Bitcoin Forum

I know how to create a paper wallet and send bitcoin to it from Coinbase.  If I want to spend the paper wallet bitcoin do I just give the merchant my public key?  How does the network know I hold the private key from just that private key info?  If I want to send the bitcoin to someone do I have to download the entire bitcoin protocol to do that?  Is there a smaller version I can use to just send bitcoin?  Thanks for your help.   

When people wants to send funds to you , you should give them your address . If you want to spend bitcoins from that paper wallet then you have to import the private keys to another wallet and send them. (Keep in mind that Paper wallets are meant to be for long term storage and not for daily uses) so If you want to spend daily or each week , a Desktop wallet may be more convenient in your case.

No. You need to send the BTC from your address (public key). Knowing your public key the merchant can only check how much BTC you have, transaction history etc.   

Does not know ... network do not care until you send the transaction

All you need is to broadcast signed transaction (to sign the transaction you need to know the private key ... this is how you prove the ownership).
Only nods can broadcast transactions but you can use third party to PUSH your signed tx. Signing transaction is bit tricky so most convenient way is to import private key to any lightweight wallet like electrum, multibit...  and use it further as a regular desktop/mobile wallet.

There is plenty mobile/ lightweight wallets, if mean so. Check this is great wallet overview  (https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet)

Paper wallets are used for storage only. If you want to spend the bitcoins, you can import the private key from the paper wallet into a wallet on your phone or computer.

I suggest installing Airbitz on your phone and using the "Scan QR Code" feature. It only takes a minute.

As you are new to bitcoin better you just print out paper wallet you will generate first and then use blockchain.info like web wallet where it is easy to add your bitcoin address through scanning private key QR code of your paper wallet with mobile app. Send bitcoin to public/bitcoin address from coinbase and scan private key on printed paper wallet to add that address to blockchain.info wallet and send them to any bitcoin address you want anytime. I have done this several times with blockchain mobile app.

If you want to spend bitcoins from that paper wallet then you have to import the private keys to another wallet and send them.
You could use either online wallet like blockchain.info (don't recommend it) or some offline wallets like bitcoin core/multibit

I use blockchain.info to wipe the coins off of my paper wallets and send them to an address. There is another thread in this topic that explains how to do it on that site.

It is possible to use a thin client to sent coins without downloading the entering blockchain.
Also, it seems like you're not using paper wallets for what they are meant for, you should look into another way to hold your coins.

Private keys aren't known by the network, there are too many combinations and they are generated independently.

if you are planning on holding bitcoin for a longer time then use paper wallet but if you want to spend from it in short periods then it is not meant for that since you have to "sweep" the private keys and then make a new paper wallet and send the remainder to that new address.

if you want a cold storage and want it to be thin too, use electrum to make a wallet on an offline system and copy the master public key to your online computer to make another electrum wallet but watch only with the ability to spend from. there is good explanation on electrum wiki

Paper wallet is for sure the more secure option and that's why I advocate people to use them,but for daily use and online wallet is better as long as you know what you are doing and actually take care of your BTC address and private keys and be careful about them

I would just make a small suggestion, before you take any of these advice. Create a "test" paper wallet with a small amount, and then try to sweep it to a online or mobile wallet, to see if it is successful and that you are doing it correctly, before you sweep wallets with larger amounts. There have been some people complaining about losing coins, when they have tried it. < Not because the process is wrong, but rather because of human error >

Once you scanned the QR code for the private key, and you copy & pasted the key, also make sure that it is your private key or the correct recipients Bitcoin address. < Some malicious code, has been known to inject their address from memory. >

When i first started with creating a paper wallet, i actually made a real testnet paper wallet, that way you don't even have to mess with "test"-amount of real coins... a big plus is that you can actually ask for advice on the forum and even share your TESTnet private keys, testnet coins are worth nothing to begin with ;)

Testnet paper wallet:
https://www.bitaddress.org/bitaddress.org-v2.0-SHA1-c0300a88d2de421106560185e4916f4eee6ed9df.html?testnet=true

Testnet faucets (to fund your paper wallet)
http://tpfaucet.appspot.com/
https://testnet.manu.backend.hamburg/faucet

Testnet android wallets (to sweep your testnet wallet)
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=testnet%20wallet

Giving the merchant your public key will just let them see your balance, kind of like an email address. Dont give them your private key either, as it will give them access to EVERYTHING in that wallet, like your password. What you want to do is import the bitcoin address into a wallet like Electrum (log in) and then send the bitcoin to the given address (send your email)

You can download multibit for example on your device. You can import the private key to the multibit wallet and send Bitcoins from the multibit wallet.

I'm using multibit as an example here. There are many others including but not limited to mycelium,electrum etc.

And make sure you never give someone your private key.

While paper wallet it's free to make it has a few flaws which rarely happens but they exist. In the moment you are generating it, if you print it (as you will print it ,the private key, the hacker can access your printer memory if your PC is infected with malware). Beside that, to keep a paper clean for a long time (as that's what paper wallets are for) takes really good discipline , safe place where to put it and memory.

For 0.03 BTC which cost a hardware wallet like ledger I think we are more safe by using this one rather than paper wallets.

For receive the funds you can just give the address of your paper wallet, you must keep safe your private key if anyone else obtains the private key of your wallet, they can withdraw your funds because the other part of your bitcoin wallet is the private key. It is this that enables you to send bitcoins to other people. sorry if i was wrong that's only what i know about paper wallet :)

By now, you've probably gotten the point that most people are trying to make.  Paper wallets are for long term storage. Feel free to give out the public key, but always keep the private key secret.

Great advice about making a test first. I've found Bread wallet imports private keys very easily.

If you found a nice a Wallet Address i also can make a Keychain or Necklace from it...  ;)

Just take a look at Bitcoin Engrave : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1638306.0