Bitcoin Forum

Hi, I'm new.

I read the wikis but I couldn't find this covered or I found all that talk about "wallets" without clearly identifying which is which, a bit confusing. (or maybe I'm just dense.. :/ )
Anyway here is my question:

Say I have accumulated 100 BTC and now I want to move those to a secure storage "VAULT", far away and difficult to reach. Now let's assume I manage to get another 100 BTC (lucky me) and now I want to add those to my "VAULT"... ->

• I download the client to an "uncompromised" OS and create a new wallet "VAULT".
• I write down a single receiving address from that VAULT I just created. The adress is "1vaultxyz..."
• Now I encrypt wallet "VAULT" with truecrypt or somesuch and put it on an USB stick and put it away safely in a far and distant land... The only thing I'm now left with is the adress I just wrote down "1vaultxyz...".
• ...time passes...
• Through hard work as a man in the fields I manage to accumulate another 100 BTC and those new BTC would like to join their friends in the VAULT...
• ?????????????????????????????????????????
• What am I supposed to do now???
• Can I just send them over to the adress I've written down? Do I have to dig out that old rusty USB thing in order to move those BTC to the "vault"..??

  ?

Somebody plz explain!  ???

Greets,
oOo
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You can just send more bitcoins to the vault address, you don't need the key for that.

Oh that was quick :D But don't you need some kind of confirmation in order to complete the transaction? In that case the other side must be online at some point right? Won't I get those coins back if nobody claims them? How long is the waiting time? etcetc...
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questions questions
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Any help appreciated of course!
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In that case you are basically storing the bitcoins in the blockchain. If you put your vault wallet online it will download theblockchain and your coin will appear in your wallet. Theoretically, you could "store" your BTC for years without ever seeing them.

Does that mean I store the coins in the "system" rather than on my hd?
Can I get them back even after not being online for 30 years or so (Assuming I'm still alive by then..)?
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That's right, they are stored in the blockchain. Bitcoins does not actually exist anywhere, the blockchain is just a bunch of transactions, starting with a generation transaction with just a receiver and no sender. Your wallet file only contain the private keys needed to sign a transaction from the corresponding bitcoin address.

I suggest reading the Bitcoin white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto, the wiki and, if you'll understand it, the source code. Links at bitcoin.org.