Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone

I am new to bitcoins. I have created a bitcoin wallet at blockchain.info site.

I also read most topics here on <Paper Wallets> But I do not understand the following.

a. If I created a main wallet, and I have say $50 worth of bitcoins in there, and I want to add the content of my <paper wallet> into that wallet, do I loose the $50 in the main wallet? And what happens to the adress of the <paper wallet> when I import it into my main wallet?

I do not want to loose any of the money, in either of the wallets.

Thank you for help.

I presume that your "main wallet" is Bitcoin Core, Mycelium, Amory  etc.

When you "add" the content of your paper wallet into your "main" wallet, what really happen is that you import the private key.
This will allow your main wallet to "spend" from content of your paper wallet.

In order to give more technical details, then would it be helpful to know what software your "main" wallet is.

I used the online wallet option on that site. Blockchain.info.

I did not install any software. I only created a wallet on their site.

I will store all my big amounts on the <paper wallets> And only use the online wallet, when I want to buy something.

Thanks for answering so quickly.

No problem :)

I think you have an ok strategy, I personally have a bunch of 0.05 BTC paperwallets which I can import to my Myselium when I need to new funds to spend.
The idea about storing you funds in paper wallets is really the safest way, given that the paperwallets are generated in a safe manner.

When you import a private key into blockchain.info wallet, then will the blockchain wallet be able to spend any funds associated with that private key.
Therefore is these funds "less" safe than before you exposed your private key to the internet.
So only transfer the coins you are planning to spend to blockchain.info, if you want to maintain maximum security.
 

Well that is my idea. Not to have big amounts of money, in a online wallet.

I will just import <paper wallets> when I need to buy something.

And the time, that money/bitcoins are online, are only from the time I import it, until the time I spend it.

Lot less risk, of being hacked.

But I need to know, that the small amount, I leave in the main wallet, will not be <over written> when I import a the paper wallet, to the main wallet.

The reason why I want to leave a small amount of bitcoins in the main wallet, will be for the real small transactions like donations etc. And to buy some coffee daily.

No it will not be overwritten, some wallets makes an real transaction (Mycelium do that) and transfer the funds from the imported private key to its own address.
But most wallets can manage multiple private key, I believe that blockchain.info do that, it just store the new private key parallel with the original key. The balance showed in your wallet will then be the combined funds for all private keys. I am certain that you will not loose funds by importing a new key, since I was experimenting with blockchain.info with this exact thing about 10 month ago, its worked perfect, I even used my webcam for the import (scan the QR). But now I use Mycelium instead of blockchain.info.

If you are not confident, then transfer everything from blockchain.info to another wallet, only leaving e.g. 0.01 BTC, and then try to import e.g. 0.01 from a paperwallet. I am certain that your end ballance will be 0.02BTC.




 

Indeed, your bitcoin is never stored in your wallet.
Your wallet (paper wallet or blockchain.info wallet) contains your private keys which enable you to spend the bitcoin on the associated addresses.
Importing a private key to another wallet will not overwrite anything.

Well, to be safe, I will empty my main online wallet first, as suggested, and then do these importing of private keys.

That way, I do not loose anything, if something goes wrong.

On second thought, I will leave some Satoshies in the main wallet, to see, if it is over written or not.

Thanks for the advice.

Anytime :)

Paper wallets are not a good idea. When starting out you should use a desktop wallet for larger amounts. Later on you can use offline wallets from armory or electrum. But with paper wallets you will have to worry about change, sweeping vs. import, securing the private key etc. Paper wallets are easy to get started with but hard to spend from securely.

I have no idea, what you are talking about. What is change, sweeping vs. import, etc?

I thought, if the wallet was created securely, it is offline. So nobody can get to it.

Now, you have me totally confused.

Sorry I confused you. I'll see if I can simplify it for you. When you go to import your private key in blockchain.info you will be asked whether you want to import or sweep. Choose the sweep option.

Say when you have one piece of 1 btc in your wallet and want to send 0.5 btc out, you will need to spend the whole bitcoin and get 0.5 btc back in your change address (could be a newly created address or an existing address in your wallet).

FYI: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Change

After you imported your private key in your paper wallet to your online wallet, the paper wallet should no longer be considered offline. You should create a new paper wallet for safety.

Kakmakr, your doing it right!
Online wallets are very convenient, but they do require trusting the wallet operator.  My formula for the online balance I keep on my smart phone is that the balance should not exceed the value of the phone. Larger amounts should be kept offline in a wallet on a USB stick, or a paper wallet. 

A paper wallet is merely an address where the according private key (needed for controlling/spending your BTC) is written down on a paper, so it can't be stolen from your computer. You can import that key in your wallet (meaning you can now spend those BTC) or you 'swipe' those BTC, meaning you transfer them immediately to another address in your wallet.

Fixed that for you.

Thanks, yes. This happens when you think ahead or wander off mentally. I really think more wallets should support this feature, it's important when receiving BTC on a strip of paper for example!

you don't lose them you transfer them to another addres, those bitcoin aren't even your, you can just spend them, you can use armory, or multi bit, if you don't like the blockchain size, but always keep them offline, it's more secure