Storing 5 years in a wallet?

[Mankov]

Hello,

I bought some bitcoin on Cobinhood. Can I send them now to the desktop wallet of bitcoin.org, and leave it there for 5 years or longer, without caring about it in this timeframe? Or is it neccessary to update the wallet from time to time? What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

[1714170111]

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[1714170111]

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[1714170111]

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[1714170111]

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[1714170111]

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[AdolfinWolf]

Hello,

I bought some bitcoin on Coinbase. Can I send them now to the desktop wallet of bitcoin.org, and leave it there for 5 years or longer, without caring about it in this timeframe? Or is it neccessary to update the wallet from time to time? What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

No, under normal circumstances there shouldn't be any problem storing them for whatever timeframe you have in mind.

Even if bitcoin forks/if there's a critical update ( something like segwit), there will always backwards compatibility/ opt-in ( like segwit, you don't necessarily have to use it).

In the case of a fork you might indeed need to download another wallet to access the funds/coin you received from the fork, ( See bitcoin cash wallets etc), but there shouldn't be any problems with the bitcoin wallet.

Unless there is a critical vulnerability found in ( the then older versions of ) bitcoin core ( See what happend to electrum), then it of course might be smart to update it before sending / receiving any bitcoin with it.

In rare circumstances i could see that certain payscripts which bitcoin core currently uses will be invalid in the future/not accepted by most nodes, but then again just update your wallet and you should be able to make a transaction with your bitcoins just fine.

[Xynerise]

PS Bitcoins aren't stored on bitcoin Core -- or on any wallet for that matter.
Just the private key(s) is stored in the wallet so you don't need to update the software or wallet if you'll be offline throughout.
That's all you need to keep safe.
If you won't be online at all, then it's better to encrypt the wallet.dat with a good password and store it safely.
Like AdolfinWolf says, you don't have to worry about forks and updates.
As long as you have your private keys you're safe..

[fabioganga]

Your coins are not physically stored in the wallet, they sit on the blockchain and will always be there, irrespective of what wallet you will use.

The choice of wallet, therefore, doesn't affect in any way shape or form the amount of Bitcoin you have, blockchain does control EVERYTHING.

The wallet is nothing else than an interface that interacts with the blockchain.

You could decide for instance in 5 years to import the private key of your QT wallet (or Electrum or whatever you like that does let you dump the private key) into another compatible wallet capable to import the key and you will be perfectly fine.

If you need any help to dump the private key of an address generated by a QT official wallet you can use this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyAjhEQjfVk

[Mankov]

Great, thank you for your information!

[Twentyacoin]

Does bitcoin.org's desktop wallet allow you to store bitcoin in a segwit address? It's my understanding that they're not segwit by default

[TryNinja]

Does bitcoin.org's desktop wallet allow you to store bitcoin in a segwit address? It's my understanding that they're not segwit by default

Bitcoin.org has no official wallet. But if you are  talking about Bitcoin Core, the answer would be yes.

You can choose in the GUI if you want to create a segwit or legacy address.

[Artlee87]

Absolutely. You just probably need to have the memory of an sentient elephant made of SSDs.

[vlad230]

I would suggest creating a paper wallet here: https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ printing it (multiple times if you like) and then storing it somewhere safe.

5 years is a long time and lot of things can go wrong if you want to keep your wallet.dat file in electronic format like:

• loosing you USB drive
• selling your computer along with your HDD/SSD
• loosing access to your USB/SSD/HDD drives due to virus/malware/ransomware attacks
• accidentally formatting your USB/SSD/HDD
• forgetting the password for it

All of the situations I have listed above have happened to someone that had millions of USD worth of BTC, as seen in the news.

[Jet Cash]

If I was buying Bitcoin as a 5 year investment, I would use a core node to receive the coins. There won't be a problem with the bockchain, but there will probably be problems with the wallet provider. A core node will make it easier for you to collect any bonuses from forks as they happen as well.

[teddy5145]

Hello,
I bought some bitcoin on Cobinhood. Can I send them now to the desktop wallet of bitcoin.org, and leave it there for 5 years or longer, without caring about it in this timeframe

For sure, but you will need to get out your coins from Cobinhood first
To ensure your coin security, I'd be best to keep your coins in a wallet where you control your private key.
Since you are planning for a long term holding I suggest to take either Paper based wallet or Hardware wallet, your private key are now in your hands.

What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

Lightning Network are a soft fork, when a soft fork happens you only need to udpate your wallet in order to use those new features.

[Xynerise]

What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

Lightning Network are a soft fork, when a soft fork happens you only need to udpate your wallet in order to use those new features.

The Lightning Network is NOT a soft fork; it's a layer on the bitcoin blockchain.
In fact the bitcoin blockchain has no concept of the Lightning Network at all.

[tumis]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have already written a subject for the purpose of restoring the porflain after deleting all the data from the telephone.  This is why I will ask you here

In order to extract bitcoin, I first have to dump all the physical memory from my phone and then run applications to recover lost data on it? ( it was years ago and app from google store - bitcoin wallet / galaxy-s4)
If so, which application will be safe? or maybe i should do it manually according to a guidebook?

[bob123]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have already written a subject for the purpose of restoring the porflain after deleting all the data from the telephone.  This is why I will ask you here

In order to extract bitcoin, I first have to dump all the physical memory from my phone and then run applications to recover lost data on it? ( it was years ago and app from google store - bitcoin wallet / galaxy-s4)
If so, which application will be safe? or maybe i should do it manually according to a guidebook?

Restoring lost data from flash memory cells (which are used in your mobile phone) is quite a tough task, but NOT impossible.

The first thing you should do is to make a forensic correct backup of your phone (better: two). You should only try to recover files from an image, never on the original device.
Connect your mobile (USB-debugging mode) to your PC and make a 1-to-1 copy (e.g. with linux DD).

Afterwards you can start a forensic recovery software to retreive your data (or at least try to).

But years after deleting a wallet and using the phone.. the chances of recovering any useful data are almost zero.

There are quite a few softwares available to recover deleted data.
This Master thesis deals with forensic tools for android phones. It might be helpful, but i still don't see a big chance in suceeding.

[teddy5145]

The Lightning Network is NOT a soft fork; it's a layer on the bitcoin blockchain.
In fact the bitcoin blockchain has no concept of the Lightning Network at all.

My bad, I always thought LN as a soft fork for Bitcoin.
The more I know, I guess

Ladies and gentlemen, I have already written a subject for the purpose of restoring the porflain after deleting all the data from the telephone.  This is why I will ask you here

In order to extract bitcoin, I first have to dump all the physical memory from my phone and then run applications to recover lost data on it? ( it was years ago and app from google store - bitcoin wallet / galaxy-s4)
If so, which application will be safe? or maybe i should do it manually according to a guidebook?

Recovering an old data are not an easy feat, if you don't know what you're doing it'd be best to give it to professional.
Lost/Deleted data are not technically deleted yet by your phone, rather your data are marked to be replaced by a new data.
How many do you lost inside that wallet? if it's a lot you might want to consider to bring your phone to data recovery service, they have the tools and expertise to deal with your issue.

DriverSavers are one of the top company for recovering data, they managed to salvage data from HardDrive that sank on the river
https://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/

[daddypastes]

under normal circumstances there shouldn't be any problem storing them for whatever timeframe you have in mind...even if bitcoin forks/if there's a critical update something like segwit, there will always backwards compatibility like segwit, you don't necessarily have to use it..in the case of a fork you might indeed need to download another wallet to access the funds/coin you received from the fork, bitcoin cash wallets, but there shouldn't be any problems with the bitcoin wallet...unless in rare circumstances i could see that certain payscripts which bitcoin core currently uses will be invalid in the future/not accepted by most nodes, but then again just update your wallet and you should be able to make a transaction with your bitcoins just fine...

[Thirdspace]

I bought some bitcoin on Cobinhood. Can I send them now to the desktop wallet of bitcoin.org, and leave it there for 5 years or longer, without caring about it in this timeframe? Or is it neccessary to update the wallet from time to time? What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

Yes, you should send them to any wallet of your choosing that you control completely (by means of seed or private key)
make a backup copy of your wallet data, make extra backup copy and another extra extra copy better safe than sorry
also a good practice to create different type of backups: wallet file, recovery seed or private keys
then store them in different places or techniques: usb stick, paper wallet, zip password protected file an etc
you can even hide it (zip file appended) in an image and use it as your desktop wallpaper

[Bitminer1224]

I bought some bitcoin on Cobinhood. Can I send them now to the desktop wallet of bitcoin.org, and leave it there for 5 years or longer, without caring about it in this timeframe? Or is it neccessary to update the wallet from time to time? What happens when Litghting-Network or a fork is coming, do we have to update something?

As long as you keep private keys, passwords, and seeds saved you wouldn't even need to keep your wallet installed on your PC. You can leave your coins lying around for however long you want since they are stored online on the blockchain rather than in your hard drive. If you do have the wallet installed then updating it really isn't mandatory if you aren't even going to touch for for those five years. If you do want the forked coins you will probably want to install the wallets for the coins being forked. Just make sure to keep the private key, password, and seed backed up somewhere safe (If lost you'll be out of luck and lose access to your coins.) You should be golden then if I'm correct.

[onurgozupek]

Do not store your crypto funds on a web wallet. Web services belong to 3rd parties and you can't grant their existence for 5 years later. So, either use a hardware wallet or paper wallet.