Bitcoin Forum

I am reading on creating paper wallet and how to keep your btc save. 

Am I correct that once I spend some of the coins, I need to recreate another paper wallet?

Not necessarily. You can spend some coins and have the change return to the same paper wallet address, but this is not recommended. It is recommended to use a new address for the change for every transaction, so you should create a new paper wallet for the change to go to.

However, you should not be using paper wallets as your every day wallet for spending. Paper wallets are meant for cold storage. They are like vaults, you put money in and wait a while until you need to withdraw it. Instead, you should have some amount of coins stored in a hot wallet where you do your spending from. And then when you need it, you can go and retrieve the coins from your paper wallets, but it should not be used if you want to spend from that wallet.

Yes, its better to have another paper wallet ready.

For one there might be what is called change. Lets say you have 1 BTC on your paper wallet and want to spend half of it. You put the private key into a software wallet and spend 0.5, but depending on the way the software wallet handles the other 0.5 (we assume no fee here) it is not going "back" into the paper wallet. Many wallets send it to a newly generated address. You might delete the software wallet because you think you are done and lose the change.

Another reason is that once you spend coins you likely used the private key on a system connected to the internet. This is not the idea of a paper wallet. The idea is that its offline, so it makes sense to use a new one once you are done with the old one.

thanks for the great advice, I have a better understanding of it now.

very nice thread and the reply which helped me a lot as i have never used paper wallet but was having doubt how it works, i have online wallet and hardware wallet now i got full detail about paper wallet will try.

knightdk and/or shorena,

Do either of you get worried that the paper wallet will get lost or destroyed? Paper is such a delicate and pershible medium. I guess keeping the details of the wallet (the addresses) in multiple locations is wise and using something like Trezor or Armory is recommended but it really makes me worry having my bitcoin vault sitting in a safe in my home or office or bank...any of those places are vulnerable!

Yes. I keep multiple copies of paper wallets in various places. They are encrypted using BIP38 so that even if someone finds the wallet, they cannot spend the coins. If something were to happen to one of my hiding places, there are other places where I keep the same wallet so that the bitcoin doesn't get lost.

Im not really worried they get lost or destroyed. Consider that a birth certificate is made of paper as well. Storage for a paperwallet can also be good looking[1]. Its certainly not something you carry around in your pants or wallet. Encryption is IMHO a must. As knightdk writes its also important to have several in different spots to spread the risks.

[1] http://www.silverwallets.com/

knightdk and shorena almost gave the answer but what i wanted to add is that if i were you i would create another paper wallet and would not use the old wallet, if you really think that you will spend some of the coins then create two paper wallet and use the first one, also check some youtube videos there is explained this case.

So how do I (and other Newbies here) learn about the encryption aspect - how do we encrypt a paper wallet?

I'm sure there's plenty of information available, perhaps you could point us in the right direction (if a simple explanation is not possible or appropriate.)

Bitaddress.org, one of the most popular paper wallet generators has the option to BIP38 encrypt the wallet. It is really easy to do.

If you use something like bitaddress.org (download it and use it offline!) its as easy as ticking a box and entering a password. Most mobile wallets (like e.g. Mycelium) that can import via QR scanner can decrypt them for sweeping/spending.