Paper wallet for BTC used to be the best

[virtualdn]

You can create a paper wallet generator yourself and use it offline. It's just a javascript code. Then just save the keys and you're good to go. Don't use third party services for this.

[hosseinimr93]

When you create your wallets, do it offline.

Being offline at the time wallet creation isn't enough.
With disconnecting your device from internet when creating the wallet, you don't really increase your security.
If you want your wallet to be secure, you should create on an air-gapped device. This means that you should create your wallet on a device which has been always offline and will be never online.  

[coolcoinz]

Paper wallets taken literally are bad because paper is easily destroyed. If you want a similar thing, use a steel wallet. It costs less than $100 and is reusable. You can put your seed in there and screw the wallet to save it. The wallet should withstand water and fire damage.
There are also wallets that you engrave or stamp.

Personally, I use a ledger hardware wallet. I have it since 2019 and it works well.
I also have electrum desktop wallet that I use for fast payments and holding smaller amounts of btc (below 0.1). I feel that it's safe enough for such small amounts.

[Casdinyard]

Between paper wallet and hardware wallet which one is more superior than the other for Bitcoin? What matters the most to me is keeping your Bitcoin keys offline and which one is best practice for this? Years back paper wallet triumph over everything until hardware wallet came and every advice on the forum now is get a hardware wallet.

Which paper wallet generator still functions today? Also is there any risk using paper wallet apart from keeping the phrase offline?

Paper wallets can easily be destroyed, lost, and be mistaken for regular paper with a bunch of codes on it. I literally lost a couple hundred dollars worth of bitcoin from using paper wallets because I forgot to take my wallet out when I went to do my laundry. Hardware wallets do not have this problem because of their relative bulk and the fact that some of them are made of weapons-grade metal alloy. I still think of using paper wallet every now and then because after all it is much more convenient and cheap, you literally only have to tear a piece of paper or maybe print stuff out and you're good to go. At the end of the day it is all a subject of preference, and I guess I can vouch for everyone when we say that hardware wallets are just objectively better in every way.

[Marvelman]

Paper wallets taken literally are bad because paper is easily destroyed. If you want a similar thing, use a steel wallet. It costs less than $100 and is reusable. You can put your seed in there and screw the wallet to save it. The wallet should withstand water and fire damage.
There are also wallets that you engrave or stamp.

You are correct that paper wallets can be easily destroyed. Physical wallets made of steel or other durable materials can be a good alternative to paper wallets. These types of wallets, also known as "cold wallets," provide added protection against fire and water damage.

Another alternative is to use a hardware wallet. Although they can be more expensive than paper or steel wallets, but they are generally considered to be the most secure way to store cryptocurrency offline. For under $100 I'd rather go for a hardware wallet than anything else.

[kamvreto]

Paper wallet is store phrase offline by default, but it is very risky to literally mean "paper wallet" using paper media. You should consider other media that are more resistant to damage.
To be honest, I'm not really sure about this method anymore when imagining the surroundings, OP you should think about this too.

The risk for damage is indeed very large and it also depends on how to save it properly for a vulnerable paper.
Currently, instead of using paper, it is better to use stainless steel plates which are stronger and resistant to corrosion. But to do the printing of phrases must be done correctly and with a special tool to print on strong iron.


https://cryptolisty.com/hardware-wallets/best-crypto-metal-plates-for-recovery-seed-key-and-wallet-backups/

[LoyceMobile]

Paper Wallet is very cheap and easy to make

No it's not. Downloading a live Linux DVD, searching for a DVD burner, finding out how to boot from it, buying a printer with cable, getting your printer drivers to work without going online..... None of it is easy if you don't take shortcuts like printing from an online computer to a WiFi printer.

[kamvreto]

~snip~..... None of it is easy if you don't take shortcuts like printing from an online computer to a WiFi printer.

however, if you don't have a printer with WIFI, of course you can't take this shortcut.
So in conclusion nothing is cheap and easy to do, there will be several attempts and of course, it requires additional costs.
Maybe writing manually is a direct way that doesn't cost a lot, Always Offline, only paper and a pen that are waterproof, as well as good writing intuition and make sure everything is correct, after writing is done do a checkup to enter whether the phrase is correct or there are some errors.

[Saint-loup]

however, if you don't have a printer with WIFI, of course you can't take this shortcut.
So in conclusion nothing is cheap and easy to do, there will be several attempts and of course, it requires additional costs.
Maybe writing manually is a direct way that doesn't cost a lot, Always Offline, only paper and a pen that are waterproof, as well as good writing intuition and make sure everything is correct, after writing is done do a checkup to enter whether the phrase is correct or there are some errors.

Yes I agree with you Bitcoin uses Base58Check for that purpose. Being more easily usable by humans. So IMO it's safer to hand write a private key than to print it. The ink in cartridges is sometimes of poor quality and can become unreadable over time, in addition.

No it's not. Downloading a live Linux DVD, searching for a DVD burner, finding out how to boot from it, buying a printer with cable, getting your printer drivers to work without going online..... None of it is easy if you don't take shortcuts like printing from an online computer to a WiFi printer.

Don't you think an USB stick with a physical write protection switch could be used instead of a DVD?  
Bitcoin is supposed to help unbanked people(they are 1.5 billion according to the World Bank), they are often poor and live in third world countries, so they are unlikely to be able to spend $100 to buy a hardware wallet unfortunately.

[tabas]

OP is correct, paper wallets used to be the top choice until hardware wallets came along, and obviously, hardware wallets are the best and a lot more convenient these days.

He's right on it that there was the glory days of paper wallet until the hardware wallet manufacturers became more popular as it doesn't need to be that technically depth on it.

As for the preservation of the seed phrase, each person will have a different way of preserving it, if you keep the seed phrase of the hardware wallet on paper, it will not be possible to avoid the risks as you said. This means it's up to you, don't blame paper wallets in this case.

Yes, we'll still be required to write it down on a piece of paper and keeping it is going to be your task overall of your life until you decide to move it to another wallet. As for the choice of paper wallets or hardware wallets, you can use both of them but for most that don't have a budget, it's more likely to stick on a paper/desktop wallet and they'll just keep the seeds.

[dansus021]

They both are the best

in my opinion, all bitcoin communities need at least one hardware wallet for security reasons and act as a cold wallet for the long term.

Paper wallets, on the other hand, can be act as cold wallet they used for offline payments without using the internet couple of years ago but I don't think people still using it. An offline transaction that replaces paper wallet is by using opendime is like a USB stick that contains bitcoin in it.

[Charles-Tim]

in my opinion, all bitcoin communities need at least one hardware wallet for security reasons and act as a cold wallet for the long term.

People have different opinions on hardware wallets to be a cold storage or not. Some people consider a wallet that is generated offline and in which no transaction has been sent on it before to be cold storage. In that case, hardware wallet that is used for making transaction would be considered not to be a cold wallet. Some people consider if not QR code is used for making transaction in a way the hardware wallet is not airgapped, they consider it not to be a cold sotrage, which means, using Bluetooth, NFC and USB stick as a means of making transaction makes some people to consider hardware wallet used that way not to be a cold wallet.

Paper wallets, on the other hand, can be act as cold wallet they used for offline payments without using the internet couple of years ago but I don't think people still using it. An offline transaction that replaces paper wallet is by using opendime is like a USB stick that contains bitcoin in it.

The physical form of bitcoin that I know of is Casascius bitcoin. Although, it might be considered a paper wallet but people consider it as just to be a physical bitcoin in form of a physical coins.

[mk4]

No it's not. Downloading a live Linux DVD, searching for a DVD burner, finding out how to boot from it, buying a printer with cable, getting your printer drivers to work without going online..... None of it is easy if you don't take shortcuts like printing from an online computer to a WiFi printer.

Exactly. While paper wallets are indeed easy to make, it's definitely not easy to make correctly and in a secure manner. There's so much factors to take into consideration hence why I don't ever recommend paper wallets to anyone besides really technically-literate people.

[LoyceMobile]

So IMO it's safer to hand write a private key than to print it.

Years ago, someone sent me his hand-written (XLM) private key. He missed several characters, and there are enough other mistakes to make all my attempts to brute-force it fail. Seed words were created to write them down, writing down private keys is risky.

Don't you think an USB stick with a physical write protection switch could be used instead of a DVD?

Sure, but I've never seen one in real life. A normal USB stick will work too, but a DVD makes it much easier to be absolutely sure nothing can be stored.

Bitcoin is supposed to help unbanked people

I don't think that was ever the goal. From Bitcoin's perspective, being unbanked isn't the problem, it's the solution.

(they are 1.5 billion according to the World Bank)

There are only 43 million funded Bitcoin addresses. On-chain Bitcoin can't help all of them.

[CryptounityCUT]

A paper wallet can be a good option for storing bitcoins, as it provides a way to offline storage, which can help to protect against hacking and other types of online threats. With a paper wallet, a person's private key is printed on a physical piece of paper, and the corresponding public key is used as the bitcoin address. The bitcoins can then be transferred to this address and stored offline, away from the internet.

However, it's important to note that paper wallets can be damaged or lost, and if the private key is lost, the bitcoins stored on the paper wallet will be inaccessible. Additionally, paper wallets can be challenging to set up and use, especially for those who are not experienced with cryptocurrencies.

Another alternative to paper wallet is hardware wallet which is considered to be more secure and user-friendly.

Ultimately, the best option for storing bitcoins will depend on an individual's specific needs and preferences. It's always recommended to research and compare different options before making a decision.

[Saint-loup]

So IMO it's safer to hand write a private key than to print it.

Years ago, someone sent me his hand-written (XLM) private key. He missed several characters, and there are enough other mistakes to make all my attempts to brute-force it fail. Seed words were created to write them down, writing down private keys is risky.

From what I understand this person didn't check his hand written private key before deleting the original one.
This risk of missing characters or doing mistakes is not unreal, but it can easily be addressed by testing the hand written private key in the software that gave it before deleting it. People do this kind of double check by themselves when they need to hand write critical things usually.

Bitcoin is supposed to help unbanked people

I don't think that was ever the goal. From Bitcoin's perspective, being unbanked isn't the problem, it's the solution.

But it can't be the solution for everyone, if poor people can't use it.

(they are 1.5 billion according to the World Bank)

There are only 43 million funded Bitcoin addresses. On-chain Bitcoin can't help all of them.

I don't understand what you mean, why the current number of funded addresses is a barrier?

[buwaytress]

Don't need to add much more to what's already been said, except to agree with the summary that paper wallet, used improperly, can be really bad. Used with all the additional knowledge we now know, it's still the best, but hardly for everyone. Hardware wallet should still be the best mix of ease and security.

I also have electrum desktop wallet that I use for fast payments and holding smaller amounts of btc (below 0.1). I feel that it's safe enough for such small amounts.

Even at today's price, still a bit too rich for me to keep 0.1 on a hot wallet though! I definitely did see it in BTC units, but with price for the past 18 months or so, I tend to convert in my head and readjust -- about $1000 is mine now, same as my regular debit card.

[bitbollo]

I would suggest to have a look here
glacierprotocol.org
because you will find the best guide/instructions/detailed info about the top cold wallet.
you can take also details on how you can adapt this guide for your personal purpose, adding some variants, etc etc...
It's considered the "state of the art" on this argument it deserve a read!

[seoincorporation]

Why would you have to change the address for every transaction when you can simply send bitcoin to the same one? I am doing the same thing with my Ledger, sending bitcoin to the same address for a long term hodl.

This is for privacy reasons the more you use the same address then more traceable your money will be. And it's fine if you have nothing to hide, but the idea of cryptos is to be part anonymous, or at least make it difficult to track them. And is important to remember satoshi words:

For greater privacy, it’s best to use bitcoin addresses only once.

And getting back to the topic. The Paper wallets... I like the classic way. Make the address with vanity gen and then save them in a file protected with a password. Simple as that.

[Jason Brendon]

if op just wants to store btc and never wants to send out any btc, then paper wallet is fine.
But paper wallet doesn't come with seed phrases which makes it very hard to write down and it is error-prone. Make sure you back up everything correctly.
So, overall, hardware wallet is a little bit better. You can generate a seed and send your funds into one of the addresses and keep for another 20 years.