Bitcoin Forum

Maybe I have the wrong thoughts about the whole thing? There was a time when you can buy a paper wallet from stores in the U.S with BTC in them? Am I right? If yes I don't see those paper wallets anymore, or I am not looking 👀 enough?.

Bitcoin atms might still print them.

The issue with paper wallets is they're no longer considered the best way to backup a wallet to paper - bip39 came out which now lets you represent multiple private keys with a phrase made up of 12 words which is much harder to deface and become unusable as there's a checksum included and if a letter in a word fails or is misprinted, you can likely still make out what the word is - and if you can't it doesn't take long to bruteforce it.

There might still be people using them and places they can be created (like bitaddress.org).

Why not just make your own paper wallet buy bitcoin and generate your own wallet and deposit it there and then print them?

Bitaddress.org is one of the tools that can generate a paper wallet but make sure to use Bitaddress on the offline machine to make a safe paper wallet.

You can also use the Armory wallet to generate wallet and make paper wallet directly on Armory.

Yes, making sure to have it downloaded directly from GitHub is recommended: https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org
I've also used SegWit Address and it's a reliable site. It's also available on GitHub: https://github.com/coinables/segwitaddress

If you want to create a customized Bitcoin address, you can also create a Vanity Address but it won't have any nice design like Bitaddress for example: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25804.0 (Vanitygen) / https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5112311.0 (Vanitysearch)

One possible benefit of buying paper (physical) bitcoins could be that you could purchase them with [physical] cash which wouldn't leave any traces behind. Kind of like buying gift cards with cash which provides a high level of anonymity.
Although this method also has its downsides since you have to trust the seller and the funds used to buy those coins and the trace they leave.

See if you have a ChainBytes kiosk near you, here is the map with their ATMs (https://coinatmradar.com/manufacturer/102/chainbytes-bitcoin-atm-producer/).
They are still offering the possibility of getting a paper wallet and not inserting your address, and you can also stack those up if you want to sell them. Lammasu kiosks had that at least a few years ago the same offer, just print it with no required address but I don't know if they still offer it, and you will still need KYC for any ATM for larger sums.

As for direct buying a $ 50/100 fixed voucher with BTC from a shop I don't know if there is something like this still available anywhere, there was one such initiative in France where you could buy those vouchers at any tobacco shop but it went bust.

I don't think there is a difference on generating the wallet offline and print it with  your own and then fund them by dealing to someone meetup or use P2P exchange to fund them.

You can also use mixer after you buy BTC from someone or P2P to break traces.

If OP is technically new to making a paper wallet, I won't suggest making it on his own because that's very tricky and it could be losing your coins if you didn't know the right process of making a paper wallet.  Assuming OP isn't tech savvy.

Just buy a hardware wallet and find an ATM machine near in your place where to purchase Bitcoin.
It could also be a good alternative as a gift card if this was your intention of buying a paper wallet that has Bitcoin inside because the downside of buying a ready-made paper wallet could be possible that can be hacked when your wallet is tampered with by them, not unless they were trusted store.

Those were likely generated already with some btc on it and up for sale. Today, you're not going to see them usually because it can be done by anyone in private unlike before that only a few enthusiasts that you can see elsewhere.

As said, it's available in some bitcoin ATMs but if you don't like that because they will charge you with fee which is the common thing about them.

That's true but that method would be slightly slower since you would have to wait for confirmation and it can't be automated. But if they are already printed and ready to be sold (like gift cards) you could just visit the shop or use the ATM and buy a bunch.