Safest Wallet for BTC without Fee

[HCP]

Personally, I think that $50 really isn't much in the grand scheme of things... I find it odd that people will nickle and dime on this stuff when they have potentially thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency that they need to protect.

It was just like when I started in aviation... looking at headsets... people will hunt for a deal and opt for a budget headset for $100 that has terrible quality, is uncomfortable, doesn't have active noise cancelling and will likely be ruined after a year or 2... completely forgetting that they're about to spend a minimum of $10k-$15K getting a licence (vast amounts more if they're going commercial). I spent ~US$600 on a top of the line noise cancelling headset about 10 years ago... I have since put about 1500 hrs on it, including 1000 hrs flying in the tropics... still in good shape and working perfectly. I replaced the ear seals twice and only had the cable changed because I accidentally damaged it when closing a door. The old budget one fell to pieces while I wasn't even using it. It was packed in a protective bad in storage and the cable and ear pads basically just disintegrated.

Given I've easily spent US$50,000 on my flight training/medicals/exams/renewals etc flying aircraft that at times cost $300/hr to fly... that US$600 was but a drop in the ocean. Same with hardware wallets... you want an easy, reliable way to securely store a "decent amount" of crypto? Hardware wallet for ~$50.

I was the same as most when I started out, I looked at these $100+ units and was like "NOPE!"... when I had like $200 worth of crypto... once my holdings increased to a point where losing it would equate to significant financial loss, I ordered a Nano S... AND a Trezor. I don't regret either purchase.

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[d.kevin29]

You are right. I'd buy another Trezor or Ledger even if I had just $10 worth of cryptocurrencies just to get rid of that fear of my coins sitting in an unsafe place & being lost. I regret not buying the Ledger 2-pack during the Black Friday sale (they offered both Nano X and Nano S at the price of a Nano S only). Now it depends on what kind of people you hang around and their mentality. It's part of the game. People I usually tell about Bitcoin are always pulling out the "It's a ponzi scheme" card or would only buy BTC worth <$50 hoping for that to turn into $50k in no time. They wouldn't invest $100 in a cryptocurrency but they would blindly purchase a new $200 pair of Nike boots. It's sad, but it is how it is.

Now you see, we never mentioned in our discussion that we most likely live in two completely different surroundings and people next to me probably have a different mentality than those next to you.

When I first started out with Bitcoin, I remember printing paper wallets and sending small amounts of BTC to them (at the time, they were worth about $50 each). I then gave away a few of them to some of my closer friends, telling them they should keep it for years and they won't regret it. That's why I put paper wallets on the top of my list. It's easier to hand someone a paper and tell them not to show it to anyone & to put it in a very safe and hidden place than teaching them how to open an airgapped wallet. But these people will not know how to spend their gifted funds too. (I feel like I'm talking about Peter Schmidt now)

My big mistake (obviously, I always have to either make a mistake or go off-topic in one way or another) in the posts where I put paper wallets before all the others was that I completely forgot for a second that OP wanted a wallet for himself, not for somebody else. He has plenty of time to earn experience on his own, it's going to be his own wallet.

Therefore, let me fix my earlier statement and go for a better suggestion for the OP: Either buy a hardware wallet or create your own airgapped wallet, transfer $5 to $10 to it and just play with the functions of it. See what you can do and what you can't. Try to get used to sending & receiving transactions, so when the first real deposit comes in, you will have a considerably smaller fear of losing funds. And trust me, experience DOES matter. Also, always check addresses, sums and fees twice (or more if needed) before sending BTC anywhere. It's better to check it 10 times and safely send than being in a hurry and losing your funds through an irreversible tx.

Moreover, earning experience will also make you understand how Bitcoin works way easier than reading theory. I've learned most of it through mistakes and usage. Practice makes perfect.

[verita1]

I like the Blockchain.com wallet. It is a safe and easy-to-use Wallet ideal for any beginner. It was my first Bitcoin wallet and in it, I learned how to make transactions. You can activate 3FA for added security. If for any reason you forget your password you have to use seed words to recover access to your Wallet.

You can Swap between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, USD PAX, and Stellar Lumens. This is a quick exchange that is very useful.
It has other features such as a block explorer to search and verify transactions in the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash blockchain.
The developers are in constant updates to give their users the greatest utility and productibility. I am really satisfied since I am using it.

[d.kevin29]

I like the Blockchain.com wallet. It is a safe and easy-to-use Wallet ideal for any beginner. It was my first Bitcoin wallet and in it, I learned how to make transactions. You can activate 3FA for added security. If for any reason you forget your password you have to use seed words to recover access to your Wallet.

You can Swap between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, USD PAX, and Stellar Lumens. This is a quick exchange that is very useful.
It has other features such as a block explorer to search and verify transactions in the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash blockchain.
The developers are in constant updates to give their users the greatest utility and productibility. I am really satisfied since I am using it.

In case you missed it. OP:

Is there any safest, 100% decentralized, and free to use wallet for BTC?

[o_e_l_e_o]

I regret not buying the Ledger 2-pack during the Black Friday sale (they offered both Nano X and Nano S at the price of a Nano S only).

They do periodic sales during the year. Also, sometimes people who have signed up with an email address with Ledger will get emailed offers out - you could either sign up yourself, or keep an eye on the Hardware wallets sub-board. People occasionally post offers they have received on there for other people to use, or you could start a topic asking if anyone has any offers sitting around they would be willing to share. The last one I saw was 20% off (IIRC).

When I first started out with Bitcoin, I remember printing paper wallets and sending small amounts of BTC to them (at the time, they were worth about $50 each). I then gave away a few of them to some of my closer friends, telling them they should keep it for years and they won't regret it.

I still haven't decided on what the best way to gift crypto to a complete beginner is. Each have their drawbacks. Paper wallets are great for being easy for the other person to store - they don't actually need to learn anything until they want to spend it, just keep it safe in the meantime. However, they teach poor security practices, as whoever I am gifting to has to have complete trust in both my ability to generate and print the wallet securely, as well as my character to not secretly be holding a copy of the key myself. Gifting a pre-initialized hardware wallet with bitcoin already on it has the same drawbacks - they have to trust me to initialize it securely and not keep a copy of the seed myself. Any other method kind of ruins the "gifting" aspect of it - "Hey, I want to gift you some bitcoin, but first I need you to spend several hours learning about what it is, how to store it, and downloading and setting up your own wallet". I'd probably settle on paper wallets, with the suggestion that they should sweep the coins to their own hardware wallet or paper wallet once they felt confident to do so.

I like the Blockchain.com wallet.

Web wallets are the least safe wallets you can choose. You open yourself up to multiple new vectors of attack such as account hacks, server hacks, phishing sites, etc. that simply do not exist with software or hardware wallets, as well as having to place complete trust in the third party who runs the wallet. Not recommended.

[Pmalek]

We can debate about this for weeks and still wouldn't agree but in the end it comes down to this:
The best combination of convenience and safety is Trezor and Ledger. If you care about the safety of your funds but also want a wallet that is not too complicated, you should get a Trezor or Ledger. Respect the $50-100 price tag or regret not doing so if something goes wrong in the future.

Paper wallets and airgapped machines are great solutions but they are not nearly as convenient and easy to use.   

[Lucius]

By reading your post history I see you're getting ready for mining and that you have $100k to invest, but at the same time you ask for some free to use wallet?

Lol, some people are weird--no offense, OP.

I agree 100% about the hardware wallet option, but I think he's looking for a software one.  I have to chime in and support the members who recommended Electrum, because it's a fantastic wallet and you can set the network fees as low as you want.  It's available for desktop and smartphones.  Very easy to use, pretty on the eyes, and it's a safe and reliable wallet.

I totally understand what OP wants, but sometimes to get the full picture it still has to be scratched a little deeper. When we consider that someone is investing (or planning to invest) about $ 100k in the crypto business, then it is not difficult to conclude that all these funds + earnings must be returned at one point. In my opinion, it is completely crazy to store such amounts in a hot desktop/mobile wallet with all the dangers to which such software is exposed.

So I would disagree that Electrum is safe in general, all you have to do is think of a very sophisticated phishing attack that has taken place in the recent past and is still ongoing, with losses being measured in thousands of BTC. OP can start to use Electrum, everything can be OK for some time and then at one point of carelessness fake wallet download and game over.

We can only give advice, everyone takes the risk for their money and their actions. Even hardware wallets in the wrong hands will not be able to prevent someone's stupidity.

[Danne87]

Security is certainly important, but do not forget that for many people a cold wallet will have a number of drawbacks. For example, like losing a key or transmitting it to other users, viruses, etc.
It seems to me that online wallets are suitable for small amounts, most importantly time-tested. And it is better that there are several places for funds. 2fa and other delights must be used

[Pmalek]

Security is certainly important, but do not forget that for many people a cold wallet will have a number of drawbacks. For example, like losing a key or transmitting it to other users, viruses, etc.

Don't lose your keys or seed! Store them in multiple locations. Write them down properly and check if you can read every word/letter. Archive and encrypt them on multiple offline locations. The whole point of all this is to be the one and only who controls this data.

You can use hardware wallets even on unknown or infected devices because the private keys are stored in a secure element.
When ForkDelta was attacked via a DNS service attack last year those who logged in with their private keys lost their funds. Those who used a hardware wallet to log in didn't.

[o_e_l_e_o]

do not forget that for many people a cold wallet will have a number of drawbacks. For example, like losing a key or transmitting it to other users, viruses, etc.

I think you might be confused as to what a cold wallet is. A cold wallet is completely disconnected from the internet, such as a paper wallet or airgapped computer. As long as you don't do something stupid, your private keys will never touch a device with an internet connection, and therefore can never be transmitted to another user. Similarly, it is impossible for an airgapped computer to get a virus unless you transfer one to it via removable media such as CD or USB drive. The risks you talk about are risks of hot wallets, such as software mobile and desktop wallets.

It seems to me that online wallets are suitable for small amounts, most importantly time-tested.

The only thing that time has shown us is that given enough time, every exchange or web wallet gets hacked eventually. The risks you talk about above (keys being stolen, malware) are particular risks for online wallets, and they also introduce a number of risks which don't exist with other wallets, such as phishing pages/links/emails, accounts being hacked, the service itself being hacked, unannounced KYC requirements, accounts being locked or closed, the service shutting down or scamming, etc.

2fa and other delights must be used

If you are going to use a web wallet (I wouldn't recommend it), then you absolutely should be using 2FA, but doing so does not make you 100% safe by any means. It lowers the risk of losing your coins if your account is hacked, but you are still just as vulnerable to all the other risks I just listed above.

[Pmalek]

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So what you are saying is online wallets aren't safe, cold wallets and cold storage (including hardware wallets) are also not safe either, and paper wallets are equally unsafe because we can lose the associated private keys. What are we left with in this world of unsafeness (not sure if this is an actual word)?

[o_e_l_e_o]

What are we left with in this world of unsafeness (not sure if this is an actual word)?

Back ups and seed phrases.

For the coins I hold on a hardware wallet, I have two hardware wallets, both with the same seed phrase restored on them, and I have two encrypted copies of the seed phrase. One hardware wallet and one encrypted seed phrase are stored within my house, and the other hardware wallet and other encrypted copy of the seed phrase are both stored at two other different secure physical locations. I have a similar but a little more complex set up for my cold, airgapped wallets.

If you have your coins accessible by only one means, or by several means all at the same physical location, than that is a single point of failure. A seed phrase to your hardware wallet is useless if you store both in your house and your house burns down. Secure and encrypted backs ups and redundancy are the only way to ensure you don't lose access to your coins. There is the obvious caveat that the more physical locations you choose to store your back ups, the more chance of one of them being discovered.

[Tibu]

You can try something like the Satochip... I've been playing with one and it's not too bad. Granted if requires a USB smartcard reader... but the whole setup, card+reader+postage cost me like €40 as a special deal. Currently a card is €25 (reader is €15), so if you already have a smartcard reader it is a fairly good budget option. I queried them a while back on how common smartcard readers are and it turns out that in Belgium (where I believe the Satochip devs are based) they're very common because of the country's national "eID" system.

At the end of the day... how much did you spend on your phone? on your PC? Even if you only have 0.1 BTC to store, then $50 is less than 10% of your total holdings.


They have a thread here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5181719.0
Website with online store here: https://satochip.io/

Thank you for mentioning Satochip.
If I can help someone here about our product, it would be a real pleasure for me !

Regarding the smart card reader, yes, here in Belgium it's somehting quite common as everyone (or barely) is using it to pay tax (we have to pay our taxes online and authenticate ourselves with our smart card e-ID).

In the other hand, we are hardly working on the NFC features for our next batch of cards ... This could improve the user experience.

Satochip aims to be a good alternative in the hardware wallet ecosystem : open source, low form factor, easy to use and affordable.

[jerry0]

Would you agree electrum probably is the best for this that is free? 

[HCP]

It's not as simple as a "Yes" or "No" answer... it all depends on your use case... There is no "one size fits all" wallet

For some, running a Bitcoin Core full node is the best solution
For others, Electrum works well and satisfies certain requirements
For other others, web wallets like b.info work well
For yet more others, exchanges like coinbase are the perfect solution
For oldschool others, paper wallets are the go to solution

That's why the Bitcoin.org "wallet chooser" asks a series of questions that includes the "Which criteria are important to you?" and "What features are you looking for?" sections

[joniboini]

Would you agree electrum probably is the best for this that is free? 

Most open-source wallets are free too. It's not the best metric to find what you're looking for.