The right way to store Bitcoin for long term

[ourkid]

Hi guys,

I've been trying to learn about how to cold store securely my small bitcoin holding, and where I can move to as I buy more. I expect to be picking up more and more over the coming weeks and months.

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

2) What app should be used?

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

Thanks!

[Charles-Tim]

One of the safe way to securely hold bitcoin is the use of hardware wallet, because your bitcoin will be readily accessible for you to use unlike many other cold storage means. But you need to be careful and operate your hardware wallet with the app you will use to operate it with clean internet environment with no malware.

Hardware wallets like trezor and ledger nano are recommended, I will also recommend you to use electrum as the app you will use to operate the hardware wallet, you can download it from electrum.org.

But, irrespective of the wallet you are using, you need to operate the device in a clean internet environment in such a way the device used to operate it should contain no malware.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Well if you've understood how the entire thing works, then it's easy. I mean, if you do know that you have to keep your private keys safe in order to prove you are the owner of your addresses then you're okay.

There are plenty ways of generating private keys and then getting the addresses, but the greatest and most secure option for a beginner is a hardware wallet like those you mentioned. (Nano Ledger, Trezor etc)

If you feel that you don't need a hardware wallet then, electrum does fine.

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

As I said before, if you understand the way it works you don't have to worry. For example, if you find out that you can access thousands of addresses by only writing down 12 words, then you only need that paper for the rest of your HODLing.

You should never keep your funds on custodian wallets like blockchain.com and consider it as "cold storage".

[ourkid]

Hey thanks for the quick response.

I want to buy BTC, take it off the exchange, and just sit on it.

I want to regularly add more to the wallet so an easy transfer method.

I currently use a desktop PC with an external HD and internal SSDs.

Should I buy a laptop on it's own, and download nothing but electrum on it to store the BTC?

Would using a VPN be sensible when accessing the internet from said device?

A hardware wallet is something like Nano or Trezor?

Thanks again - very new to the wallet side of things, so far just left the small amount of BTC on the exchange, which I know is stupid, but I only have nothing relatively.

Thanks

[xcaret]

I have nothing but trouble with my Ledger nano S , they offer next to no support , and what little there is,is only chat and there's no one responding .
Facebook is full of disgruntled users .
I'd say before buying Ledger check those sites out, you won't be wanting to be visiting them along with all the others.
Sorry I cant offer advise on what a good cold wallet is.  I only have this Ledger nano S .  

[BlackHatCoiner]

I want to buy BTC, take it off the exchange, and just sit on it.

Great.

I want to regularly add more to the wallet so an easy transfer method.

If you mean that you receive funds to the exchange and you want to send them to your cold storage then okay.

Should I buy a laptop on it's own, and download nothing but electrum on it to store the BTC?

Well, if you don't have any laptops available and you want the electrum way, then yes. Instead of buying a new laptop it would be pretty easier and more secure for you to buy a hardware wallet, since you stated that you're new to bitcoin.

Would using a VPN be sensible when accessing the internet from said device?

Sensible? How's that related with your wallet?

A hardware wallet is something like Nano or Trezor?

Yes.

[xcaret]

Before buying an expensive ( or cheap) laptop , you might want to check with the sellers of the cold wallet you buy . I had to buy a 64 bit laptop to download the Ledger nano S app .
Don't know about Trezor ,or any of the others ,just don't leave your BTC in a online bank .

A Vancouver exchange cost users 180 million when the owner ( is thought to have maybe ,maybe not) died ,and no one has the keys to retrive the 180 million lost.
 
There are just to many greedy people out there! 

[Charles-Tim]

Another suggestion, you can use two mobile phones which you can buy one very cheap and use for cold storage and use the other as watch-only wallet. It will be fine if you have a phone you are no more using again but can still function as cold storage.

Okay, here's the procedure to create a cold-storage mobile Electrum wallet:

• 1. Install Electrum on both devices, and create a standard wallet on the "cold storage" device, that will be your main wallet that contains all the keys and shouldn't be connected to the internet even once (a newly formatted device/new device is better).
  Make sure that the seed was saved in a physical backup like a piece of paper.
• 2. Click the wallet's name on top of the screen and click "Master Public key" twice to open the QR code.
• 3. On the online phone, create a new wallet using the option "Standard Wallet->Use a master key", then click the camera icon to scan the cold-storage wallet's QR code.
  This will create a watch-only wallet version of your cold-storage wallet.
• 4. Confirm if the address in the receive tab is the same.

Now to use those wallets:

• You just have to create a transaction using the online watch-only wallet using the send tab.
• Fill out the recipient, amount, etc. then, click pay (select if you want to opt-in RBF, yes) and click the QR code icon below.
• In the cold-storage wallet, go to send tab and click the camera icon on the right side and scan the other device's QR code.
• The transaction will be imported to the cold-storage wallet, now click option->sign (enter your pin) and it will be marked as "signed" above.
• Click the QR code icon, then scan this using your online watch-only wallet and the signed transaction will be imported and now you can use options->broadcast button to send it to the network.

If you're not familiar with Electrum's defaut bitcoin denomination, you can change it from mBTC to BTC in the settings->denomination.

[Rikafip]

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

Yep, hardware wallet is definitely a good option. I am personally using Ledger Nano S for a long term hold and beside some hiccups I am generally satisfied with the device itself. App (Ledger Live) could be better though but if you use it for long term btc hold you shouldn't have much issues with it. Ledger as a comoany had some data breach problems so you wanna keep that in mind too.

2) What app should be used?

I am personally using blockchain wallet, but only as a hot wallet where I have few hundred dollars worth of crypto max. That's definitely not the place where you wanna keep your bitcoin  for a longer period of time.


Another good alternative for a very long term hodl  you might wanna consider is paper wallet. It will cost you nothing and if done properly it is a very safe way to store your bitcoin. Here is a guide how to do it.

[Dutchyyy]

Hi guys,

I've been trying to learn about how to cold store securely my small bitcoin holding, and where I can move to as I buy more. I expect to be picking up more and more over the coming weeks and months.

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

2) What app should be used?

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

Thanks!

I'm more orthodox and old school. I cannot trust hardware for 10+ years without checking it regularly.

For my cold wallet, I bought an engraving machine from eBay and engraved the private key on four metal placed then placed in different places.

[GreekCoiner]

Simply..
Since you will store big amounts, use a hardware wallet so you can confirm the transactions from it. Also make sure to save your wallet seed in a safe place and also try to memorize it!
About the app/wallet. Use a computer and avoid mobiles. Use electrum for example. Download it from the official site and always check the addresses when you send transactions.

[Vaskiy]

Hi guys,

I've been trying to learn about how to cold store securely my small bitcoin holding, and where I can move to as I buy more. I expect to be picking up more and more over the coming weeks and months.

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

2) What app should be used?

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

Thanks!

I'm more orthodox and old school. I cannot trust hardware for 10+ years without checking it regularly.

For my cold wallet, I bought an engraving machine from eBay and engraved the private key on four metal placed then placed in different places.

This is a cool idea, because we don't know what happens to us tommorow. Whenever we secure Bitcoin or any valuable assets in the digital form it is a must to remember the password/private key. More than the security, this need to be given priority. If you have someone who can be trusted, share it with him. It can help you someday. I state this based on the incident that happened with Stefan Thomas few days back.

[Gcrypto786]

The best way is to invest it into trading or hold it in a secure exchange, so you can sell it later when the BTC price pumped.

[cheezcarls]

Hi guys,

I've been trying to learn about how to cold store securely my small bitcoin holding, and where I can move to as I buy more. I expect to be picking up more and more over the coming weeks and months.

1) Is something like a Nano Ledger or a Trezor the right method?

2) What app should be used?

Is there another more definitive, secure method of accumulating BTC for long term holding?

Thanks!

Hardware wallet is the safest method to store your BTCs where you have the full custody of your private keys (unless if you're so dumb in revealing them to anyone). No central authority or government could stop or freeze your funds with the non-custodial hardware wallets like Ledger Nano S and Trezor.

[20kevin20]

Electrum on an airgapped LUKS-encrypted PC or hardware wallets. I prefer the former as it's fully customizable (hardware components, operating system, storage space etc). There are DIYs for Trezor if you're interested in creating a coin storage device by yourself.

No matter what you do, be extra paranoid especially when you're planning something for the long term. Is that password good enough? Does that airgapped PC really not have any wireless modules in it such as WiFi or Bluetooth? Is the Electrum version audited and verified? and so on. Little mistakes make for big losses here, so a few more minutes spent per each step will maybe end up as a waste of time but better safe than sorry.

[Walterhank]

I think the Nano ledger is a smarter choice to store all of your BTC. It is way more safer and secure.

[Question123]

What ever wallet you use as long as you set all the security that need to do and your details is very secure your bitcoin is safe and no one can hack it , also make sure your private key is in the safe place or you will better to keep it offline also or write it down to the paper and keep it safe because that is problem of the investors who forgot their private key and they lost millions of dollars by forgetting it.

[LimLims]

The two methods mentioned by you OP is commonly used by everyone tbh.
These are the best ways in order to securely store your BTC.
But if you don’t have a huge amount of BTC to store, then you can store at exchanges or popular wallets online.
Though you still have option to save the coins in your hardware wallet and hardware wallet is more secured, still many people store their BTCs in online wallet.
Nevertheless we can’t say anything to anyone’s decision. So there are many methods to store the BTCs securely.

[AniviaBtc]

Hardware wallets like trezor and ledger nano are recommended, I will also recommend you to use electrum as the app you will use to operate the hardware wallet, you can download it from electrum.org.

I agree, these hardware wallets that are existing will make you confident and have a full access with your bitcoins only.

You will not worry online when you think that your bitcoins are not safe. But if you lose your hardware wallet then that's your fault that's why you still need to secure it in your place.

But, irrespective of the wallet you are using, you need to operate the device in a clean internet environment in such a way the device used to operate it should contain no malware.

Don't click unknown links when spending time in the internet because when you are accessing many platforms there are a lot of hacks and scams that might fool you and steal your bitcoins.

Be mindful and aware in the internet and also don't let other people have access on your devices.

[jaresmerel001]

The best way you can go is definitely a hardware wallet with a display on which you can confirm transactions. You should always have the recovery seed securely stored somewhere when you use a hardware wallet, in case your device breaks or is lost. You can then easily recover the entire wallet with al l the previously stored coins on it.

Why is a wallet with hardware better than a wallet with paper? You need to trust the interface you are using when you spend it out of a paper wallet as you give it your private key. It becomes unsafe after using a paper wallet, and you need to transfer your coins to a new wallet. with a hardware wallet, this will not happen, as all operations are done on it, and only the outcome is sent back to the interface.