Delegated Harvesting and Storage/Backup Practices

Technical Discussion
#1

Hey all,

I was wondering if I could get some insight into how you all securely store and back up their XEM. Just your individual practices and why you do it and that. Also I was wondering if someone could explain in simpler terms why delegated harvesting is safe. I’m not the most technically minded person and as my XEM is basically what is left of my savings across the board I am getting increasingly paranoid about it’s security. Should I be delegated harvesting? Is there any risk with it at all? Do I need to securely store my remote public and private key as well if I do it? Would it be possible say to activate it, select a node, then logout and purge my Nano Wallet (after backing it up) and placing it back into cold storage?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you :slight_smile:

#2

At a bare minimum: You should have your XEM in a multi-sig account (at least 2 out of 3). Store they keys in a safe place. Some use paper wallets. If you wanna stick to digital storage that’s fine just make sure it’s stored encrypted. Also make multiple, seperately stored copies in case of data loss.

Delegated harvesting is safe because the key you are using to harvest can’t be used to move funds. So even if the key is compromised, you’re XEM can’t be stolen.

#3

You can write here your delegated private and public keys. The worst thing that can happen is someone starts harvesting FOR you. There’s a reason delegate harvesting is called secure.

#4

Multi-sig looks a tad complex but I will look into it. As of current I have just put everything into cold storage on some USB’s/handwritten keys that are stored in the same secure place as all my other highly important documents. In addition I have one off-site in case something happens to my current residence. As a minimum I just need at least my original private key to access my XEM? Is this correct? So if all my wallets burned in a fire I’d be okay with just my private key? Would multi-sig change this in any way? Also, if I activate delegated harvesting and start it on a node, will it still work fine if I purge my wallet from nano wallet and format my computer (which I was planning to do for other reasons), provided of course the node is still up?

Thank you for all your help so far, it is much appreciated.

#5

If you have only one regular account then you need the private key of that account. If you are using multi-sig then you need the private keys of the cosignatory accounts.
If you start delgated harvesting on a node, it will work as long as the node is still up…at least until the next hard fork. Your computer is not necessary anymore.