Multiple wallets

[Windsofcats]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

[megamore]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

I think it's a good thing  

if you only have one and your wallet stolen then all balance you have will be lost, you dont have anything else
keep your balance in some places, this minimizes the risk of loss

[funtotry]

Wallets are different than addresses. I use blockchain.info as my primary wallet, and I have many addresses. Generally a good idea is generating a new address per transaction and labeling it for reference, accounting, an anonymity.
Welcome to bitcoin!

[Snipe85]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

[funtotry]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

Blockchain.info solves that as well. Same wallet across your phone desktop tablet laptop any device that has a web browser can access it quite well and there is a good app for iPhone an android as well. Plus no need to sync 40gb of the blockchain

[notlist3d]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

Yes very standard.  It is wise to use them for different goals.

For example I would use one as a daily spend.  Easy to get to and send small amounts for what ever you need.  One for purchases of medium price (depends on you on this).  Then one that is a cold storage wallet you treat like fort knox.  With the cold storage you will keep the long term and most money in.

[Fernandez]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

Blockchain.info solves that as well. Same wallet across your phone desktop tablet laptop any device that has a web browser can access it quite well and there is a good app for iPhone an android as well. Plus no need to sync 40gb of the blockchain

Blockchain.info is also quite risky as we saw a few months back. It is not a good practice to use it storage. If you need a quick access to make some payment by all means use it, but to keep your coins secure use an offline wallet.

[Lorenzo]

Anyone who has a reasonable amount of BTC should maintain a policy of separating their hot and cold wallets at the very least. The cold wallet could be stored on an offline computer, or it could be a hardware wallet, or a paper wallet stored in a safe deposit box. Other than that, it's really a matter of personal preference. For example, you might choose to use Mycelium on your phone, Electrum on your laptop that you carry around with you, and Bitcoin Core on your desktop at home where data usage and resource consumption isn't really a concern.

I can understand how having your coins spread out across multiple wallets could mitigate the risk of losing all of them due to having all or most of your eggs in one basket. Never really thought of it that way. Although a correctly implemented cold wallet should still be very secure.

Blockchain.info is also quite risky as we saw a few months back. It is not a good practice to use it storage. If you need a quick access to make some payment by all means use it, but to keep your coins secure use an offline wallet.

Assuming you have good computer security, it's much safer than other typical online wallets such as MyBitcoin and Inputs.io though since you actually have control over your private keys.

[bitkilo]

Yes it's normal i would say, like me a few people here probably try out any new wallet they see with cool features.
I have several btc wallets on my smart phone and computer. Although any large sums would always be kept in cold storage i like playing around with a new wallet, the wallets i have apps for are:
Greenaddress
Blockchain
Coinbase
Wallet32
Btc wallet
Mycelium
and Coinjar just to name a few. I only use one of these as my hot wallet, and that only ever has a max of 0.1btc in it, even then i would rather split in into 2 wallets.

[sgk]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

It is not standard, but it is very common.
Most wallet programs generate multiple addresses to manage funds. For example the Bitcoin-QT core wallet creates a change address every time a transaction results in some change BTC.

Also multiple wallet addresses are good from privacy point of view.

But it is not mandatory and you can continue using same address for multiple transactions.

[randy8777]

see it kind of as a bank account. you have 1 for bills and other stuff. and 1 for saving and so on.
spreading your coins over several wallets gives you less risk of losing coins due to a corrupt wallet file.

[medUSA]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

There are many good reasons for having several bitcoin wallets. Spread of risk is the first that comes to mind. You have heard the saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket". Wallet passwords can be hacked or forgotten, wallet files can be corrupted and wallet services can be offline. Have more than one wallet, you lower the risk of loosing all your coins when the unfortunate happens. Trying out different bitcoin clients for the most suitable one for you is another good reason. Some clients offer more security, some offer an easier backup solution and some offer more anonymity.

[keyscore44]

Pretty much. I've always got at least five 'hot' wallets, certainly wouldn't consider keeping my spending btc in just one client. It's good for organizing your funds, I've have a blockchain.info wallet for gambling (can access it anywhere) and I use Electrum on my home pc for buying games, software keys etc.

[pooya87]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

it is standard an in fact suggested for one person to have multiple "addresses" not wallets, in fact you would better change your receiving address every transaction.

but about multiple wallets, i myself have just tried out a couple of them to see the best suitable one for my needs.

[ChuckBuck]

Multiple Wallets, sure.  Especially if you make several transactions between desktop, mobile, paper, and hardware wallets.

For example, you can have your main wallet addresses on your PC with say Bitcoin Core or Electrum.  Then when you need to spend some say to buy a coffee, you could transfer to your mobile phone's wallet which is say Mycellium or Blockchain wallet for small amounts.  Then when you're ready to backup or secure your wallet stash, you'd create a paper wallet or secure it in a Trezor or Ledger hardware wallet.

All are valid uses and all multiple different wallet variations.  Cheers!

[kpitti]

You can have as many wallets you want. There is a one good reason and this is security and mobility. Not all wallets are accesible from your mobile for example.
Generaly I would suggets to have one Cold wallet for storing your main portion of btc secured.
Then have one main wallet in your computer - I would suggets to use Multibit
As online wallets you can choose from Coinbase or Mycelium from mobile. - but do not put there too much btc.

You can be creative as you wish, remeber to do not put all eggs in one basket 

[funtotry]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

Blockchain.info solves that as well. Same wallet across your phone desktop tablet laptop any device that has a web browser can access it quite well and there is a good app for iPhone an android as well. Plus no need to sync 40gb of the blockchain

Blockchain.info is also quite risky as we saw a few months back. It is not a good practice to use it storage. If you need a quick access to make some payment by all means use it, but to keep your coins secure use an offline wallet.

I've used it for 2 years and zero problems. I think its the only web wallet I would trust. I use it primarely and don't use any cold storage wallets. I refrain from keeping things on exchanges but I do keep sometimes up to 1btc right before I am going to sell.

[pooya87]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

Blockchain.info solves that as well. Same wallet across your phone desktop tablet laptop any device that has a web browser can access it quite well and there is a good app for iPhone an android as well. Plus no need to sync 40gb of the blockchain

Blockchain.info is also quite risky as we saw a few months back. It is not a good practice to use it storage. If you need a quick access to make some payment by all means use it, but to keep your coins secure use an offline wallet.

I've used it for 2 years and zero problems. I think its the only web wallet I would trust. I use it primarely and don't use any cold storage wallets. I refrain from keeping things on exchanges but I do keep sometimes up to 1btc right before I am going to sell.

exactly. i've been using it too. and so far not a problem. and i don't know what Fernandez means by "as we saw a few months back"; all i've found out from negetive posts about bc.i was the users fault like using tor, not having 2FA, having keylogger ....

[TXWA]

Is it standard for one person to have several bitcoin wallets?

Year, it is. Mostly all Bitcoinusers have more than just one wallet (address).

[ranochigo]

It's normal and helps you separate your addresses. Also if you keep your coins on multiple devices you'll need to install wallets there. For instance I have a secondary wallet on my phone.

Blockchain.info solves that as well. Same wallet across your phone desktop tablet laptop any device that has a web browser can access it quite well and there is a good app for iPhone an android as well. Plus no need to sync 40gb of the blockchain

Blockchain.info is also quite risky as we saw a few months back. It is not a good practice to use it storage. If you need a quick access to make some payment by all means use it, but to keep your coins secure use an offline wallet.

I've used it for 2 years and zero problems. I think its the only web wallet I would trust. I use it primarely and don't use any cold storage wallets. I refrain from keeping things on exchanges but I do keep sometimes up to 1btc right before I am going to sell.

exactly. i've been using it too. and so far not a problem. and i don't know what Fernandez means by "as we saw a few months back"; all i've found out from negetive posts about bc.i was the users fault like using tor, not having 2FA, having keylogger ....

There was an accident which the developer accidentally changed the 'K' value used for private key and thus it was insecure. This showed that blockchain.info couldn't even take sometime to test out their update before applying it and risked the funds of thousands of user. No one could have prevented that except blockchain.info themselves.