Semi cold storage

[UmbreIIa]

To begin with I'm terribly sorry if that already came up on forum.

My problem is that I'm little paranoid but can't be asked at the same time.
I've spent last 2 weeks reading through various opinions, guides and articles about BTC storage and for now it seems to me that the best way for me would be to create cold wallet on usb with tails.
What's blocking me from doing it is that I'd have to go through all this long hassle while making payments (loading transactions from file while having only one device).

Question is:
Would it be a good/safe (for sure better than plain Electrum on my laptop) idea to have my BTC on usb stick in safe place but without all this cold wallet stuff?
What I mean is just booting tails with for Electrum from usb but being connected to internet and doing everything from there.

To make it safer I would go for two wallets to not send BTC directly. One with bigger numbers on tails and one on laptop.
 
Booting tails -> sending BTC to plain Electrum mentioned before -> going back to windows -> spending.



I hope it all doesn't sound like complete gibberish

P.S
After writing it down I actually think it wouldn't be semi cold wallet but just hot wallet with extra step(?)

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[ranochigo]

Question is:
Would it be a good/safe (for sure better than plain Electrum on my laptop) idea to have my BTC on usb stick in safe place but without all this cold wallet stuff?
What I mean is just booting tails with for Electrum from usb but being connected to internet and doing everything from there.

To make it safer I would go for two wallets to not send BTC directly. One with bigger numbers on tails and one on laptop.
 
Booting tails -> sending BTC to plain Electrum mentioned before -> going back to windows -> spending.

That's technically not a cold wallet at all since it is connected to the internet. However, given the current state of technology, Tails is likely quite safe as long as you don't surf unknown websites. It should be fine for small amounts.

For larger amounts, I would suggest for air-gapped cold storage with the raw transaction being transferred between the computers.

[kolloh]

Yeah, it should be a bit safer than using your normal laptop. Be aware that malware can also read from the USB device so if you do end up getting infected, having it on the USB device doesn't make you any safer. Using a live OS like Tails, does increase security though.

If you have extra funds available, I'd recommend looking into a hardware wallet such as Ledger Nano S or Trezor.

[UmbreIIa]

If you have extra funds available, I'd recommend looking into a hardware wallet such as Ledger Nano S or Trezor.

I wanted to order Ledger today since the others are unnecessarily expensive but they are out everywhere and new shipments wont happen until September.
I will buy a hardware wallet at some point for sure.

That's technically not a cold wallet at all since it is connected to the internet. However, given the current state of technology, Tails is likely quite safe as long as you don't surf unknown websites. It should be fine for small amounts.

For larger amounts, I would suggest for air-gapped cold storage with the raw transaction being transferred between the computers.

Depends how we define larger amounts. By unsafe do you mean onion shops ones (I'm a good boy dont worry about that one  ) or just shady in general?

[ranochigo]

That's technically not a cold wallet at all since it is connected to the internet. However, given the current state of technology, Tails is likely quite safe as long as you don't surf unknown websites. It should be fine for small amounts.

For larger amounts, I would suggest for air-gapped cold storage with the raw transaction being transferred between the computers.

Depends how we define larger amounts. By unsafe do you mean onion shops ones (I'm a good boy dont worry about that one  ) or just shady in general?

Shady in general, some sites might be able to exploit vulnerabilities within your computer. If your live USB doesn't do anything except sending coins and being connected to the internet, you are probably fine.

[UmbreIIa]

Shady in general, some sites might be able to exploit vulnerabilities within your computer. If your live USB doesn't do anything except sending coins and being connected to the internet, you are probably fine.

Glad to hear that, going to boot up my usb then. Thank you

[pooya87]

why Tails? (genuine question and i would love to hear why you chose it)
i mean Tails is a linux distribution aiming to have no kind of persistence data stored. and you are trying to use it with persistence and as a cold storage! there are a lot more options which are also better. use one of the lighter distros or something.

also why are you concerned about the long process of spending bitcoin?
a cold storage by definition is used when you don't want to access the funds every day. for example you want to store the coins for long term. in which case you rarely want to access it for spending and that long and hard process will be performed once or twice every 6 months for example.
and for pocket money you use a hot wallet. a secondary wallet on your desktop containing a small amount for spending.

[UmbreIIa]

why Tails? (genuine question and i would love to hear why you chose it)
i mean Tails is a linux distribution aiming to have no kind of persistence data stored. and you are trying to use it with persistence and as a cold storage! there are a lot more options which are also better. use one of the lighter distros or something.

Tails mostly because i used in the past and quite enjoyed it. The most friendly distro i worked on, but I'm open for suggestions since I'm not that into linux

also why are you concerned about the long process of spending bitcoin?
a cold storage by definition is used when you don't want to access the funds every day. for example you want to store the coins for long term. in which case you rarely want to access it for spending and that long and hard process will be performed once or twice every 6 months for example.
and for pocket money you use a hot wallet. a secondary wallet on your desktop containing a small amount for spending.

This is the best thing i came up since i don't have other device. What would you do if you would spend more often but at the same time had bigger amounts to store?
I'd say I need hot wallet + lets say 'lukewarm' wallet that is safely on the side and at the same time not pain in the ass to take funds out.

Maybe I'm missing some simple solution, probably I am

[pooya87]

thanks for the answers.
as for the linux, i am new to it too. but i am using Ubuntu because it was most popular and i could easily find any help i want about anything just by searching. all my problems have been asked and the answers were always available as fast as me just typing it in google. but there is nothing wrong with using any other distros

for your second question i have to say the easiest way seems to be using a hardware wallet (if you are willing to pay).
and again for this (since i won't ever pay for a wallet) i am using an installed electrum on my USB disk which has a Ubuntu on it.