Please explain to me how wallets work

[Nuisible]

Hi all,

I'm really new to all this stuff and I don't understand the "wallet" part, specially for alternate currencies.

Let's have a real example :

I am on btc-e.com and I buy 1 BTC and 2 LTC (with USD, transaction OK). They are on my btc-e account.
I want to secure them, in my "strong wallet", I don't want to let them in my account on btc-e.com.

But what with my 2 LTC ? Same process ? What if someone (or me) send LTC on my BTC address ?

And for other currencies ? (TRC, PPC...)

I don't understand another thing : I use Multibit. There is a new address created (for BTC). But where is the private key ? How to create it ?

Thanks all for answer.

[orsana]

The address you generated on bitaddress.org is a Bitcoin address, not a Litecoin or other cryptocurrency address.

You can use the following website to generate paper wallets for Litecoin:
https://liteaddress.org/

Keep in mind that when using these websites you should be sure that the code has not been tampered with. An attacker or a bad admin could change the javascript and insert a faulty RNG or have it automatically send all the private keys back to the server without your knowledge. Malware on your pc may be able to steal your private key when your generating it too.

[Nuisible]

Thanks.

1) So, is it safer to keep currencies on my trading account ? (btc-e. Sorry it's the only one I tried)
2) What with addresses created by "light wallet" installed on my computer ?
3) How to create adresses for other currencies ? I'm stuck at keeping alt currencies on trading platform ?

[lencom]

Thanks.

1) So, is it safer to keep currencies on my trading account ? (btc-e. Sorry it's the only one I tried)
2) What with addresses created by "light wallet" installed on my computer ?
3) How to create adresses for other currencies ? I'm stuck at keeping alt currencies on trading platform ?

Btc-E has a host of problems lately. Just download the bitcoin and litecoin client and back it up and secure it with a passphrase.

[orsana]

Thanks.

1) So, is it safer to keep currencies on my trading account ? (btc-e. Sorry it's the only one I tried)
2) What with addresses created by "light wallet" installed on my computer ?
3) How to create adresses for other currencies ? I'm stuck at keeping alt currencies on trading platform ?

1) No. Don't do that. That is definitely not safe at all. Your BTC-e account could be hacked, the website could get hacked, the owners could go rogue. It's never a good idea to keep money on an exchange for a long time.

2) Thats much safer than keeping them in your trading account, but the safest is still paper. In my last post I was just pointing out some possible ways that your money could be taken, it's still much safer than keeping it on any website or keeping it on a computer thats connected to the internet.

3) Not all of these new altcoins have easy ways of generating paper wallets. I would download the client for those currencies and store them locally on your machine.

[poelling92]

Thanks.

1) So, is it safer to keep currencies on my trading account ? (btc-e. Sorry it's the only one I tried)

It is more secure to have Bitcoins stored on your computer, even more secure are paper wallets if done right

3) How to create adresses for other currencies ? I'm stuck at keeping alt currencies on trading platform ?

You can install the wallet that comes with every alt coin, qt wallet, but I doubt about security of alt coin qt wallets, might include malware

[Nuisible]

Thanks all.

I think I really need to try it, buying and selling little amount of currencies, even if I will loose few USD of fees, to see how it works, transfers, etc...

Just another point : you say it's safer to have a paper wallet, OK, but the minute I do a transaction, I enter address + private on computer/software, and so I'm no more safe !
What with that ? Addresses are disposable ? Receive ok, but one time "send" ?

[zendantom]

Just another point : you say it's safer to have a paper wallet, OK, but the minute I do a transaction, I enter address + private on computer/software, and so I'm no more safe !
What with that ? Addresses are disposable ? Receive ok, but one time "send" ?

You may use Armory and create and sign the transaction on offline computer. On online computer you just broadcast the transaction

[Nuisible]

Ok Thanks.
I will try all this stuff

[BookLover]

Make sure you experiment with small amount of BTC first before committing a large amount of money.  It is very easy to slip up in some small way and lose a lot a money.

[Nuisible]

Thanks for your advice.
Actually I need to do transactions with alt currencies to understand how they operate (particularly their wallet, as told in this thread). I think I have understood for BTC and its wallet, althoug I will buy/sell very little amount to see how it works. But my worries are for alt currencies wallet and transfert.