creating an offline wallet for your cryptos

[watgate]

I understand that once you purchase cryptos on an exchange it is best to put them in an offline wallet so as to be safe from any potential hackers. Can someone guide me as to how to create a paper wallet and what steps are needed to safely store your crypto offline in your paper wallet. I am an obvious novice when it comes to  this. Thanks for any info.

[alocmrlj]

What kind of offline paper wallet you have in mind? for BTC,ETH, etc?

[fdsa]

most cryptocurrencies have a "private key" of the address, which looks like a string of letters and numbers, with length usually less then 100 symbols; something like "5Kxg62skHMn1BB3dVWq4YcF8B4uUqfoY5utv3oo4azWPy0fpogdVq"

if you have received coins to the different addresses then you will need to export the private key of each separate address.

 

some wallets have a "recovery seed" of all addresses combined, which looks like a dozen of words that are intended to be easily remembered, something like "charge cook oval horse noble clap exotic scrap noble solution wheel zone".

 

first determine how to export private keys or export the recovery seed from your particular wallet program, and then print these keys/seeds on an A4 sheet (repeating multiple times is recommended, to store in different geographic locations for safety).

then you could laminate the A4 sheet (or "laminate" it with a clean duct tape), separate and store in safe location outside your house.

 

also note that storing seeds or keys "as is" is not very secure as whoever finds them could understand what these symbols are and could steal your coins by importing these keys/seeds to their wallets.

I recommend encrypting the keys/seeds with PGP and printing PGP text instead of plain keys/seeds. But then again - you will need to print a backup of PGP private key and store it in the different geographic location for safety.

Edited April 27, 2021 by fdsa

[bartender100]

https://cryptonews.com/guides/how-to-store-cryptocurrency-safely.htmhttps://cryptonews.com/guides/how-to-store-cryptocurrency-safely.htm

[Exploring Thailand]

Couple of Interesting snippets from Wikipedia.

 

Quote

If the private key is lost, the bitcoin network will not recognize any other evidence of ownership; the coins are then unusable, and effectively lost. For example, in 2013 one user claimed to have lost 7,500 bitcoins, worth $7.5 million at the time, when he accidentally discarded a hard drive containing his private key.  About 20% of all bitcoins are believed to be lost -they would have had a market value of about $20 billion at July 2018 prices.

 

 

Quote

If the private key is revealed to a third party, e.g. through a data breach, the third party can use it to steal any associated bitcoins. As of December 2017, around 980,000 bitcoins have been stolen from cryptocurrency exchanges.

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Exploring Thailand

[how241]

If your using Binance or another Very big exchange,  I would just keep the coins there unless you have extremely big money involved. The big exchanges mostly have insurance so there is nothing to worry about and you can usually earn interest on the coins you keep there. I know many will disagree.

[Surelynot]

Keep mine on a Nano Ledger........seems to be quite a common route.

[Heng]

Here's a shortcut for those who aren't tech adept.   Any smartphone (buy one just to use as a wallet, it can be the cheaper end Samsung's or iPhone's; don't install any apps other than the wallet itself) that you don't use for anything else, especially no email or messenger apps.   Install an Electrum wallet from the device's App Store/Google Play store for Bitcoin.   Coinomi app/wallet for just about any other coin (including Bitcoin).    Don't use the phone for anything else.   Don't use a SIM card with it.   Only connect via Wifi in your home (and even better with a VPN).   It's an offline wallet the whole time you aren't connected to the net.   Only connect to the net when you want to check your wallet contents/balance.   You don't even need to turn it on to send yourself funds.    You basically have a device that you might turn on for 5 minutes a year.   Safe as houses.

 

But, yes, also store your keys/passwords (and not in the same place) on paper somewhere and keep that secure as well.   That's a backup for you losing the device (funds not lost as long as you have your keys written down... but have the keyword sequence not in its entirety in multiple places as a backup for someone discovering where you write your keys).  

[mjnaus]

Save yourself the hassle and buy a decent hardware wallet. Ledger for example. Hardware wallets provide a much better UX than paper wallets do. And if you're only doing small-ish amounts, using MetaMask will do just fine as well.

[Exploring Thailand]

I guess this is old news but Ledger were hacked. Later one million emails addresses and 250000 physical addresses were dumped onto a hacking site. Since then there are lots of phishing scams circulating along the lines of "You will know that our database was hacked, please go to this site to change your 24 words...". I guess in the worst case scenario, it would also let burglars know which houses to target.

[Heng]

6 minutes ago, Exploring Thailand said:

I guess this is old news but Ledger were hacked. Later one million emails addresses and 250000 physical addresses were dumped onto a hacking site. Since then there are lots of phishing scams circulating along the lines of "You will know that our database was hacked, please go to this site to change your 24 words...". I guess in the worst case scenario, it would also let burglars know which houses to target.

 

Yeah, that was embarrassing for them.  But should be clarified that their customer database was hacked, not the Ledger wallet tech itself.  To each his/her own, but I would trust a device (phone, tablet or computer) that I have personally formatted to be 'virgin' over something that I order from Amazon to store my crypto.     

[Exploring Thailand]

7 minutes ago, Heng said:

 

Yeah, that was embarrassing for them.  But should be clarified that their customer database was hacked, not the Ledger wallet tech itself.  To each his/her own, but I would trust a device (phone, tablet or computer) that I have personally formatted to be 'virgin' over something that I order from Amazon to store my crypto.     

Yeah, I'm sure the Ledger team is completely separate from the e-commerce team. If I were holding significant amounts of crypto, I'd consider one, but I'd buy it directly from them, not from a third-party (despite the leak).

 

I've spent a couple of days reading up on all-things crypto and have come across some incredible scams and blunders. I'm sure they're all well-known to the old-hands. 

Forgets password to unlock $210 million crypto.

Youtuber loses $2million to hackers during livestream.

[malathione]

I've been using a Trezor for a couple of years. While not perfect, it does the job. I certainly wouldn't want to leave the bulk of my holdings in an exchange. Just those that I'm trading with actively stay in exchange wallets.

[tpkhk]

Strongly recommend a Ledger (Hardware Wallet).  Ideally buy direct from the manufacturer, but given that we are in TH, SIAMBC is a reputable re-seller.   https://siambc.com/product-category/ledger/

 

Nano S - for THB 2,390 (if you are just looking at 2-3 apps concurrently...). More than that and you'll be installing/uninstalling constantly.

Nano X - for THB 5,990 (lot more space and apps concurrently, eg. BTC, ETH, Stellar, Ripple, ADA and so on).  Both of them work in the same way.

 

Groov.store is another one (better pricing on the X).

 

Hardware wallets are the Gold standard - if you dont want to spend any money, you can download a reputable wallet - eg. Green for Bitcoin. 

 

Hardware or Software Wallet, the key will be securing and storing the 24 word seed that you are randomly assigned.  No photos / no cloud storage etc... just paper / pencil, preferably in 2 separate locations.  Ideally a metal plate backup (fire resistant) will also be a good idea.  Ideally, you should also do a full wipe/restore before you transfer meaningful amounts. 

 

Youtube has a lot of explainer videos - Crypto-guide is a good channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMzkGSsR5A

 

Good luck.

 

[Leffe]

For long term storage I would recommend a Model T Trezor USB wallet, these are available from Lazada. Exodus is another option but is not cold storage. 

 

https://www.exodus.com/

https://trezor.io/

[Poet]

The SAFEST and, as it happens, the easiest solution is to use a big, modern, reputable exchange, and just leave your crypto there. Seriously.

99% of people getting into crypto at this point are not idealogical purists. They are simply looking for a way to hedge against the debasement of the dollar once the bill for the pandemic overreaction becomes clearer, and to hopefully make a nice profit by getting in ahead of the crowd.

They get led down the wrong path when they hear crypto idealists, who are often deeply technical, telling them that they MUST get a wallet, that a coin isn't really theirs unless they spend ages following confusing, convoluted and, often, contradictory instructions.

The end result is that most people just give up on it. This is the #1 problem holding back crypto today.

It does not have to be so complicated. Just jump right in. Buy your crypto on a good exchange and leave it there, or trade with it there, and, eventually, convert it to cash and withdraw it to your bank. These days, a reputable exchange have the technical skills and resources to keep your cryto far safer than you can, trying to do it yourself. It is like keeping your money in a bank rather than under your mattress.

If you later get really into the politics, fine, at that point you can invest time into learning about software wallets, hardware wallets, blah, blah, blah.

If you are just starting out, however, it is a dangerous distraction that, nine times out of ten, will result in you dropping the idea and, then, in a month's time being angry with yourself because Bitcoin rocketed up again. You probably never will get into the market after that because you will feel that it is now "too expensive". You will just become another one of the bitter anti-crypto guys on this forum.

As I always tell people who are cryto-curious, simply sign up to a good exchange for free, transfer a hundred dollars to your account, and buy some Bitcoin or Ether. The first step is always the hardest but, once you take it, you will be delighted by how straightforward it actually is.

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Poet

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, tpkhk said:

Nano X - for THB 5,990 (lot more space and apps concurrently, eg. BTC, ETH, Stellar, Ripple, ADA and so on).  Both of them work in the same way.

Have been told by a "crypto expert" more caution is required with the X because of its Bluetooth capabilities. I personally use the S.

[mvdf]

If BTC, use the BitAddress tool. 

 

Disconnect your computer or laptop from the internet (go offline), then open https://www.bitaddress.org  in offline mode.

 

Randomly move your mouse as instructed. A bitcoin address with a private key will be generated. After creation, if you click on "paper wallet" you will see your new offline wallet with address and private key. 

 

Alternatively, I recommend using a Trezor (I use the Model T version) or a BitBox02 from Shift Switzerland https://shiftcrypto.ch/

 

And be extra cautious when responding to private messages as a result of this post. Scammers pretending to be crypto experts will message you privately to offer "help". This is especially the case when you mention that you're an "obvious novice". Be careful.

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by mvdf

[fdsa]

3 hours ago, mvdf said:

And be extra cautious when responding to private messages as a result of this post. Scammers pretending to be crypto experts will message you privately to offer "help". This is especially the case when you mention that you're an "obvious novice". Be careful.

this.

do not trust personal messages, if someone is willing to help they will write an advice in public forum where everyone could see and review that post.

[malathione]

4 hours ago, Poet said:

The SAFEST and, as it happens, the easiest solution is to use a big, modern, reputable exchange, and just leave your crypto there. Seriously.

99% of people getting into crypto at this point are not idealogical purists. They are simply looking for a way to hedge against the debasement of the dollar once the bill for the pandemic overreaction becomes clearer, and to hopefully make a nice profit by getting in ahead of the crowd.

They get led down the wrong path when they hear crypto idealists, who are often deeply technical, telling them that they MUST get a wallet, that a coin isn't really theirs unless they spend ages following confusing, convoluted and, often, contradictory instructions.

The end result is that most people just give up on it. This is the #1 problem holding back crypto today.

It does not have to be so complicated. Just jump right in. Buy your crypto on a good exchange and leave it there, or trade with it there, and, eventually, convert it to cash and withdraw it to your bank. These days, a reputable exchange have the technical skills and resources to keep your cryto far safer than you can, trying to do it yourself. It is like keeping your money in a bank rather than under your mattress.

If you later get really into the politics, fine, at that point you can invest time into learning about software wallets, hardware wallets, blah, blah, blah.

If you are just starting out, however, it is a dangerous distraction that, nine times out of ten, will result in you dropping the idea and, then, in a month's time being angry with yourself because Bitcoin rocketed up again. You probably never will get into the market after that because you will feel that it is now "too expensive". You will just become another one of the bitter anti-crypto guys on this forum.

As I always tell people who are cryto-curious, simply sign up to a good exchange for free, transfer a hundred dollars to your account, and buy some Bitcoin or Ether. The first step is always the hardest but, once you take it, you will be delighted by how straightforward it actually is.

 

While I agree with you that one should just sign up and jump in and let wallets be sorted out at a later time, it does depend on the amount you're jumping in with. I'd also consider which country the exchange is in. If you're using Thai based funds, your options for quick and easy funding are limited to the Thai exchanges and I wouldn't want to leave a large amount sitting with them. As soon as my holdings grew sufficiently, I moved them to an Exodus and then to a hardware based wallet. I found the process to be neither confusing nor arduous. Extremely straightforward, in fact. 

 

All that said, you're certainly right about jumping in. Take that first step first.

[tpkhk]

On 5/4/2021 at 8:33 AM, Dazinoz said:

Have been told by a "crypto expert" more caution is required with the X because of its Bluetooth capabilities. I personally use the S.

Fully agree - I would turn off the bluetooth feature totally .... and just stick to connecting it like a Nano S.  Only reason to get an X is space....and that too probably for someone needing to access their coins often enough.

[genobkk]

Any suggestions on a good wallet?  I started using Trust but have not funded it yet.    I prefer one that can store many types of crypto.  

[brenton]

Ledger has been hacked,so i use trezor. Just dont wave that paper wallet during a zoom meeting or the like.One screen shot is all it takes for you to lose it all