can someone help me set up a paper wallet im still kinda confused

[superkawaii]

hey guys

so since i bought my first few bitcoins i have been keeping them on Mtgox because i was to scared to even attempt to transfer them (i always have the fear that i will misclick somehow sending my bitcoin into oblivion) but now i became worried that mt gox isnt the best place to store the few btc i have.

so i have decided on the paper wallet because from what i understand this is the wallet that is the most resistant to hacking , OK so i got to https://www.bitaddress.org save the page on to a usb and run it in ubuntu without internet connected

the only thing that im confused about is how to use it and how it works



the public address is on the left

from what i understand that is what i give to people for them to send me bitcoin , kinda like an account number also i think i can imput the public address into blockchain to find out my balance right?

the thing im kinda baffled about is if i created this wallet offline how do does it become activated

then there is the private address on the right

this is the part i guard with my life , from what i understand these numbers are my bitcoins. What im confused about is what happens when i am ready to sell and want to put my coins back on mtgox or anyother exchange. i dont see an option where to put in the private key?

also how long does it usually to for these transfers to go through?

as you guys can seem im pretty much a n00b at this , and from what you have read so far do you think the paper wallet is the right wallet for me?

thanks in advance for taking the time to read this

<3

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[dserrano5]

the public address is on the left

from what i understand that is what i give to people for them to send me bitcoin , kinda like an account number also i think i can imput the public address into blockchain to find out my balance right?

Yep.

the thing im kinda baffled about is if i created this wallet offline how do does it become activated

You could say that all addresses are already "activated", we just have to discover them. Which is to say, there's no "activation" procedure. You created a pair of random private/public keys and that's all you need. Funds sent to the public key (the address) you can spend using the private one.

then there is the private address on the right

this is the part i guard with my life , from what i understand these numbers are my bitcoins. What im confused about is what happens when i am ready to sell and want to put my coins back on mtgox or anyother exchange. i dont see an option where to put in the private key?

Wallet software (e.g. bitcoin-qt, electrum) allows importing the private key. When you do so, the program will show your balance. I believe blockchain.info allows importing privkeys too.

[Kouye]

now i became worried that mt gox isnt the best place to store the few btc i have.

Good thinking. Get your coins out as soon as possible.

so i have decided on the paper wallet because from what i understand this is the wallet that is the most resistant to hacking

That's true, even though some dedicated hardware devices might become stronger than paper wallets.
What you have to understand is that
- every bitcoin address has a public key, so people can send payments to it (pretty much like a bank account ID)
- every bitcoin address has a private key letting you spend the coins from that address (pretty much like the PIN of your card or the password to your banking site)
- Nobody can steal your coins unless he knows the private key.

The problem with creating paper wallets, in my opinion, is that the steps to acheive it is paved with a lot of ways to screw up.
So if unsure, I'd advice that you just:
- Create a blockchain.info wallet, setup 2 step authentication, and send the coins from MtGox to there, quickly, first thing.
- Download the QT client and wait for it to download the blockchain (which can be very long, several days)
- Once it's done, create a new address in the QT client, send coins from blockchain to your new address
- Encrypt the wallet using QT, then save your wallet.dat file to some place you're confident with (best to save it in multiple places), and delete it from your main computer.

That's about as good as a paper wallet, imho, provided you're sure you don't have any malware on your computer.

[superkawaii]

thank for your replies guys

@kouye

im kinda weary about doing anything from my windows machine even though i have an anti virus/malware i still dont feel comfortable doing this

[Abdussamad]

I suggest you don't go down this route. Instead download electrum and use that as your wallet. The reason is that paper wallets are not for noobs. If you make a mistake you might loose your funds.

Remember when running electrum for the first time it will display 12 words which you should write down (don't copy paste). That will be all the backup you need. Do enter a password though when it asks you to.