Got bitcoin & thinking of splitting wallet but I'm a beginner in many ways, help

[happyhero]

Hello, my first post on here so hope it’s in the right place. I need some guidance please. I bought some bitcoin, a few hundred pounds back in December 2017 and a friend helped me transfer it to paper offline a cold wallet I believe for safety.  Now I think it is worth over one thousand pounds and I was thinking should I split it into smaller paper wallets for safety, ie never let one wallet get too big what do you think?

Also I would like to buy some more slowly so maybe add each month with £50 or £100 each month. So I am interested in getting a bit more familiar with the procedures as when I bought them a few years ago my friend helped me and I learnt very little.

I've been reading loads but I am a bit worried doing too much as I realise a little accident here or there and I could lose a whole paper wallet transferring etc. I have a Coinbase account and I trade ordinary shares on Hargreaves Lansdown so I am happy dealing with quantities of money and investing. With the shares I do ok but I am not a professional.

So I was thinking of changing from Coinbase to Coinbase Pro as the prices and fees are much better I read and I dont think the over complicated Pro screen would cause me too much concern but then I read reviews such as Trustpilot and they don't like Coinbase or the Pro version at all so I looked at what was popular and Etoro kept coming up so I was thinking of opening an Etoro account, does this sound like a good move?

Then I read many platforms can’t take a transfer in of a paper wallet so it suggested a favourite app to be used called Mycelium which Trustpilot does seem to like, does this sound like the method I should use and would you trust Mycelium (I am assuming at some point they will be holding the contents of my paper wallet in a transfer)?

So should I join Etoro and Mycelium to start?

I have also read there may be some other coins generated by having Bitcoin can anyone tell me more about this please, if I’m likely to have these and how to get to them?

I have more questions but I’ll leave it at this for the moment.

Any help/guidance appreciated.

 

[BlackHatCoiner]

Registering here was an excellent idea.

Now I think it is worth over one thousand pounds and I was thinking should I split it into smaller paper wallets for safety, ie never let one wallet get too big what do you think?

It doesn't matter how much money your paper wallet has. If you, indeed, made it safely, then you can send as much as you want. No one has access to the private key(s) other than you.

However, holding bitcoins in a paper wallet isn't that recommended, IMO, since there are far better solutions. For instance, Electrum allows you to access as many addresses as you want instead of one (with paper wallet), which means better privacy and alongside, you only need to write down twelve words instead of a private key which you can write it improperly.

So should I join Etoro and Mycelium to start?

Even if I haven't ever used it, I'm convinced you can't move your bitcoins on Etoro. Isn't it like PayPal, which only shows you a balance of non-transferrable bitcoins?

[jackg]

Even if I haven't ever used it, I'm convinced you can't move your bitcoins on Etoro. Isn't it like PayPal, which only shows you a balance of non-transferrable bitcoins?

You can move coins there I just couldn't work out how to do it (crypto deposits and exchanges worked on the thing I tried - I don't think they fully developed the rest by that time so it might work now).


Etoro probably has a lot more users or hasn't been going as long so gets good reviews from there.


I think coinbase pro is probably best for buying and selling.

In terms of using your paper wallet and splitting it, I wouldn't bother if I were you - it sounds like a bit too much effort.

I would go with BHC's suggestion of using something like electrum (especially instead of mycelium) for storing your funds (as its harder to write a mnemonic and corrupt what has been written on paper - paper documents can fade after a while for example if kept badly).

And yes you can claim your forked coins but it might not be worth it. Essentially, your largest fork at the moment is only worth £10 (or 1% of whatever you currently have).

[Charles-Tim]

That wouldn't be recommendable, only one paper wallet is enough, so far he private key is safe and secure, then the wallet is safe. But if you are not feeling secure enough and want to go for two, there is nothing also bad, but securing the two or more paper wallets you are having in safety is important for your coin not to be stolen.

To avoid repetition, you can follow the above replies, knowing that having HD wallet will help to improve privacy just as BlackHatCoiner commented. Like you can run Electrum on a safe airgapped device, geneate 12 word seed phrase, which will be easy to right down compared to private key's numbers and alphabets. HD wallet will generate as many as possible addresses for you which can be used for different transactions for privacy reasons, instead of making use of only one address which is privacy depriving.

[happyhero]

Ok thank you guys, I'm now slowly reading about all the stuff you mentioned but for now another question....

So how do I check my Paper wallet balance in safety, possibly an easy question for you to answer but I am worried that typing one of my keys into a site online is risky, what site do I use and how is it ok to type my cold wallets key onto an online site?

Once I find the balance can I trust what I see, i.e. can I be sure that I and I alone have that balance because it came from the paper wallet that I have in my hand? I mean what would have happened if my friend that helped me had taken a picture of that paper wallet on his phone ( I watched closely what he did so I don't think he did but that's another reason why I might want to make new wallets to know that no one else had been involved in creating them)?

And if he had done that and then sold the coins I assume I couldnt find out anything and typing in my key would just give me a zero balance, is that what would happen?

Just to note I have I have about 3 of the paper wallets that I described in my original post and then a couple of small other ones which I think are Litecoin and Etherum so I would like to check all their balances to know where I am with all my crypto, I also think I have some empty paper wallets so I need to tidy up.

Plus I have about £500 Etherum on Coinbase which I feel I need to get off there, what do you recommend I do with that for getting it off there?

[BlackHatCoiner]

So how do I check my Paper wallet balance in safety, possibly an easy question for you to answer but I am worried that typing one of my keys into a site online is risky, what site do I use and how is it ok to type my cold wallets key onto an online site?

Your paper wallet should look like this:

(Tip: Never share your private key with anyone!)
Edit: (INCLUDING THE QR CODE I FORGOT TO HIDE!)

The Bitcoin Address on the left is what you should search. There are two ways to find out your balance:

• By downloading the whole block chain yourself.
• By trusting another party for telling you your balance. (Who has downloaded the whole chain)

The former protects your privacy since no one knows what you wanna search. To do that you'll have to download Bitcoin Core and therefore, the whole chain which may take some time as it's heavy^[1]. Judging by your posts, you're a newbie at this field so let me recommend you some nice stuff to start with;

• Learnmeabitcoin.com
  
  • What is a bitcoin node?
• Running a bitcoin full node
  
  • Why Run a Full Node?
  • How to Run a Full Node

The latter is obviously simpler. Just visit a block explorer such as:

• Mempool.space
• Blockchair.com
• Blockchain.info

And submit your address in the search field.

Once I find the balance can I trust what I see

If you don't feel you've written the private key properly, you can just download Electrum on a clean machine and after you've verified the signature of the software, and just import it as a new wallet. If it returns you a balance, it means you're right.

But, to be pedantic, yeah. If you don't run your own node yourself, you always have to trust what you're seeing.

Just to note I have I have about 3 of the paper wallets that I described in my original post and then a couple of small other ones which I think are Litecoin and Etherum so I would like to check all their balances to know where I am with all my crypto, I also think I have some empty paper wallets so I need to tidy up.

So, check them all.

Plus I have about £500 Etherum on Coinbase which I feel I need to get off there, what do you recommend I do with that for getting it off there?

If you want to hold them, yes. Don't leave them in an exchange.


[1] Chain size:

[dkbit98]

So how do I check my Paper wallet balance in safety, possibly an easy question for you to answer but I am worried that typing one of my keys into a site online is risky, what site do I use and how is it ok to type my cold wallets key onto an online site?

Impotant thing is to never type your private keys on any website, but you can type you public address on some blockchain explorers to see your balance, best with Tor browser to hide your IP.
Two decent explorers are mempool.space and blockchair.com (I think this even has .onion version available).
Other option is to create watch only wallet in Electrum so you can monitor your balance.

Once I find the balance can I trust what I see, i.e. can I be sure that I and I alone have that balance because it came from the paper wallet that I have in my hand? I mean what would have happened if my friend that helped me had taken a picture of that paper wallet on his phone ( I watched closely what he did so I don't think he did but that's another reason why I might want to make new wallets to know that no one else had been involved in creating them)?

You can fully trust balance that you see if you run only usingyour own node, but I would say that using  spv wallets and explorers is showing correct balance in most cases.
If someone takes a picture of your paper wallet private key, he can use it to import and send coins to any other address that he controls.
Private key is private and not to be shared with any ''friends''.

And if he had done that and then sold the coins I assume I couldnt find out anything and typing in my key would just give me a zero balance, is that what would happen?

Correct, zero balance and past transactions, so you could find what address he used to send coins.

Plus I have about £500 Etherum on Coinbase which I feel I need to get off there, what do you recommend I do with that for getting it off there?

Sell etherum (unusable high fees centralized junk) and buy Bitcoin, than withdraw BTC to your own wallet.

[Findingnemo]

Also I would like to buy some more slowly so maybe add each month with £50 or £100 each month. So I am interested in getting a bit more familiar with the procedures as when I bought them a few years ago my friend helped me and I learnt very little.

If you are really going to do this then I suggest you to get a hardware wallet which is more secure and convenient to use than paper wallet so you no need to keep the multiple private keys, you can simply keep one and best of all.

You can choose the exchanges based on the withdrawal fee because that is where most people lose their funds if they are withdrawing funds much often from the exchanges so just pick where the fee is lower so you can save lot from it and its never good to leave your coin on exchanges so whenever you are buying and has no intention of trading them in near future then move to your wallet.

[LoyceV]

I have also read there may be some other coins generated by having Bitcoin can anyone tell me more about this please, if I’m likely to have these and how to get to them?

If you acquired your Bitcoin in December 2017, you don't have any of the Forkcoins that are worth pursuing. The valuable ones forked a few months earlier.

However, holding bitcoins in a paper wallet isn't that recommended, IMO, since there are far better solutions. For instance, Electrum allows you to access as many addresses as you want instead of one (with paper wallet), which means better privacy and alongside, you only need to write down twelve words instead of a private key which you can write it improperly.

A properly generated Bitcoin paper wallet is considered cold storage, which is much safer than installing Electrum on an online system. Both can be used, depending on among others the amount you're storing.

is it ok to type my cold wallets key onto an online site?

NEVER do that!

I mean what would have happened if my friend that helped me had taken a picture of that paper wallet on his phone

Anyone who knows your private key can take your funds anytime they want.

I also think I have some empty paper wallets so I need to tidy up.

Just in case: I wouldn't start throwing out paper wallets. Use a pen to write for instance "empty" on them, but keep it nonetheless.

One of the safest ways to transfer funds out of cold storage is by signing the transaction offline.

Also I would like to buy some more slowly so maybe add each month with £50 or £100 each month.

Buying and keeping it on an exchange works fine for small amounts, but long-term, I wouldn't trust third parties. However, exchanges usually charge quite large withdrawal fees, and monthly withdrawing small amounts of Bitcoin will lead to large transaction fees if you ever want to use them. Nothing you can't overcome, but it's good to realize the limitations beforehand.

If you're going for a hardware wallet, they usually have better offers on Black Friday.

[NeuroticFish]

what site do I use and how is it ok to type my cold wallets key onto an online site?

If you have this kind of questions, my answer is: please really consider buying a hardware wallet before doing any move.  It has a big chance to protect you from your mistakes.


And as said, the address is OK to go online. The private key should not go online, should not be checked online, should not be stored in email or Dropbox.
Take some time, ask before each and every step and you'll be OK. You did very good to start by asking on this forum. You can't imagine how much money was stolen/lost because of simple mistakes.

[LoyceV]

If you have this kind of questions, my answer is: please really consider buying a hardware wallet before doing any move.

And when you have a hardware wallet: never enter your 24 backup words anywhere else than into the hardware wallet. Keep your backup(s) on paper.