Would you store an encrypted wallet (backup) of significant value on dropbox?

Assuming the passcode is good and secure.



Yes, you could store encrypted wallet in the dropbox.

From the first glance into the source code, the encryption algorithm is AES 256 CBC. This is industry standard protocol that is NOT known to be brute-force crackable* (subject to correct usage). You can read up more on the B. Schneier blog AES tag, where the most recent post say

[...] Reading the above, the obvious question to ask is: can the NSA break AES?


There are chances, that the satellite code around the algorithm wasn't used correctly, or that there is a back door. There are some talks on the general security concepts in this thread. Despite it being open-source, there is no guarantee there are no bugs.


Personally, I would use default encryption and trust it provides sufficient level of protection. Make sure your pass-phrase is strong, long and random, and that it is stored securely.


It all comes down to much do you care about the wallet's security. The more secure it is the less convenient it will be for you. In this case your wallet will be only as secure as your dropbox account (decrypting the wallet is just a matter of time).

Saving the encrypted wallet on your PC is also not that safe. If you really care about it you can store it in a usb stick with a linux based OS installed in it (Instead of keeping it on the PC). That way The OS with the wallet accesses the internet only for a brief time when you make a transaction. This is not a convenient way to perform a transaction but is the safest I know.

  • 1
    You say it's "just a matter of time" to decrypt a wallet. That's a given. But what kind of practical timeframe are we talking about? 10000 years, or 5 days? – obelia Jan 6 '14 at 21:23
  • Of course if you ware to use a password with 20 characters it would be virtually uncrackable. However I read not too long ago that a 25 AMD GPU cluster can bust any possible combination of an 8 character password in just 5.5 hours, which means that 1 GPU can crack it in about a week, which is still a feasible time frame. Anyway, if you decide to do this make sure you make a ridiculously long password, just in case. – User2344452 Jan 7 '14 at 0:19
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    @User2344452 that assumes no key stretching. The Bitcoin wallet uses PBKDF2 with at least 100,000 rounds. So checking one password attempt isn't one hash it is 100,000 hashes and thus the computing requirements increase by a factor of 100,000. The wallet will perform a benchmark on your system to pick a iteration count that maximizes security while not creating an excessive delay for the user. – DeathAndTaxes Apr 20 '14 at 16:05

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