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I know MtGox allows me to redeem a private key, but that doesn't necessarily ensure that all the value is extracted from that address in a timely manner. Is there no simple way to send the entire value of a private key to another address in case you believe the private key has been compromised? My real use for this is in having offline/paper wallets. I would like to transfer my bitcoins to an offline "savings" address, then when I want to make a withdrawal, be able to transfer the entire value of that private key to a new address because, having entered the private key somewhere to redeem its value, its privacy could have been compromised.
This seems like a very common use case for paper wallets. Am I missing something? It should be easier to spend the value from a particular address. Why can't I use my bitcoin client to spend a specific address? I can import private keys into bitcoin v0.7.1-beta (although even that is an obscure debug window) function, but it looks like sending from a specific address is also an obscure debug function (sendfrom). Why is this so obscure when it seems like such a common case? What is one to do if they suspect a particular address' private key of being compromised?
Also, how can I tell how much value is available on my various addresses to make sure I extract the full value? Blockchain.info seems to do a good job, but it's Dutch -- isn't there an English site or bitcoin client function to determine an address' value. That too seems really basic. I have tried blockexplorer.com, but that site rarely seems to work.
I feel like I'm trying to accomplish the most basic of tasks, and the tools just aren't there, so I must be missing something.
P.S. I am using also Android devices with BitcoinSpinner. I would be interested to know if some more sophisticated clients allow this more easily -- scanning both a private key as a source and a public key as a destination -- to create a transaction.
P.P.S I'm also not clear on how to use the backup provided by BitcoinSpinner. I tried to import it as a private key into bitcoin v0.7.1-beta on my desktop, but it didn't work. The only way I could figure out how to essentially get a backup of BitcounSpinner into my desktop's client was to import the private key, which I know is wrong. There must be some way that backups are supposed to work.
This involves under-cutting the normal function of the bitcoin client by 1) renaming its (obscurely located) data files, and 2) using "debug" functionality to import a private key. Doesn't it seem odd to have to go to such lengths simply to send a transaction from a specified address given its private key? Also, wouldn't it be simpler to import the private key and then use sendfrom to send from the specific address? Simpler, but still not simple enough, IMO (because sendfrom, like importprivkey is a debug function). – BlueMonkMN – 2012-12-07T11:48:13.017
1@BlueMonkMN - people don't usually work with private keys, but rather with addresses. What you're doing isn't "a basic task" - I've been using Bitcoin for 1.5 years and have never had the need to do what you're trying to do. – ripper234 – 2012-12-07T12:41:34.857
1@ripper234 OK, so how do you (or how should one) keep offline backups of bitcoins should your electronic copies fail? Even USB drives seem somewhat less reliable than paper in some ways. – BlueMonkMN – 2012-12-07T14:04:05.800
@BlueMonkMN - encrypt with a strong password & upload to dropbox. Only ever decrypt on a dedicated secured computer. – ripper234 – 2012-12-07T16:32:24.833
See also https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet
– ripper234 – 2012-12-07T16:37:17.890@ripper234 I said offline. Dropbox is not offline. Let me put the question this way. There are paper bitcoins out there. How do you spend them? (See paper wallets at http://bitaddress.org/ where you can create your own paper bitcoins/wallets.)
– BlueMonkMN – 2012-12-07T18:37:20.563let us continue this discussion in chat
– ripper234 – 2012-12-07T21:00:45.307