Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys,

I've been trying to learn about how to cold store securely my small bitcoin holding, and where I can move to as I buy more. I expect to be picking up more and more over the coming weeks and months.

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

2) What app should be used?

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

Thanks!

One of the safe way to securely hold bitcoin is the use of hardware wallet, because your bitcoin will be readily accessible for you to use unlike many other cold storage means. But you need to be careful and operate your hardware wallet with the app you will use to operate it with clean internet environment with no malware.

Hardware wallets like trezor and ledger nano are recommended, I will also recommend you to use electrum as the app you will use to operate the hardware wallet, you can download it from electrum.org.

But, irrespective of the wallet you are using, you need to operate the device in a clean internet environment in such a way the device used to operate it should contain no malware.

Well if you've understood how the entire thing works, then it's easy. I mean, if you do know that you have to keep your private keys safe in order to prove you are the owner of your addresses then you're okay.

There are plenty ways of generating private keys and then getting the addresses, but the greatest and most secure option for a beginner is a hardware wallet like those you mentioned. (Nano Ledger, Trezor etc)

If you feel that you don't need a hardware wallet then, electrum (https://electrum.org) does fine.

As I said before, if you understand the way it works you don't have to worry. For example, if you find out that you can access thousands of addresses by only writing down 12 words, then you only need that paper for the rest of your HODLing.

You should never keep your funds on custodian wallets like blockchain.com and consider it as "cold storage".

Hey thanks for the quick response.

I want to buy BTC, take it off the exchange, and just sit on it.

I want to regularly add more to the wallet so an easy transfer method.

I currently use a desktop PC with an external HD and internal SSDs.

Should I buy a laptop on it's own, and download nothing but electrum on it to store the BTC?

Would using a VPN be sensible when accessing the internet from said device?

A hardware wallet is something like Nano or Trezor?

Thanks again - very new to the wallet side of things, so far just left the small amount of BTC on the exchange, which I know is stupid, but I only have nothing relatively.

Thanks

I have nothing but trouble with my Ledger nano S , they offer next to no support , and what little there is,is only chat and there's no one responding .
Facebook is full of disgruntled users .
I'd say before buying Ledger check those sites out, you won't be wanting to be visiting them along with all the others.
Sorry I cant offer advise on what a good cold wallet is.  I only have this Ledger nano S .  

Great.

If you mean that you receive funds to the exchange and you want to send them to your cold storage then okay.

Well, if you don't have any laptops available and you want the electrum way, then yes. Instead of buying a new laptop it would be pretty easier and more secure for you to buy a hardware wallet, since you stated that you're new to bitcoin.

Sensible? How's that related with your wallet?

Yes.

Before buying an expensive ( or cheap) laptop , you might want to check with the sellers of the cold wallet you buy . I had to buy a 64 bit laptop to download the Ledger nano S app .
Don't know about Trezor ,or any of the others ,just don't leave your BTC in a online bank .

A Vancouver exchange cost users 180 million when the owner ( is thought to have maybe ,maybe not) died ,and no one has the keys to retrive the 180 million lost.
 
There are just to many greedy people out there! 

Another suggestion, you can use two mobile phones which you can buy one very cheap and use for cold storage and use the other as watch-only wallet. It will be fine if you have a phone you are no more using again but can still function as cold storage.

Yep, hardware wallet is definitely a good option. I am personally using Ledger Nano S for a long term hold and beside some hiccups I am generally satisfied with the device itself. App (Ledger Live) could be better though but if you use it for long term btc hold you shouldn't have much issues with it. Ledger as a comoany had some data breach problems so you wanna keep that in mind too.


I am personally using blockchain wallet, but only as a hot wallet where I have few hundred dollars worth of crypto max. That's definitely not the place where you wanna keep your bitcoin  for a longer period of time.


Another good alternative for a very long term hodl  you might wanna consider is paper wallet. It will cost you nothing and if done properly it is a very safe way to store your bitcoin. Here is a guide (https://news.bitcoin.com/how-to-set-up-bitcoin-paper-wallet/) how to do it.

I'm more orthodox and old school. I cannot trust hardware for 10+ years without checking it regularly.

For my cold wallet, I bought an engraving machine from eBay and engraved the private key on four metal placed then placed in different places.

Simply..
Since you will store big amounts, use a hardware wallet so you can confirm the transactions from it. Also make sure to save your wallet seed in a safe place and also try to memorize it!
About the app/wallet. Use a computer and avoid mobiles. Use electrum for example. Download it from the official site and always check the addresses when you send transactions.

This is a cool idea, because we don't know what happens to us tommorow. Whenever we secure Bitcoin or any valuable assets in the digital form it is a must to remember the password/private key. More than the security, this need to be given priority. If you have someone who can be trusted, share it with him. It can help you someday. I state this based on the incident that happened with Stefan Thomas (https://www.google.com/amp/s/people.com/human-interest/man-forgets-bitcoin-password-makes-peace-with-220-million-loss/%3famp=true) few days back.

The best way is to invest it into trading or hold it in a secure exchange, so you can sell it later when the BTC price pumped.

Hardware wallet is the safest method to store your BTCs where you have the full custody of your private keys (unless if you're so dumb in revealing them to anyone). No central authority or government could stop or freeze your funds with the non-custodial hardware wallets like Ledger Nano S and Trezor.

Electrum on an airgapped LUKS-encrypted PC or hardware wallets. I prefer the former as it's fully customizable (hardware components, operating system, storage space etc). There are DIYs for Trezor if you're interested in creating a coin storage device by yourself.

No matter what you do, be extra paranoid especially when you're planning something for the long term. Is that password good enough? Does that airgapped PC really not have any wireless modules in it such as WiFi or Bluetooth? Is the Electrum version audited and verified? and so on. Little mistakes make for big losses here, so a few more minutes spent per each step will maybe end up as a waste of time but better safe than sorry.

I think the Nano ledger is a smarter choice to store all of your BTC. It is way more safer and secure.

What ever wallet you use as long as you set all the security that need to do and your details is very secure your bitcoin is safe and no one can hack it , also make sure your private key is in the safe place or you will better to keep it offline also or write it down to the paper and keep it safe because that is problem of the investors who forgot their private key and they lost millions of dollars by forgetting it.

The two methods mentioned by you OP is commonly used by everyone tbh.
These are the best ways in order to securely store your BTC.
But if you don’t have a huge amount of BTC to store, then you can store at exchanges or popular wallets online.
Though you still have option to save the coins in your hardware wallet and hardware wallet is more secured, still many people store their BTCs in online wallet.
Nevertheless we can’t say anything to anyone’s decision. So there are many methods to store the BTCs securely.

I agree, these hardware wallets that are existing will make you confident and have a full access with your bitcoins only.

You will not worry online when you think that your bitcoins are not safe. But if you lose your hardware wallet then that's your fault that's why you still need to secure it in your place.


Don't click unknown links when spending time in the internet because when you are accessing many platforms there are a lot of hacks and scams that might fool you and steal your bitcoins.

Be mindful and aware in the internet and also don't let other people have access on your devices.

The best way you can go is definitely a hardware wallet with a display on which you can confirm transactions. You should always have the recovery seed securely stored somewhere when you use a hardware wallet, in case your device breaks or is lost. You can then easily recover the entire wallet with al l the previously stored coins on it.

Why is a wallet with hardware better than a wallet with paper? You need to trust the interface you are using when you spend it out of a paper wallet as you give it your private key. It becomes unsafe after using a paper wallet, and you need to transfer your coins to a new wallet. with a hardware wallet, this will not happen, as all operations are done on it, and only the outcome is sent back to the interface.

Yes, a Hardware wallet is the best way to store your bitcoin safe but always bookmark the link from where you open the hardware wallet. Personally, I am using Trezor wallet and did not face any issue or problem to date so I advised everyone to use a hardware wallet to store your precious coins.

1. Is a yes. Ledger and Trezor are both trusted hardware wallet manufacturers.
2. In Ledger, you need Ledger Live. In trezor, I don't know because I haven't used it but you check their website - https://wallet.trezor.io/#/

Just use a wallet that you hold the private keys like Electrum.

You can use ledger live to operate ledger nano, but electrum wallet is also built as hardware wallet extension, you can operate your hardware wallets on electrum, be it trezor, ledger nano and many others. Electrum is all in all wallet.

For accumulation, cold wallet storage will be good. Electrum cold wallet storage is fine while another device needed for watch-only, you can have a paper wallet, and some ways to create airgapped wallets like hard drive wallets. But for ease of use, cold electrum wallet used with watch-only electrum wallet and hardware wallets are recommendable.

Safety should be our priority in terms of our assets in cryptocurrency industry so it is also an investment. I think the best way to store Bitcoins for long term purposes is by keeping it out of the internet like paper wallets, hardware wallets or anything that can be weather proof.

This is the fact, but I will prefer to use open source because I can know the codes my wallet is using, I will prefer hardware wallet. There are lists of ole source hardware wallets in some topics.


I will prefer Trezor it is common and safe to use

As long as you can access and save the private key I think it will be fine in the long term, because even if you change devices, but if you have and keep the private key it will be restored when you reinstall the application on a new device. Whatever has to do with accessing the wallet as long as we keep it well I'm sure it will be safe for the long term, because even if you use a reliable application but you are careless in storing passwords, private keys etc., it still won't keep you safe even if you have used reliable application.

Always use a reliable wallet such as a ledger, trezor, or cold wallet. It is important to save your private key for recovery in case something happened to your laptop or mobile. You can also use the Electrium app for storage. 

Your motive is really very admirable.  This is really good news if you want to store many more bitcoins in the future.  Now I think you should save your precious bitcoin using Ledger Nano or Trezor.  You can rest assured.

over the years i have found that the answer to your question is different for different people. usually people prefer to buy a hardware wallet and be done with it by relying on it to be secure. nowadays that they support some altcoins too, they have taken the market and have sold a lot of it to many people looking to secure their bitcoins for long term.

i personally prefer to do it myself without relying on any company and their product so i always stick to what i know, which is paper wallet for long term storage, an offline computer for my cold storage that i can access and a hot desktop wallet for day to day use with small amounts.

the only thing i can add here is to tell you to not be afraid of trying multiple different methods before you see which one you like.

I would suggest to use hardware wallet like a trezor, ledger nano. Both are secured and trustable . You should  sfely store your private key or password. You can use electrium app also

Nano Ledger or Trezor wallet are the best in the town. Those hardware wallets are super secure since they can protect your money even when your computer has trouble. Multiple coins can be stored in a single wallet so basically it is very convenient. However, you need to be highly responsible because once you lose your private key, password, there will be no chance for you to claim back the money

I also consider using web wallet such as coinbase is a good option for starter like you. Coinbase is a centralized wallet aka third party wallet which developed in a friendly environment. Once you have understand the concept of cryptocurrency, you can move your coins to your hardware or pc wallet

The cheapest, easiest, most secure way is a paper wallet.

Bad Ways:
1. The worst way would be keeping it on an online exchange.

2. Keeping it in your own hot wallet is better because hackers aren't actively trying to break into your system all the time like they are with exchanges.  As long as you don't accidentally get malware designed to steal crypto downloaded on your computer this is fine. But obviously there is no reason to store long term crypto in a hot wallet of any kind, so again this is a very bad way to store any crypto you plan to hold for a while as it exposes you to risks for no reason.

3. Storing your crypto keys on an air-gapped computer or device is fine, as long as your computer never crashes or breaks or whatever. So again no reason to expose yourself to this risk even though the risk is lower.


Good Way:
Hardware wallet keeps your crypto offline and behind strong hardware security. I am not too familiar with how hardware wallets work in detail, but we've all heard stories of people forgetting their password for the hardware wallet and not being able to access their crypto anymore. And I assume if you lose your hardware wallet you can buy a new one and just put in your password or something to get access to you keys with a new hardware wallet device. But this still holds risks, though they are lower than the "Bad Ways" above. Plus you have to shell out money for a hardware wallet and there is really not reason to do that.


Best Way:
Paper Wallet. This is free, easy, and the most secure way to store Bitcoin. Right down your private and public keys on several pieces of paper. Keep one or two for yourself, give the others to several family members or friends that you trust to store it and not lose it. This way even if something happens to your copy or another copy you have several copies left over (I personally keep one copy and gave three copies to family members). The key here is to encrypt your private key on the paper. Can be as simple as replacing some characters with certain other characters. Just do some encryption scheme that is easy for you to remember, and now this is the only thing you have to remember to access your crypto. This way whoever you give the extra paper wallet copies to can't access them, plus if somehow someone stole a copy of the paper wallet they wouldn't be able to do anything with it.
The likelihood of someone even getting your paper wallet is extremely low, and since you have encrypted the private key on the paper wallet as well it is completely worthless to anybody but you, plus you have several backups so you never run into the problem of losing your keys. Personally I would never use anything besides paper wallet, not even hardware wallets, to store long term bitcoin. It also doesn't have to be physically paper, just as long as it is some sort of physical storage - like the one person in here who mentioned engraving it on metal, that's even better than paper though I guess would cost a little bit of money to do the engraving. But the point is using a physical (paper or whatever) wallet plus encrypting the key itself on there.
Ultimate combo of security, accessibility, and loss prevention.

The best way to store Bitcoin securely is in a hardware wallet, because you keep the private keys yourself. Because that is the only access to your
Bitcoin, I have been using Nano Ledger for a long time and have never experienced any problems. My Bitcoin is very safe from hackers, I am also
more at ease collecting Bitcoin. Especially if you are planning to hold Bitcoin for the long term, better avoid saving it on exchanges. Since many
exchanges have been hacked, so if you want to store Bitcoin on exchanges only use it for trading. I recommend saving the rest in a hardware wallet
such as Nano Ledger or Trezor.

Good idea, no problem if you have more money for that.

trezor has developed trezor suite  (https://blog.trezor.io/all-you-wanted-to-know-about-trezor-suite-ama-highlights-42f69a031afb) to avoid phishing website. better to use suite than a website.

I just worry about the meaning of storage here, I don't recommend electrum for storage.

You don't need an application to store your bitcoin. Your bitcoin address on which you store your bitcoin, is created from a private key. If you own a private key, you can retrieve your bitcoin with a wallet that support it.

It is true that you need an application (wallet software) to create your bitcoin private key or mnemonic seed.

Electrum wallet is good and if you are careful, you can create a multi signature wallet.
https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-multisig-wallet/

Number one is the right method for safe bitcoin. I think you can buy one of the hardware wallets recommended to store your bitcoin. You don't have to always check or connect the hardware to the other devices if you don't want to sell at the current price. If you want to store for the long term, you don't have to worry about the price.

Number two will not be necessary if you already have a hardware wallet, but you can use apps to store a small amount of bitcoin and use it for another purpose besides storing the bitcoin. Trading will be a good method to accumulating more bitcoin, but you should have the skills to make a profit.

You don't have to buy a laptop if you already have a desktop PC because you already have a hardware wallets such as Nano or Trezor to your PC. Using VPN will not be a problem, as long as you know what website you visit, so there is no need to worry.

You can use a small amount of bitcoin to trade on the exchange so that you can make a profit from trading. But you should have skills to trade because, without skills, you will not be able to make a profit.

1. Yeah, hardware wallets like Trezor should work fine as a cold storage.

2. App for what?


If you are using hardware wallets, make sure you make proper backups in case your hardware wallet gets damaged, lost or stolen. For long term holding, just make sure you take proper security measures and once again don't forget to BACKUP your wallets!

For using a hot wallet? No, lol. You don't need to buy a laptop for just using wallets. You can use your current laptop as long as it is secured, free from any malwares and you "know what you are doing and what links you visit/click online". But, if you are being extremely paranoid, for your own good, maybe get a new laptop for just using crypto currencies. Don't remember when was the last time my computer got infect/hijacked. If you are using wallets like trezor, as far as I know, you wallets will still be safe even if you connect it to an infected computer (do your own research!).

VPN for what? Privacy? Sure.

For me Nano Ledger or Trezor wallet are the best to use if you are planning to hold it for a long term.
The app that you need is the app that would allow you to access the hardware wallet that you would use I think it is a google chrome extensions.
When I am accumulating BTC I only buy from trading site or from my friends that I trust and send it to my hardware wallet.

Holding your coins for a long term in an exchange is not a good idea, you should know how to use hardware wallets.

It is really hard to risk your coins into an exchange because hackers can have an access to your coins when these platforms have an error or weakened its security.

Storing bitcoin for a long term purposes needs to have a higher security and comfortability so that you will not worry that much on losing your coins. Just try to buy a hardware wallet because it is also for a long term use and it is worth it to have that if you're a bitcoin holder, try to use Ledger Nano.

The best way to store bitcoin is to either use a hardware wallet, a multisignature wallet or a cold storage wallet. Have your wallet create a seed phrase, write it down on paper and store it in a safe place (or several safe places, as backups). Ideally the wallet should be backed by your own full node

Investment is important of the bitcoins. Bitcoin is good opportunity for future savings. Bitcoin day by day increasing the price. So this right time to invest in Bitcoin. Hold the bitcoins long time. Then you get more profits.

Great, thank you guys, I've got a lot of response to my thread, which I highly appreciate, and plenty of advice on how to store bitcoins.

I do think this is something that will need improvement for accessibility for 'n00bs' to BTC, as it's a fundamental need for all who adopt for the end goal of a decentralized currency, rather than holding just for the gainz.

If you are low in money you can use paper wallet, just do not lose it and do not save in visible places. If you have more than 1 BTC then use a hardware wallet. It is considered a hot and cold wallet with numerous safety features built in that comes with a recovery phrase in case it gets damaged. Probably it is the most secure solution to store your BTC and keep them safe even if your computer is infected (hacked).

The current news revolving around Bitcoin being lost revolves around this Hardware wallets like this ledgers and yes, they really are secure because there can only be a limited number of tries to open it and you really need to remember your initial input password if you want to access your own money. Another thing that you can do is convert it whenever you need it but you can just HODL it in some local wallet that you have because this companies will surely stick forever.

You're just getting started. It's a must to know that you should be the one holding your coins with the private keys. Knowing such information will make you aware of what wallets to avoid and to use.
After all of those suggestions, which wallet do you reckon to use as your cold storage?

Seems that you have already idea about what you are asking because you even know what Ledger nano or trezor
Means and that is one good implication that you know what you are doing here.

That is the safest way storing your bitcoin even that is small amount. Because surely in time adding funds is what
You will need to do.
But make sure to keep safe your seed and key because it will be harder to claim your funds if those are mistakenly loss.

Holding Bitcoin for a long period can be done with any wallet provided that you have the private keys to penetrate into the wallet, see, from my points of views I seems that to store Bitcoin for long time based on decision making and determination and is not determined by the kind of wallet used to stored it.

Get a cold card and setup a multi sig wallet with it. Then store the cold card in a separate location. Also it has the option to add a time delay from when you enter your pin until you can send funds.