Teach me about paper wallets :)

[alison03]

Hello,

I'm really new. I am slowly trying to digest all the information of cryptocurrencies, and have gathered that I do not want to leave coins on exchanges. Now that I have gathered some, I want to keep them safe. Can someone teach me about paper wallets...and explain it to me like I'm 5? 

I have a little bitcoin, a little litecoin, and a little blackcoin. I read paper wallets are the safest way to store longterm, which is what I want to do. Just hold for a year or longer, and see what happens. I read through this site: https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com and am assuming it's legit? I can get both my bitcoin and litecoin wallets from there and be good? I just need to find a blackcoin wallet (I did see this: http://paperwallet.ga/BlackCoin/ but don't know anything about it...how do I determine what is, and what isn't legitimate?)

I also read this wiki entry: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet and at the end it talks about how Mt. Gox has a feature that lets you "add Funds using a private key: the exchange will then create a "sweep" transaction that spends any amount for that paper wallet address so that the amount is added to your account with them" So since I can't go to Gox to play around with this, I'm trying to grasp the concept. Is there an equivalent in Coinbase where I can get import coins from my paper wallet to my account? What about litecoin? How do I get it from a paper wallet to say, btc-e?

On a side note, I went to this site: https://liteaddress.org and saw all the different tabs: brain wallet, single wallet, paper wallet, vanity wallet, bulk wallet...what is the difference in each and what do I use?

Thank you everyone.

[AlextheWolf]

I think the private key is basically the account that is automatically generated with a new coin wallet address. What ever is sent to that wallet address will be tied to the private key. When time comes and you decide to load it onto your digital wallet, you would be able to access it by inputing the private key and it would then download the wallet.bat?? If that isn't how it works.. then you guess is as good as mine LOL!

[pakerybie]

The way I understand it, a paper wallet basically has your private key(s) on a sheet of paper. This is secure because it's offline (since duh, it's on paper). So as long as you keep this sheet of paper in a safe physical location, your private key (and therefore the BTC associated with it) remains safe.

[Abdussamad]

A paper wallet is basically a money grab. It's used to sell stationery and holographic stickers like you see on that site you linked to above. The thing with paper wallets is that they are very limited in two main ways a) you get only one address per paper wallet b) spending from them is a bitch. Regarding b, if you don't spend from them correctly you can loose your money.

If you have only a small amount of bitcoins then storing them on a desktop wallet is fine. For larger amounts look into offline Electrum wallets.

[pakerybie]

A paper wallet is basically a money grab. It's used to sell stationery and holographic stickers like you see on that site you linked to above. The thing with paper wallets is that they are very limited in two main ways a) you get only one address per paper wallet b) spending from them is a bitch. Regarding b, if you don't spend from them correctly you can loose your money.

If you have only a small amount of bitcoins then storing them on a desktop wallet is fine. For larger amounts look into offline Electrum wallets.

Sort of true. But it can be useful to have a paper wallet backup like the one Blockchain.info provides (as long as you keep the paper wallet someplace safe).

[french684]

Paper wallets are pretty dangerous imo. Just leaving your private keys on a sheet of paper like that...

[dancupid]

I would suggest you got to https://www.bitaddress.org/ to get your Bitcoin paper wallet as it's open source- follow the github link at the bottom and download it and then run it offline (or if you want perfect security, on a fresh OS install that has never touched the internet)

The private key can be imported in all the main wallets , and you can spend directly from the private key by scanning the QR code on the Mycellium android wallet (and other places no doubt)

You can sweep the private key into Blockchain.info's wallet if you don't want to import it directly.

I would recommend not importing the private key into multiple different wallets as it can make things confusing.

[campycoin]

Checkout http://bitcoinpaperwallets.com  Very cool site and a nicely priced package to get everything you need including an ubuntu Live Boot CD.  I also wrote an article called "Rock-Scissors-Paper Wallet" that is pretty easy to readhttp://bitscan.com/articles/rock-scissors-paper-wallets

[sana8410]

I would suggest you got to https://www.bitaddress.org/ to get your Bitcoin paper wallet as it's open source- follow the github link at the bottom and download it and then run it offline (or if you want perfect security, on a fresh OS install that has never touched the internet)

The private key can be imported in all the main wallets , and you can spend directly from the private key by scanning the QR code on the Mycellium android wallet (and other places no doubt)

You can sweep the private key into Blockchain.info's wallet if you don't want to import it directly.

I would recommend not importing the private key into multiple different wallets as it can make things confusing.

I think this is the best tutorial.

[CoinToTheMax]

I would suggest you got to https://www.bitaddress.org/ to get your Bitcoin paper wallet as it's open source- follow the github link at the bottom and download it and then run it offline (or if you want perfect security, on a fresh OS install that has never touched the internet)

The private key can be imported in all the main wallets , and you can spend directly from the private key by scanning the QR code on the Mycellium android wallet (and other places no doubt)

You can sweep the private key into Blockchain.info's wallet if you don't want to import it directly.

I would recommend not importing the private key into multiple different wallets as it can make things confusing.

I think this is the best tutorial.

Thanks for this

[Domino]

I believe most of your questions have been answered in dancupid's post.

On a side note, I went to this site: https://liteaddress.org and saw all the different tabs: brain wallet, single wallet, paper wallet, vanity wallet, bulk wallet...what is the difference in each and what do I use?

Brain wallet: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Brainwallet

You can generate one private key (and so one address) in the single wallet tab.
You can generate multiple private keys (and multiple addresses) and print them in the same page and with some cool design in the paper wallet tab.
You can generate tons of private keys (and tons of addresses) in plain text in the bulk wallet tab.

[Domino]

Vanity addresses refers to those addresses with a special pattern, say for example a bitcoin address starting with 1Bitcoin or 1234567.
You can generate such address yourself using vanitygen, or you can pay a vanity pool to do it for you.

Of course, you don't want others to know your private key.
So, if you want to use the service of a vanity pool, you should generate a split key address. You can do that in the vanity wallet tab.
FYR: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=81865.msg901491#msg901491

[BitCoinDream]

I am trying to learn this too for last 3 months ...but still a failure.

[alison03]

wow, thank you everyone.

It's definitely still really confusing for me: I'm googling like every other word/phrase (split key address, .dat, etc) so this is like learning a new language in terms of terminology AND functionality. I really appreciate all the replies and will continue reading/researching.

[durrrr]

I dont understand paperwallets really either. What exactly is the point? i get you can put it in cold storage and its more safe. But how do i get bitcoins back into useable form? and how do i know omone cant just type in number and get my bitcoin after its on paper.

[Vitsila]

I was searching for a topic that a user wrote about making the private key of a paper wallet offline.
He was recomended to make it on a new installed OS or with a live CD.
I want to ask if is the same secure to make it in a OS which is running in a vitrual machine like VMware?
And second question is : after i make the private key i have to connect the program in the internet so it gives me the Public Address?

[dancupid]

I was searching for a topic that a user wrote about making the private key of a paper wallet offline.
He was recomended to make it on a new installed OS or with a live CD.
I want to ask if is the same secure to make it in a OS which is running in a vitrual machine like VMware?
And second question is : after i make the private key i have to connect the program in the internet so it gives me the Public Address?

The public address is generated directly from the private key - you don't need to be online.

Just download it first from somewhere you trust (ie github https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org - download the zip file) and put it on a usb stick (it's just javascript that runs in a browser - just open index.html). Play around with it in Windows so you understand how it works.

I can see no problem with using a Virtual Machine - but it's just as easy to put Ubuntu onto a bootable USB stick. Just make sure you are disconnected physically from the internet.

[fatty_but_happy]

I think the paper wallet is the best way to store Bitcoins. At least it better protects against hack   

[Bitornio]

wow, thank you everyone.

It's definitely still really confusing for me: I'm googling like every other word/phrase (split key address, .dat, etc) so this is like learning a new language in terms of terminology AND functionality. I really appreciate all the replies and will continue reading/researching.

This is the best approach to take IMO. Create a few paper wallets, send a few cents to them and practice importing it on Blockchain.info

Once you understand how it works, then go ahead and store your funds on them

[Vitsila]

A question: when i want to load bitcoins to kraken will ask me my private key.
It's secure with windows or i better use backtrack?