Bitcoin Forum

I am searching for a good place to hide my paper wallet
i don't want any one to see it or try to scan the QR code
please don't give me silly places, I really want to hide it in secure place

How about a safety box? How about you put the QR code on a digital image and put it on a USB key too? Just make sure to have some redundancy. The best way to keep it secure is people not knowing you have one and if someone acquire it, they can't tell what it is.

You could also put light encryption on it with something very easy for you to decrypt, just to obfuscate even more the content.

Well I could give you specific suggestions, but then I might be revealing where I tend to hide things, so instead I'll leave you with this: where is the least likely place someone would look for something valuable?  Hide it there.  Know where thieves would look (under the bed/matteress, underwear drawer, etc. etc.) and don't use a spot like that.  Know where the police look (inside fireplace/wood burning stove, in couch cushions, in filing cabinet, etc. etc.) and don't use a spot like that.

Get creative, pretend you broke into your house, where would you look for stuff?  Don't put it in any of those places.

Safety deposit boxes are good, but if the bank locks you out or a huge earthquake levels the building you're out of luck.  Better is a lock box buried down several feet at a location only you know. https://youtu.be/VZWX2Q6UaAU?t=1m46s

Here's two great places to hide something:

This watch I got here was first                                                                                                                                                                   purchased by your great-granddaddy
                         It was bought during the First World
                         War in a little general store in
                         Knoxville, Tennessee. It was bought
                         by private Doughboy Ernie Coolidge
                         the day he set sail for Paris. It
                         was your great-granddaddy's war watch,
                         made by the first company to ever
                         make wrist watches. You see, up until
                         then, people just carried pocket
                         watches. Your great-granddaddy wore
                         that watch every day he was in the
                         war. Then when he had done his duty,
                         he went home to your great-
                         grandmother, took the watch off his
                         wrist and put it in an ol' coffee
                         can. And in that can it stayed 'til
                         your grandfather Dane Coolidge was
                         called upon by his country to go
                         overseas and fight the Germans once
                         again. This time they called it World
                         War Two. Your great-granddaddy gave
                         it to your granddad for good luck.  
                         Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't as
                         good as his old man's. Your granddad
                         was a Marine and he was killed with
                         all the other Marines at the battle
                         of Wake Island. Your granddad was
                         facing death and he knew it. None of
                         those boys had any illusions about
                         ever leavin' that island alive. So
                         three days before the Japanese took
                         the island, your 22-year old
                         grandfather asked a gunner on an Air
                         Force transport named Winocki, a man
                         he had never met before in his life,
                         to deliver to his infant son, who he
                         had never seen in the flesh, his
                         gold watch. Three days later, your
                         grandfather was dead. But Winocki
                         kept his word. After the war was
                         over, he paid a visit to your
                         grandmother, delivering to your infant
                         father, his Dad's gold watch. This
                         watch. This watch was on your Daddy's
                         wrist when he was shot down over
                         Hanoi. He was captured and put in a
                         Vietnamese prison camp. Now he knew
                         if the gooks ever saw the watch it'd
                         be confiscated. The way your Daddy
                         looked at it, that watch was your
                         birthright. And he'd be damned if
                         and slopeheads were gonna put their
                         greasy yella hands on his boy's
                         birthright. So he hid it in the one
                         place he knew he could hide somethin'.
                         His ass. Five long years, he wore
                         this watch up his ass. Then when he
                         died of dysentery, he gave me the
                         watch. I hid with uncomfortable hunk
                         of metal up my ass for two years.
                         Then, after seven years, I was sent
                         home to my family. And now, little
                         man, I give the watch to you.

Ok, maybe my suggestions were silly. But after you've hidden it it may be easy to forget where it was hidden. I suggest posting on this thread where it was hidden so you have a record of it incase you ever forget!

You need a nice secure place to put it.  In most countries safty deposit boxes are that.  You could easily put just the QR code in it and if stolen if it does not say bitcoin on it most thief's would not know the QR is to a bitcoin wallet.

But I highly suggest not posting your spot of hiding online.  It is a bad idea as if a "bad guy" targets you for BTC you really don't want you spot of hiding be posted on a board.

A safe deposit box is good, but can the government force the bank to open the safe deposit box?
In some jurisdictions, I think the government's order would be binding on the bank. In that case, the government can seize your bitcoins at any time.

In all honesty, just put it where you would put something such as gold coins or other precious materials. As others have mentioned, a safety deposit box would work fine. If you don't have access to one, or are wary of your local bank, you could probably hide it just about anywhere in your home. I would avoid putting it in something like a safe, as robber would probably think less of a QR code if it was hidden in an ordinary spot. Maybe in a cabinet with other files?

under your carpet is also a good and secure place. if you make it water proof by putting it completely in plastic then you don't have to worry about water damage.

It would depend on your government.  If you feel secure and have a solid government.  But as far as the US I feel pretty secure with safty deposit box.  There would have to be cause of something to open it.... and quite frankly I'm to boring there is nothing illegal or bad I do to warrent opening my box.   So I feel fine with security.   If you are into "bad/illegal business" then yes your box could be opened as there would be cause. 

It really depends on goverment I would say.  I still think government countries credit rating is one good way to see on trust.   

Just encrypt your wallet dat with a very easy to remember password inside a hidden partition inside normal data. You can do this with Truecrypt. A hidden partition within a virtual partition. :)

Put that on a couples of USB keys and put them in safe place. If you are ever coerced to unlock the hidden partition, you give them the main password with the obvious files. They have no way to prove there is a hidden partition that hide the true .dat or files and you're good to go.

You can hide them in a waterproof or fireproof box. For waterproofing, I would recommend you to laminate them first. Security shouldn't be much of an issue as long as you can use BIP38 encryption or make a multisig wallet and give keys to trusted people as you may one day lose your memory.

I do not know safety lockers are available in every country. If available, then safety lockers are the best options to secure your paper wallets. But papers may ruin in time, So optical medium would be the right choice.

I do not see paper wallets are secured one. because paper wallets do not have much life than electronic mediums. Paper will decay in time. If your wallets papers decay then that would burn your hard earned bitcoins. Do not take chances.

Paper wouldn't probably decay unless there is a presence of water. It would probably still become yellow and brittle if it isn't an acid free paper. Acid free paper can be purchased cheaply and you can use paper lamination process to prevent water damage. Anyhow, you must keep different backups of the wallet.

It;s funny because if you ask for it, and people tell their best hiding places, then it is not a good hiding place anymore. Obvious right?

I would not tell here my hiding places, but probably try it hide under the bed, or below a couch.

OR THIS:

http://drpop.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/05-Mel-at-Safehouse.jpg

you can hide it directly in the bank in a secure box, and no other one can access aside from you

you're also covered in the case something went wrong

how about you cut into 4 pieces and put it in a different place,
like a treasure map 8)

anyway i want to ask how much btc your safe at paper wallet ?

if OP safe only 10BTC is not balanced with vault 101
i'ts a good place and best place, but not smart choice

I am not that smart to help you find good place to hide paper wallet for you :)
I would only say to follow simple approach:

1. Make sure that water will not destroy it - Prepare three copy and put in different places. Use may be a laminator to protect them.
2. Choose place which is good to remeber to you - and if something happen to you, think about your family, or friends if they can find it and undrastand what to do with.

I think that for the time being you are safe to store it anywhere you want. Nobody will steal it, don't worry about it. Even if people found it, they wouldn't knew what it is. Hopefully this will change in the future and we will have to worry about it as well when Bitcoin becomes huge.

Just make sure you make several copies and store them in different places, because of the fire, flood, etc..

you should protect the paper wallet in protecting plastic first , in other words laminate it. then you can store it anyplace you like and be sure that it is well protected against anything that can harm paper like humidity.
the best place I can think of is a safe if you have one or the same place in your house where you keep your valuables. you may even consider a safety deposit box at a bank.

Try this steps sir make it rar with password then put it to usb.then the usb should have a password.
Download the usbsafeguard.exe and copy it to your USB flash drive. Run it from your flash drive and enter a password to lock the drive. To unlock it, run the file again and enter the password. The locking procedure must be repeated every time you want the drive to be locked as the tool will remember its last status, i.e. locked or unlocked. This also means that you can change the password every time you use USB Safeguard.
heres the link https://userscloud.com/1e15yz44bmic
 (https://userscloud.com/1e15yz44bmic)

Yes, the paper wallet shouldn't be only on Paper. Paper actually isint a very way to store something securely, who knew? :P For encrytion, remember even the best ones like TrueCrypt can come up with some vulnerabilities;
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/215285-critical-truecrypt-security-bugs-finally-found

So make sure to always use more than one layer of security.

that why he need to rar file it with password using copy paste not keystroke before he place it in usb with encryption and just always use updated antivirus to be safe from monitoring apps...

in a safe or a private safety depositbox. i wanted to know if it was possible to encode a qr image into a random picture, if so you could have a picture of a loved one that actually hold your btc :D ( just a thought)

You can but winrar passworded archive isin't very strong encryption. I would strongly advice against using winrar password encryption. You can try to set it up to use an heavier algorithm but its still going to be fairly weak.

Meanwhile some password option on winrar and similar don't even encrypt the data and most people can absolutely not tell the difference. It just set a password flag and the software will request a password, this can be bypassed easily.

So all in all, don't do it, use actual encryption software. Winrar is definitively not it.

i think i good in your hand to take them

First of all I would make a copy of each paper wallet.Just to be safe.
Then you have several options where you put it. Waterproof boxes, vaults, hidden places such as a book in a bookshelf or similar things.
And I wouldn't worry too much now because most of the people who might find it will have no clue what this is and how to use it.

You should just keep it in qr format and leave it in a safe deposit box.

That is all there is to it.

Try hiding places from youtube movies like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMxAt1bvjpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kEQAve3aJA

etc. good luck :)

Find a rock, carve it out, put the paper wallet inside it, then fill it up again, then hide that in your garden:

http://www.morethanasundayfaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/safe-hiding-place.jpg

Laminate your paper wallet up to water proof. Then put it down into a fisher tank. No one will check your fisher tank for your bitcoins. You can watch your paper wallet while you are watching and enjoying your fish drivings.

First, you need to cover your paper wallet from any damages, better to use steel covered.
and... http://www.wikihow.com/Hide-Things-in-Your-Room

Always make 2 copies of each paper wallet & keep them at different locations. Maybe in a safe at your home & the other copies laminated & buried in a weatherproof box of some sort buried in the garden.

Well now that you have said it, they will...

I dont understand why would people make a thread like this, it will blow everybody's best hiding places.

Seriously, guys you are exposing yourselves this way, and if a burglar would look for your bitcoins , now they would know where. It's not a good idea to expose hiding places...  ???

Because people don't understand that the answer is not where but HOW. You can just encrypt the privkey and print it to a piece of paper. If someone find it, and its really hard to find a single small piece of paper. Then they will still take 1 billion years to decrypt it.

GG. Hide with your brain, not with your eyes.

But an encrypted version of the private key exactly the public key. So it would be like writing down the bitcoin address not the priv key, which makes no sense.

You still need to memorize the private key and write it down to another piece of paper, which then creates 2 important pieces of paper and double the risk that if any gets lost you lose access to the money.

No, the public key is a derivative that cannot be reverse engineered. I'm talking about actual/real encryption of file/data here. For instance like TrueCrypt. You do need a password to decrypt it, or a encryption/decryption key. And you need to know how you encrypted it. Only you should know so thats even more security.

You could for instance hide the decryption key appart, or in a safety box.

Or just password it.

And you don't have double the risk to lose your coins because if you have only a single copy, you're doing it wrong from the start.

Having a tough time hiding paper is one of the reasons BTC is popular. I'm not sure how redundant the answer "Safety Deposit Box" is, but I'll leave it here regardless.

You can leave it in the shoe-box where you hide your drugs.
You can laminate it and stick it in your sock, carrying it with you everywhere you go.
You can wear a cup and stick it in there.
You can stash it inside an old-computer case.
You can stick it down the barrel of an out-of-commission firearm and retrieving it with pipe-cleaner(s)/dis-assembly.
Under an old floor-board, inside a picture-frame, behind the actual picture.
Stick it over the batteries, but inside the battery-case on your game-boy.
Laminate it, dip it in wax repeatedly until it forms a Candle-shape and then stick it in a box.
It's a piece of paper, and you literally could put it anywhere.

You can think of your own unique place, because the best things are self-taught, self-suggested and self-maintained.

I'd go with "Hide in plain sight" if people don't know and don't have the instruction on what to do with the alphanumerical series that is in front of them, then its as safe as inside the safest of vault. And if a location get compromised, you should have another one.

Don't forget redundancy, you're not hiding a pile of gold here, you're hiding a digital key that can be kept in one million copy if you need to.

Hide it behind the last sheet of paper in your printer, that's hiding in plain sight.

Yes i understand that, but i mean that is is pointless. It is like writing down your bitcoin address on a piece of paper whih is pointless because we want the private key secured not the address, that is already public.

And if you encrypt the private key with lets say AES-256 then you need another private key to memorize which is back where we started, because this doesnt add extra security to it, as anybody who would know the AES key would also know the bitcoin private key.

So it makes no sense at all.

What you can do instead if break the private key in 4 pieces, number them, and hide them  in separate places, like puzzle pieces.

You just gave me a good idea for CoinFest 2016.. Thank you .

It is not pointless, it has nothing to do with the public address and we wouldn't be using SHA256d to store our priv key and your public address is NOT your priv key in SHA256d, it is not decryptable, it is not possible to decrypt your public address into your private address.

But it is possible to encrypt it, your private key with encryption algorithm and just password it, like thisismyuncrackablepassword.

And then you only need to when you want to get your money is run the output that you printed on a piece of paper or stored in a usb key, load this in the encryption application and input your password.

You can do a puzzle if you want to go fancy but you're still going to need redundancy. If you lose a part and you don't have other copies, you're fucked, so either way you need a master copy, safe somewhere.

And there is no better way to hide a priv key than the same way your BTC are protected by it; by being hidden behind a hash that cannot be bruteforced.

The puzzle thing is probably a good idea if you want your kids to go through a puzzle to get their BTC/allowance or something. But if you want to keep it secured, obfuscation is the way to go. Not hidding the privkey naked in your socks.

Under the floorboards in a fireproof envelope.

Sorry but you dont get it, i was using an example to illustrate.

I was saying that an AES256d private key is just the same as a naked private key, because then you would need to memorize the AES 256 key, so you are back at square 1 because you still have a password to secure.

So its the same to write down a bitcoin private key and hide it under your pillow, than a AES256 encryption key of the bitcoin private key under your pillow.

So this makes no sense.

=======================

Yes also the more pieces you have the better obfuscation, but the higher risk of 1 being lost you lose access.

You need to weight that risk in.

 You can put 1 key under your pillow and you know its there, but if a burglar takes it he can acces the bitcoins.

Or you can split it in 4 pieces, hide in different places ,and the burglar only takes 2 of them so he wont have access. But now you wont have access either :D

No. You don't need an encryption key to encrypt something. Encryption software will generate it for you out of a password. So you can store an encryption key with a password as simple a "1234" you absolutely do not need a bulky encryption key.

It's an added level of obfuscation that is very easy to do and undo. If this does not make sense to you, then it is because you do not know how easy to use it is.

Buy a locker in bank and put it in there.That is the safest place to keep it.If you keep it at home,there's a chance of you misplaced and you either have to keep changing its location or stand guard to keep it safe which is going to give you headache

I'm thinking you mean security boxes within the bank.   Yes they are very secure.   If you need it they are a pain as it's not at your house.  But if you have lots of coins then it's not a bad idea.

Also I like to suggest making the paper you store it on not have bitcoin on it.   Have private codes/QR and put like family photo link instead of bitcoin.  Just a better chance if somehow at thief did get it the would not mess with family photos.  Also encrypted usb within a security box at bank is even better.

In a dig underground

Well many comments are funny so there is one too :)
A good way to hide your paper wallet is putting it in a blank bottle
And hide that on the ground http://www.survivalistspreppers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/buried-money.jpg

With that money (or any paper) I would have a airtight something around it.  That person with money would have one sad day if that glass bottle breaks under pressure.  Depending on how deep keep in mind pressure from above could crush/crack.  For example I'm on a farm if some of the equipment went over that it would be so much pounds it would push into group and pretty much guarenteed to crack or crush the glass.  Unless burred very deep.

I will say I'm not a fan of burying it.  Just to much can go wrong and I don't like that it would be ouside with no alarm, or security to stop someone else from digging it up.

Dig under your house then!

Hah! I just mean, you should have a backup plan in case your house burn down. If its buried somewhere relatively safe, then you have a back up, just in case. If its encrypted, it should be fine even if its dug up.

Regardless of if you do it old school bury it style or in a USB key in a safety deposit box in a bank, you should encrypt it regardless. Even with simple password it would be very hard to figure out what it is and how to decrypt it.

Why would anybody bury fiat money ? :D:D:D

It's like buryin your stack of toilet papers and waiting to transform in gold. Fiat money will lose 50-90% of its value in 30 years, that is very likely, so it would be a shitty idea.

Just bury some greek drachmas in the 1950's, and by 1998 (when Greece joined the Eurozone) it will be worth 99% less.

Better bury gold, that doesnt get destroyed.

honestly, paper is thin. :D

I'd rather use a trezor stored in a safe. much better solution in my opinion.

i think i would hide it to a good quality safe or just put it in my wallet and make a few copies in order to recover it in case of loosing wallet

Maybe the best place is in plain sight:
you generate 100-200 pairs of public+private keys, pick one number you prefer and use that as actual paper wallet. Nobody will have the patience to enter them all by hand until they find the non-empty one.

Of course, you'll have to keep your actually used public key also hidden from the people you know, so you'll need a few public/buffer wallets. They'll be empty 99.9% of the time.

They can use an automatic bot that tries all of them, if you do this on your PC.

If you do it with paper wallets, then you will need alot of printing ,and have a good mark on the real private key, while marking the fakes one too.

Also you can descuise it.  Dont have it say bitcoin or private key on it.  Put it as camo like "Family Pictures Link 2015" or something a "bad guy" would have no interest.  And on private key could put picture storage id.

Be creative with it.  A little camo like this to hide it and might do a world of good.

Thats is nice but not very sophisticated...

Famili pictures? Nah thats amateur,  i mean its a random scribble the private key, so you need some other way to mask the randomness, in a way more creative way.

You just gave me an idea..

THE GOV CAN AND WILL RAID A SAFTEY BOX IN THE BANK!!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Dig a hole in the ground, DO NOT bring your cell with you.


IN your house, behind dry wall.. cut hole, put it here, patch hole.  Mud it well so no one knows.

You want to get creative? How about a non electronic sub dermal implant with a sealed capsule that has the encrypted priv key inside? All you would have to do is scratch that spot to be remembered that you're walking around with all that bitcoin.

You can always keep an eye on it and it cannot be stolen while you're not looking.

snip

You sir are more dedicated them me if you are willing to do this.  I will keep safety deposit box :)

If you can handle injecting it in your body, and cutting out each time you want it... just would take it to another level.   

Yeah no, thats crazy. This could work with a electronic implant that is your hardware wallet key. Otherwise hell no.

I was thinking about someone that has like hundreds or thousands of Bitcoin that wish to keep his Bitcoin safe in cold storage but still in reach for many years, as a bet that Bitcoin's market cap will eventually beat other payment processors.

You keep those until its time to retire, then take it out and cash out, live the good live.

Keep it with a pile of raw sodium next to a cup of water. Good luck to those who try to take it. In fact, why not add in some pitfalls and an red herring obstacle course?

And what if the doctor that implanted the chip has connections to some mobsters and tells them about you walking around with million dollars worth under your skin?

What will happen to you then?

Not very safe in my opinion.

Haha, you're funny. If its cold storage it wont be a chip. And there is no way what the "doctor" would know what it is. There is no way you should rely on a chip for storing millions of dollars.

Either its cold storage and its not a chip or its a chip for accessing it often (not cold storage).

Not its not funny, there are many shady doctors out there that would do this. If people would start putting chips under their skins, storing digital money (not necessarly bitcoin but even bank account passwords), many mobsters would be interested in obtaining a list of these clients and then "visiting them" and then "extracting them".

http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/rfid-chips-convenient-but-creepy-1273.php

It is not as secure as you think.

A good please to hide the paper wallet is in the pen.
You can remove the color of the pen and put the paper there.
Also some pen have calendars by sliding up the above part so that could be safe enough and it is very small.

I do not think you are understanding what i'm saying. I will clarify;

You can use a chip. Sure a rfid chip could work as part of a hardware wallet thing, not on its own because anyone can read the passive reading on the chip, for a spending wallet in your everyday usage OR you can seal in a sealed capsule, the size of a grain of rice, an encrypted hash, that no one knows whats on it. Not the doctor, not anyone.

Its totally hardcore, and i would not to it, but, unless you have made it known that you own millions of dollars in BTC' in which case it does not matter where you hide it, criminal could extort you, its just as secure as hiding it in your socks. Or more ;)

Hiding your paper wallet would be as easy as hiding it any place that nobody would think to look. Just think outside the box and if it looks like somewhere you would hide something then it probably isn't a good idea. Glue it to the back of a family photograph, Under the sole in a retired pair of shoes, or even tucked inside the game-manual of a video-game would be excellent places to hide it.

Yea but i mean doing the whole thing is so odd that it definitely raises suspicion what you want to hide in there.

People dont just put chips in their body for no reason, so if somebody does that that somebody surely hides something important there, so they will try to steal that.

Chips are not a real solution.  The problem is security look into RFID.  Some were considered secure look down the road 10 years you can get a cloner pretty cheap and copy some that once were considered secure.  So thinking your holdings is safe when it's sending out even a passive signal is not really good.   

Also you would beep with metal in every metal detector.  Imagine wanting to fly somewhere and they find metal in your arm injected.  You would have a horrible time traveling. 

A cold wallet such as paper will  remain king as long as it's done right.  Get a safty deposit box at bank (assuming you live in a country you can trust goverment, if your country has a horrible bond rating likely don't go for this option).   And like ive suggested before you can camo it where you don't have BTC on the paper wallet and likely no thief would even mess with it.

Best place is your locker or safe beileve it or not these are best places or try to hide in bank.

Good idea! Unfortunately, OP have to pay some interest/rent for the bank locker :o
IMO, there's nothing much an efficient locker than your/human brain, just remember your btc address and corresponding private key!

Put in a fireproof safe, or bury somewhere

Problem with this is one point of failure.  Say you could perfectly remember your private key's (yes multiple is what I suggest instead of one big one).

Lets say you are hit by a bus.   Now the only person who knew the keys is gone.   I like bank deposit box as family will get it if that bus situation happens.  (And it is very unlikely but still most I think would want family to have access to it instead of it becoming abandon)

You can put it in your will, which become effectively the same as storing an encrypted usb + paper with your priv key in a safety box, but it seem people here like to say "you can't trust the government so you can't use safety deposit boxes!".

Hence my idea of implanting the data in a silicon capsule between your toe or something.

In a "normal" world from our perspective, lets go with an encrypted USB drive/paper backup in a couples of safety box for redundancy. That way your peers can access it if you get hit by a bus.

http://ecycler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/recycle-bins.jpg

TRASH CAN!

Put your paper wallet in an envelope, seal it, and make it laminated to not corrode and get dissolved.

Put some filthy rotten food in a trash can and put your envelope in there too.

Guaranteed no burglar will search there! :D

http://www.agileforall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/trash-e1262592236846-233x300.jpg

Underground

Implant is just not practical.   Truth is it does very by country on how secure safty deposit boxes.  If you live in a country that banks might fail or goverment might seize yes it could be a bad spot.  I am in US so feel pretty secure.

As far as leaving it in will that is not a great thing either.  Some lawyer somewhere having a copy of your private key just does not make sense in practice.   Unless you are saying will just say's BTC is in safty deposit or something, but then it's really not doing a whole lot.

But if someone wants to make you a surprise while cleaning your house
Then this would be the worst case but having more than 1-2 backups is highly recommended.
I would say putting the paper wallet under the grass(undergroud) in front of your house would be perfect.

Made it like a foot pad and put it inside your shoe.

Normally people won't even touch it. :)

put one copy in a safe and one in another secure location and have a backup plan that someone can get the password in case you are incapacitated, die or forget it

Bank locker are the best place to keep safe your paper wallet....

I don't suggest this.  If your like me at certain points family goes through some old clothes/shoes and donate it.   If you have a family they might end in a donation like this.    

An if your talking about the shoes your wearing not old pair that will be a pain to.  Imagine each time you used a different shoe having to move the paper.  And the worst thing is when your shoes no security like a safe or something good for security.

Home safe or bank deposit box really are one of the best options just a pain.  So use it for the large amounts.  As we are not really talking about hot wallet spending money.

But I told you that home safe is only viable if you live in a house, if you live in an apartment like me, especially on the 8th floor (hard to move the safe up, and we dont have lift), not very good.

Also it might raise suspicion of neightbors, what ever you hide in that safe, since most people here are poor, and if you are somehow rich they automatically label you as if you were some criminal or something.

Neighbors suck, sorry. If I live in a house, then its no problem, but then the risk of burglary is even higher, as a burglar can rob a house easier than an apartment.

Bank locker is the most logical place to hide it. Even in case you lose your memory it should make sense to you.

the best option is to create an encrypted offline wallet on a USB disk using linux. that way nobody can crack it even if they can access the USB disk itself.
but for paper, the safest place is either a safe at your house or a deposit box in the bank.

p.s. if a burglar knows what bitcoin is or recognizes the paper wallet, he can read this thread to know where to look for it :)

i have it in a secure box in my bank

i have something about it, the only thing i don't like is that i have not a fasta access to my paper wallets, but at least they are super safe

another funny way is memorize your entire private key and teach your parrot to do the same, just in case you lose your memory or something, if he can do it

a bit dangerous but it would be fun enough to try with a little amount first  :D

If you can get a wallet address that is really easy to remember, it would be great!

If you loose your real money you lose also your bitcoins.
This is not recommended, the best way it to make multiple backups.
And store each of them in separate safe box or save place/environment.

The hope is you have a bank account and are holding your money in there.  If you are carrying all of your cash in wallet that is not a good idea.  One person takes wallet you are broke.

Kinda same with bitcoin don't carry it around when you don't need access to cold storage.  Lock it up, get a bank deposit box.  Anything with better security.

stick a piece of paper in your wall

This is actually not a horrible idea.   I cannot remember the spy movie but they did this.  What they did was had a vent or something that allowed a straight drop of item and used magnets.

So say you stored your paper storage in the wall with a magnet on it.  You use a string with another magnet on it and you can "fish" it out when needed.  Only problem is fire etc that destroy it.

Safe's do not have the fire issue assuming nice safe.

Isolate it with good metal, then covering that with aluminum that the fire does not destroy etc.
Since you have access to the wall that would not be problem even if someone will start destroying your house.
Another place to hide the paper wallet i would consider blank pipes(10cm extension) in your water installation huh?

Covering it with aluminium would not change anything, the heat will still be transferred to the paper and thus all that will be left is dust. You could print the key with metal or some such, but the best thing to do is definitively have several backups.

I don't know how is it called in english but firefighters use them.
It is against fire and it can protect the paper too from the fire.
Having several backups is the best idea for everything not just for the paper wallet but also for sensitive files/data, another idea?

There's flame retardant and you can stack them together in a hard enclosure, common in flame retardants safe. But they only give you time, meaning if you do not extinguish the fire quick enough, the content will still burn.

Instead imagine a steel QR cube. It could be grabbed easily with magnets too!

That is not a bad idea if it could be done safely.  I really do like the idea of a steel QR code, if it could be read by a reader. 

Only problem I see is going to be hard to get safely.  Most wont have the technology to do this in steel.  So you would have to rely on a 3rd party to cut it so that brings it to not so good on security.  I don't know of easy way but if there was a at home kit or something of a steel qr code that would be great.  And likely sell as a lot love coins with crypto.

I was playing around on Amazon it appears there are fire resistant pouches to store items in.   Example http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S946C3S?keywords=fireproof%20pouch&qid=1444605675&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 .  You could put that down a wall and have magnets on it.   Only problem is if big fire and passes the rating in heat.... then poof.

Did anyone say "In your butt" yet?


If no, best place to hide your paper wallet is totally in your butt.

a Bank Locker is best as per my own incentives...

I like this idea the best. It's been what I've been thinking lately

It was just an example but you can make it strong as much as you want.
If you feel unsafe with this way then hide it in a big tree :P inside.
Or like in the old movies a map inside it to get the rest of the private key.

Even im not too understand about this paper wallet, but i think that the place was very safe for a things like paper inside some deposit box, you can have it in house or maybe rent it on yours local bank..

A paper wallet is a piece of paper that includes your bitcoin address to receive bitcoins.
Your public key, and your private key to spend your bitcoin.
For more information you should check this page: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet

Honestly the bank deposit box is hard to beat on safety (as long as you have a stable goverment, some countries yes horrible idea).  But it is very good for long term storage of BTC.

It is not for coins you need a lot of access to, as it would be a pain to go to bank get it and return to bank.  So this is long term storage.  Shorter term you will be better off at home in a safe or other safe places.

hemm how about save your paper wallet at compact-disc
is not bad place ;D very simple and cheap :)

http://4vector.com/i/free-vector-compact-disc-clip-art_116748_Compact_Disc_clip_art_hight.png

Lol what if the disk get damaged?
better to store in usb then disk.

Just make it with BIP38 encryption. You can let it everywhere you like if you use a very strong password.

and what if you lose that very strong password. hiding a paper wallet in a clock or elsewhere safe is more than enough to be able to find it back.

If a USB doesn't see power for a couple years it will lose everything.. becareful with flash memory.

A cd that is in wrong elements can also have bad problems.  CD's are not perfect.  I personally would go with multiple USB or paper wallets.

A paper wallet stored in a few safe places is hard to beat.  You can laminate it to last longer, or other things.  But I still would choose usb over CD.   But that is pesonal preference. 

USBs can be corrupted too, i had bad experienced when i saved there important information in the past.
CDs are good too but depends where do you leave it, you can leave in a movie dvd pack and it is save enough.
Today i was wondering to put the paper wallet to an old phone removing its battery and leaving it there, nice huh?

What about to hide paper wallet in your phone. You can place it into casing handphone.

Moreover you can bring your paper wallet everywhere. As long as you bring your phone with you.

But when you lost your phone you will lost your paper wallet too.

A gun safe seems to work just fine

Assuming it's a decent one they are actually not bad.  Some have pretty high rating on fire protection.  When you have a lot of money in guns the safe already was built to protect a lot.   And obviously easy to put a paper in it.

Some of the cheap ones though are not so great.  Check fire rating on anything before using it.  On gun safes its inside on the corner of door that you can see when open normally.

are you sure about that? anyway i'm holding in multiple usb that were bought in different times

i should start to memorize my whole private key, in the past i was able to memorize 40 numbers in a few second, just with a look

but with letters added it would be different

I always thought it was based on number of writes on it, and also ejecting properly really does help long term to make it safer.

I found a interesting compassion of how long data lasts on certain media - https://www.storagecraft.com/blog/data-storage-lifespan/

One idea from it was to hide a paper wallet on a floppy disk.  Think of how many have floppy disk readers? very few.

I do not have much knowledge on pen drive storage. For long term storage we must need SSD. May be cost of buying is high but for a secured next generation saving we must go for SSD (Solid State Disk).

This is completely wrong and i will not suggest anyone to hide your paper wallet in a SSD.
For long term this is not recommended because if SSD has no electricity for a long time, the data inside can be erased.
Try to hide your paper wallet somewhere where you think that nobody will touch, or will have no idea about that place.

you can run your ssd on a different network, or even without any connection, just so it remain active with electricity and all

it would still be a cold storage, last time i've checked could storage mean only off line, not switched off completely

I mean the material that firefighters wears, it's something aluminum.
So that can protect the paper wallet from the fire.
But it is recommended to have more than 2-3 backups so this is not enough.

im not sure about it, but i think it's not wrong if you can save at safety place :D
anyway i create 1 paperwallet print it, I wrap it with plastic and save on my secret cupboard

Like i said, there is only fire retardants. Thinking you can Fireproof it by covering it is a fallacy. Everything has a melting point so you can't protect paper from fire indefinitively unless you put it 6 feets under.

This is why safes have fire ratings.  Higher quality safes last longer and hotter fires.   It all depends on the safe.  

Here is a example of the label:

Exactly.

As such there would be also a location to where best place your wallet backup or cold wallet. A basement would be best, in a corner, since there are much less flammable thing around.

As such its possible that not enough heat will ever be applied to the safe. Concrete isint particularly good for combustion. :P

The bank vault. Aren't they temp. controlled?

Yes and they have advanced fire suppression system. There's also not much flammable inside a vault made of metal. But fire shouldn't be really a risk if you put a backup in a bank.

Its definitively a good place to store a encrypted backup of your wallet. Even if it get seized because your government don't respect civil rights or something, its not a big deal.

You should hide you wallet where you best think that no one will find it.

It's not quite this simple. You need it to be protected from possible damage.  This could be from elements such as water, or fire, etc. 

If you have the safest place in your house does not matter if not protected.  And you really do need fire and water.   If house catches fire..... firemen use water to stop it.  So in "bad situations" if its not protected from both could be bad.

Secret hidden safe under sliding floor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd0Bkju0eWs


or you can use clock with hidden place like this

https://cdn-img-3.wanelo.com/p/fe9/784/03f/9423c970839eb99d6948d4d/x354-q80.jpg

I suggest adding an encryption will make it alot safer and useless if someone acquires it.

Adding an encryption to a paper wallet? absolutely news to me.
Hiding a paper wallet is equivalent to hiding currency notes from robbers as well as protection against decay. Multiple copy with water proof in safe locker or in your home hidden locker would do your wish.

It is not new and is in fact in use widely for a long time. BIP38 encryption is easy to implement on paper wallets and it is quite bruteforce resistent as long as you use a long password. Paper wallet isn't exactly safe if the host computer has vulnerabilities.

Is it possible. I wonder. If some one explains with URLs it would be more useful for me to make my paper wallets more secure. So far I thought only encryption are possible with electronic media alone. It may be more useful if we can do with a paper information also.

I`ve never seen a clock like that, but its possible.

However if the burglar comes equipped with metal detector, he can detect any precious stuff in there.

Actually, beside old schools, no one use those, its way too obvious and the metal detector wont detect a stack of bills, and it would already react to the clock itself somewhat. Either way, its not a very good idea. But the sliding floor though, thats not bad at all.

The clock is quite dated but there are other option in clock if you want that route.  This is more for a mantle but could go on table. - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045Z4MDC?keywords=concellment%20clock&qid=1445573664&ref_=sr_1_sc_1&sr=8-1-spell


It looks a lot more modern and would not look out of place on a mantle.   I would go more for this on a clock if picking.

My great grandmother had a big clock in the old family house from the 1800's, I could hide it there, it would be a great place to hide, because nobody would look there.

Shit, now they would because I just told my good hiding place on an internet forum.


Guys, c`mon this thread is a tutorial for burglars, don't be morons, don't tell about good hiding places on the internet!

You do make a good point.  I use no concealment device I post.   Or is that misdirection... no it's the truth.  There are a ton of great concealment ideas. 

If you look at gun one's they tend to be decent as they are normally not cheap.  So that is where I found that clock vs standard concealment.  And I have a few in my head I really would like to share.... but I am keeping them in my head as I have not seen them talked about.

It's also a good place for us to look and see if others had same idea as us.  The best ones are one specific to you, and no one else would share.

I heard something like cold wallet. A cold wallet must be a offline wallet which is more secure from any hacking.

Dog shelter or fish tank is the best place to hide your paper wallets.

Classic ways to hide things: behind a painting, under doormat (get some glue to attach it lol), how about in your underpants (seriously), you need to make your hiding place as natural as much and as normal as possible. Making someone to build you custom case for your phone which have some kind of secret pocket for you to put it ;D

Bank lol,
but i love it.

Just place under your pillow  ;D

Mostly the clocks that i saw aren't like this.
But they have only to put the batteries.
If you leave there for a long time i think you will forget about it and maybe through in trash one day :(

My mother keeps some important papers and even cash inside Religious Book.She believes it is the best place as no theif or anyone with bad intentions will ever dare to touch it let alone steal it :) You can try to hide your paper wallet there

For this case HDD are better rather than SSD,
Because they can stay longer if you don't touch them.
I would suggest the OP to hide the paperwallet inside computer loudspeakers :)

Problem with that and many of the other conceal ideas is if there is a fire/act of god.  If you only work on concealment your paper wallet is subject to many things out of your control.

If using one really renting a safty deposit box at a bank is worth it depending on your holdings.  Much more secure and a great place to keep a backup.

 ;D try safety deposit box

It is honestly the best as far as keeping a copy of your paper wallet.  It will cost more then a hardware wallet if you have it there long term, so I hope you are using it multiple items if just for a single bitcoin paper wallet unless a lot of holding it is not very good price.  But you get bank level security.... which is not easy to get.

But everyone should think about one that has much holdings in BTC.

To are many ways of hiding our secrets. You can hide your paper wallet in the back of your pillow. You can also hide paper wallet in durabox with lock secured. there are to many ways... if your house safe enough this is good but if you have evil friends or family this is not recommended. I think if you have a laptop this is more secured than in physical.. Your paper wallet put to one folder then rar it with password.. Then install virtual box or vm ware then install os xp or win7 after thattransfer you paper money in that virtual xp or win 7 then after that shutdown it then get your .ova what you install here C:\Users\admin\.VirtualBox
Make it rar again with password... Thats it.. This is high secured for me but dont forget the password...

ssd evo can last very long with its memory, up to 5 years at least, and my old ssd was still working good for 3 years, i'm not buying this whole ssd, have poor lifespan"

it's one of those excuse that big business throw around, to incite you to buy another new one fast and keep their market alive

The SSD poor lifespan thing was a problem with first gen SSD, its not anymore. My SSD Samsung EVO has been running great for years, now. And if you don't use them much, SSD probably has a better lifespan than HDD because of no mechanical parts.

For a fast node SSD would definitively be better too.

SSD does degrade overtime without opening them. But HDD is prone to failure if you bring it close to a magnet or if there is a solar flare (https://levels.io/backups-solar-flares-cookie-jar-faraday/). For SSD, they would degrade from long periods of not powering it on and extensive read/writes. Not a problem with cold storage.

Effective Places to Hide Money ( maybe we can use it to hide paper wallet)

1. In an envelope taped to the bottom of a kitchen shelf

2. In a watertight plastic bottle or jar in the tank on the back of your toilet

3. In an envelope at the bottom of your child’s toybox

4. In a plastic baggie in the freezer

5. Inside of an old sock in the bottom of your sock drawer

6. In an empty aspirin bottle in the bathroom (bundled up with a rubber band around it)

7. In the pocket of a particular shirt in your closet

8. In a “random” folder in your filing cabinet

9. In an envelope taped to the bottom of your cat’s litter box

10. In an envelope taped to the back of a wall decoration

11. In between several pages in a random book or two on your bookshelf

12. Buried in a jar in the back yard (my grandfather, incidentally, did this very thing)

13. In an envelope in the glove compartment of your car

14. Underneath a potted plant (or even buried in a small jar in the soil)

15. In an envelope taped to the bottom of a dresser drawer (so you can reach it from the
inside of the dresser below it)

16. Inside of a big coffee cup in the back of a cupboard

17. Inside your Christmas decoration box

18. Inside of an empty bottle of Guinness in the back of the fridge with the cap seemingly in place (smash it to get the cash)

19. In a plastic baggie inside of a flour or coffee container

20. In an envelope inside of a DVD case

source : http://www.thesimpledollar.com/twenty-places-to-hide-money-at-home-besides-under-your-mattress/

Proxiebuier the last one is interesting,
I used the same thing few years before when i wanted to hide money.
It works most of the time and try to not tell anybody, what i would add is to hide in old things like old pc's etc.

Just carry the qr code around with you.

Someone may just think it is a stupid ad if you were to be caught with it.

but you must keep it and always pay attention it  ;)
do not let your old goods sold by your mother or father  LOL :D

i think the best place to hide the paper wallet is your real life wallet or a safe which no one would know how to unlock

if i were you i would hide it in an unbreakable safe as the price of bitcoins might grow a lot in the future and you would have a lot of money on it

There is no such thing as a "ubreakable safe".  A safety deposit box is best as it has bank security, but yes you pay for it monthly in most cases.

Just like safes are fire resistant, inside they tell exact specs.  But they are not fire proof.   They resist to bad things but are not impossible depending on effort someone put's on it to open it.

Take your most favorite hard cover book and cut out the inner layer of the last page. Insert the laminated paper wallet into that space and cover it again, with the piece you cut out. Put this book in your safe or safe deposit box and label it, my favorite book.

People will think you are keeping it for sentimental reasons, but it actually store the treasure. Tell at least 3 close family members about this book and it's content and you will be sorted.  ^hmmm^

Unless you have 2 or 3 other backups i would not 'hide' there.
Because the personal real life wallet can be exposed everywhere.
And even while you are sleeping someone that know that you have bitcoins can steal it.

I think wallet is a pretty bad spot overall.  If someone picks your pocket... and you lose a backup that would suck.  Just not enough security.

I like safes, safty deposit box, something with good security.

Just watch this video, awesome idea :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mmt9JHmKss

Yes very nice idea to hide our wallet papers. But still I need to look for a better one as this one got exposed to everybody. Many be in different countries we can try this. I believe my own idea will suit me better.

I don't know if we should pay any bank fee to save safety a box.
If it is really cheap then why not, but anyways i would make at least 3 backups.
We never now maybe one day banks will be closed and i doubt we can access to our stuff.

nothing so extraordinary, i could do the same with a drawer, there will be the same security

i fail to see how that thing is more secure

Banks have significantly higher security than most places and they probably have fire extinguishing systems. You don't have to be worried about it getting destroyed by fire, etc. You should always keep another backup offsite, preferably at a location further away, in case of natural disasters.  

But does it worth if we have to pay daily/monthly or yearly fee.
I am not well informed about these cases. But yeah it is more safe.
As most of rich people store their money in Switzerland i think its the safest place.

a good hiding place maybe first put inside a leak proof lunch box like lock & lock, then place inside a fire proof safe like sentry, so no matter what happen (flood, fire, theft) , coins is safe

In my country, the deposit cost is $71, which is refundable. The smallest one costs 85USD annually which works out to be $0.20 per day. It does cost a tad bit but it would be great for security and gives you the peace of your mind since it has many security features and has protections against disasters. That would be worth it if you have over 10BTC.

I was thinking that it would be cheap something around 10$
But it is very expensive at least for me and for those who does not have much bitcoin in stock.
Well yeah as you mentioned 10BTC minimum then it would be worthy, anyways thats a good place to hide the paper wallet.

But setting up fire proof sentry are more costly, instead of spending in those things, we can buy more bitcoin which is good for ourselves as well as for bitcoin community. So we must search for better places to hide our paper wallets.

Or you could always laminate the paper to make it stronger against elements.   And also you can store digital copies of them on a USB drive in the fire safe.

I suggest having multiple ways to get it.  You don't want one single point of failure.  If you just have one single paper wallet in safe something happens.... your out of luck.  So multiple things will save this.

You could also use a bitkee.

https://bitkee.com/img/gallery/BIP38-Titanium.png

You wont have any trouble with water or fire. All you need more is a safe place to hide it. It isn't that big so you could hide it anywhere you want.

I would not say no problem with fire.  It seems that if a long fire hits it that metal might have some issues.  It looks like a slim card like metal slab.

So I would predict at a certain point it would burn/char.  But yes it's better then a piece of paper for sure.

I have a simple paper wallet hidden in my backyard in my secret box.
I couldn't find any other safe location then this.

Hide it on your person. The best spot is in plain sight.

Fail-safe in a safe.
Another options is simply to invest in a heavy duty safe that proclaims its presence with the confidence that it won't be compromised by anyone or anything. A steel or cast iron floor safe can cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, but when it comes to security, you do get what you pay for. Find one that can be bolted firmly to the floor, heavy enough to deter easy lifting, and with a series of locks, combinations or, if applicable, one linked to a home alarm system.
source : http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2014/09/11/the-5-best-places-to-hide-emergency-cash-at-home

I didn't use paper based wallet because im the type of person who could easily lost his items :(
But if i were you i would put the paper on my wallet, safe and secure unless a thief stole your wallet :P
If you want more security you can always order a small safe box and store it inside there
Or maybe rent a deposit box on a bank and put your wallet there ::)

Yea putting it in your wallet is not recommend.  Just to many people can get it taken and not even know till they need it next.  Which could be enough time to drain the account depending on thief and how BTC savy they are.

Salty deposit box is hard to beat.  It has bank level security.... so  better then even protected homes.  But it does cost monthly or some sort of fee.

I`d say keep all your precious stuff in a metal box.

If the house catches fire, you grab it and run out. Or just leave it there, since it wont burn down like the rest of the house.

I would recommend youtube videos (how to hide something, secret stash, secret compartment etc.). You will find solution best suited for you because there are so many videos like this.

One strategy I have employed for paper wallets is this:

• Print key/qrcode/whatever
• Fold paper a few times so you can't see the info through the paper
• Put the folded paper in a envelope
• Laminate the envelope (water barrier)
• Put laminated paper in a fireproof chest (fire barrier 1)
• Put fireproof chest in fireproof safe (fire barrier 2)

Note: fireproof/waterproof chests are notorious for holding in moisture.  If you do not laminate your paper backup you risk moldy paper.  Either open your chest often to exchange air or use moisture absorbing tools.

Yes. The best place to hide are the more open places where thieves are not likely to look. You can disguise it somehow. The kitchen is also one of the best places as thieves rarely venture to look in your kitchen cupboards or cabinets. Try using a place where you rarely go.

i think buying a fireprofe safe will cost him alot better just get a locker at your bank for rent a small size locker can do the trick and also alot safer then your home get the paper laminate it and put it into a locker if you have good ammount in it

Some metals do melt after being in high temperatures for a long time. That titanium wallet isn't the best solution. It is so small and you probably will have a hard time finding it from all the rubble and things could have melted and tainted it, making the characters and QR code hard to decipher.

The metal card in a fire-retardant safe would not be a bad bet and fairly easy to find. Otherwise, i'm not sure. The card would not melt but the ink on it would and the metal would be dark and singed, so possibly erasing the information on it one way or another?

Regardless, i think you should engrave a very valuable key on metal, and then put it somewhere fire cant really destroy it, like in a safe or in the basement somewhere fire can't get around.