Navigating the current wallet landscape?

[margana]

I am having trouble getting a good handle on all of this.  There are so many options. 

I would like to securely hold my bitcoins and control my own private keys but preferably without having to run a full node.  The "pruning feature" certainly helps but it takes so long to update if the client hasn't been run in a while. 

Paper wallets (or strongly encrypted paper wallets in a file) seem like the best option to me, however if I want to then trade some of those coins quickly, how do I do it?  What types of wallets allow you to quickly and easily import a paper wallet?

What about a bitcoin core wallet - can it be quickly and easily imported into anything besides a core client?

I am vaguely aware of hardware wallets but don't really understand how they work.  Which ones are favored and why?  How does anyone know what is going on inside the hardware and that it hasn't been tampered with or contains some back door or security flaw in the firmware? 

Lastly, I know there are a lot of light / "SPV" wallets and I know that people say they "aren't as secure", but I don't really understand what the risks are and what makes SPV wallets less secure.  Can anyone explain?

Lastly, I want to also invest in a bunch of alt coins but it seems like this whole problem repeats itself with every crypto currency.  The best option is often the reference client but it has huge resource requirements and takes forever to update.  I suppose some of the hardware wallets support multiple currencies?  Is there any other multi currency solution besides some of the hardware wallets?  Obviously leaving them on an exchange is a ad idea but if you have a bunch of different currencies it seems like it rapidly becomes impractical to run all the core clients. 

Thanks.

[BillyBobZorton]

I am having trouble getting a good handle on all of this.  There are so many options. 

I would like to securely hold my bitcoins and control my own private keys but preferably without having to run a full node.  The "pruning feature" certainly helps but it takes so long to update if the client hasn't been run in a while. 

Paper wallets (or strongly encrypted paper wallets in a file) seem like the best option to me, however if I want to then trade some of those coins quickly, how do I do it?  What types of wallets allow you to quickly and easily import a paper wallet?

What about a bitcoin core wallet - can it be quickly and easily imported into anything besides a core client?

I am vaguely aware of hardware wallets but don't really understand how they work.  Which ones are favored and why?  How does anyone know what is going on inside the hardware and that it hasn't been tampered with or contains some back door or security flaw in the firmware? 

Lastly, I know there are a lot of light / "SPV" wallets and I know that people say they "aren't as secure", but I don't really understand what the risks are and what makes SPV wallets less secure.  Can anyone explain?

Lastly, I want to also invest in a bunch of alt coins but it seems like this whole problem repeats itself with every crypto currency.  The best option is often the reference client but it has huge resource requirements and takes forever to update.  I suppose some of the hardware wallets support multiple currencies?  Is there any other multi currency solution besides some of the hardware wallets?  Obviously leaving them on an exchange is a ad idea but if you have a bunch of different currencies it seems like it rapidly becomes impractical to run all the core clients. 

Thanks.

A full validating node is the only way to be 100% sure that you are not being tricked. Sure, it sucks having to store the entire blockchain, but I have no problems running the full node and my computer is pretty old. Just leave it running, and once it fully syncs, all you need to do is to open it everyday. You can open it while you take a shower or go out for a walk or something. When you come back it will be synced. It's not that hard to maintain a full node thanks to the conservative block size approach of Core, to the contrary of what govt agents (big blocker) want.

If you don't want to deal with that, then Electrum is the only alternative. You still control the private keys, but you are trusting someone else to do the validation. It's definitely better than hardware wallets.

Paper wallets are only useful if you expect to not do regular transactions and only hold long term in a single address.

[Rinaze]

If you don't want to deal with that, then Electrum is the only alternative. You still control the private keys, but you are trusting someone else to do the validation. It's definitely better than hardware wallets.

Electrum is supposed to be better than hardware wallets? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Care to elaborate more??

[margana]

A full validating node is the only way to be 100% sure that you are not being tricked. Sure, it sucks having to store the entire blockchain, but I have no problems running the full node and my computer is pretty old. Just leave it running, and once it fully syncs, all you need to do is to open it everyday. You can open it while you take a shower or go out for a walk or something. When you come back it will be synced. It's not that hard to maintain a full node thanks to the conservative block size approach of Core, to the contrary of what govt agents (big blocker) want.

If you travel a lot and have a laptop with limited space and are often in places with slow internet it's not that practical.

If you don't want to deal with that, then Electrum is the only alternative. You still control the private keys, but you are trusting someone else to do the validation. It's definitely better than hardware wallets.

How exactly can you be "tricked"?   Why is Electrum better than a hardware wallet?  What are the specific risks?

Paper wallets are only useful if you expect to not do regular transactions and only hold long term in a single address.

What are the options to start moving the coins around again assuming you hold a paper wallet.

[bamboylee]

If you are holding hundreds of bitcoins and will not be moving them for a while, it is best to have a hardware wallet like trezor.

But if you only have a few bitcoin that you continually move around for trading and expenses, you can use light weight wallet like electrum or maybe since it is just small value, a web wallet like blockchain.info will do.

I do altcoin tradings, and if it is just small value of alts, I do not transfer it to my own wallet. I leave it on the exchange. Since I am trading, it will lessen the expense on tx fees when moving it to wallet to exchange and vice versa.

But if I have considerable amount for a certain coin, I move it to my desktop wallet since I only have large amount of alts if I am holding it for a long time.

[fusepay]

I am having trouble getting a good handle on all of this.  There are so many options. 

I would like to securely hold my bitcoins and control my own private keys but preferably without having to run a full node.  The "pruning feature" certainly helps but it takes so long to update if the client hasn't been run in a while. 

Paper wallets (or strongly encrypted paper wallets in a file) seem like the best option to me, however if I want to then trade some of those coins quickly, how do I do it?  What types of wallets allow you to quickly and easily import a paper wallet?

What about a bitcoin core wallet - can it be quickly and easily imported into anything besides a core client?

I am vaguely aware of hardware wallets but don't really understand how they work.  Which ones are favored and why?  How does anyone know what is going on inside the hardware and that it hasn't been tampered with or contains some back door or security flaw in the firmware? 

Lastly, I know there are a lot of light / "SPV" wallets and I know that people say they "aren't as secure", but I don't really understand what the risks are and what makes SPV wallets less secure.  Can anyone explain?

Lastly, I want to also invest in a bunch of alt coins but it seems like this whole problem repeats itself with every crypto currency.  The best option is often the reference client but it has huge resource requirements and takes forever to update.  I suppose some of the hardware wallets support multiple currencies?  Is there any other multi currency solution besides some of the hardware wallets?  Obviously leaving them on an exchange is a ad idea but if you have a bunch of different currencies it seems like it rapidly becomes impractical to run all the core clients. 

Thanks.

A full validating node is the only way to be 100% sure that you are not being tricked. Sure, it sucks having to store the entire blockchain, but I have no problems running the full node and my computer is pretty old. Just leave it running, and once it fully syncs, all you need to do is to open it everyday. You can open it while you take a shower or go out for a walk or something. When you come back it will be synced. It's not that hard to maintain a full node thanks to the conservative block size approach of Core, to the contrary of what govt agents (big blocker) want.

If you don't want to deal with that, then Electrum is the only alternative. You still control the private keys, but you are trusting someone else to do the validation. It's definitely better than hardware wallets.

Paper wallets are only useful if you expect to not do regular transactions and only hold long term in a single address.

As was conversed, most decent wallets can sweep paper wallets, of course the best way to keep safe is to export the public and private keys to something as simple as a text file (on a couple of USB sticks) for safekeeping..

[margana]

As was conversed, most decent wallets can sweep paper wallets, of course the best way to keep safe is to export the public and private keys to something as simple as a text file (on a couple of USB sticks) for safekeeping..

So "sweeping a paper wallet" is just jargon for importing the wallet (i.e. the private keys held in a paper wallet)? 

If that's true why not just always keep your bitcoins in various "paper wallets" and "sweep them" when you need to move them? 

That sounds like a great option.  Which are the best wallets that can do this?

[SONG GEET]

Hardware wallets are best for both long term storage and to use as hot wallet if needed. Paper wallets are good as cold wallet while SPV wallets like jaxx and electrum are good/secure wallet to use as hot wallet in daily basis.

[Yoandy10]

Breadwallet is the only option here. It has hardware level encryption, it is open source, and does not ask for any personally identifiable information. You can set a PIN, or use Touch ID, and you control your own keys. It is what I use.

[margana]

Hardware wallets are best for both long term storage and to use as hot wallet if needed. Paper wallets are good as cold wallet while SPV wallets like jaxx and electrum are good/secure wallet to use as hot wallet in daily basis.

Which hardware wallets are best and why?  How can it be proven they haven't been tampered with and/or don't have malicious code in the firmware?

What are the best wallets to bring a paper wallet out of cold storage quickly and what's the process?

What is the best wallet for iOS?  It seems like electrum is not available on iOS.

Thanks.