Stupid newbie question, but can I make copies of my wallet?

[purepwn8830]

 I'm in the process of creating a new wallet and I'm still deciding on how to proceed this time around. I was thinking on getting a sole 2fa wallet or standard wallet instead of getting a multi-sig again.

But hypothetically would I be able to just have one wallet and make multiple copies of it and then put it on cold storage? I would only use the wallet in the event of moving my crypto back to the exchange to sell it.

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[Charles-Tim]

If you need a cold storage guide, you can read this which is about Electrum cold storage: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

Electrum 2FA requires additional fee: https://trustedcoin.com/#/faq#fees. Know that it is also 2-of-3 multisig. If you want to go for it, know that you should have the authenticator app on a different device, not on the device that you have your wallet.

I will recommend cold storage wallet. But you need an airgapped device for it.

[Zaguru12]

I think you need to decide which of the wallet to use both of which are good but for the standard wallet you can proceed to add a passphrase as a second layer security.

I don’t understand the multiple copies you mean but with a single seed phrase you can create different type of wallets. As for cold wallet you can just create a single wallet on an airgapped device and then move your funds in and out of the wallet only when you want.

[Findingnemo]

I'm in the process of creating a new wallet and I'm still deciding on how to proceed this time around. I was thinking on getting a sole 2fa wallet or standard wallet instead of getting a multi-sig again.

But hypothetically would I be able to just have one wallet and make multiple copies of it and then put it on cold storage? I would only use the wallet in the event of moving my crypto back to the exchange to sell it.

Electrum 2FA is nothing but 2 of 3 multi-sig wallets while one of the co-signers will be provided by a third-party company called trusted coin and you need to pay more to avail of their service. So if you just wants a multi-signature wallet and aren't interested in trusting a third party then simply go for a multi-signature wallet instead of 2FA.

You can't convert multi sig wallet into a single sig wallet so you need to have each of its own kind f you want different types. But for cold storage multi sig is highly recommended.

[Mia Chloe]

If you duplicate your wallet in both a cold storage and a hot wallet, there is no difference with having only a hot wallet. Because if your keys or seed are stolen, both the cold wallet and hot wallet are fucked.

[Pmalek]

I was thinking on getting a sole 2fa wallet or standard wallet instead of getting a multi-sig again.

A standard wallet is a single-sig setup. A 2FA wallet is just a different type of multi-sig wallet, where you hold two of the signing keys and a third-party holds the third. I wouldn't use the 2FA wallet. If you want a standard wallet, go with the single-sig setup. If not, select a multi-sig variant you are most comfortable with.

But hypothetically would I be able to just have one wallet and make multiple copies of it and then put it on cold storage?

This is not a yes or no question. First of all, what are you planning to do with your copies? Also, there is no need to make copies of your wallet file if you make multiple physical copies of your seed and store them properly. The seed will recover everything, so don't bother with the wallet copies.

A wallet created on an online machine always remains a hot wallet. You can't create it on an internet-connected computer today and consider it a cold-storage from tomorrow. It has to be created the right way, and the keys have to stay offline at all times. A properly-airgapped computer with a Linux distro is the best option. The second best is an airgapped hardware wallet followed by a standard hardware wallet in third place. Everything below that (security-wise) is not a cold wallet.

Here is an example of a workable cold setup:
Electrum installed as a cold wallet on a computer with a cleanly installed OS (Linux preferably) with no network cards and ways to connect to the internet. You would then export the master public key and import it into an online desktop or mobile wallet. This online device serves for broadcasting transactions. The airgapped computer is the signing device that signs the transactions you broadcast with help of the online wallet.

This is not a cold setup:
Imagine the same setup as in the example above with the difference that you exported your seed/private keys and imported them into other wallets. Or, you created your wallet and seed on a hot wallet and now you want to "move" the keys offline.

[Marvelman]

You can totally make as many copies of your wallet as you want.  I get why you might think it's handy to have a backup of your offline wallet.  But "cold" wallet on a device that's connected to the internet kinda misses the whole point of keeping one wallet offline and cold for safety.  It's smarter to just have 2 separate wallets - one hot wallet for regular use thats online, and one cold offline wallet for stashing long-term savings that you don't touch too often and  no need to duplicate that cold storage wallet and put it at risk on a hot, internet-enabled device.  Keep the hot wallet handy for transactions, and keep that cold one on lockdown off the net.  That's the safe way to go.

[Hatchy]

But hypothetically would I be able to just have one wallet and make multiple copies of it and then put it on cold storage? I would only use the wallet in the event of moving my crypto back to the exchange to sell it.

I did some research. It could work if you use a watch-only wallet. With this, you can keep your main wallet in a cold storage, offline and only use it when you need to do something like sign a transaction or send money to an exchange.
You can set up multiple watch only wallets to keep track of your funds, but you won't be able to make any new transactions with them. This is just my idea, though. Any corrections are welcome.

[khaled0111]

I did some research. It could work if you use a watch-only wallet. With this, you can keep your main wallet in a cold storage, offline and only use it when you need to do something like sign a transaction or send money to an exchange.

Just a small correction: he won't be able to send money to the exchange (broadcast the transaction) since a cold wallet should never go online. Otherwise it won't be acold wallet anymore.
What he needs to do is: create the transaction with the watch-only wallet - > import the unsigned transaction into the cold wallet - > sign it - > import the signed transaction into the watch-only wallet (or any other online tool) - > broadcast it.

[Yamane_Keto]

You can totally make as many copies of your wallet as you want.  I get why you might think it's handy to have a backup of your offline wallet.  But "cold" wallet on a device that's connected to the internet kinda misses the whole point of keeping one wallet offline and cold for safety. 

This is not a good advice. Creating a number of unnecessary copies may lead you to lose one of them, whether it is wallet files or copies written on a piece of paper. Extra unnecessary copies mean a higher chance that someone else will find them, so do not create more unnecessary wallets.
Setting up Passphrases and keeping them in a separate place is a good idea if you live in a shared residence or create multi-sig wallets to avoid a central point of failure.

[Marvelman]

You can totally make as many copies of your wallet as you want.  I get why you might think it's handy to have a backup of your offline wallet.  But "cold" wallet on a device that's connected to the internet kinda misses the whole point of keeping one wallet offline and cold for safety. 

This is not a good advice. Creating a number of unnecessary copies may lead you to lose one of them, whether it is wallet files or copies written on a piece of paper. Extra unnecessary copies mean a higher chance that someone else will find them, so do not create more unnecessary wallets.
Setting up Passphrases and keeping them in a separate place is a good idea if you live in a shared residence or create multi-sig wallets to avoid a central point of failure.

I wasn't really giving advice there. I was just answering the question about whether it was possible to make duplicate copies of a wallet file for backup reasons.  The OP asked a question, and I said "you can" do that in response.  I didn't say "you should" do it or anything.

But besides that, I don't fully see things the same way as what youre saying.  Making copies of a wallet file isn't the same thing as making multiple copies of a wallet's keys or recovery phrase on paper.  Wallet files are usually encrypted, so if someone got ahold of a copy of your file it would be much less risky than if they found an unprotected private key or seed phrase.  The funds would be safer assuming there's not just a weak password on the wallet file or something.