Bitcoin Forum

Dear Members!

My friend wants to buy a bigger amount before the next halving and wants to store them in a secure place for 4-5 years.

What do you prefer, where to store the coins?

1. In a few Exchanges?
Maybe he need to split some exchange like Coinbase, Cex, Bitstamp, etc. I think Coinbase is very secure, they have insurance and vault feature.
BUT: Cryptsy was hacked now, and every other exchange can be hacked nowadays :(

2. He bought a ledger nano wallet, but what happens if Ledger Inc. close in 2018 for example?

3. They can store in paper wallet in a safety place. I don't know too much from paper wallets, I never used them.

4. Or just simply download the latest client and copy wallet.dat to 2-3 USB Pendrive and store them different places?

5. Or mixed all the ways that I wrote, so for example: 20% exchanges, 30% hardware wallet, 30% wallet.dat file, 20% paper wallet?

The main question is: Where you store your coins to sleep calm? :)

i'm going to store them in the future, in a personal mini server with a mini-itx board, i choose the antec slim mini itx case, for this purpose

a machien dedicated for runnign the client only, so it's safe from everything

1. I think it's not good idea store the coins on exchanger in the next 4-5 years, we don't know what happen in 4-5 years.
2. i don't know about this.
3. I think paper wallet is the best place.
4. I'm also don't know about this.
5. No, better pick only 1 option.

I shouldn't keep it all in an exchange.
YOu never know like cryptsy and others ...

I keep a small amount on a few exchanges if i want to buy some altcoins or so.
The rest is saved on PC and USB stick.

Hi Amph!

Very good but very difficult to me.  :)

Save wallet.dat or make paper wallet?

Save wallet.dat.
Don't have experience with paper wallet. In fact don't know what that is. I'm not so familiar with all these things.

I heard they had a lot of problems. Missing and lost coins, etc.

I have two years to use blockchain.info and I have never experienced losing a coin and until today always safe :)

Unfortunately not having had problems is not a guarantee for not getting problems in the future.

I would buy a trezor or use the nano wallet. If you are not going to touch them in those 4-5 years the lower security at transactions of the ledger are not that big of a problem.

The hardware wallets have seeds that are compatible with several wallets and should make sure you can always regain access to your coins.

Physical BTC and put it at home

different ways of storing bitcoin is sometimes a matter of preference but some methods are better and some are simply bad idea.
for instance storing bitcoin on an exchanger is the worst idea someone can choose. just look at how many of them lost their coins like the recent one (cryptsy) because you are simply trusting a third party with your money.
another way is to remember a set of words (seed that some wallets like Electrum and Armory use) and not need any physical saving if you are certain you won't forget the sequence.

but i think the best way which is practically free (unlike hardware wallets) is to creating an offline wallet on a live linux on your USB disk and encrypting the whole thing and putting it aside.

I'll prefer Brain wallet (http://offlinebitcoins.com/).

And don't even think about storing your bitcoins on any exchange or even any online wallets.

So I see here is no people who trust in exchanges.

I think coinbase is one of the trustable exchange with very strong stuff and 3.1 million users.

What do you think from them?

https://www.coinbase.com/about

I think offline wallet much safer than online.
I'm usually save more bits on offline wallet.
Just be sure to protect your pc from any malicious content

Paper wallet or you copy wallet.dat to USB?

why? you only need to buy a dedicate mini itx server, a computer, then use it only to run the client, no surfing no downloading, no anything else, pretty safe

it is still a third party that you are putting your trust in. and as long as there are ways (secure ways) that you can store your coins yourself there is no need for them unless for a hands on day to day use of bitcoin.

also this is worth knowing:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=747596.0

In my opinion a paper wallet would probably be your best way to store for a couple of years although I would more than likely change paper wallets every year just to make sure, a. I still knew where I put it.
B. To make sure it didn't fade get ripped

And what if it is burning down or something else?

As far as i know ledger wallets and trezor are compatible to be used with or on Mycelium mobile app, so they can work even if ledger or trezor website/servers are down? Please correct me if i am wrong.

I read about from paper wallets but never used before.

As I know I can make a paper wallet, which contains the wallet address and the private key. This is totally offline.

When I want to send coins from this address I need to import my wallet with my private key. (Similar when I copy wallet.dat to a pendrive)

Am i right?

If you don't want to spend money on hardware, paper wallet is good choice.

The cheapest hardware wallet as far as i know is the ledger HW.1 which is 15€ it's not expensive saying the truth, then ledger nano, ledger unpluged, trezor, keepkey.

My friend bought a ledger nano, but actually I don't know how it works :(

This is a combinated online/hardware wallet? Or a separate offline wallet?

Ledger nano is not independent to work, so you must be set up on a computer you trust 100%, i would consider as a combination of hot and cold wallet.

Not necessary true on Ledger Nano.  I suggest in my hands for all to get the starter option that use it.  It is a live usb linux that is a secure OS you run off usb.  It is 100 percent offline and does not store seeds.  You have to write them down from it.  So say computer is compromised by using starter option your still safe.

Here is my hands on with Ledger Nano:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1305888.0

I would assume paper would be the safest, but a good hardware wallet like keep key or trezor, or a dedicated machine who's only purpos is running the Bitcoin client off line.

Personally I like hardware wallets over a dedicated machine.  Trezor is likely the most popular.  For it to keep key on it and do the signing is huge as it can't be compromised.  A dedicated machine has a lot more chance of compromise.  I also did a hands on with one: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1298917.0

Paper wallets are still a valid option.  If you are sitting money aside and not touching it for year's.  It possibly is best option.  All depends on use.

These days people like an easy way , for example many of them trust a third parties like exchange , online wallet even they forget to enable the second factor authentication(if EXTs like you hackers will not) , so i think it is bad idea to trust a third parties with a big amount of BTC even for 4-5 mnt .
Best way is use offline encrypted wallet @ using Linux as host (virus free) ,

If you truly are not going to use it I think a properly done paper is better then a computer even offline and encrypted.    Paper there is no connecting it to online if done proper and stored like in a safety deposit box, that is really secure.   

And I have became pretty big believer in hardware wallets.  If your going to use it and need access to it I think then go hardware.

Maybe you could choose a Service like haobtc - There you also get an annual interesed of 3% of your amount you put there.
Great luck with your Project.

Paper wallet is good. but its an easy disposable thing but hardware wallets is not like that. The better choice is to have backup data in two or three forms.

you're really asking this?, it's like askign if a computer will burn down at random, which is no sense, a mini itx, is just a computer but with a small factor

in most cases the problem is with the exchanger running away with the money or saying "we were hacked so your bitcion is gone!".
2FA only works if your fund holder (the exchanger) is still in its place and holding your money.


you have to do some search my friend.
online wallets can be safe but are never a better choice.

Go laminate your paper wallet and put in album. But as paper wallet only paper, high chance to get lost unless put in safe file or document

Pal you can save the bitcoin paper wallet in pdf format in your pendrive or desktop, better to take in soft copy.
Else you can try any offline wallet like Electrum or multibit, that you can utilize to avoid from scamming and you can numerous bitcoin address in one wallet. try for it if possible.

a multisignature bitcoin address will fit perfectly, and then store the paper wallet to somewhere you can trust, your home, your bank, and then someone closely related with you..
search for multisig bitcoin address on youtube

This is very difficult. But I would recommend you the following:
1/3 in Paper Wallets
1/3 in storage things like the Trezor https://www.bitcointrezor.com/
1/3 in trusted online service like Blockchain.info

I think with this strategy you have good changes to bring your BTC over the next years.