How to set up a BTC cold storage wallet?

[BladerunnerB26354]

I'm looking to hold all BTC (and Altcoins) for 5+ years now.

Can you guys explain the process of setting up a cold storage wallet?

Security will be 3 fold:

1. All Cryptos bought on a new & dedicated iPad, which will only ever connect to the net for Crypto purchases. Otherwise kept in a safe.

2. Paper based keys, air gapped printed, laminated and then stored in a safe.

3. Digital keys stored on 2 memory sticks, which are also air gapped (so 2 copies stored digitally, for a total of 3 copies)

Many thanks all

[turvarya]

1. Cryptos bought on a new & dedicated iPad, which will only ever connect to the net for Crypto purchases. Otherwise kept in a safe.

You don't have to connect the device to the internet to buy cryptos.

[BladerunnerB26354]

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You don't have to connect the device to the internet to buy cryptos.
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I think a lot of the BTC ins and outs have gone over my head! My background is in healthcare, so I struggle a bit with the tech side of things.

Perhaps it would be easier to explain my goal I'm looking to buy £3,000 of BTC and to hold that in cold storage for at least 5 years (I massively believe Cryptos will have surpassed fiat currency for all online transactions, in 10 or so years).

So, with no Blockchain uploaded to my iPad (in fact it's brand new, never used, and solely for Crypto use), what processes do I need to go through to:

1. Buy that amount of BTC (I've got recs from you guys for Localbitcoin and a couple of other peer to peer brokers)

2. Put it into cold storage.

3. Do I need to download the Blockchain to achieve this, now or in future?

Specifically I'm looking for advice on every step, from what I need to download, to start the whole thing.

Could you guys also advise on the likely Giga capacity needed for such an iPad, for now and so it's useable for the next year or so? Exchanging/ upgrading the iPad is not a problem

All advice really appreciated !

[Aswan]

Create and print a private key on an offline device (which preferably never connects to the internet).

Send coins to the address associated with the private key you just printed.

Thats basically it. The only thing you really have to worry about is creating the private key on a device that does not connect to the net so your private key cannot be stolen.

[turvarya]

You don't even need a technical device to store your cryptos.
All you need is a private and a public key.

One method would be to go to this site:

https://www.bitaddress.org/bitaddress.org-v2.9.3-SHA1-7d47ab312789b7b3c1792e4abdb8f2d95b726d64.html
save the html-file.
Put the file on your air-gap machine
use it to generate your paper wallets
print them out
done, you now have save bitcoin addresses

Use the public addresses to let people send bitcoin there. Keep the Private part a secret.
As long as you don't want to use them, I wouldn't worry about what to do with that private key. What ever wallet will be there in 5 years, there will be an easy way to import the private key.

[BITMIXER.IO]

You don't even need a technical device to store your cryptos.
All you need is a private and a public key.

That is the right point. If you can store paper wallet securely, you don't need iPad. You may always see the balance using https://blockchain.info

So your steps:
1. Generate paper wallet.
2. Buy bitcoins to the generated address, check at blockchain.info if arrived.
3. Restore wallet after 5 years importing private key using any modern software.

[turvarya]

You don't even need a technical device to store your cryptos.
All you need is a private and a public key.

That is the right point. If you can store paper wallet securely, you don't need iPad. You may always see the balance using https://blockchain.info

So your steps:
1. Generate paper wallet.
2. Buy bitcoins to the generated address, check at blockchain.info if arrived.
3. Restore wallet after 5 years importing private key using any modern software.

I wrote a Rainmeter-widget that shows my cold storage amount, directly on my desktop using the blockchain.info-API

[BladerunnerB26354]

Fantastic, a big thanks guys

I was just reading up on Bitaddress.org through one of the threads here.

So why would someone need to DL the Blockchain?

Also, why would someone use Electrum, Multibit or Armoury?

Thanks again

[turvarya]

Fantastic, a big thanks guys )

I was just reading up on Bitaddress.org through one of the threads here.

So why would someone need to DL the Blockchain?

You need the Blockchain to send Bitcoin, since the client, which makes the transaction needs the previous transactions regarding your address to create your transaction. But there are already clients, which use a central stored blockchain(so not on your PC), e.g. electrum.

[BladerunnerB26354]

Fantastic, a big thanks guys )

I was just reading up on Bitaddress.org through one of the threads here.

So why would someone need to DL the Blockchain?

You need the Blockchain to send Bitcoin, since the client, which makes the transaction needs the previous transactions regarding your address to create your transaction. But there are already clients, which use a central stored blockchain(so not on your PC), e.g. electrum.

Gotya Many thanks Turvarya

[dothebeats]

One of the safest way I know to store btc is that you print it in a paper wallet, laminate it, keep it wherein it is secured, and that's it. Preferably, if you use electronic devices as a cold storage, you shouldn't connect it to the internet for your privkeys to be safe.