Thanks!
Posted May 16, 2023, 2:54 PM UTC
This is a great topic - good to go deep dive !!
Bitbox has been on the market promoting open source and secure element. meanwhile, ledger just changed their roadmap to open source from closed source. My question, who of these two have been battle tested under the existing security model frame of open source and secure element. 🤷🏻♂️
Moving of investment in crypto world lately, its almost impossible not to fall victim of all the various scams out there and it's really thoughtful that initiatives like this are set up to rescue people from these crooks. In addition, I would also recommend a licensed fraud analyst who had helped me out in recovering my funds sometimes last year, Dr Suzanne (metrodynamicfix On Instagram), he was able to make use of adequate proofs that I provided to enforce this recovery and I was able to get back my loss. Anyways, it was not an easy task but most importantly she got the job done
Yes
On device.
All firmware and app code is open source. The code is here.
The firmware releases are reproducible from code, see here.
With regards to the secure chip, check out this article:
https://shiftcrypto.ch/blog/best-of-both-worlds-using-a-secure-chip-with-open-source-firmware/
Thank you!
Today, Ledger confirmed that they have the ability to leak users' seed phrases. I'm looking at alternatives and BitBox02 seems to be the best option.
So, last question: can BitBox02, technically or theoretically, expose the private keys to the device connected to the internet?
(and a follow up: is it possible not to use the SD card?)
If you are talking about security vulnerabilities, yes they are theoretically possible. We have a bug bounty program and invite security researchers to disclose bugs to us.
If you are talking about the official firmware being able to do that: in the BitBx02, there is no functionality to expose private keys to the host and we have no plans to add such functionality.
By the way, all hardware wallets that allow firmware upgrades are theoretically capable of exposing private keys if the official firmware is changed to allow that. We have no plans to add any such function and the community can watch our firmware repo to double check.
Not OP but former Ledger user, I have some of followup questions while we have your attention:
I just found out about BitBox today after the Ledger fiasco. It seems like a very good hardware wallet and app from my research (great beginner's guide). I'm very much on the edge of buying one, and I imagine a lot of people are/will be, but question 2 is the only thing that worries me. I'm sure many would agree with me on thinking the only way to view the seed phrase once created, should be on the piece of paper it's written down.
Every time.
It's not possible to disable that. We felt the benefits outweigh the risks. We have not heard of any problems with this in practice. Note that this option is only available after unlocking the BitBox.
I am not sure I'll need to check and come back to you.
Currently a requirement, but we plan to make it optional. But imo there is no downside in having both the sdcard and the recovery words backup. You can store them together and enjoy a much simpler recovery process.
Hope this helps.
Yes, having open-source firmware makes all the difference here.
Thank you for the elaborate answer!
And the last question - is it possible to use it without the SD card? I know it requires us to initialize it with it, but am I good to go if I destroy it immediately afterwards?
You can destroy the sdcard afterwards, but why not keep it stored together with the 24 words backup? Don't see any downside there and recovery becomes a lot easier.
We plan on allowing skipping the sdcard backup even in the initial setup but that is not out yet.
Secure chip is closed source just like ledgers. Just a different provider.
So what's the benefit over Ledger? That the firmware is open source?
Sleek design. Higher price tag. Honestly, it's a very pretty device, but i can't justify the price. Especially with no support to metamask or other defi stuff. But damn is it pretty.
Ledgers software was also open source. Only the Secure element chip and its firmware was closed source. Same here. Excactly. I'm only thinking about getting it, so I can't say what the benefit is over ledger :D