what are the disadvantages of paper wallet

[Outhue]

Assuming you use your paper wallet in the correct way and sign your transaction offline, there is no need to create a new paper wallet every time you make a new transaction, unless you want to use a different change address due to privacy reasons.

You're technically right. Though this is something I don't expect the typical person is capable of doing correctly. Most people are simply a lot better fit to use hardware wallets.

Strange, am I the only newbie that started her crypto journey using paper wallet? The first wallets I created for BTC and LTC are paper wallets, later when I decided to move into altcoins I still went for altcoins that uses paper wallet, Electroneum was on of those altcoin back then, I just find paper wallet to be easier to use.

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[hosseinimr93]

Strange, am I the only newbie that started her crypto journey using paper wallet? The first wallets I created for BTC and LTC are paper wallets, later when I decided to move into altcoins I still went for altcoins that uses paper wallet, Electroneum was on of those altcoin back then, I just find paper wallet to be easier to use.

How did you create those paper wallets? I doubt you created them properly.
A paper wallet should be generated on an airgapped device and the keys should never connect to the internet. Is this how you generated your paper wallets?

Just because you have your private key on a paper doesn't mean you have a paper wallet.

[Phyna4]

One disadvantage of using a paper wallet for storing Bitcoin is that it is prone to physical damage, such as being torn, burned, or otherwise destroyed. Additionally, if the private key on the paper wallet is lost or stolen, the funds stored on the wallet will likely be unrecoverable. Additionally, paper wallets can be difficult to use for everyday transactions, as they require manual input of the private key. This could lead to mistakes, such as accidentally transferring funds to the wrong address or losing access to the funds altogether.
Overall, paper wallets are considered less convenient and less secure than other forms of Bitcoin storage, such as hardware wallets or software wallets.

[o_e_l_e_o]

If there is no solution for poor people, it's sad and it's a big fail for Bitcoin because it was supposed to help unbanked ones IIRC, and some poor countries like Salvador want to try to use it as an official currency.

If you have an electronic device, which you must to be able to use bitcoin, then you can create a wallet safely.

The options are safe, cheap, easy. You can pick two.

Hardware wallets are safe and easy, but they are not cheap. Paper wallets or other cold storage is safe and cheap, but they are less easy. Hot wallets are cheap and easy, but they are less safe.

If cost is the biggest factor for you, then you can rule out hardware wallets. However, you can still use hot wallets for small amounts relatively safely by taking standard security precautions. I keep a small amount of bitcoin in a hot wallet on my phone and have done for years, topping it up whenever I spend from it. I only ever keep a small amount on my phone, but I have never once been hacked over the many years and multiple phone handsets I have used such a wallet. Hot wallets can still be relatively safe if you use them properly.

And if you want cold storage, then you can do that for free by just taking a bit of time to learn about what you are doing and how to do it. All the tools needed - Tails or some other Linux distro, Electrum, pen and paper - are either free or very cheap. The problem is that most people don't bother to learn how to do it properly, cut corners, and just fire up a random website on their usual computer and then wonder why they lost their coins.

One disadvantage of using a paper wallet for storing Bitcoin is that it is prone to physical damage, such as being torn, burned, or otherwise destroyed.

Hardware or electronic wallets are prone to the exact same damage, as well as general degradation of their components or storage medium.

Overall, paper wallets are considered less convenient and less secure than other forms of Bitcoin storage, such as hardware wallets or software wallets.

Less convenient, maybe, but generated properly a paper wallet is exponentially more secure than a hot software wallet.

[bckingock]

I would not recommend using bitaddress or any other website to generate your paper wallet. Javascript is a very poor choice for generating private keys. It is often very buggy or poorly implemented, it is open to attack even in machines temporarily disconnected from the internet, it often draws on poor sources of entropy, and it is often untested and unverified.

Could you please elaborate about the risks of entropy and JavaScript? I guess the same entropy risks apply for generating a BIP39 mnemonic in a browser, even offline?

Merci!

[o_e_l_e_o]

Could you please elaborate about the risks of entropy and JavaScript? I guess the same entropy risks apply for generating a BIP39 mnemonic in a browser, even offline?

I would point you towards this post from Greg Maxwell: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5324030.msg56590276#msg56590276

Personally, I would not use a browser to generate entropy, a seed phrase, private keys, or any other valuable information, even on a permanently airgapped computer. As mentioned, Javascript implementations of these things are too weak and the attack surface is too great. When there are plenty of much more secure methods out there, such as using Core or Electrum, then I see no good reason to use a less secure method.