how do I keep my private key safe?

[Clark Anderson]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

[OmegaStarScream]

No, storing them online is definitely not recommended. Instead, you can create a paper wallet (make sure to encrypt the private key), print it, and then hide it.

[hosseinimr93]

As already mentioned by OmegaStarScream, it's a very bad idea to keep your private keys online. Any centralized service and any online device is prone to hacking.
You should keep your private keys offline, on a piece of paper or even better on a metal sheet.

And you may want to consider creating a HD wallet with a seed phrase (a series of 12-24 words). In this way, you can have numerous addresses all generated from a seed phrase.
Unlike a private key, a seed phrase can be written down on a piece of paper easily.

[Doan9269]

Here is a recommendation for you using washers, it's how to secure your seed phrase https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5389446.0 try go through the thread and get some important tips that could help you secure your keys safely, but i will add it as an additional caution for you not to use the centralized storage networks in handling them for you, your wallet keys must be far away from the reach of any third party be it in person, organization or online storage.

[Tony116]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

There is no way to recover if you forget or lose your private key, which is also one of the downsides of being our own bank but still safer than handing over your assets to a 3rd party.

Gmail or other online storage services are very vulnerable to attacks, so absolutely do not host on online services, they are not reliable. The way I protect my private keys is to write them down in different copies and keep them in different places, and I give one copy to my wife. No method is absolutely safe, we can only use solutions that in our opinion are as secure as possible.

[joniboini]

Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked.

I suggest you stop listening to their advice in the future. Even if you are not trying to store your private key/seed phrase, using online storage to store sensitive data is never a good idea. Have you never heard of how many people lose their account/money because they save their password on their Evernote, Google Keep, e-mail, etc?

Personally, I store my seed phrase offline with encryption that only I know of, in a very secure location, and regularly check them out to see if anything is broken. Definitely not the best way but it is good enough for now, and I'll try to improve it in the future. I can't really protect myself from memory loss, so what I can do about that is just try to live as healthily as possible. Relying on our memory to remember the seed phrase is not a good idea anyway, just make sure to remember that you have some crypto and seed stored somewhere. CMIIW.

You should search around this board to find out how to protect your private key better. There are tons of threads talking about it other than what has been mentioned above.

[Charles-Tim]

Online backup like Gmail, iCloud, Google cloud, online password managers and many others that are online are not recommendable or advisable at all. It is no more new that someone will bring such issue up on a platform that his seed phrase has been known and his wallet compromised all because his seed phrase is online. Avoid anything that has to do with online for seed phrase and password backup.

There is nothing as easy as two or three backups on a paper. If you want something more resistant to water and fire, you can go for stainless steel instead. There are many metallic backup option you can go for, stainless steel is the strongest among all.

This is not updated, but maybe useful, or do more research on it: Store your bitcoin seed / private key safely (Water, Fire, Shock-proof)

[AverageGlabella]

Do not try to remember your private key you are going to forget it eventually. I recommend writing your private key and seed on paper and storing that safely. Do not make a copy of them on a digital device because digital devices can fail and you might lose the back up. If your device is connected to the internet then it can be stolen. Only physical back ups and do make sure they are stored in a safe location.

Protect against natural disasters as well as thieves. If you need to access your btc regularly I recommend using a hardware wallet because they stop certain hacks and keep your btc safer then a normal btc wallet connected to the internet.

[ajiz138]

It's not a good suggestion from your friends keep the private key in gmail mail however it is high risk with hacking of the gmail, so if you keep the key private then it's not a good guarantee unless you save it offline or save it in a different book kept in a safe place.

I don't save online for the seed phrases and all of it is put on a piece of paper which I carefully guard when storing it as well so this will be a secret place where I keep this item with the seed phrase written on it.

I hope you don't really believe your friend's suggestion to save online, but here is anyway the best advice for you to keep your private key safe.

[Popkon6]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

There are two ways for you that you can adopt. Passwords are very secretive which if disclosed can lead to loss of valuables including assets.

1. First you can write down the secret password on a piece of paper.  It can be diary, notebook etc. Keep it written down on paper near you. The outsider should not find it.
2. If so, you can remember short passwords yourself. Remember passwords that are never hacked and are the most secure that you have written down.

[tranthidung]

Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

Storing your sensitive information online is one of worst ways not one of best ways.

Do you believe that Google will keep your data safely and respect your privacy too?

Store your private key offline by paper, steel sheet, vault is better. Vault is good to protect your backups from water, fire and common physical damages.

Metal Bitcoin seed storage reviews

[Cantsay]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

If it's possible to avoid using any app that uses internet connection and since Gmail uses the internet then it's not advisable to use it and that friend of your that gave you that idea probably hasn't seen anyone that has been hacked before or maybe they're just trying to play dumb by avoid all red flag and still continue using it to save their private key.
It's better to save it offline and one of the way of doing that is by using a nail or any sharp objects capable of scratching a steel plate, write your secret phrase or private key on the steel plate and then keep it in a place where you know that no one will ever think of looking at. By using steel plate you have successfully avoided the risk of your private key getting destroyed by fluid and also getting erased easily unlike those written on a piece of paper which are prone to water and been erased.

[AverageGlabella]

Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

Storing your sensitive information online is one of worst ways not one of best ways.

Do you believe that Google will keep your data safely and respect your privacy too?

Store your private key offline by paper, steel sheet, vault is better. Vault is good to protect your backups from water, fire and common physical damages.

Do you mean a vault in a bank? I would say no to that because you are trusting a 3rd party with protecting your btc. You should only store your seeds or private key in something that you own and only have access too. If you do not do that you could lose access from a rogue employee and they would not be able to prove who it was. I normal safe for most people the ones you can buy from amazon are good enough most of them have a certain level of protection against water damage and fires. I do not trust a bank more then I trust Google I distrust both of them the same. I think storing your private key in a notepad in your house is safer then a vault in a bank because at least you know that people have not seen it but that is not recommended unless you keep the notepad in a home safe too.

[bitzizzix]

I suggest never store your private key online as it can be hacked including in Gmail and others online, and if your private key is lost or hacked then you will never get it back and your ownership will be lost.
you should save your private key using paper that is very safe from anything and put it under your bed or anywhere and make sure only you can find it, it's better not to ask friends for advice to save your private key. Because there is a possibility that your own friends will steal or hack, especially if your friends know the nominal, and prevention is better than cure.

[tranthidung]

Do you mean a vault in a bank? I would say no to that because you are trusting a 3rd party with protecting your btc. You should only store your seeds or private key in something that you own and only have access too.

Personal or family vault, at home or somewhere secretly enough but you still can store your backups well without personal vaults.

If you do not do that you could lose access from a rogue employee and they would not be able to prove who it was. I normal safe for most people the ones you can buy from amazon are good enough most of them have a certain level of protection against water damage and fires. I do not trust a bank more then I trust Google I distrust both of them the same. I think storing your private key in a notepad in your house is safer then a vault in a bank because at least you know that people have not seen it but that is not recommended unless you keep the notepad in a home safe too.

Obviously I don't store my backups at a vault in a bank. I don't store it at online accounts like Gmail, Dropbox, Google Drive as said.

Trust ourselves, don't trust others to save our private keys. Similarly Reminder: do not keep your money in online accounts

[BlackHatCoiner]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them.

You don't remember what? Fifty base58 characters, case sensitive? Are you mad? You should never memorize private keys. Hell, you shouldn't even look at them, there's no benefit and it adds a little risk to mess it up.

No clouds, no mails, no private keys. Just generate a seed phrase on an airgapped device. Let me quote myself:

Steps to configure an air-gapped Bitcoin wallet only device.

• Close your curtains.
• Download Tails (a privacy and security focused Linux distro)
• Verify the binaries <- Important step, you need to ensure the integrity of the OS. Do it on a clean environment.
• Burn the OS image to a USB.
• Take the device and physically remove any Wi-Fi antennas (and obviously, Ethernet cables if any).
• Plug the USB to that device, and start up.

You can see that Electrum comes pre-installed. The device will not connect in any network. It's also recommended to encrypt the electrum part of the USB (as shown in the Tails start screen), in case someone gains access to the USB.

[Bobrox]

I think safe or not with your private key depending dapp exchange access from your wallet, how safety keep saving wallet and there are not any body know with your private key but little mistake approve accessing to scam exchange site will make assets loss. First you need to make priority wallet with your private key as holding assets only without active for trading in dapp exchange market.

Right now many kinds wallet hacked after approving access to third party from dapp exchange market and allowed for them know with our private key, use your wallet as saving or holding assets only without use for exchange transaction.

[Bananington]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them.

Good thing you are asking now before you actually misplaced them or loss them and begin to seek remedy.

Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

This means you should be careful with who you ask for advice and whose advice you take because everyone always has something to say  and it does not always mean that they are right.

When you are asking for advice, always ensure that you ask people who you are sure and qualified to answer you correctly and not just random people.

[NotATether]

Beware: once you put your private keys inside an email address, it can never be erased on most email providers, even if you delete the email. That's because most providers keep logs about what their users do, and share some of them with government spy agencies. So it's easy for someone there using an email searching tool to find your key.

[Digitalbitcoin]

While considering private key safety many suggestions have already been mentioned in posts, but still private keys are the ultimate source to access crypto electronically, without a private key no one can get access to crypto assets. So keeping them safe and secure is the most important task.

As Gmail, any drive, or any cloud services are third-party and completely centralized services that may keep watch on data stored electronically, so never keep any confidential data on electronic platforms. It may bring trouble.

The second important task to keep your wallet safe is never to use your wallet for suspicious sites by allowing to access them.

Many phishing sites have extra scripts embedded within websites that get access to the wallet and may harm your equity.