A lot has changed in 10 years!

[Ratters]

As the title says...

I am back after a crypto sabbatical of around 10 years and its a new world!

Things are so much more complex now, the amount of different networks for a start is confusing.

I am doing my best too get up to speed again (any reference points greatly appreciated)

I guess my main point is:

Years ago I created offline wallets for each of my kids that I still have control of. Back then it was easy (and free) to just throw a few sats into each from trading profits whenever I felt like it, also to my main wallet which was Multibit. enter address - set fees - send... 10 mins check blockchain and done. It's so much more complicated now. It was prohibitively complicated for non tech savy people 10 years ago but now I'm not surprised people are scared to get involved and opt for easy closed source solutions that ultimately end up in them being rugged.

So... what I would like to know is, what is the easiest way (if any) to continue to top up my kids 1BTC wallets without losing half to fees? Should I just sweep them and start again? I am reluctant to do that as they have their names in the address which I thought was cute.

As always, any advice is always appreciated & go easy on me, You'll be old soon!

Take care

Ratters

[NeuroticFish]

Welcome back!
It's interesting that you've been gone for 10 years and my bitcointalk account is just celebrating its 10 years anniversary  

Should I just sweep them and start again?

I'm not sure what is the logic behind this, but imho it's wrong.
If you have those addresses' private keys you are most probably still just fine.

And if you were in bitcoin so many years ago I hope that you know enough about computers to make yourself a Tails USB, start it up without internet (and no persistency!), open Electrum from there, enter your private key and see if the address it shows is the one you expect. Of course, this is only if you want to check for your peace of mind. And this will mean that the address(es) is/are fine and you don't have to sweep, which would mean fees (and since Multibit is out of order for so many years you cannot use it for sending coins away anyway, so you have to make your wallet off private key anyways first).

The things are more complicated mostly because if nowadays you are just a tad careless about your private keys you may end up with your coins gone forever.

So... what I would like to know is, what is the easiest way (if any) to continue to top up my kids 1BTC wallets without losing half to fees?

I would first make sure the old wallets are still OK (see above) and fund the same addresses.
Just you'll have to be careful on when and where you buy those coins and what amounts you withdraw, since on-chain fees are high some of the days (it's getting somewhat better now), but exchanges' withdrawal fees are awfully high. There maybe others can help suggesting where it's better to buy from and withdraw nowadays.

[BlackHatCoiner]

And here I am, with not even a full four years in the forum!  

I'd highly recommend you to read a little bit of what has changed since then. You might feel as if you've been in a comma for a very long time. For example, Multibit is deprecated, absolutely avoid using it. Your best course would be to move to Electrum, as it's probably the only SPV wallet software that has survived since then.

It's so much more complicated now. It was prohibitively complicated for non tech savy people 10 years ago but now I'm not surprised people are scared to get involved and opt for easy closed source solutions that ultimately end up in them being rugged.

Actually, it's much less complicated now. You simply have to write down a seed phrase. Ten years ago, you'd have to either write down a WIF (which is prone to error) or store a wallet file with fingers crossed for file corruption.

[odolvlobo]

So... what I would like to know is, what is the easiest way (if any) to continue to top up my kids 1BTC wallets without losing half to fees? Should I just sweep them and start again? I am reluctant to do that as they have their names in the address which I thought was cute.

There is no reason to stop sending to your kids wallets. It won't affect how much you pay in fees. However, if you sent (or continue sending) many small amounts to their wallets, then you might try to lower the cost of sending from their wallets by consolidating them when fees are low.

Here is an article that describes it: https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/coin-consolidation/

[criptoevangelista]

How incredible, that's what I call long, long term... it's always the best choice to be honest...

I'm happy that you came here looking for information and not some random place or even some "pyramid" influencer... Soon someone more qualified than me will be able to help you continue this wonderful journey that is the bitcoiner journey.

Welcome to the jungle baby!

[CODE200]

Your kids are going to thank you once they've gotten hold of their wallets, I think what you've been doing back then would still be a good way to top them all up and as much as the fees right now are much more expensive than it used to be, it's currently at the most lowest that it can get, it's difficult to accept this but that's going to be what's happened while you were gone, things have definitely change and unfortunately in that change, it also included the fees and transactions. @BlackHatCoiner has said what needs to be said already and I do agree that Electrum could be your best course of action, really cool that you have waked up from a long sleep and I do hope that the long sleep for you in the forum meant that you've been hodling since 2014 which is definitely a big deal if you do and a congratulations in advance if you did.

[atamism]

Is it really good to be back here in forum, like I started my journey here when I was 17 years old and now I am turning 27 this year. Bitcoin changes a lot and the potential of bitcoin to grow is progressing. i hope that I pass this to my daughter soon and gonna introduce bitcoin to her when she is capable to learn and understand things.

[mamesso]

This is the great thing about technological development, it can change very quickly. At first it is certainly very confusing and requires you to adapt again to understand most of what you have long left behind, the emergence of different networks is a bit confusing, but for those who already have basic knowledge it is not so complicated to start again. Coming back here will make it easier for you to get the latest knowledge and information you need, suggestions from @BlackHatCoiner need to be implemented to hone your skills again.

[adaseb]

I was around 10 years ago also and alot has changed. I remember my first cold wallet was a website called Bitaddress that you downloaded to a USB  and used on an offline computer. You had to generate randomness by moving the mouse around. I would print those pages, then I would destroy the printer and would send coins to that address.

I stopped using that method because you can only spend once from those addresses. Later I discovered electrum which was perfect for me. Now you got hardware wallets and such. You also got alts like ETH which you can use on the hardware wallets.

You also got better security on exchanges. Back then you could just use a password and 2fa wasn't mandatory, these days its mandatory and most don't even support SMS. So its easier than 10 years ago.

Welcome back.

[FinePoine0]

Op If you want to deposit your bitcoins you can of course exchange your old ones for new ones. Wallets that have stronger and more secure passwords, currently you can use Electrum Wallet, Mycelium Wallet. A more robust wallet than those multiple wallets you have so you're less likely to get hacked using it. And Electrum Wallet and Mycelium Wallet will be best suited for you to store bitcoins for your boys.

[bitterguy28]

10 years is a long time. curious what happened in the middle of that? did you stop opening their wallets? what made you take a break from the crypto world? anyway whatever reason it may be it may have served you well i am sure those sats have gained so much value now

i think its would be best if you just keep sending to their wallets there is really no other way around transaction fees unfortunately maybe just make sure that you send enough to make the transaction fees count

[Learn Bitcoin]

10 years is a long time. curious what happened in the middle of that? did you stop opening their wallets? what made you take a break from the crypto world? anyway whatever reason it may be it may have served you well i am sure those sats have gained so much value now

Let's not ask them anything personal. There was no signature campaign ten years ago and people used to join the conversation with genuine interest. If someone had a reason to take a break from the forum, it was easy for them and I guess this is not surprising. I remember joining a local forum in 2015 where I spend around 12 hours a day. Imagine how addicted I was to that forum.

Even I was a Senior moderator there. But, I haven't even visit the forum in the last five years. Last time I checked their website, the domain is expired and probably they did not continue anymore. A person can take a break even without any reason.

[crwth]

Hey! Welcome back! It's been a while. Back then, 10 years ago, I didn't have any Bitcoin yet because I didn't know at that time  Just kidding around.

Anyway, there are a lot of new things in the forum and I think the cryptocurrency space is very different from back then. It surely will be a different ride and all I can say is everything seems to be faster and that's probably the trend overall.

[hatshepsut93]

Things are so much more complex now, the amount of different networks for a start is confusing.

It didn't really get more complex. There's only one Bitcoin network and a few soon-to-be-dead shitcoins that call themselves Bitcoin. One of them is run by a scammer who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto. There's also a lot of altcoin networks, but those existed 10 years ago. Altcoins try to invent new things to attract investors, but they never actually deliver anything, so it's just a bubble cycle of empty promises.

Be careful not to get lured into some of those altcoin scams while you're catching up with your crypto knowledge. You will see a lot of false information claiming how great they are, but try to look at what they actually do and their track records.