Cold Storage scenario

[KarmaShark]

Hey all,


Relatively new to BTC, simply taken back by this acceptance, the world has been ready for this for some time it feels like. Part of what intrigues me the most about BTC is it's cryptographic nature, bringing an inherent level of security to the currency. Continuing the security theme, I would like to get a point clear in my mind regarding Cold Storage. Exactly how does one easily retrieve coins from that offline wallet and bring them out of cold storage using the private key?


If one was to generate several offline wallets and send their BTC evenly to those wallets (5) and keep the private keys for each in cold storage for X amount of time, how would they retrieve the coins using the private keys? I did not see an option in the Bitcoin client to import a private key, is there a service that does this for you? And can this be done from anywhere in the world, such that if installed BTC on a new PC and wanted to get your BTC from cold storage into this newly generated wallet, how the heck would you do it?

I understand and fully embrace the idea of keeping your virtual currency stored away in cold storage, I am still a little bit murky on the different methods on how to retrieve them easily.


Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this!

[Gabi]

You can add a private key in the bitcoin-qt client... somehow  There is a console command for that.

Or if you use MultiBit, via the import key option (you first have to make a .txt file with the key and rename it as .key unless they will change this and add more options)
Or you can do that on the blockchain.info service.

[KarmaShark]

Gabi,


Thank you for being willing to lead a new comer in the right direction. This is all new to me, looking at the blockchain info service, you can import your private keys there and it will retrieve the keys from the offline wallet and bring them down into the virtual wallet there?


1. Install BTC on your PC, get some BTC into the wallet

2. Generate several paper wallets securely and then send your BTC to those paper wallets

3. Hop on a plane and fly across the world (let's say I head back over to Japan)

4. I land in Narita, clear customs and sit down, pull out my laptop and go to https://blockchain.info/wallet/

5. Use the tool to import each one of my private keys and retrieve the coins from each wallet

6. The wallet in my blockchain info account will now have all of my BTC's originally purchased in Step #1

7. I can now install Bitcoin on that laptop, secure it and transfer my BTC from the blockchain info wallet to that wallet and vice versa, spending it in Tokyo freely



Do I more or less have this right, in how the coins are 'retrieved' from the network once the private key is imported in? If I have this right I think I am officially In Love.