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.