As more and more crypto exchanges are hacked around the world, more people are looking to keep their crypto secure in a hardware wallet. However, people are still unsure where to store their private keys, leading to a rise in cold storage thefts. In a bid to keep their crypto as secure as possible, a number of people are opting to hide their private keys in the popular video game Minecraft.
Potentially Risky, Very Time Consuming
In the aftermath of the Binance hack that saw ₿7,000 stolen, the proof of keys movement really picked up momentum. Now, people are looking at new ways to secure their crypto. Minecraft is a popular game amongst kids, teenagers, and adults where players can build structures and live out a virtual life. One Reddit user by the name of Praesidiarius has changed the private key storage game by building a giant lava-covered tower that hides his private keys. Only he can remove the lava safely, meaning it’s very tough for others to find his keys. However, this is by no means an easy build, and on a public server the lava could be removed by a dedicated crypto thief – should the thief have enough time, that is.
(image credits r/Praesidiarius on Imgur)
Other Avenues for Private Key Storage
You don’t have to create such a huge and visible structure to hide your private keys. Crypto hodlers could opt to build a version of their keys by digging a hole and placing colored blocks to spell out seed phrases or recovery passwords, cover it with dirt and then build some form of structure on top. This could be a quick and easy solution, and if you’re playing an offline game then there is no risk from hackers. By hiding your private keys inside a video game that has a potentially unlimited amount of space, it makes it very difficult for hackers and crypto thieves to steal your keys and your crypto.
Still Safer Than Gmail
While Minecraft still isn’t exactly the most secure option, it’s certainly a lot better than storing your private keys in Gmail. Monty Munford – a leading BBC Journalist – decided to store his private keys in his drafts folder in Gmail. Those keys unlocked the doors to the kingdom of ETH worth more than $30,000 at its peak, making the mistake a very costly one. No matter how you cut it, storing your private keys in Minecraft is definitely safer than Gmail.
Creating copies of your private keys in Minecraft will be terribly time-consuming and frustrating to do. That being said, it could very well be one of the safest and most secure places around to store them – especially in an offline game on a machine that doesn’t connect to the internet. Alternatively, this method of private key storage could open up a new realm of Bitcoin treasure hunts like we’ve already seen in No Man’s Sky.
