How to turn a USB Pendrive into a crypto wallet

[wtsimis]

Many people who work in crypto have a hobby of having their own hardware wallet. Today I just tried to make a crypto hardware wallet from a Pendrive. Maybe many people know about this, but those who don't know can fill the hobby like me.


I bought a pen drive today for trying this.
The tutorial is very simple; you can install a wallet on a PC and save its file on a pen drive storage.
I used the Coinomi Wallet application as my hardware wallet. I downloaded and opened the Windows version.


You need to save the storage files to your pen drive by clicking on Browse.


After installation, run the application. First, come two options; Create a new wallet and Restore the Wallet. I clicked Create a new wallet and saved the seed phase to create a new one. Then you have to select which coins you want to keep in the Wallet; open the Wallet by selecting the desired coins.
Now in front of us, the Wallet is open; now it's time to top up the Wallet.
(If you save the Wallet to a pen drive, insert the pen drive to a pc, and the Wallet will open)


It will not have any high security or a lot of safety, but it's a lot satisfying to have a hardware wallet. And many people do not like coinomi's Wallet; in this case, you can use Atomic Wallet. (Ubuntu needs to be installed to use Atomic Wallet).
Once your internet connection is gone, Wallet will show the portfolio offline. And back to the internet connection, the Wallet will be updated.

Note: You can do this only as a hobby, do not hold anything more than a hobby; there is a possibility of losing it.

The article translated from: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=631891.msg59698896#msg59698896

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[PX-Z]

Can you explain why there are people (ex. You) who did this as a hobby? Coz when you said hobby, how often you do this, what pleasure you get from doing this?
I see no reason to make it a hobby, if that's your reason to do it. Its insecure, particularly using a closed source wallet.

[wtsimis]

Can you explain why there are people (ex. You) who did this as a hobby? Coz when you said hobby, how often you do this, what pleasure you get from doing this?
I see no reason to make it a hobby, if that's your reason to do it. Its insecure, particularly using a closed source wallet.

Many peoples wanna have a hardware wallet, some of them want security for their holdings and many of them just for satisfaction. One can also use it as a gift. I can gift it to another who does not have any crypto knowledge.
It's just a DIY, nothing else.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Many peoples wanna have a hardware wallet, some of them want security for their holdings and many of them just for satisfaction. One can also use it as a gift. I can gift it to another who does not have any crypto knowledge.

This is absolutely not a hardware wallet. This is a hot software wallet which is temporarily unplugged at times, which is really no different to having a software wallet on a computer which is sometimes turned off. It does not generate seed phrases in a secure environment, nor does it offer any protection to your private keys against malware, hacks, physical attacks, and so on. There is very little security in this set up. It's also a poor gift to someone with no crypto knowledge since it teaches them terrible security practices right from the start.

If you want a wallet which you can carry around on a USB drive, then better to turn a USB in to a live OS, preferably Tails, set up an encrypted persistent storage, and use it on an offline computer to generate and use an Electrum wallet.

[sheenshane]

Why did you choose the Coinomi wallet app which is a close source than the Electrum wallet which is a completely open-source wallet as your example?

It's has a great advantage when you have a hardware wallet over this USB drive, there's no protection such as a protected PIN from the device or some kind of optional passphrase.  It might USB that can be used as an airgap wallet but NOT the hardware wallet.

There's nothing wrong with people having DIY crypto wallets as long as they know how to work it technically but it's always been a crucial part that they need to take a risk.  But if you will put a large amount, why not spend a little amount to buy a hardware wallet that has built a security feature inside it doesn't leave any footprint for every transaction you have.

Go for raspberry pi for the airgap wallet than the USB Pendrive.

[NeuroticFish]

It will not have any high security or a lot of safety, but it's a lot satisfying to have a hardware wallet.

OMG! This is, by far, NOT a hardware wallet. Sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

1. You should read and understand what wallet safety means, what signing offline means.
2. You should at least read how hardware wallets work, instead of making very incorrect assumptions.

Hardware wallets are made for security. This is not, at least you were correct on that. Your... USB... doesn't offer anything special.

[joeperry]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't what you have said was just a portable wallet stored in a USB Pendrive and that's not how actually how wallet works since Malware and other viruses can still get your money from that wallet once you insert it to infected computers unlike the real hardware wallet even if you plugged it and read it they wouldn't be able to get the money inside it without physically clicking the "Agree" button in the hardware wallet.

[wtsimis]

It will not have any high security or a lot of safety, but it's a lot satisfying to have a hardware wallet.

OMG! This is, by far, NOT a hardware wallet. Sorry, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

1. You should read and understand what wallet safety means, what signing offline means.
2. You should at least read how hardware wallets work, instead of making very incorrect assumptions.

Hardware wallets are made for security. This is not, at least you were correct on that. Your... USB... doesn't offer anything special.

I'm agreeing with you, The USB is nothing special but a machine. It's just a low-budget tutorial and I mentioned not putting any holdings in it. It comes with high risks.  If anyone wanna hodl for the long term then it'll be better to buy a real hardware wallet.

[dkbit98]

Many people who work in crypto have a hobby of having their own hardware wallet. Today I just tried to make a crypto hardware wallet from a Pendrive. Maybe many people know about this, but those who don't know can fill the hobby like me.

You know this has nothing to do with hardware wallet, and using closed source wallets like Coinomi is not a great idea.
This pendrive wallet could be interesting to use ten years ago in 2012 or 2013, but today we have much better options for DIY signers and hardware wallet.

USB flash drives are not a good devices for long term key storage, they can be corrupted easily and data deleted and formatted is not always deleted like you think.
If you still want to use USB stick for holding keys I would buy multiple cheap USB sticks (for backup) and I would add mandatory open source encryption.
Without that you are risking to lose everything if you lose your only USB or if someone steals it from you.

[hugeblack]

Doing such a step will be counterproductive because:

 - You did not create a wallet in an offline environment, so adding a USB will not change anything.
 - You used a closed source wallet and it has a bad reputation^[1], both of them^[2] are a bad choice.
 - You have saved the data in digital form, and therefore the loss of the device or its infection with viruses means the loss of that data.
 - Using a USB is a wrong choice because you can forget about it and use it with unreliable devices.


[1] WARNING - Coinomi Wallet CRITICAL Vulnerability Made Me Lose My Life Savings
[2] Scammer Alert: Atomic Wallet

[The Cryptovator]

Not at all, Pendrive won't serve as a hardware wallet. Because it's just the same wallet as you installed your device, the difference is it will not be connected to the Internet always. That's it. A hardware wallet is the most secure wallet to keep safe your funds. It's because it's quite impossible to hack unless compromise your seed phrase. Each transaction should get approved by the device. But when you use the wallet in Pendrive the transaction will occur just like your device wallet software. So I won't suggest for pen drive wallet, rather than I will suggest buying a hardware wallet.

[PX-Z]

Can you explain why there are people (ex. You) who did this as a hobby? Coz when you said hobby, how often you do this, what pleasure you get from doing this?
I see no reason to make it a hobby, if that's your reason to do it. Its insecure, particularly using a closed source wallet.

Many peoples wanna have a hardware wallet, some of them want security for their holdings and many of them just for satisfaction. One can also use it as a gift. I can gift it to another who does not have any crypto knowledge.
It's just a DIY, nothing else.

It should not be considered as a hardware wallet, well, you heard responds above. And how it become so valuable as being a gift? It doesnt make sense to someone who will receive it, unless it has a copy of full series or movies s/he likes. As what I asked, it also doesnt make sense as a hobby as you portrait.

[nc50lc]

One can also use it as a gift. I can gift it to another who does not have any crypto knowledge.

Have you tried to use your "Portable Wallet" (the one you've already set-up) on other Windows PC?

Coinomi uses the local appdata folder to store the wallet files and other data
so your wallet isn't even a portable one, but only an executable that runs on a pen drive, the wallet files are actually in the PC where the wallet is created.
Gifting the USB Drive wont give the receiver the funded wallet, at their end, Coinomi will start like it's the first time it's launched.

In that specific use-case, you can use Electrum instead.
I has a "Portable" executable which saves the data directory (including the wallet files) in the same drive where the exe is located.
So if you save Electrum-portable in the USB Drive, the wallets that you'll create with it will be saved there as well.

[ABCbits]

Coinomi uses the local appdata folder to store the wallet files and other data
so your wallet isn't even a portable one, but only an executable that runs on a pen drive, the wallet files are actually in the PC where the wallet is created.
Gifting the USB Drive wont give the receiver the funded wallet, at their end, Coinomi will start like it's the first time it's launched.

It's also possible Coinomi won't even start or run properly if it add something to Windows Registry or the installer install different library depending on Windows version.

In that specific use-case, you can use Electrum instead.
I has a "Portable" executable which saves the data directory (including the wallet files) in the same drive where the exe is located.
So if you save Electrum-portable in the USB Drive, the wallets that you'll create with it will be saved there as well.

It's better option, but whoever use it should read this thread Warning about portable versions.

[dkbit98]

In that specific use-case, you can use Electrum instead.
I has a "Portable" executable which saves the data directory (including the wallet files) in the same drive where the exe is located.
So if you save Electrum-portable in the USB Drive, the wallets that you'll create with it will be saved there as well.

I think he used Coinomi wallet because he wanted to have support not only for Bitcoin but for more altcoins like shown in his screenshot.
Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think there is any open source wallet to work portable like this with multi-coins, except regular hardware wallets like Trezor.

[Rupok]

It's doesn't support all wallet.All of are wallet system in hardware  crypto basics  but some of wallet system is pen drive.You can see easily ETH wallet it's support this pen drive. But there are many wallet use to only out of pen drive.Many exchanger wallet not to be use in pen drive.so it's not a better option because pendrive won't serve as a hardware wallet.so many people  suggest buying a hardware wallet.

[Welsh]

A hardware wallet is the most secure wallet to keep safe your funds. It's because it's quite impossible to hack unless compromise your seed phrase. Each transaction should get approved by the device. But when you use the wallet in Pendrive the transaction will occur just like your device wallet software. So I won't suggest for pen drive wallet, rather than I will suggest buying a hardware wallet.

That's not technically true. A hardware wallet is no more secure than a properly created offline wallet. In fact, there might be arguments that its less secure since by implementing a device that's needed you are potentially introducing more vulnerabilities to the process. For example, if someone gets access to your hardware wallet, there's a few exploits they might be able to try to actually get into it. It has been done with a Trezor. However, encryption is encryption so a password doesn't really have exploits so if your wallet is on a secure offline device, then its very unlikely anyone ever gets access to it with a properly generated password of sufficient entropy.

Remember, whenever you introduce new components you are effectively increasing the attack vector too. While, a hardware wallet is decently safe from remote attacks, and malicious software. Physical access to it is questionable. Although, depending on how you've backed up that offline wallet of yours could potentially still have the same problems. So, I always assume that if someone has had physical access to it, it could potentially be compromised.

Obviously, a USB wallet is a terrible idea.

[nullama]

For anyone thinking about doing this, I would say don't. It's very insecure, and you probably will end up losing your money.

If you want to make a hardware wallet yourself, I would recommend doing it with a Raspberry Pi Zero(as it has no networking hardware) and Electrum(which is open source, verifiable, and trusted for a long time)[1].

That way you can create a watch-only wallet in your main internet connected PC without risk for managing the wallet, and you can spend money by using PSBTs[2], and transferring them through QR codes with a webcam. It works great.

[1]: https://armantheparman.com/how-to-set-up-a-raspberry-pi-zero-air-gapped-with-electrum-desktop-wallet
[2]: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0174

[o_e_l_e_o]

If you want to make a hardware wallet yourself, I would recommend doing it with a Raspberry Pi Zero(as it has no networking hardware) and Electrum(which is open source, verifiable, and trusted for a long time)[1].

That way you can create a watch-only wallet in your main internet connected PC without risk for managing the wallet, and you can spend money by using PSBTs[2], and transferring them through QR codes with a webcam. It works great.

This is a great set up and very similar to one that I use myself, but I wouldn't call this a hardware wallet. A hardware wallet is a specific device designed and purchased for one purpose and one purpose only. What you have described is airgapped cold storage. As I said, while this is a great set up, it is significant harder to safely and secure set up and use for the average user when compared to a hardware wallet.

I would also recommend using full disk encryption on your airgapped device to mitigate physical attacks.