[AUDIENCE] I have a question about choosing a wallet. I've been using Copay on my iPhone for a while.
Then somebody looks [and says], "Oh, you're using Copay. You support [SegWit2x!"' and I said, "I do?"
There are affiliations that I didn't know even know about when I started using the wallet.
Then I use a Trezor, and [am told], "Oh, you must hate Bitcoin Cash then."
I feel like I'm affiliating in ways that I didn't even realise when I start using wallets.
Do you have any advice on...
how to find and choose a wallet that matches up with my own philosophy on cryptocurrency?
Or a site running a full node for Bitcoin?
[ANDREAS] I struggle with that on a daily basis.
Not only do I choose a wallet for myself, but I often recommend a wallet to newbies.
The criteria are usually different; the wallet I choose for myself tends to have a hundred and fifty tunable knobs
and parameters that I can highly customize.
If my wallet doesn't do replace-by-fee (RBF), over Tor, to my own node, 'whatever!' [Dismissive gesture]
Whereas to a newbie, I just said three words that mean nothing: "RBF," "Tor," and "node." [Laughter]
That wallet [may be] unsuitable for someone who is new to the space. I [may] recommend a different one.
It's a difficult choice. Most importantly, it's a choice that changes every three months, [at least for me].
The whole space is evolving. Wallets that used to be good are no longer good.
Wallets that used to have principles that I agreed with, no longer have principles that I agree with.
Wallets that used to be [considered] secure, are not as secure anymore.
What I do is change [wallets] often.
Every year or so, I switch which is my primary, mobile, petty cash, day-to-day wallet.
My long-term [freezing-cold] storage system is not a wallet [on hardware], it's a piece of paper.
That's a whole other story; that can remain static for years.
In terms of the day-to-day wallet that I use to broadcast transactions into the network,
that changes, and I constantly try to re-evaluate wallets, see if they're keeping up.
Right now, one of the criteria I have is that if it doesn't do SegWit, I don't want to use it.
It's too expensive for me [otherwise]; I need SegWit to get the fee discount.
If your wallet doesn't do SegWit, I'm not interested in using it.
What that means is, I currently don't have a mobile wallet. [LAUGHTER] None of them do Segwit [right now].
Sometimes you have to be a bit tolerant of differences.
What I can tell you is that, no matter what wallet you choose, you are clearly an impure traitor to the cause.
[LAUGHTER] .. and obviously made the wrong choice, not because you're mistaken [but] because you were...
maliciously trying to undermine the health of the network, bought off by the CIA and the Illuminati.
[LAUGHTER] I've never worked in a space where the circular firing squad was on 'full auto,' all the time.
No matter what choice you make, you will be criticized by almost everyone who didn't make that choice.
It's not a winning game. Keep it to yourself, probably. I don't take those things too seriously.
You just have to try to navigate a very complex and drama-filled environment, as best you can.