Storing Altcoins Not Supported by Ledger or Trezor

[Crypto Bull]

Lots of interesting ideas here. The most practical plan for me, I think, is to do the following. Let me know what you think:

1. Purchase 2 USB flash drives (128gb each. Hopefully, this is enough capacity)

2. Thoroughly scan my computer with an antivirus and anti spyware program.

3. Transfer a small amount of crypto from Binance to one of my wallets (My OKCash wallet, which just finished synchronizing and has no funds in it yet).

4. Back up my OKCash wallet by copying and pasting the wallet.dat file into one of the USB flash drives. Then, on the other USB, back up the OKCash wallet by using the "backup wallet" function on the wallet's interface.

5. Delete all OKCash files on my PC. (this would simulate having a brand new PC, with no wallet files installed)

6. Reinstall my OKCash wallet on my PC from each USB (one at a time) to see which one properly restores my wallet.

7. Transfer some OKCash back to Binance to ensure I can "send" funds. Then, send those fund back to wallet to ensure I can "receive" funds.

8. If all goes well, transfer all funds from Binance to OKCash wallet.

9. Store USB's in a fireproof safe (also, if I can identify the private key, write it down, make copies of it, and save it in several places).

10. Repeat procedure for all wallets.

[Cosbycoin]

How can I store the following desktop cryptocurrency wallets on a USB flash drive?

- OKCash Client
- Verge Electrum Wallet
- Reddcoin Core Wallet
- RevolutionVR Wallet
- Bitbay Marketplace Client

Do I simply disconnect the internet, plug in a flash drive, click on "backup wallet", an voila`? Is it that simple?

Would this process restore my wallets (with balances) in the event I purchased a new PC that has none of the wallet files installed on it?

FYI: All my other cryptocurrencies are on Ledger Nano S (Ledger doesn't support the above-mentioned coins).

There are various ways of making this happen, one of the best way is to get the private key to the address you have the coin in, then you can then save the private key in a secured location on your flash drive to redeem it anytime you are in need of it, though it is good to still have another backup because it is possible that at the time the coin would be needed, the flash drive will no longer be functional, any method is to save all the wallet.dat file of the coin you want to backup and save it in a secured location in the flash drive.

[BitcoinHodler]

two important things that you should remember and is not mentioned here when bag holding altcoins is that first of all there is a good chance that you are going to lose a lot of money as that coin drops in value but that is mostly a speculation related answer so i won't get into that so much.
another problem is that many of these altcoins have big changes which means you have to stay on top of everything if you don't want to miss anything. for example there has been cases where you had to go and convert your old tokens to new ones in a time frame and if you didn't do that, you would have lost all your funds!

[Crypto Bull]

two important things that you should remember and is not mentioned here when bag holding altcoins is that first of all there is a good chance that you are going to lose a lot of money as that coin drops in value but that is mostly a speculation related answer so i won't get into that so much.
another problem is that many of these altcoins have big changes which means you have to stay on top of everything if you don't want to miss anything. for example there has been cases where you had to go and convert your old tokens to new ones in a time frame and if you didn't do that, you would have lost all your funds!

That's a good point. A lot of these coins are a royal pain in the ass to manage because they constantly change. But, I would keep these altcoin wallets on my desktop PC (in addition to my USB) and check on them periodically.

[dimonarka]

Most importantly, you need to save backup files for access to the wallet and after that, of course, you can try installing the software and check if it fails, then just restore access to the wallet through backup phrases and if it works, just use it.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Very helpful advice, especially for the new users. Only a limited number of altcoins and tokens are supported in hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor (and this is despite the users paying significant amounts in purchasing them). As a result most of these coins are being stored in exchange wallets, which makes them vulnerable to hacks and robberies. This advice will reduce such incidents.

[Crypto Bull]

Most importantly, you need to save backup files for access to the wallet and after that, of course, you can try installing the software and check if it fails, then just restore access to the wallet through backup phrases and if it works, just use it.

So, then, you're saying it's not enough to simply copy and paste the wallet.dat file into my USB in order to back up a wallet? I also have to also copy and paste all associated files into my USB (which could be quite sizable)?

[Wayan_Pedjeng]

I don't know how many of the users will be willing to go through all these steps. I have been in to this field for more than 2 years now, and even for me this sounds a bit complex. I still prefer storing my smaller altcoins in exchange wallets. I know that it is a risky option, but it is most suitable for lazy people like me, since we just need to remember the username and password.

[Crypto Bull]

Very helpful advice, especially for the new users. Only a limited number of altcoins and tokens are supported in hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor (and this is despite the users paying significant amounts in purchasing them). As a result most of these coins are being stored in exchange wallets, which makes them vulnerable to hacks and robberies. This advice will reduce such incidents.

True. You don't hear this kind of practical advice that much anymore. We used to hear it back in the earlier days of cryptocurrencies, but now people feel they're too advanced for that.

[libert19]

Yes that's the best way to do it for unsupported coins by hardware wallets just make sure you encrypt your wallet with password (there are many tools available for that) and have multiple backups so in case one gets corrupted, you still be fine. Better safe than sorry, eh?

[Crypto Bull]

Update: I did a test run with Reddcoin Core wallet. After it synchronized, I sent 10 RDD (a small amount) to it from an exchange. I then saved the wallet (reddcoin-qt.exe) in my USB flash drive & deleted all the other associated Reddcoin files from my desktop.

Restarted my desktop and inserted the flash drive. The wallet had to synchronize all over again. So, I had to wait a few days. After it finished synchronizing, my balance was 0. So, I lost my coins.

Had I not done this test run, and simply sent all my coins to the wallet, I would have lost my entire balance!
Saving just one file (.dat, .exe, etc.) in a USB DOES NOT WORK!! You probably need to save ALL the files associated with the wallet in the USB, but I'm not even so sure that will work. But, even if it did, that's going to require a lot of space! Not practical at all.

So, I'm back to square one. I still don't know where to store my altcoins. I regret ever buying them. If I had to do it all over again, I would only purchase coins that are supported by Ledger. If god forbid my desktop computer crashes, I will lose everything.