. Go to the settings and
15:01 then uh you can update it uh by touching
15:04 it to the back of your phone without
15:05 actually moving any Bitcoin. And that’ll
15:07 tell you that it’s working, it’s synced
15:09 up, and you’re in good shape. So again,
15:12 for most people, uh once you get more
15:14 than maybe $5,000 or $10,000 of Bitcoin,
15:18 it makes sense to put some or all of it
15:19 on Bit Key. And once you get more than,
15:22 I don’t know, pick a number, more than,
15:25 you know, $20,000, $25,000, I don’t
15:28 know, whatever that number is for you,
15:30 uh, it makes sense to keep your Bit Key
15:33 someplace more secure than at your
15:35 house, uh, or wherever you are.
15:37 Obviously, you should not keep it in
15:39 your car because you don’t want it with
15:41 you. I mean, the whole point of Bit Key
15:43 is to require something uh, that you
15:46 know is not as easy as just having it. I
15:48 mean, if you keep it in your pocket or
15:50 your purse all the time, then if a
15:52 scammer calls you, you pull it out, you
15:54 touch it to the back of your phone, you
15:55 send your Bitcoin, and then you realize,
15:56 whoops, that was a scammer. Uh, if you
15:58 again keep it somewhere other than where
16:00 you usually are, and ideally somewhere
16:03 as secure as a safe deposit box at a
16:05 bank, that creates time separation uh
16:08 because it requires time to go get it.
16:11 And it also creates physical separation
16:13 because you do not live your life at
16:15 that same bank. And it introduces
16:18 security, cameras, lockdowns, security
16:21 personnel, armed guards. It introduces
16:23 all of that, which is absolutely
16:26 positively not what somebody who wants
16:28 your Bitcoin wants to deal with. So
16:30 that’s what I recommend. Everybody with
16:32 any meaningful amount, 5 or 10,000 or
16:34 more, should have a bit key with most or
16:36 all of their Bitcoin on it. And if they
16:39 have substantially more than that, that
16:41 bit key device should ideally be stored
16:44 at a safe deposit box in a bank. Like I
16:47 say, I’m not going to go into the
16:48 complexities and additional security
16:50 measures I take myself, but for the vast
16:53 majority of people, that is a good setup
16:55 that is costefficient, accessible to
16:57 everyone, and just makes sense. So stay
17:01 stay safe out there, everyone. Um, and
17:04 I’ll last thing I’ll say is don’t be
17:06 flashy about your Bitcoin. Um, some
17:08 people have gotten robbed, but it tends
17:11 to be, for example, um, uh, influencers
17:16 on the internet. They have some
17:18 ridiculous amount like $20 million of
17:20 Bitcoin. This actually happened, I
17:22 think, in France. uh some social media
17:24 influencer had $20 million of Bitcoin
17:28 and to show off to their online
17:30 audience, they flashed it on their phone
17:33 to their online audience, which gave
17:36 some attackers the bright idea of
17:38 tracking this person down because they
17:40 could tell that the entire $20 million
17:43 was available on that person’s phone
17:45 with no extra security. So, they
17:47 thought, “Hey, if they’re flashing $20
17:49 million of Bitcoin uh into their webcam,
17:53 then maybe we could go get that
17:55 Bitcoin.” Uh, so they tried. Now, what
17:57 ended up happening is the person’s
17:59 boyfriend pulled a gun, shot one of the
18:02 attackers, and the other attackers were
18:04 captured. One of them was shot, the
18:06 others were captured. Uh, but again,
18:09 there is no reason this person should
18:11 have had $20 million of Bitcoin on their
18:14 phone. And absolutely they should not
18:16 have been flashing that to show off to
18:19 their online audience of fans. That was
18:21 just downright stupid and they should
18:24 not have done that. So
18:37 um sorry I think it muted in there. I
18:39 don’t know when it muted but I’m getting
18:41 rained on here so the buttons are
18:42 getting pushed. Um, so anyway, this
18:44 person was flashing their Bitcoin on
18:48 their mobile phone, making it clear to
18:50 the entire world on a live stream that
18:52 they had $20 million of Bitcoin on their
18:54 phone with no extra security. And some
18:56 attackers decided to try to get it. So,
18:59 they showed up some series of days or
19:01 weeks later. And one of the attackers
19:03 got shot by the boyfriend of the person
19:05 who was flashing the Bitcoin, and the
19:08 other attackers were caught. But
19:09 regardless, just don’t do that. Don’t
19:11 flash Bitcoin. Nobody should know how
19:14 much you have. Nobody should know where
19:16 you keep it, how you store it. Uh
19:18 there’s just no reason to know that. So,
19:19 the universal rule in Bitcoin is talk
19:22 about Bitcoin all the time, but do not
19:24 talk about your Bitcoin. Now, I talk
19:27 about my Bitcoin a little bit because
19:29 it’s helpful for you to understand how I
19:31 think about Bitcoin, but I do not talk
19:34 about specific amounts of Bitcoin uh or
19:36 things like that. And obviously I do not
19:39 walk around with any meaningful amount
19:41 of Bitcoin available on my phone. I have
19:43 built very complex, very secure systems
19:46 that make it very hard for me or anyone
19:49 else or certainly me under duress makes
19:53 it very hard for me to get to my own
19:55 Bitcoin. It is a long, arduous process
19:57 on purpose to deter anyone that might
20:00 desire my Bitcoin. So uh stay safe out
20:03 there. It’s not something the average
20:05 person has to worry about as long as
20:07 you’re not flashing your Bitcoin online
20:09 and creating a massive honeypot for
20:12 people to come attack, then nobody
20:14 should bother you. Uh but as with
20:16 everything in life, uh it’s worth
20:18 staying safe out there. It’s worth using
20:20 common sense. So don’t flash your
20:22 Bitcoin to other people. Don’t tell them
20:24 how much you have. And do not walk
20:26 around with a huge amount of Bitcoin
20:29 sitting on your phone just waiting for
20:32 an in-person physical attack to take it
20:34 away from you. So stay safe out there.
20:36 Use common sense. And a bank safe
20:38 deposit box only costs $30 per year, not
20:42 per month, per year. It’s a great
20:45 investment for uh the vast majority of
20:47 people who are listening to this. And if
20:49 you’re listening to this and you have a
20:50 lot a lot a lot of Bitcoin, well then
20:52 you can jump through a gazillion hoops
20:54 and do insane, you know, set up an
20:57 insane gauntlet that’s nearly impossible
20:59 for you yourselves to go through. But
21:01 that is not the average person. For the
21:02 average person, they should just get a
21:05 uh safe deposit box at a bank. Stick
21:07 their bit key in it. Make sure you have
21:09 at least one or ideally two or more. You
21:12 can have up to three. ideally two or
21:14 three, but a minimum of one trusted
21:16 contact set up just in case you lose
21:19 your phone and the bank burns down with
21:21 your bit key in the safe deposit box all
21:23 at one time, which is not going to
21:24 happen because banks have fire detection
21:27 systems and all of that. So banks
21:28 generally basically never burn down. So
21:31 unless you’re like in a California
21:33 wildfire or something like that. Um but
21:35 even then again there are recovery
21:37 processes with BitKey. They just all
21:39 have significant time delays in them,
21:42 including the inheritance process, which
21:44 has a time delay of uh 180 days. So, a
21:47 full 6 months uh in that case. So, stay
21:50 t safe out there, everyone. Nothing to
21:52 worry about. Don’t let anything I’m
21:54 saying scare you because nobody’s
21:56 looking for your Bitcoin, but it’s
21:58 better to be safe than sorry. And this
22:01 is just a good common sense way of
22:03 securing your Bitcoin that is available
22:05 to everyone. Uh, Bit Key costs 150 bucks
22:09 and a safe deposit box at a bank cost
22:11 $30 per year. So, I feel like those are
22:15 numbers that anyone can afford who has a
22:18 medium to lot of Bitcoin. And so act
22:21 accordingly.