Bitcoin Forum

Hey!

I'm pretty new to bitcoins, i bought 0.05 BTC yesterday and 0.01 ETH. I keep Bitcoins in blockchain wallet and etherium in first mobile app wallet that came up in search.
0.05 Isn't much, but i plan to buy more in future. Are they safe? Should i make... Cold storage? If yes, how to make one/which one to download? Should i get usb drive just for that (if i will ever get more than one btc ofc)

Some more questions:

How to get bitcoins back from cold storage?
What are private keys? Public keys?
Why transaction fee is this large?
What is segwit (different topic but i saw it often in forum!)

Thanks!!

Paper wallets are the safest way to store your Bitcoins, in my opinion.

1. Open http://bitaddress.org in a Private/Incognito window
2. Turn off your Internet connection/Airplane mode
3. Generate a new Bitcoin address/Private Key
4. Print your Paper Wallet
5. Close the Incognito Window
6. Turn back on Wifi

Now you can send your Bitcoins to the paper wallet and you control the private keys. You can import the private key into blockchain wallet when you're ready to spend.

Import/Scan the Private Key QR code into Blockchain wallet or other wallet app

Think of the Public key as your "Username" and the Private Key as your "Password"

I don't really think it's that large. You can send $1000 worth of Btc for like 40 cents

Segwit or Segregated Witness is a feature that speeds up transactions. You can call it an alt-coin if you will, but it is what it is.

I don't think storing your funds in cold storage is necessary at this point as this is no a big amount. I'd go with Electrum If I were you. If you ever printed a wallet (steps given by the user above) then you simply need a wallet that scan private keys and import them such as Coinomi or you can import them to Electrum, Bitcoin qt etc.

Thanks a lot for your answers! Shame that my printer isn't working so this will have to wait.

Also, is it safe to print it more than once? I mean if i would lose first copy by mistake or destroy it somehow.

Alsoo, is there a limit of how many times i can send bitcoins into this new paper wallet?

You can take a screenshot of the paper wallet and save to a jpg file. You can also copy the Public/Private key in a Read-only text file for backup.

And probably last question, what are pros and cons of using paper wallet like this instead of Electrum one that other user said?

Paper and desktop wallets are not made for same purpose. Paper wallets are mostly for long term storage, basically you print, send the funds there and forget about them while desktop wallet are mostly for daily uses. As for the security, If your PC is not infected then your wallet is safe, and for the paper, as long ans you are hiding it in a safe place, you are fine.

What do you mean by a "paper" wallet?

A paper wallet is just a piece of paper with the Public and Private keys. You can write down your private keys with a pen on notebook paper and technically is a "paper wallet".

Trezor hardware wallet is safe, easy to use, simple setting up. Can consider if you were to be getting a hardware wallet

There is alot opinions, my personal funds keeper is Bitstamp.
Why?
Because i do not trust myself and paper wallets, neither i trust Nano Ledgers, i wont reveal how much, but i have higher stake and Bitstamp is first fully licensed BTC exchanger in Europe,
which operate like bank do, guarantee for your savings/funds

Thank you for the suggestion you posted.
I'm going to buy bitcoin and I'm going to do what you say.
I think it's a safe storage.

If you have a lot of bitcoins, Ledger Nano S is a good choice.

It depends on your goals.

If you wanna spend, you can use web wallets like blockchain.info.
If you wanna trade, put them on exchanges.
For long-term storage, instead, I suggest you to use Electrum. A cold storage isn't so necessary, as well as paper wallet. A USB stick with Electrum portable version on it should be enough.

For ETH you can use myetherwallet.com.

- You can always use any web wallet application to sweep bitcoins from paper wallet to your web wallet. Remember you are sweeping ALL OF THE BITCOINS from the paper wallet while importing it in web wallet otherwise, you might lose the rest of the coins if you try to recover part of them.



- You will need public keys to accept Bitcoin payment just like your email address that you share with others to receive emails from them. On the other hand, you will need private keys to spend your Bitcoins just like a password for your email address which you use to read your emails.



- It depends on the network if there are high number transactions in pending in the network then you will probably need to pay little high fees to get your transactions confirmed. However please understand that you are making an international level of transaction and it's not that high in my opinion.



See this guide: What is SegWit? (https://www.cryptocompare.com/coins/guides/what-is-segwit/).


Hope that helps.

The best way to store your bitcoins is hardware wallet like Ledger nano s. If you do not want to buy hardware wallet the best option is iOS app Breadwallet (it's for bitcoins). The are several for Android but I'm not sure which is the best.

if it a small amount you can save it on bitcoin wallet app andriod/ios..there was plenty wallet ready to use.

I think a blockchain wallet or other online wallets like coinbase or xapo are enough for small amounts. Not all that safe, but it is easier to send money, trade a bit... and keep your eyes on it.

For me it would be easier to lose my printed paper wallet than one of these accounts to get hacked and lose my bits there...  :P

But that's for me. I agree paper wallets are the safest.

Number one rule . Always own your own coins no matter if it's bitcoin or altcoin, you would need the private keys if you want to claim ownage of your coins. As long as you own the private keys you can import it into any wallet with support for private coins.

Electrum for me is the best. Online wallets maybe Blockchain.info or spectrocoin.

There are many wallets myetherwallet is the  safest as i think. Because they give you full control over your account they dont store your private keys . there are also some othere wallets like coinbase ,mycelium etc .coinbase doesnt provide you private kesy of your account but it is safe till now .but when the price is going up and down you ll face a lot of problems

What I Understood is Electrum Wallet is safe and one of my friend also using it also advised to open electrum wallet.

only hardware wallet is the safest option (Ledger the best, as option KeepKey and Trezor)
After the best option is iOS application for bitcoins breadwallet. iOS itself is pretty good with security and breadwallet is the best app for now for keeping bitcoins
None of online wallets are safe do not hold your bitcoins there, you are at risk to lose them all

I have been using Ledger Nano S for more than 5 months and I have had no problems so far. It also supports some altcoins and with firmware updates they add new coins. For instance ripple has been added recently.

How would a hardware wallet be a better choice for higher stakes? Is it better than any other wallet?

Thanks for the sharing, will read up and understand more about the online wallet you suggested. Electrum being the best for you, would you share your experience or review about it?

Just a newbie advice. Use paper wallet. Even hundred of years of human history still there because it is being written on paper. The benefit of a paper wallet that is made correctly is that the private keys are not stored digitally anywhere, and are therefore not subject to standard cyber-attacks or hardware failures.

I am new as well. For ETH, I am using myetherwallet, and it works pretty well and safe I think. Being able to swap to/from btc for eg, is a plus for me.

Do not keep your coins on an exchange or some app wallet on your phone. These things can be hacked. Get your coins offline and place them on a paper wallet or Hardware wallet.

Thank you for this
I have noted it in my doc file.

You're awesome, thank you for taking the time to post the in-depth steps!

The importante think here is you need to choose one who doesn't ask for documents like Xapo, a very good example is Blockchain wallet or Bitcoin Wallet from android.

In my opinion hardware wallets and paper wallets are both safe.
However, hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger would be better for newbies as they are relatively user-friendly and easy to use.
For paper wallets, the setup process requires some knowledge about what you are doing and a single mistake could lose you money. It's also tricky about how to store your paper safely.