Bitcoin Forum

you can still burn. step on. smash with hammer.
you can hand it to a kid who can snap off the usb end from the plastic cover
http://www.flashdrivepros.com/_blog/brokenconnector01.jpg

lose out of your pocket. thief stealing it. connect it to a computer with a virus.
electric shock. lightning strike, car accident,

the list goes on.

..

separate note.. having a paper wallet has its own utility.. putting it on digital media or a PC is no longer paper wallet.. emphasis on the word paper

You basically want to defeat the purpose of having paper wallet - which is offline, physical document that contains copies of the public and private keys.
And you suggest that we convert it back to digital form? Then we could keep wallet.dat/seed passphrase inside passworded compressed file to begin with.
We don't need paper wallet for that. Are you really thought this through? Just keep your paper wallet separated in secure location, preferably make more copies.

some people have etched their keys in metal and then dipped the metal clay to then make a poker chip kind of object.

this visually hides the key while also protecting the metal from the elements.

remember them old movies about nuclear strikes where a rectangular piece of plastic had to be snapped to reveal a sequence wrote on paper that launched a nuclear weapon (https://youtu.be/Cfth1doTXTU?t=1m30s) :D

Your private key exist in the system digitally and encrypted no matter what, you could put paper wallet in a safe or keep the zip file in cloud storage.

One thing every one really should start doing is to store small amounts in each addresses and never hold bitcoins in used addresses for long term holding purposes.

You can keep copies in multiple devices. Dont store in one device. 1 copy in your personal computer, 1 copy in Pendrive, 1 copy in Micro SD card, 1 copy in External Hard disc .. etc..  Dont connect these things with other devices and internet.

I still don't see how these could still be considered as Paper wallets. Isn't it just like a hardware wallet if done this way?
(though less secure.)
For Paper wallets, creating multiple copies and then laminating those copies should suffice.
That would take care of the wear and tear as well the 'getting wet' hazards.

I do not consider this a bad idea, just save on devices without internet access. The name does not make any more sense but in security matters I do not think there is any loss.

this is my first time hearing paper wallet since my country dont approve BTC yet

but your idea for storing it on offline device maybe a bit meaningless, since you always need to print it when you need BTC
and a lot of PC in public place have internet conection, so if the PC have internet isnt it better to just go online and create the paper wallet on that time

so paper wallet in digital form is a bit meaningless  :-X
hehe sorry if I offend you  :-X

Good idea, for me I never considered any wallet the best since they are all susceptible to one form of damage, this idea do make sense if don't right.

People being paranoid and looking for solutions even there is no problem, well just in case.
Yes, there are so many damages could happen and we have to prepare, have backup plan.
But, how much users here ever lose his paper wallet and why?
Simply put it in safety box underground, and you will be fine, lol ;D

While not a bad idea, there are other issues associated which can easily end up causing you to still lose your wallet. Like it has been mentioned, digital copies can still be destroyed one way or another. The best way that you can combat any sort of loss is just have a ton of copies in things like fireproof safes or whatever.

hmmm sorry but maybe you missunderstand what i said
i mean instead of make the paper beforehand and safe it in digital form then print it when you need, arent it better to only create the paper file and print it when you actually need it?? coz most public PC have internet conection to access BTC wallet

or is it too risky to access wallet on public??? (I never didi it, IDK is it risky or not)

What if the device is broken? No matter how safe it is. Theres still a hole that can be penetrated. But its a good idea tho. Instead you store it to usb. Why not use more secure device which ledger. I heard about ledger nano. And they said its really good hardware wallet. I think its more secure than usb.

Dont connect with Internet. Dont connect with any other PC. Especially public PC. I mean "If you have Printer in your home". I dont trust public PC.

You can keep copies in multiple devices. Dont store in one device. Store 1 copy in your personal computer, 1 copy in Pendrive, 1 copy in Micro SD card, 1 copy in External Hard disc .. etc ...

every method of storing bitcoin has some pros and cons, there is no single method that is 100% good. what you have to do is to find these pros and cons, list them in front of you and choose the one (or even multiple methods) that is most suitable for you and stick to them.

When you know that paper wallets can also get damages then i think what ever options you are giving are also suitable for the desktop wallet also, One more good option is create a desktop Electrum wallet and store the coins in multiple address and just remember the passphrase , write it in a multiple devices , store it in safety place and then delete the wallet even wallet.dat file is also not needed only passphrase is enough. As this wallet can be rebuild with the old data from passphrase.

This sounds flawless but I started getting concerned in the latter part of your submission because the memory card can also suffer certain damages so I will rather suggest that you keep the memory card in a safe at the bank or you print out your private keys and have them kept in a bank safe as part of your house and other important documents.

Yup, the whole point of paper wallet is that it's completely cut of from the digital  media leaving no chance of your private keys being hacked.
And besides why take all the effort to do all this if you want to do this you can encrypt the private key save as a txt file then do the rar file and proceed as you said

It is risky to access the wallet file in public. It would be the best if you could just print them out straight. Storing it in digital form is too risky.

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Hey OP, you are saying, in essence, we should be storing digital wallets which any hackers will be able to access it? Hackers can crack passwords, capture your address when people type it in to unlock their wallet. How about just creating and storing a wallet file instead? You don't need internet to do that either.


Anyway, you just implied that its harder to destroy a piece of laminated paper than to destroy digital storage mediums.

Dont connect with Internet. Dont connect with any other PC. Especially public PC. I mean "If you have Printer in your home". I dont trust public PC.
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It is risky to access the wallet file in public. It would be the best if you could just print them out straight. Storing it in digital form is too risky.

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Hey OP, you are saying, in essence, we should be storing digital wallets which any hackers will be able to access it? Hackers can crack passwords, capture your address when people type it in to unlock their wallet. How about just creating and storing a wallet file instead? You don't need internet to do that either.


Anyway, you just implied that its harder to destroy a piece of laminated paper than to destroy digital storage mediums.
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haha ty for the info sir
I never have experience with hacker so almost never tough of it :o

why not print the paper and laminate it and then store it to a vault lol
if you have bitcoin, spend it or invest to some altcoins for that will help the btc economy. i'm not sure if someone is really trying to make a paper wallet for keeps. but it may serve a purpose like a gift to someone who like bitcoin.

I think the safest Bitcoin paper wallet is not made from paper  ;) Check out this company https://bitkee.com which is selling laser-engraved titanium wallets. If you would like to do this at home you could buy a laser-engraving machine and design and manufacture a metal wallet yourself. I think this is the only off-line wallet that could outlast any hardware wallet because any hardware could fail at any point in time.

Is this how Paper Wallets are? I thought Paper Wallets are those actually printed on a paper..

I don't think there is the need of putting this data on a USB - maybe if you want to have a secondary backup too. What we need to do is to find a way to make this paper fireproof.. I made my paper wallets waterproof by laminating them. Now the only scare of mine is fire, because if something happens they'll burn to the point where you won't be able to read any letter from it.

Yeah it sort of defeats the point of having a paper wallet, what would be the point of printing it off in the first place, just save the file as you said, but its not a paper wallet at that point  :o

Paper wallet is not that secured. Even saving it in a flask drive or a hard drive it will still be not safe. Flask drive can be misplaced or lost or be infected with virus. While the hard drive can be damaged and you can no longer recover your files. Paper wallet is not secure the fact that its made out of paper and will be destroyed due to oldness. For me there are no safe way but if you are comfortable with that kind of style then its up to you. To me web wallet is nice since I dont store huge amount of bitcoins in a long time and I am always spending my bitcoins.

Very safe if used with BIP 38. Also saved photos, PDFs and more. I think QR code with hard material is also a good way (of course quite difficult)

By my understanding "paper wallet" is just conventional name for your keys stored NOT in digital form but instead in the form of a physical object.
Using term "paper wallet" here might be a little misleading. Keys can be engraved in metal, wood, wax, plastic - you name it.

I see you have doubts about longevity of paper. So that you know good quality paper will survive hundreds of years when kept in safe environment.
According to Wikipedia: "oldest known paper document in the West is the Mozarab Missal of Silos from the 11th century".

based on my experience, whatever you end up doing for your cold storage, one important thing to do is to keep multiple backups from it. because any method has some kind of risk of losing.
you can lose it by misplacing the paper!
but keeping 2 copies at least makes it twice safer in my opinion. although you should keep them seperate obviously :D

I have a better idea... print the private key on a piece of paper and then fold that piece of paper. Take that piece of paper and place it into a

piece of plastic, then place that bundle into a locket and wear it around your neck..... see everyone can come up with stupid ideas. You use a

paper wallet, because you want it to be inaccessible... preferably away from any digital media. Rather store your laminated paper wallet in a

safe or a safety deposit box.  ;)

haha using it as necklace ?? everyone who see you will laugh hard that yoou wear paper as necklace  :D
except they know what that paper is

I think for protect bitcoins paper wallet from damage put on chase and lock it
basically protect bitcoins paper wallet is protect bitcoins,
so i think more safe put the bitcoins not on paper wallet only,
because put bitcoin on offline wallets or online wallets still there are risk.

I don't like the idea of carrying around my cold storage around my neck! but in case you wanted to try it, it doesn't have to be ugly. you can make a nice looking necklace with a locket that inside contains the paper wallet folded and held safely.

or it can be a QR code necklace, you can encrypt the private key or seed and print (etch) it on a necklace and wear it around your neck. like these pics:

https://img1.etsystatic.com/039/0/6537003/il_340x270.568115061_un4u.jpg http://randommization.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/piaget-qr-code-necklace.jpg

http://miriammerenfeld.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/productthumb/products/QRNSA16%20copy.jpg

yeah. if the private key is changed into digital, the name of paper wallet does not mean anything then.

but I like the idea that we need the copy of our private keys. that is right, but just try to keep it offline.

Yes .. I mean like that. Dont connect with internet.. Keep it always as offline.

I have two wallets lazer etched onto a piece of aluminum with the keys,

This way its like a hard copy of my keys safe from fire / snapping / getting wet / digital destruction only way they could be used is if they were stolen.
and even if they were stolen. I doubt anyone would know what they were for just a bunch of numbers and letters etched onto a small square bit on aluminum.

Cost me £12 per wallet at a local place that has the lazer etching machine.

Good solution and dose not rely on paper or vulnerable hardware

 

Nice idea.Thank you
for sharing this.

I did something similar but with the difference that I did it myself on a stainless steel plate and I engraved it on it. but I mainly did that for fun not my main cold storage to keep, for that I made an offline wallet with electrum and wrote down the seed phrase on paper.