Paper wallets still good options

[Oshosondy]

Recently, I have been reading articles about wallets, the safest I read about are paper wallets and hardware wallets. I prefer hardware wallets but they are expensive for my liking for now and I want to consider going for a paper wallet. But according to wikipeia, paper wallets generate only one address which means only one address for transaction. i think it is not a good alternative for me.

Paper wallets for hodling
Paper wallets should be used for only holding, it was common in 2012 to around 2016, but whales do like and prefer hardware wallets now because it is more easy to understand and use than a paper wallet. For now, paper wallet can still be good for holding but it is good to send the coins you want to hold on it at ones.

Why paper wallet is not encouraged now
I will say paper wallet is not good to use now, because of the price of bitcoin, it is good in the past when bitcoin price was rising but unlike now, a good holder need a hardware wallet which he can still be able to convert from one coin to another, make transactions. A complete holder, can still withdraw to stanble coins or fiat as a safe haven when bitcoin price is falling. If someone can afford hardware wallet, it is better.

Paper wallet is cumbersome to use, need good knowledge about it before use and before holding if you want one. It can be burned in fire accident, it can be destroyed by water or other liquids, that is why I do not like it. But for safety, it is still good because its private keys are offline.

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[o_e_l_e_o]

But according to wikipeia, paper wallets generate only one address which means only one address for transaction.

"Classic" paper wallets contain a single private key and a single address, as you say. You can run in to problems with them if you attempt to spend less than the full amount of bitcoin stored on the address, as the wallet you import your paper wallet to may send your change to an address you do not have the private key for. You need to create a brand new paper wallet each time to send the change to, which is time-consuming. However, the entire point of paper wallets is for long-term cold storage where you aren't making frequently withdrawals, so this becomes less of an issue.

Some people would also refer to a seed phrase written down on paper as a paper wallet. While this isn't a paper wallet by the original definition of the term, it is a much better solution for long term storage rather than a single private key and address.

a good holder need a hardware wallet which he can still be able to convert from one coin to another, make transactions.

Why would someone who is planning to hold bitcoin offline for an extended period of time be wanting to convert their cold storage to some useless altcoin? If you want to make frequent trades and transaction, then obviously a paper wallet is not the right choice.

It can be burned in fire accident, it can be destroyed by water or other liquids,

As can a hardware wallet, or a mobile wallet, or a software wallet.

[TalkStar]

I think you have already got most of the possible answer from previous poster's reply.

There is a complete topic about bitcoin wallets and anyone can easily find that on this section's pinned post area. If you missed that then You may take a look on this topic. [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?

[Pffrt]

Paper wallets are better than hardware wallet even but it is only best when you follow the safe strategy to generate paper wallets.

A complete holder, can still withdraw to stanble coins or fiat as a safe haven when bitcoin price is falling.

They are trader, not holder. Holders don't sell their bitcoin frequently on price pump and dump. They have a target point where they will sell their BTC. No matter how dump bitcoin have, they will still hold their coin in their bag. You have messed up trader and holder.

[enhu]

If you are sure to be holding your coins for a very long time and knows how to keep the paper wallet safe, its still an option. But many might not recommend to use it especially after bullrun, you have a good chance of doubling or tripling the number of your coins if you sell them for stablecoins and hold til the price drops to its bottom. The last bullrun made people realize its convenient to use hardware wallet.

Personally I don't have one but I only have electrum in my laptop and desktop. Nothing special but I backed them up in my usd drive for safety.

[Oshosondy]

a good holder need a hardware wallet which he can still be able to convert from one coin to another, make transactions.

Why would someone who is planning to hold bitcoin offline for an extended period of time be wanting to convert their cold storage to some useless altcoin? If you want to make frequent trades and transaction, then obviously a paper wallet is not the right choice.

I just like the type of holding in a way holders sell before bitcoin price decrease, or should I call it swing trading which is the right term. And some traders always hold stable coin or dollar as a safe haven. For instance, in March 2020, bitcoin price dumped from $10500 to $3600, some traders holding tether or dollar converted it to bitcoin because they knew the price will pump up again. This is what new holders are actually doing now unlike last decade and old holders. That is why I still always recently thinking paper wallet is not the good option for me.

Personally I don't have one but I only have electrum in my laptop and desktop. Nothing special but I backed them up in my usd drive for safety.

Electrum wallet is an online wallet, I even read is an open source wallet created long time ago, people claimed online wallets are not secure but electeum wallet really is worth of saving bitcoin. We are different people with different opinion though, I just like electrum for saving little amount of bitcoin, and I have coinomi for sophisticated reasons. I do not have hardware wallet for now, but planning to get ledger nano x which I believe has overtook paper wallets trend of last decade.

[Oshosondy]

Paper wallets are better than hardware wallet even but it is only best when you follow the safe strategy to generate paper wallets.

A complete holder, can still withdraw to stanble coins or fiat as a safe haven when bitcoin price is falling.

They are trader, not holder. Holders don't sell their bitcoin frequently on price pump and dump. They have a target point where they will sell their BTC. No matter how dump bitcoin have, they will still hold their coin in their bag. You have messed up trader and holder.

I agree but can you see this in another way around also.

If you buy bitcoin for over a year before selling it means you are still a  holder, some hodl longer. There are whales that hold even for long before selling and the selling can mildly shake bitcoin price. Of you do not sell bit coin for a long time means you are investing in it and t means you are hodling.

Take a look at this good example
When bitcoin price was decreased last year in March 2019 to $3800, someone can buy bitcoin and be so lucky to hold until the price was $10000 again this year before selling it. Is that not hodl?

And, I did not mean selling bitcoin frequently, it can take six months or longer but in a way that will favour them.

[Charles-Tim]

This is simple, everyone has different opinions and different method about how to hold bitcoin, if I want to hold my bitcoin for long without tampering with it, then, paper wallet is good to use. But like you said, as hard as it is to compromize paper wallet is also as not easy to use, but using it is safe.
But for me, I will prefer to get hardware wallet instead of paper wallets which is easy and more convenient to use, the the fact still remain that my private keys is offline.

[smyslov]

It's a good options for long term holding of your coins but if you are going to trade a lot and from time to time hardware wallet is the best choice for that, I know it's quite expensive but it's part of your investment portfolio that you secured it to the safest wallet there is, I have some of my coin in my hardwallet but these are a portion of the coins I allocate for long term, I still need to trade from time to time I also need desktop wallet just secure your keys and passphrase.

[yazher]

Of course, you can still use it as a good option but only if you have enough knowledge on how to store it in the safest way possible. Some people preferred using it more than a hard wallet but I don't recommend it myself because in the long run you might using it more often and causing it to damage. Anyway, if you don't have enough resources to buy a hard wallet, you can try using a paper wallet as your temporary storage not recommended in the long run though. You still need to consider buying your own hard wallet in the future. 

[pooya87]

paper wallets have always been a good option and nothing about that has not changed.

in fact nowadays paper wallets may be even safer than hardware wallets and i'll explain why. security is not something that just exists, that you can click a button and be 100% safe! it doesn't work like that. security is achieved through a lot of work and care and it will never be 100%. people who use hardware wallets are lulled into thinking they are 100% safe just because they are using a "hardware wallet" then they end up losing their money. there have been lots of cases where people lost their bitcoin stored in different hardware wallets. but when they use paper wallets, usually they take a lot of care, go offline,... to create it as safe as possible and it is kept offline so the chances of loss is lower.

in other words people have to learn how to use different wallet types and how to make them secure.

[hd49728]

Paper is not strong enough against water, fire, and any other physical threats. In addition, using third-party paper wallet services is unsafe too.

You can do it yourself by using Bitcoin Core or any SPV wallet, such as Electrum, to create your own wallet with private keys/ mnemonic seeds. Do it all offline to avoid any threats from online space. You have full control on your private keys/ mnemonic seeds.

Then, you can print them on paper. Do it offline too. It is not different from paper wallet provides by third party but you have higher safety.

For those keys, seeds, you must save them in other places, in other methods, rather than totally rely on paper backups. That is so risky. But you must not back them ups online, because you put your keys/seeds under risks.

Key point: Do it all offline when you create your wallet, make back ups.

[MrMojoRising26]

I love the physical bitcoins which is the same concept as a paper wallet. I have yet to peel one so it keeps me from spending it or panic selling

[Dariusburst]

Recently, I have been reading articles about wallets, the safest I read about are paper wallets and hardware wallets. I prefer hardware wallets but they are expensive for my liking for now and I want to consider going for a paper wallet. But according to wikipeia, paper wallets generate only one address which means only one address for transaction. i think it is not a good alternative for me.

Paper wallets for hodling
Paper wallets should be used for only holding, it was common in 2012 to around 2016, but whales do like and prefer hardware wallets now because it is more easy to understand and use than a paper wallet. For now, paper wallet can still be good for holding but it is good to send the coins you want to hold on it at ones.

Why paper wallet is not encouraged now
I will say paper wallet is not good to use now, because of the price of bitcoin, it is good in the past when bitcoin price was rising but unlike now, a good holder need a hardware wallet which he can still be able to convert from one coin to another, make transactions. A complete holder, can still withdraw to stanble coins or fiat as a safe haven when bitcoin price is falling. If someone can afford hardware wallet, it is better.

Paper wallet is cumbersome to use, need good knowledge about it before use and before holding if you want one. It can be burned in fire accident, it can be destroyed by water or other liquids, that is why I do not like it. But for safety, it is still good because its private keys are offline.

Importation of Bitcoin paper wallet Into another wallet won't take more than a second to show up in your new wallet, this is not a problem at all, paper wallet are the safest option, if bitcoin surge to a new ATH just import your paper wallet and you are set

[jseverson]

Electrum wallet is an online wallet, I even read is an open source wallet created long time ago, people claimed online wallets are not secure but electeum wallet really is worth of saving bitcoin. We are different people with different opinion though, I just like electrum for saving little amount of bitcoin, and I have coinomi for sophisticated reasons. I do not have hardware wallet for now, but planning to get ledger nano x which I believe has overtook paper wallets trend of last decade.

It can also be used offline, so you could use it as a paper wallet (by generating keys on a machine that has never touched, or never touch the internet), or even a de facto hardware wallet (by using a persistent Linux flash drive that will never touch the internet).

Anyway, it seems like your reason for not suggesting paper wallets is better suited towards traders who need to be able to transact on the fly, rather than holders who just want cold storage. Don't get me wrong though, hardware wallets certainly give paper wallets some heavy competition, but its only real advantage is convenience -- something which not everyone is willing to pay money for. They also cater to different needs, so they're not entirely comparable.

[Oshosondy]

Electrum wallet is an online wallet, I even read is an open source wallet created long time ago, people claimed online wallets are not secure but electeum wallet really is worth of saving bitcoin. We are different people with different opinion though, I just like electrum for saving little amount of bitcoin, and I have coinomi for sophisticated reasons. I do not have hardware wallet for now, but planning to get ledger nano x which I believe has overtook paper wallets trend of last decade.

It can also be used offline, so you could use it as a paper wallet (by generating keys on a machine that has never touched, or never touch the internet), or even a de facto hardware wallet (by using a persistent Linux flash drive that will never touch the internet).

I know about this, but you need two device for this, one will be used for making transaction and for knowing about bitcoin balance, it will not contain the private key, the other device will contain the private key, not connected to bluetooth or internet to make it safe. You can also use phone for it or computers.

[Novatech8]

Paper wallets are good for coins that are still very cheap that you will need to hold for several years, for example pundix or Tron, as for Bitcoin it's bad idea locking your coins away, Bitcoin can gain 50% per day unexpectedly, you can easily take out your profit and buy back when price fall.

[hd49728]

Paper wallets are good for coins that are still very cheap that you will need to hold for several years, for example pundix or Tron, as for Bitcoin it's bad idea locking your coins away, Bitcoin can gain 50% per day unexpectedly, you can easily take out your profit and buy back when price fall.

Paper wallets or whatever wallets are only good if you know how to use and how to secure it.

I don't understand what is your opinion when you said paper wallets are good for cheap coins. Personally, I disagree with it. Bitcoin was cheap in the past, now it values above $9000. Cheap altcoins nowadays have their different future and some of them will become expensive like we saw ETH, DASH, Ripple in 2017 and very early 2018.

Whenever you spend your money to invest, you have to secure your funds, from chosen wallets (paper wallets for instance).

[NeuroticFish]

I don't understand what is your opinion when you said paper wallets are good for cheap coins.

I think that the main point in his sentence was about coins one chooses to HOLD for many years and the addition of the "cheap" part ruined it all.
So yes, paper wallets are great for long term hold, no matter the coins are cheap or not.

However, as you said, nowadays it's easier to just generate a mnemonic seed and store that one for long term. Human readable words are easier to hide in plain sight than something that clearly looks like a private key.
Just Electrum is not the best example, its seed works only with Electrum. Ian Coleman's tool is a better call.

[pooya87]

I love the physical bitcoins which is the same concept as a paper wallet. I have yet to peel one so it keeps me from spending it or panic selling

the concept is actually a little different. the physical bitcoins mainly server the purpose of a "collectible" and is mainly bought and traded by collectors. as a result of this purpose, the value of them can be well above the total value of the bitcoin they are storing. to sell them, you don't peel it off, selling is usually done by selling the physical coin itself to another collector.