|
Title: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: libertad on May 25, 2015, 11:06:01 PM I would like to purchase BTC's and save the majority of them in a paper wallet as I expect to hang on to them for at least a few years.
I was thinking of doing the following: 1) Install Electrum from a live DVD/USB (Ubuntu or Tails) onto a computer that's not online. 2) Record seed and copy the address's generated. 3) Delete the wallet 4) Send BTC's to the address's that were generated offline. 5) Confirm transfer of BTC's at Blockchain.info. Does the steps above seem OK? Is there anything that should be changed or added? How does the blockchain know that the address's that were generated offline are valid? TIA Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: Kefkius on May 26, 2015, 12:39:31 AM At step 2, you should copy the Master Public Key for the account (or accounts if you use more than the default one) instead of copying addresses. With that master public key, you can generate all of the addresses in that account (there are 2^31 of them so don't worry about running out of addresses).
To get the master public key, click Wallet > Master Public Keys in the menu bar. Then, with that master public key, you can 1.) start Electrum on an online computer, 2.) click File > New/Restore in the menu bar, 3.) check the radio button that says "Restore a wallet or import keys", 4.) and finally enter your Master Public Key in the blank box that appears after clicking "Next". If you do that, you'll have a watching-only wallet on the online computer, which means you can see all your addresses, your wallet balance, etc. but cannot spend anything because the wallet doesn't know your private keys. That way, you can always keep track of your wallet (you won't even have to use Blockchain.info since Electrum will tell you about transactions) without risking anything. Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: Muhammed Zakir on May 26, 2015, 02:59:59 PM -snip- Does the steps above seem OK? Is there anything that should be changed or added? Follow Kefkius suggestion. Except step 2, all seems fine. How does the blockchain know that the address's that were generated offline are valid? Bitcoin address contain a checksum. Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: virtualx on May 26, 2015, 04:38:39 PM I would like to purchase BTC's and save the majority of them in a paper wallet as I expect to hang on to them for at least a few years. I was thinking of doing the following: 1) Install Electrum from a live DVD/USB (Ubuntu or Tails) onto a computer that's not online. 2) Record seed and copy the address's generated. 3) Delete the wallet 4) Send BTC's to the address's that were generated offline. 5) Confirm transfer of BTC's at Blockchain.info. Does the steps above seem OK? Is there anything that should be changed or added? How does the blockchain know that the address's that were generated offline are valid? TIA Record the bitcoin private key in step 2. The private key is required to initiate transfers on the bitcoin network. Without the private key you lose the funds. Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: libertad on May 27, 2015, 02:46:08 AM At step 2, you should copy the Master Public Key for the account (or accounts if you use more than the default one) instead of copying addresses. With that master public key, you can generate all of the addresses in that account (there are 2^31 of them so don't worry about running out of addresses). To get the master public key, click Wallet > Master Public Keys in the menu bar. Then, with that master public key, you can 1.) start Electrum on an online computer, 2.) click File > New/Restore in the menu bar, 3.) check the radio button that says "Restore a wallet or import keys", 4.) and finally enter your Master Public Key in the blank box that appears after clicking "Next". If you do that, you'll have a watching-only wallet on the online computer, which means you can see all your addresses, your wallet balance, etc. but cannot spend anything because the wallet doesn't know your private keys. That way, you can always keep track of your wallet (you won't even have to use Blockchain.info since Electrum will tell you about transactions) without risking anything. Thanks for the reply. So just to be clear, the purpose of the watching only wallet is to generate addresses and check balance, but It doesn't need to be online to generate addresses. Is that correct? And can I send btc's to addresses generated offline that have never been broadcasted to the network? Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: libertad on May 27, 2015, 03:04:30 AM I would like to purchase BTC's and save the majority of them in a paper wallet as I expect to hang on to them for at least a few years. I was thinking of doing the following: 1) Install Electrum from a live DVD/USB (Ubuntu or Tails) onto a computer that's not online. 2) Record seed and copy the address's generated. 3) Delete the wallet 4) Send BTC's to the address's that were generated offline. 5) Confirm transfer of BTC's at Blockchain.info. Does the steps above seem OK? Is there anything that should be changed or added? How does the blockchain know that the address's that were generated offline are valid? TIA Record the bitcoin private key in step 2. The private key is required to initiate transfers on the bitcoin network. Without the private key you lose the funds. Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: hua_hui on May 27, 2015, 03:13:53 AM At step 2, you should copy the Master Public Key for the account (or accounts if you use more than the default one) instead of copying addresses. With that master public key, you can generate all of the addresses in that account (there are 2^31 of them so don't worry about running out of addresses). To get the master public key, click Wallet > Master Public Keys in the menu bar. Then, with that master public key, you can 1.) start Electrum on an online computer, 2.) click File > New/Restore in the menu bar, 3.) check the radio button that says "Restore a wallet or import keys", 4.) and finally enter your Master Public Key in the blank box that appears after clicking "Next". If you do that, you'll have a watching-only wallet on the online computer, which means you can see all your addresses, your wallet balance, etc. but cannot spend anything because the wallet doesn't know your private keys. That way, you can always keep track of your wallet (you won't even have to use Blockchain.info since Electrum will tell you about transactions) without risking anything. Thanks for the reply. So just to be clear, the purpose of the watching only wallet is to generate addresses and check balance, but It doesn't need to be online to generate addresses. Is that correct? And can I send btc's to addresses generated offline that have never been broadcasted to the network? Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: chennan on May 27, 2015, 03:24:35 AM I would like to purchase BTC's and save the majority of them in a paper wallet as I expect to hang on to them for at least a few years. I was thinking of doing the following: 1) Install Electrum from a live DVD/USB (Ubuntu or Tails) onto a computer that's not online. 2) Record seed and copy the address's generated. 3) Delete the wallet 4) Send BTC's to the address's that were generated offline. 5) Confirm transfer of BTC's at Blockchain.info. Does the steps above seem OK? Is there anything that should be changed or added? How does the blockchain know that the address's that were generated offline are valid? TIA Record the bitcoin private key in step 2. The private key is required to initiate transfers on the bitcoin network. Without the private key you lose the funds. You can read this :http://bitzuma.com/posts/a-beginners-guide-to-the-electrum-bitcoin-wallet/ Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: Light on May 27, 2015, 07:08:46 AM 2) Record seed and copy the address's generated. Yeah, if I were you I'd make that you encrypt the recorded seed and print that out instead. I wouldn't think it wise to have that floating around in plaintext (might be a good idea to make a QR code of the encrypted data for easier copying later on - saves on typing it out). Also make sure you have multiple copies in different locations for redundancy. Aside from that it looks pretty solid. Title: Re: Newbie question about paper wallets Post by: libertad on May 27, 2015, 10:39:11 PM Thanks for all the help guys.
|