Paper wallet question

[jean2121]

   Hello everybody!
   As the title says, I have a question about paper wallets.
   So I`m thinking about creating a paper wallet and store my BTC and I know that the private key used to withdraw the funds should only be used ONCE, I didn`t find any answer about depositing funds whenever i like, multiple times. Is it safe to deposit money into the same paper wallet multiple times? Does something else occur other than simply increasing the final balance?
   I`m sorry if this question has been asked and answered before but I cannot find that topic anywere.

[DannyHamilton]

   Hello everybody!
   As the title says, I have a question about paper wallets.
   So I`m thinking about creating a paper wallet and store my BTC and I know that the private key used to withdraw the funds should only be used ONCE, I didn`t find any answer about depositing funds whenever i like, multiple times. Is it safe to deposit money into the same paper wallet multiple times? Does something else occur other than simply increasing the final balance?
   I`m sorry if this question has been asked and answered before but I cannot find that topic anywere.

If you accept multiple payments at the same paper wallet address, then you will give up some privacy.  Anyone that sends bitcoins to you will know about all the other transactions you receive at that address in the past and future.  Anyone that receives a payment from your paper wallet will know how many bitcoins you had at that wallet, and may be able to determine where some of them came from.

Additionally, in the future if you only spend some of the bitcoins from the paper wallet you should make sure that you send ALL the remaining bitcoins to a new address and not keep them at that same paper wallet.  Once you spend ANYTHING from a paper wallet, you should consider it to be less secure and should create a new one.

[Velkro]

paper wallet and store my BTC and I know that the private key used to withdraw the funds should only be used ONCE

That is not entirely true, you can use this private key to withdraw funds from your paper wallet multiple times, unlimited times.
Depends how much you need privacy. You can use ur private key in offline enviroment so its 100% secure and broadcast transaction anywhere online. This is TOP security out there, there is nothing more secure. Downside of this additional work to send transaction.

[jean2121]

  Hello everybody!
   As the title says, I have a question about paper wallets.
   So I`m thinking about creating a paper wallet and store my BTC and I know that the private key used to withdraw the funds should only be used ONCE, I didn`t find any answer about depositing funds whenever i like, multiple times. Is it safe to deposit money into the same paper wallet multiple times? Does something else occur other than simply increasing the final balance?
   I`m sorry if this question has been asked and answered before but I cannot find that topic anywere.

If you accept multiple payments at the same paper wallet address, then you will give up some privacy.  Anyone that sends bitcoins to you will know about all the other transactions you receive at that address in the past and future.  Anyone that receives a payment from your paper wallet will know how many bitcoins you had at that wallet, and may be able to determine where some of them came from.

Additionally, in the future if you only spend some of the bitcoins from the paper wallet you should make sure that you send ALL the remaining bitcoins to a new address and not keep them at that same paper wallet.  Once you spend ANYTHING from a paper wallet, you should consider it to be less secure and should create a new one.

  Hello and thanks for the reply!
   Is giving up some privacy the only risk i`m taking in sendimg multiple times to the same address? I forgot to mention that only I will be sending funds to it, nobody else. Is it 100% safe to send multiple times in this case?

[Alvin RS6]

I'd just use one where you access rarely and deposit from different wallets which are also your own

[cipherer]

maybe Nano Ledger is a better option, it's very simple to use and safe. If the Nano gets lost you can still recover he bitcoin with the 'seed'. I initially wanted a paper wallet, because I didn't trust electronic wallets, but a paper wallet is also risky in another way, the Nano Ledger is a good alternative.

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
Additionally, in the future if you only spend some of the bitcoins from the paper wallet you should make sure that you send ALL the remaining bitcoins to a new address and not keep them at that same paper wallet.  Once you spend ANYTHING from a paper wallet, you should consider it to be less secure and should create a new one.

  Hello and thanks for the reply!
   Is giving up some privacy the only risk i`m taking in sendimg multiple times to the same address? I forgot to mention that only I will be sending funds to it, nobody else. Is it 100% safe to send multiple times in this case?

If, when you eventually use any of the bitcoins from that paper wallet, you make certain that the transaction uses ALL of the bitcoins that have been sent to that paper wallet and sends any excess that you don't intend to spend to a new address, AND you never use that paper wallet again after that?  Then yes, giving up some privacy will be your only additional risk as compared to using a new address for each transaction you receive.

However, if you only spend some of the bitcoins that were sent to that paper wallet, and leave the extra still in that same paper wallet...  Or if you receive a new payment to that paper wallet after you have spent any of the bitcoins that were sent to that paper wallet...

Then you will give up a small amount of security along with what you give up in privacy.

[jean2121]

   Hello everybody and thank you so much for the advice. Ok I intend to do a long term storing of the bitcoin and I have no intention in spending them in the near future. My intention is to keep them stored for 1-2-3- 10 billion years, as much as I feel comfortable or as much as this continued growth of the BTC will allow me. I will be the only person sending any additional BTC I may gain in the meantime to my single paper wallet, safley stored and encrypted.
   In this particular scenario, am I exposing myself to any kind of risk?
   I did hear that is a good idea to only send ONCE and sweep the whole balance when you spend. For sure I will sweep the entire sum when I decide to do so, but in my scenario, me sending additional funds to my wallet multiple times, is a bad idea?
   Thank you again !

[jean2121]

maybe Nano Ledger is a better option, it's very simple to use and safe. If the Nano gets lost you can still recover he bitcoin with the 'seed'. I initially wanted a paper wallet, because I didn't trust electronic wallets, but a paper wallet is also risky in another way, the Nano Ledger is a good alternative.

   I considered buying a Ledger Nano before, but I found no way to have it shipped to my country ( Romania - not surprised if you`ve never heard of it ) in less than 5-6 weeks. Not willing to wait that long.

[DannyHamilton]

Hello everybody and thank you so much for the advice. Ok I intend to do a long term storing of the bitcoin and I have no intention in spending them in the near future. My intention is to keep them stored for 1-2-3- 10 billion years, as much as I feel comfortable or as much as this continued growth of the BTC will allow me. I will be the only person sending any additional BTC I may gain in the meantime to my single paper wallet, safley stored and encrypted.
   In this particular scenario, am I exposing myself to any kind of risk?

This question has already been answered...

- snip -
giving up some privacy will be your only additional risk as compared to using a new address for each transaction you receive.
- snip -

   I did hear that is a good idea to only send ONCE and sweep the whole balance when you spend. For sure I will sweep the entire sum when I decide to do so, but in my scenario, me sending additional funds to my wallet multiple times, is a bad idea?

If you don't care about your privacy?  Then no, it isn't a bad idea.

[jean2121]

     I don`t want to sound stupid, I only intend to expand my knowledge of this and understand it better. Please explain to me how or why am I giving up privacy if I`m the only person sending to that address.
     Thank you so much!

[DannyHamilton]

     I don`t want to sound stupid, I only intend to expand my knowledge of this and understand it better. Please explain to me how or why am I giving up privacy if I`m the only person sending to that address.
     Thank you so much!

Where are you getting the bitcoins from?  Are you solo mining?

What are you eventually going to do with the bitcoins?  Will you ever buy anything with them?  Will you ever exchange them for local currency?

I suppose if you are solo mining to acquire the bitcoins (not mining in a pool), and you plan on taking the bitcoins into your grave with you, you won't give up any privacy.  In that case, why bother wasting the money to collect them in the first place?

[jean2121]

   I have found a pretty neat way to acquire some virtual items in an online game and sell them for bitcoin to a guy that constantly buys from me. He sends me the bitcoin to my online wallet then I transfer them to my paper wallet. Eventually I`m going to sell them and if they`re gonna be worth too much then I intend to declare them and, pay a tax if it`s needed and that`s that. I`m concerned about my online privacy and security up untill i decide to sweep the wallet and sell them.
   I suppose it is trackable if he sends me to my online wallet and then I transfer them, but is this a security risk?

[DannyHamilton]

I suppose it is trackable if he sends me to my online wallet and then I transfer them,

It is.  And if you ever find any other buyers, they may all be able to determine the total amount of bitcoin you are holding, how often you've made sales in the past, and how much you are selling for to others.  This may get in the way of negotiating price, or may lead to one of them deciding that your unexpected wealth makes you a great target for theft, blackmail, extortion, etc.

but is this a security risk?

- snip -
giving up some privacy will be your only additional risk as compared to using a new address for each transaction you receive.
- snip -

Note that there are ALWAYS risks.  All you can do is manage that risk and reduce it to an acceptable level.

There is a risk you could lose your paper wallet.
There is a risk someone could steal your paper wallet.
There is a risk that the computer you use to create the paper wallet could be infected with malware that will create bad addresses.
There is a risk that you could import your private key into an infected computer when you eventually want to spend the bitcoins.

The point here, is that sending to the same address does not change any of these risks.  It does not increase your security risk.

[jean2121]

  One final question.
  The way I did it was this: I downloaded the html file from bitaddress.org, saved it on a flash drive, moved it to a new laptop, one that has never known the internet and generated my paper wallet 100% offline. So my question is: Could the html have been infected with some malware? The PC I used to download the html was far from being freshly installed.
  Thanks !

[DannyHamilton]

  One final question.
  The way I did it was this: I downloaded the html file from bitaddress.org, saved it on a flash drive, moved it to a new laptop, one that has never known the internet and generated my paper wallet 100% offline. So my question is: Could the html have been infected with some malware? The PC I used to download the html was far from being freshly installed.
  Thanks !

We are starting to get into some extreme possibilities now.

The following things probably aren't likely, but since you asked... they are not impossible:

1.  It is possible that the computer you used to download the html file could have malware that would infect the flash drive without you knowing it.

2. It is possible that the flash drive was purchased with malware already hidden on it.

3. It is possible that an attacker could trick you into downloading an altered version of the html file.

4. It is possible that the new laptop that has never known the internet was built using some malware in the operating system or any of the hardware firmware.

5. If you used a printer to create the paper wallet, it is possible that the printer has some RAM that has the private key in it.

If we REALLY want to get paranoid...

It is possible that someone hid a camera in the room that you used the new laptop in and created a video recording that has your private key.

[jean2121]

   So I`m pretty much safe, then. 
   Thanks for the answer!