Bitcoin Forum

When storing Bitcoins or alt coins for long terms, What’s the best option between these options and why?
 Option 1: Online wallets
 Option 2: Hardware wallets

Thanks!  :)

Good question. I try to use clouds whenever it's possible, however I keep my wallet on flash drive. I just don't trust my money to others. Online wallets are good in case you travel a lot and can lose your hardware wallet somewhere, also it's hardly possible that online wallet will crush. Hardware wallets are independent, they are you own, but HDD or flash drive can break or be lost.

you use cold wallets for storing a big amount coin, it's more safety
You use online wallets for storing a little amount coin for trading online
Very simple

first of all don't confuse "online" wallets with "web" wallets. these may seem similar but they are very different. an online wallet is what is connected to internet, it can be bitcoin core on your desktop connected to the internet. but a web wallet is as the name suggests a website that you use to create a wallet. some times they store the private keys and control them instead of you and sometimes they don't.

security-wise it is cold storage (including hardware wallets) first then a hot desktop wallet and last web wallets at the bottom of the list.

as for altcoins sometimes their official wallets contain malware because they are shady (scam) coins. so be careful about them. and most of them are not reviewed despite being open source.

cold wallet.

backup wallet.dat file.

dump private key.

write down private  and public key / wallet.dat passphrase.

you are now ready for the apocalypse providing you have net access  :P

if you have a money and you dont mined spending it on some expensive hardware wallets then go buy it but if you if your just a poor boy like me then much better if you can just save your money or add it on  your current investment and stick with online wallets. hardware wallets arent really recomended if you dont have a big business like escrowing funds on someone or having a boatloads of coins and altcoins.

You want to avoid using online wallets as much as possible! They aren't really safe.
For long term storage always go with hardware wallets! They are safe, easy to use and offer the best security.
Get a Trezor or a Ledger Nano S. These two are the leading hardware wallets and don't cost that much.

In the grand scheme of things a hardware wallet is a small price to pay for securing your Cryptocurrency assets we hear far to often of Web wallets being hacked and it is a small price to pay for peace of mind.

I think it depends on where you are on your crypto journey.  Speaking from my experience, when i started out without investing much fiat, i used mainly online wallets because i didn't have much to be worried about anyway.  Most of my portfolio was from airdrops and bountys.  For this, i feel that online/installed wallets will suffice.  As your portfolio becomes more valuable, you can then perhaps buy a hardware wallet.   Even though my portfolio is still very little, i figured it was a good idea to buy a Nano S a few weeks ago on black Friday because the price was reduced.   Definitely, hardware wallet is the way to go. 

I suggest that you should never store your coins in any online wallets if you are going for long term investment because they will not give you your private key that is use to access your coins, if their server/service goes down or the site gets hacked you will not be able to access your coins anymore. If you are planning to store huge amount of cryptocurrency the best place is to put it is in a hardware wallet but if you will only invest small or average amount better use an open source wallet that will give you the recovery phrase or private key of your wallet.

Hardware Wallets
This Bitcoin wallet, is a Bitcoin wallet with a hardware form that works just like a typical Bitcoin wallet. This hardware, made by a particular company, and until now there are many kinds of devices that are already available in the market. Here are some kinds of Bitcoin wallet hardware

Online wallets we have security problem and hacking issues and forget ids and support is slow nonresponsive but whereas hardware wallets it is our money is in bank locker secure with private keys i prefer if u want to hold for long time hardware wallets is good choice

If you want to hold your bitcoins use hardware wallet, and if you are a treader and trade very often, keep some in online wallet.

It's kind of an easy question to answer, Bitcoin wallets should be kept offline because you can't trust an exchange holding the coins.

Using flash drive is just very risky except you put your flash drive in your iron box and only take it out when you want to use it.

yes two wallet are there one is online wallet and other one is hardware wallet but online wallet is secure then hardware wallet

Hardware is much better in the long run. Online wallets tend to be unsecure compared to wallets like ledger which provide effective protection against hacking and all. Using an online wallet has their respective disadvantages when withdrawing such as fees, blockage of withdrawal etc.

Online wallets are less secure than hardware wallets, due to increased number of hackers. Online wallets can only be used for transactions at the moment or for transferring to the exchanges.  Hardware wallets are safer than any other forms of wallets as it is directly linked to the internet services and so no chance of hacking and losing of bitcoins in hardware wallets. Trezor wallets and ledger nano s are good cryptocurrency hardware wallets which will store or hold your bitcoins for longer period of time.