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102 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 8h \ parent \ on: Photon SDK for seedless bitcoin wallet designs bitcoin
I still feel that a hardware wallet that is only portable to a different device via a transaction feels a lot like vendor lock in.
I disagree, and I feel like it's worth saying so. This is sort of like calling a white lie fraud. It quacks like a goose not a duck.
Imagine apple cloud let you transfer your photos to google cloud via a button click. Is this lock-in? Sounds like the opposite to me. Is it suddenly lock-in if a competitor, say dropbox, syncs everything locally and you don't have to do the transfer to move to another solution? Not to me - it's just a different solution to the same problem.
I think they could have avoided many reactions like mine if they had said "We've got a new solution, it's very robust for all sorts of reasons, one of the trade-offs is that you can't export your key material" instead of saying, "Actually, you shouldn't be able to export your key material because it's dangerous."
It's hard to get attention being meek like this. Everyone took the rage bait and amplified the message. Marketing accompli.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby OP 7h
It quacks like a goose not a duck.
This is a really nice metaphor.1 phenomenal!
Imagine apple cloud let you transfer your photos to google cloud via a button click. Is this lock-in?
In the world of Bitcoin, I believe the answer is yes. Because at any point apple cloud can refuse to honor your click.
Now, Bitkey has the Emergency Exit Kit for this scenario. But my complaint is that it makes a security trade off not made by seeds (and being able to export your key material).
A hardware signer that creates a wallet that no other type of wallet can recover is definitely a new way of thinking about security and, I believe, deserves a healthy amount of inspection.
While I enjoy marketing via controversy, it's not really "fud" when people react to the controversial statements.
But I take your points, especially the reality that self custody is not coming to Bitcoin in any great number and that we need good solutions for lots of use-cases.

Footnotes

  1. I had to take a minute to figure out if it was a metaphor or an analogy. ↩
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102 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 7h
Anyway, I'm obscuring my own point. I just think trying to get to motive is tricky.
I also find myself in a weird position apologizing for every variation of self-custody [that offers unilateral exit in all but the worst case at least] because the alternative is much worse and the alternative dominates right now.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby OP 7h
You are right. I somewhat thoughtlessly thought "lock in" did not imply some kind of nefarious motive. It probably does.
But "not portable" does not do justice to my thoughts.
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