Taking Electrum Bitcoin back onto a paper wallet

[ddffhh]

Hello

I have recently recovered some BTC from a 12-word seed mnemonic I had written on paper, using Electrum as the wallet (encrypting it from the start). I did this because I had previously used a Multibit HD wallet and had read about them no longer existing. I wanted to check that my BTC was still there (which it was).

I don't want the BTC to be vulnerable on an online laptop, and I plan to delete the wallet on Electrum and retain the paper seed mnemonic only. I appreciate this is less secure than having a second offline cold storage device, but I think paper is less of a faff and is reasonable considering the smallish amount of BTC I have. I do not plan to trade it in the coming years; it's just for long-term ownership.

Is there anything to stop me doing this: deleting the wallet from Electrum, and then recovering back into electrum in the future when I want to sell it using the seed mnemonic?

Many thanks in advance!

[BitMaxz]

If you imported the paper backup to an online device, it is no longer a cold/offline paper wallet, deleting it won't secure this wallet.

If you want to make it more secure, I recommend creating another wallet on a device that is no longer connected to the internet or offline, and moving all of your funds from that wallet to the new wallet to avoid having your wallet compromised online.

[Charles-Tim]

I appreciate this is less secure than having a second offline cold storage device

Just make sure the computer is completely offline. It would be better if it is created on an airgapped device. If it is created on an airgapped device, it is safe and not less secure.

Is there anything to stop me doing this: deleting the wallet from Electrum, and then recovering back into electrum in the future when I want to sell it using the seed mnemonic?

Something like what? I do not see this as a question. Or you mean if anything like malware that can still compromise your wallet? Just make sure you format the computer and reinstall it OS, make it offline or airgapped, install electrum on it, create the wallet. Backup the seed phrase. Uninstall Electrum and make sure you delete the wallet file where it is stored on your computer.

[logfiles]

So long as you have the seed safely stored somewhere. Deleting the wallet shouldn't be a problem. You can always import the seed to any compatible wallet in the future if you want to spend the coins. However, you shouldn't have imported your wallet just to check if you still have the coins because it defeats the purpose of cold storage. You are probably going to create a new cold storage address or paper wallet if you still want to maintain that high level of privacy and security.

To avoid repeating the same mistake, Just note the addresses which contain your bitcoins, maybe save them somewhere and just enter them in a bitcoin explorer like blockchgair.com if you want to view balance and transaction history.

[khaled0111]

I did this because I had previously used a Multibit HD wallet and had read about them no longer existing. I wanted to check that my BTC was still there (which it was).

Not sure if you already know this, but your coins are stored on the blockchain not in your wallet. So, if the wallet you are using stops working for somereason (like what happened to multibit), you still can access your coins as long as you have your wallet’s seed and know how to derive your keys from it.

If you imported the paper backup to an online device, it is no longer a cold/offline paper wallet, deleting it won't secure this wallet.

His wallet wasn’t really a cold wallet since he said he already imported it into multibit.
But as you said, if he intends to store his coins for too long then he needs to create a new cold/paper wallet then sends his coins to this newly created wallet.

[pakhitheboss]

Just keep the paper safe and you would not have any issues in the future. Moreover if you want to be more secure then buy a hardware wallet after doing your due research and transfer the Bitcoin from the existing wallet to the new hardware wallet. If not then go on with what you have done and keep the paper safe somewhere where no one can get access to it other than you.

[SamReomo]

I suggest you to create a cold wallet on air-gapped system and transfer your Bitcoin to that wallet and once it's transferred then write the seed phrase of that wallet and private key on paper. By doing that you won't face any issues in future and your Bitcoin will remain safe. You can go for Electrum cold wallet by reading their tutorial that's available on their site.

[Potato Chips]

It's not advisable to import your seed on an online device to check your balance everytime.

I suggest creating a watch wallet--- from the name, it is only for watching and you only need the master public keys-- so you can keep track of your wallet without needing to expose your seed. See: https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-watch-only-wallet/

Lastly, you can just sell the BTCs by sending them to the corresponding address e.g. exchange address. It would be odd and may be taken as a red flag if you try to sell your btc by giving someone the seed because you have access to this as well.

[BlackBoss_]

Is there anything to stop me doing this: deleting the wallet from Electrum, and then recovering back into electrum in the future when I want to sell it using the seed mnemonic?

Make different back ups of that wallet, on different pieces of paper and store it at different places, even in your home.

If you only use that wallet to store your bitcoin in only one Bitcoin address, you can dump private key of that address, and make backups of that private key too.

In Electrum wallet, choose tab Addresses, click on an address, right click, choose Private key, enter wallet password, and you will get the private key for backup.

How to back up a seed phrase?

[dkbit98]

Is there anything to stop me doing this: deleting the wallet from Electrum, and then recovering back into electrum in the future when I want to sell it using the seed mnemonic?

By doing all this you are leaving some digital trail and it's questionable how files are deleted on your operating system, especially if you are using wind0ws OS.
I would suggest using separate laptop for this or TailsOS on USB stick that already have Electrum wallet included.
If you just want to check balance of addresses that it's better to use watch only wallet.

[ddffhh]

Thanks all - quite a lot of options here. I think just deleting the electrum wallet, removing all files from my laptop and recycling bin related to Electrum and then retaining the original seed phrases offline on paper feels the most appealing right now?


I'm also thinking of moving the BTC onto a USB flash drive in addition to the paper version as someone suggested but I'm not sure how to get electrum/another safe wallet installed on it?

[EL MOHA]

Thanks all - quite a lot of options here. I think just deleting the electrum wallet, removing all files from my laptop and recycling bin related to Electrum and then retaining the original seed phrases offline on paper feels the most appealing right now?

The thing is if the paper wallet has actually already been imported into the electrum wallet already then deleting the wallet file now is just simply preventing something of the future but you don’t know what compromization it has already gone through with the importation you did to that electrum wallet, so the seed phrase for now is no longer offline again and you will need to create a new seed phrase and move your coins there,as deleting the electrum file won’t save it.

You can simply use electrum on an airgapped device to create the wallet and then simply havd a watch only wallet aside or you a use a tailsOS on a usb and then have electrum wallet on it. This guide will help you on how to set this up

[khaled0111]

Thanks all - quite a lot of options here. I think just deleting the electrum wallet, removing all files from my laptop and recycling bin related to Electrum and then retaining the original seed phrases offline on paper feels the most appealing right now?

You either didn’t understand the above suggestions or you just chose to ignore them because no one suggested such thing!
An offline wallet needs to be created offline on an air-gapped device.
If you want to have a safe wallet then you need to create a new one offline and forget about the old one.

I'm also thinking of moving the BTC onto a USB flash drive in addition to the paper version as someone suggested but I'm not sure how to get electrum/another safe wallet installed on it?

Tails is a live OS that you can run from a usb stick on any computer without having to install it. It’s recommended to use it to create your electrum wallet. Make sure to read the guide EL MOHA linked above to have a better understanding on how it works.

[BlackBoss_]

I'm also thinking of moving the BTC onto a USB flash drive in addition to the paper version as someone suggested but I'm not sure how to get electrum/another safe wallet installed on it?

You can store your wallet in Electrum, in the USB flash drive, but make sure keep it offline as much as possible.

You can use Tail OS with USB flash drive too.
How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose
[Tutorial] How to make a cold storage Bitcoin wallet with TailsOS and USB Flash

[dkbit98]

I think just deleting the electrum wallet, removing all files from my laptop and recycling bin related to Electrum and then retaining the original seed phrases offline on paper feels the most appealing right now?

Your seed words are already exposed if your laptop was connected to the internet, so it makes no difference if you delete folder and files from computer.
Better option is to generate brand new seed words offline, write it on paper (or metal plate) and than send coins to new bitcoin address(es).
And btw this is not a paper wallet you are talking about, it's just seed phrase backup on paper.

[ddffhh]

Thanks everyone!

[Forsyth Jones]

It is important to keep more than one copy of the backup written down on paper, as paper is very easy to lose or damage. Storing it in a safe place, such as a safe, and also writing down the mnemonic phrase on metal plates can be a good way to protect it from the elements.

Depending on the amount of funds, find out how air-gapped cold storage works. You can use a computer that you no longer use to install Tails OS on it to sign your offline transactions.

You can also track your online transactions through the wallet's xpub.

I see that you already know what you are doing. You recovered an old wallet that used a different derivation path, so whenever you create a new wallet, write down everything, as well as the mnemonic phrase, fingerprint (8-digit sequence), derivation path and the wallet's xpub descriptors, to use it in wallets like Sparrow to track your online balance.

If air-gapped storage is difficult, consider a hardware wallet like coldcard and passport, they are designed specifically to store large amounts of funds securely and offline, drastically reducing attempts by network attacks, malware, etc. But remember, there is no point in exposing your backup + passphrase (if any) online!

We know that anyone who has access to your mnemonic phrase and your funds are not protected by a BIP39 passphrase will be able to access your bitcoins, so try to understand how the passphrase works and do not use it until you understand its purpose.

You can create encrypted backups in the such environment or any offline environment, so you can share the backups more securely.

[Saint-loup]

Thanks all - quite a lot of options here. I think just deleting the electrum wallet, removing all files from my laptop and recycling bin related to Electrum and then retaining the original seed phrases offline on paper feels the most appealing right now?


I'm also thinking of moving the BTC onto a USB flash drive in addition to the paper version as someone suggested but I'm not sure how to get electrum/another safe wallet installed on it?

I don't understand what you mean by moving your BTC onto an USB flash drive, but the most simple and convenient IMO is to send your funds towards a fresh address securely generated with an airgapped software wallet or an hardware wallet, and instead of just backing up the mnemonic seed of the wallet, also writing down its Master Public Key (aka xpub key). So you will only need to import into a software wallet like Electrum next time, to get a Watch-Only wallet, letting you checking your funds whenever you want, without exposing your seed.

[ddffhh]

I have now followed the process above to use Tails on a USB flash drive to download electrum via TOR network onto that USB flash drive.

1) How do I now move my BTC onto this USB in a way that protects it? I assume I will need a new seed mnemonic for the flash drive version as my seed on online device would no longer be suitable for safe storage?

2) I'm finding the electrum guidance on creating a cold wallet a little hard to follow. I'm basically confused about how my Tails USB device can 'verify' the bitcoin have actually been transferred to it if it cannot connect to the internet?

Thanks!

[nakamura12]

If your plan is to delete the electrum wallet and then import it once again then no one can stop you from doing it. Deleting the wallet on electrum doesn't delete the wallet. If that's what you're not sure of then let me explain. When you delete the wallet on electrum, it will only remove the wallet there which means you can no longer make transactions like receiving and sending so if you import your wallet again and that's when you will see your wallet again. As long as you have the seed phrase, you can import it as many times as you want.