Making paper wallets.

[Leahhhh]

I have always used bitaddress.org to create paper wallets, but I have been reading that it is not always reliable. I have also Electrum downloaded on my computer following advice from this forum. Can I create paper wallets there? I only see the public address when I try it, not the private keys which I would want to write down on paper. If this can be done, can it be done offline, like I did with bitaddress.org. TIA.

[BitMaxz]

Yes, you can run Electrum in offline mode, which is recommended when creating a wallet.

It generates a seed phrase backup that you need to write down on the piece of paper as your paper wallet and then copy the address under that wallet and import it to online wallets as a watch-only wallet if you want to monitor them or deposit a BTC.

It is way safer than generating a wallet from Bitaddress; you can also make a cold storage wallet with Electrum if you want to.

[hosemary]

You don't have to write down the private key(s). Write down the seed phrase. That's all you need to recover you fund.
With using your seed phrase, you can generate a very big number of private keys and addresses.

Also note that there's a big possiblity that you make a mistake when writing down your private keys, but a seed phrase contains meaningful words and you can write it down easily without any mistake.
You can use your seed phrase to recover your fund and your master public key to generate your addresses without any need to the seed phrase.

If you insist on saving individual private keys for any reason, go to "Addresses" tab, right click on any of addresses you want and select "Private key".

If this can be done, can it be done offline, like I did with bitaddress.org. TIA.

Yes, you don't need internet connection when generating a wallet in electrum and I recommend you to generate your wallet on an air-gapped device. Take note that you don't really make your wallet more secure with just disconnecting your computer from the internet when generating the wallet.

[Leahhhh]

Yes, you can run Electrum in offline mode, which is recommended when creating a wallet.

It generates a seed phrase backup that you need to write down on the piece of paper as your paper wallet and then copy the address under that wallet and import it to online wallets as a watch-only wallet if you want to monitor them or deposit a BTC.

It is way safer than generating a wallet from Bitaddress; you can also make a cold storage wallet with Electrum if you want to.

Thanks for your reply. I can't see the private keys anywhere, just the 12 word phrase. Is that normal? Or should I see them and be able to write them down? (It is a cold storage wallet that I want to make -I don't want it as a watch-only wallet). I just see public keys, not private keys?

[hosemary]

I can't see the private keys anywhere, just the 12 word phrase. Is that normal? Or should I see them and be able to write them down? (It is a cold storage wallet that I want to make -I don't want it as a watch-only wallet).

As I said in my previous post, you can right click on any of your addresses in "Addresses" tab and then select "Private key" to get any of your private keys, but you don't have to save them.
Your seed phrase is all you need to recover your wallet.

[Leahhhh]

I can't see the private keys anywhere, just the 12 word phrase. Is that normal? Or should I see them and be able to write them down? (It is a cold storage wallet that I want to make -I don't want it as a watch-only wallet).

As I said in my previous post, you can right click on any of your addresses in "Addresses" tab and then select "Private key" to get any of your private keys, but you don't have to save them.
Your seed phrase is all you need to recover your wallet.

Maybe a daft question but if Electrum ever ceased to exist, would it not be better to have the actual private keys written down not just the seed phrase? (forgive my ignorance).

[BitMaxz]

Thanks for your reply. I can't see the private keys anywhere, just the 12 word phrase. Is that normal? Or should I see them and be able to write them down? (It is a cold storage wallet that I want to make -I don't want it as a watch-only wallet).

You can get the private keys by going to the addresses tab and choose any of the addresses you want, then right-click and choose private key, and then enter the password. The result should be your private key, which you can copy or write down in your paper.

Isn't that way easier if you write the word phrases than the WIF private key? Because seed phrase is the best backup of all private keys generated from that wallet.

[hosemary]

Maybe a daft question but if Electrum ever ceased to exist, would it not be better to have the actual private keys written down not just the seed phrase? (forgive my ignorance).

There's nothing to worry about. Electrum is an open-source software and there's nothing hidden from users. Even if electrum website isn't available for any reason, people will be still able to run the software from the source code and derive the private keys.
It may worth mentioning that the seed phrase generated by electrum is supported by bluewallet too and you can also import your electrum wallet file in Sparrow.

[Leahhhh]

Maybe a daft question but if Electrum ever ceased to exist, would it not be better to have the actual private keys written down not just the seed phrase? (forgive my ignorance).

There's nothing to worry about. Electrum is an open-source software and there's nothing hidden from users. Even if electrum website isn't available for any reason, people will be still able to run the software from the source code and derive the private keys.
It may worth mentioning that the seed phrase generated by electrum is supported by bluewallet too and you can also import your electrum wallet file in Sparrow.

Thank you.

[LoyceV]

It generates a seed phrase backup that you need to write down on the piece of paper as your paper wallet and then copy the address under that wallet and import it to online wallets as a watch-only wallet if you want to monitor them or deposit a BTC.

If you're using Electrum as a cold wallet, I suggest to also write down the addresses you're going to use. Relying on copy/paste is a risk, and relying on an address in a watch-only wallet assumes nobody changed that address. It's best to check your own hardcopy before depositing.

[dzungmobile]

If you're using Electrum as a cold wallet, I'd suggest to also write down the addresses you're going to use. Relying on copy/paste is a risk, and relying on an address in a watch-only wallet assumes nobody changed that address. It's best to check your own hardcopy before depositing.

I can have a risky practical step but before depositing my bitcoin to another wallet, I have to confirm that the receiving address is correct. If it is my address in non custodial wallet, I have to open that wallet, to confirm the address is correct. If it is an exchange account, I have to log in it first, to check accuracy, and to make sure that my account on that exchange is still usable and was not frozen.

If it is an address of another person, not mine, I have to confirm it with him, before funding it.

[nc50lc]

Maybe a daft question but if Electrum ever ceased to exist, would it not be better to have the actual private keys written down not just the seed phrase? (forgive my ignorance).

It'll never run out of archives and backups unless internet cease to exist as well. (take MultiBit for example)
If every electrum binary and code in existence was somehow deleted from the internet: It wont still be a problem since Electrum's seed derivation is well-documented so someone will still be able to write a recovery software based from those.
It's even supported by the majority of recovery tool software and some wallets.

Let's add one reference for the future:
For the derivation from 'seed phrase' to 'seed', there isn't much difference from BIP39 (BIP39 - mnemonic to seed), just the default salt of "electrum" instead of "mnemonic" (+ passphrase)
From it, generate the extended "master private key" from the result seed. (BIP32 - Master key generation), it's the "m" in the derivation path below.
Then derive the Native SegWit receiving addresses' private keys with m/0h/0/* & change addresses' keys with m/0h/1/*. (for legacy wallet, use m/0/* and m/1/* instead)
Refer to "BIP32" for child key derivation.

I have always used bitaddress.org to create paper wallets, but I have been reading that it is not always reliable.

Do you mean its RNG is weak because it's using Javascript?
Here's the developer's stance regarding that: https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org/issues/291#issuecomment-1815160559
Or something else? If so, please link those articles or posts.

[LoyceV]

It'll never run out of archives and backups unless internet cease to exist as well. (take MultiBit for example)

I've seen several topics from people having problems recovering funds from old MultiBit wallets. It's still possible, but difficult. I've seen similar problems with other old wallets too, and most of those were created before seed phrases. Add 50 years, and it's going to be increasingly difficult to find back the right tools.
I don't expect those problems with Electrum and seed phrases though.

@OP: I don't get it: you've literally created a topic about a written down invalid private key. You should learn from that experience and don't make the same mistakes.

[Abdussamad]

To create a watch only wallet for your electrum cold wallet use the master public key not addresses. This way you'll see your entire wallet and have nearly unlimited addresses to give out to senders. See the guide for creating deterministic watch only wallets:

https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-watch-only-wallet/

[dkbit98]

I would not use paper wallets anymore, this is outdated method for saving your bitcoin.
It is better to save seed words on paper, from that you can generate multiple addresses later, add passphrase, and you can export it as QR code if you want.

[LoyceV]

I would not use paper wallets anymore, this is outdated method for saving your bitcoin.
It is better to save seed words on paper, from that you can generate multiple addresses later, add passphrase, and you can export it as QR code if you want.

I like paper wallets because of how easy it is to add heavy encryption (BIP38). I'm still working on a project to use that on seed words (BIP39).

[Leahhhh]

I would not use paper wallets anymore, this is outdated method for saving your bitcoin.
It is better to save seed words on paper, from that you can generate multiple addresses later, add passphrase, and you can export it as QR code if you want.

I like paper wallets because of how easy it is to add heavy encryption (BIP38). I'm still working on a project to use that on seed words (BIP39).

I like paper wallets too.

[Forsyth Jones]

I like paper wallets because of how easy it is to add heavy encryption (BIP38). I'm still working on a project to use that on seed words (BIP39).

I'm curious and would like to try it as soon as you can make it available for testing. Although there are already tools that encrypt the recovery seed, like Seed-XOR (which I won't go into detail about now), it's always good to test new tools to make our Bitcoin more secure.

@OP, again emphasizing what other members have said here, the recovery seed from Electrum or a wallet that uses another protocol (BIP-39) is the only thing you will need to restore your wallet with your funds. Writing down a list of 12 familiar words that we’ve been accustomed to since kindergarten is much easier than noting down a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters followed by numbers.

Keep in mind that writing down a single character incorrectly or mixing up the order when noting a 52-character private key can give you a huge headache if you need to recover it. Of course, it’s possible to recover if you’ve only made a few mistakes, but it’s not worth the trouble.

If you still want to save your private keys for the addresses, Electrum can export a list of private keys in the menu: Wallet > Private Keys (it will ask you to enter your password encryption wallet if you’ve set one up), and Electrum will list all the private keys for your receiving and change addresses (there will be about 30 addresses in total).

If you want it to export more, you’ll have to increase the gap_limit via the console, but again... is this really necessary for you?

You’ll have another concern, which is encrypting the dump file of private keys that Electrum will create. You’ll need to decide which encryption software to use because you can’t simply store the file Electrum generates on your computer or USB drive without encryption, since it is generated without encryption, and you’ll be exposed to the risk of theft by malware or anyone who has access to this file.

For this reason, it’s much more practical and safer for you to just write down the initial list of 12 words that Electrum generates when setting up your wallet and store it in a secure location, never online, such as in a notepad .txt file, email, etc.

When you import the recovery seed generated by Electrum into another wallet, like Bluewallet (the only one compatible with Electrum seed version), it will generate EXACTLY the same receiving and change addresses, without the need to use each private key from one of your addresses.

Although Electrum works online, it’s recommended that you generate your seed on an offline, air-gapped device (without internet connection, usually an old laptop that you won’t use for anything else or connect to the internet). This offline computer will only be used to sign transactions, and on the online computer, you’ll only import the master public key to view and monitor your balances... and to receive of course.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

When you import the recovery seed generated by Electrum into another wallet, like Bluewallet (the only one compatible with Electrum seed version), it will generate EXACTLY the same receiving and change addresses, without the need to use each private key from one of your addresses.

Electrum wallet using its own wallet seed generation standard and it's harder to find wallets are compatible with Electrum that does not use BIP39 like most of other Bitcoin wallet softwares.

Electrum Seed Version System: Motivation
https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2015-March/007642.html

BIP39 was introduced two years after Electrum. BIP39 seeds include a checksum, in order to help users figure out typing errors. However, BIP39 suffers the same shortcomings as early Electrum seed phrases:

• A fixed wordlist is still required. Following our recommendation, BIP39 authors decided to derive keys and addresses in a way that does not depend on the wordlist. However, BIP39 still requires the wordlist in order to compute its checksum, which is plainly inconsistent, and defeats the purpose of our recommendation. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that BIP39 proposes to create one wordlist per language. This threatens the portability of BIP39 seed phrases.
• BIP39 seed phrases do not include a version number. This means that software should always know how to generate keys and addresses. BIP43 suggests that wallet software will try various existing derivation schemes within the BIP32 framework. This is extremely inefficient and rests on the assumption that future wallets will support all previously accepted derivation methods. If, in the future, a wallet developer decides not to implement a particular derivation method because it is deprecated, then the software will not be able to detect that the corresponding seed phrases are not supported, and it will return an empty wallet instead. This threatens users funds.

For these reasons, Electrum does not generate BIP39 seeds. Starting with version 2.0, Electrum uses the following Seed Version System, which addresses these issues.

More discussion about it with insights.
BIP39 vs Electrum Mnemonic seed.

This The FinderOuter can help to recover your wallet, but use it offline.

[Ray_dog75]

I got hacked on Feb 12

The wallets i created using BitAddress.org were not hacked

But the ones from https://segwitadress.org/ were

Both had passwords

Not sure , if the hacker left BitAddress alone because they contain 0.01 Btc only

But my ETH paper wallets were also hacked as well as a multi sig wallet I created with Electrum

I don’t trust paper wallets now