Topic: Best wallet for cold storage - page 3. (Read 3819 times)

breadwallet in an old iphone you don't use anymore.

The whole point is, what if you could have a hot wallet that has the security of a cold storage single priv key?
Thats what trezor offers =)
Trezor allows you to have as many unknown wallets as passwords you can remember in your head. Better yet, a single mnemonic seed backs up all of those wallets. That seed would be the trezor's "cold storage" =) ... But unlike traditional cold storage, that single seed restores all of ur keys in all the wallets u created w/ trezor. Additionally, because trezor's seed is based on a BIP, its restorable via any wallet that correctly supports that BIP(in the case you dont have another trezor).

Why would you use some " wallet " ?   You only want to store a private key!!!

For cold storage, you don't need a "wallet", you need paper or a usb key or something like that. 

Perhaps the question should be what wallet do you use for importing a cold storage private key for signing transactions offline? 



 

Thank you, GenTarkin, for your review, you have clearly tested both Ledger Nano and Trezor more than I have, and have a better understanding than I do.

But, I have not had any problems with the Ledger.  Yes, owners do have to be careful to not enter a wrong password.

Trezor does have one issue I do not like however.  Should someone STEAL it, they can see your transactions and balances, Trezor asks for a password when you send BTC.  Ledger makes you enter the password before peeking to see what's inside...



EDIT: Yes, I like Trezor's 2FA better than Ledger's.

Ledger is crap, I have the open source version of it: HW.1, I wouldnt trust any BTC to the device. Has very little software wallet support(greenaddress) which is a piece of shit. Sure, ledger has their own wallet but its online and closed source last I heard. Also the device firmware itself is closed source. Also, if u forget the PIN just 3 times it wipes itself, thats not cool. Has nowhere near the features of trezor.
Lets just say after testing both trezor & HW.1, I trust the trezor WAAAAAY more.
The multiple wallets(yes multiple wallets, not just addresses) behind as many passwords as you can think of on trezor, all backed up by one seed is what I absolutely love about it.
Trezors way of anti keyboard sniffer hacking the PIN is also ingenious, that security is impossible to do w/ a ledger.

The security is probably close to the same, the advantage w/ the trezor is you can use it as a hot wallet but have the security of a cold wallet. Heck, I use my trezor w/ mycelium on android phone. Theres nothing like being able to spend on the go w/ the security of a cold storage wallet =)

...

LiteCoinGuy's thread on hardware is excellent re keeping up with hardware wallets.

I only have used Ledger Nano and Trezor.  Both have worked just fine.  The Ledger "seems" more physically sturdy. 

The Ledger is also fairly cheap.  If price matters, Ledger Nano. 

Ledger Nano (once you have set it up on a clean -- no malware -- computer) allows you to then use it on any connected computer (even if laden with viruses, etc.).

*   *   *

I am looking forward to a new product apparently coming soon from Switzerland: https://digitalbitbox.com/

not sure why a trezor would be higher security than offline electrum.

Nope, the trezor is backed up by a single (1 for btc wallets, 1 additional for LTC wallets Im guessing) BIP standard HD mnemonic seed. Write that down on paper and store the way you mentioned. You pretty much have a highly functional cold storage / hot storage setup.
Even if the HD seed is compromised, they would still have to know ur password to the wallets ur actually using =)

It depends on how many Bitcoins you're planning on saving. If they're upto 10 then I think Offline electrum wallet with it's seed stored somewhere safe will do or laminated Paper wallets and keys put on encrypted pen drives for extra security would be ok but if you're planning to store more than that then a Hardware wallet like Trezor might be best for you.

But it's prone to failure. A pass protected piece of paper wrapped in fireproof material will survive floods, fires and any other external factors, that's something trezor is missing.

Trezor is pretty awesome. Can have any number of wallets hidden behind not only the PIN but also behind passwords. A different password used is a different wallet(collection of addresses) tree. All derived from the same backup seed. Also, from what Ive read, using electrum-ltc you can generate an LTC(seperate seed/wallets w/ passwords) wallet in trezor alongside ur BTC wallet.

+1

@OP

I can highly recommend investing in a Trezor if you plan to store substantial amounts of bitcoin securely. Even if you lose or break your Trezor then your funds are still recoverable with a generated seed which obviously you must keep safe.

For secure long term saving/storage I recommend Trezor, Bitcoin Core & paper wallets. Don't take any risks, keep your bitcoins safe.

I think Trezor wallet has the best options among the recent bunch.

https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-trezor-review-promo-code/

This. Electrum will fill the job.  It is very, very safe and like most other cold wallets.

 I am not up for remembering 16 words.  What if people did that for bank accounts?  At a point, it gets silly unless you have like 2 million USD invested into bitcoin.  Some people act like their security is worth going beyond everything for 500 USD worth of bitcoin.  lol  Would you do expect all this for a bank account that has 500 USD in?

Cold storage in the context of Bitcoin refers to keeping a reserve of Bitcoins offline.

For example, a Bitcoin exchange typically offers an instant withdrawal feature, and might be a steward over hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins. To minimize the possibility that an intruder could steal the entire reserve in a security breach, the operator of the website follows a best practice by keeping the majority of the reserve in cold storage, or in other words, not present on the web server or any other computer. The only amount kept on the server is the amount needed to cover anticipated withdrawals.

Methods of cold storage include keeping bitcoins:

    On a USB drive or other data storage medium in a safe place (e.g. safe deposit box, safe)
    On a paper wallet
    On a bearer item such as a physical bitcoin.
    Online, but on encrypted media where the encryption key is offline.
    Use a offline Bitcoin Hardware wallet


Deep cold storage refers to keeping a reserve of Bitcoins offline, using a method that makes retrieving coins from storage significantly more difficult than sending them there. This could be done for safety's sake, such as to prevent theft or robbery.

Because Bitcoins can be sent to a wallet by anyone knowing the wallet address, it is trivial to put a wallet in cold storage but to keep a copy of the addresses needed to send funds to it.

A simple example of deep cold storage is opening a safe deposit box and putting a USB stick containing an encrypted wallet file in it. The public (sending) addresses can be used any time to send additional bitcoins to the wallet, but spending the bitcoins would require physical access to the box (in addition to knowledge of the encryption password).

....yeah that works.  or you could just use electrum.

i am currently using Electrum on my USB drive with linux live which i keep offline at all times.
it is not that hard to make and it is easy to use in order to spend from.

there are better and easier options. especially if you want to spend them without having to import the private keys. like electrum that i mentioned or even Armory.
or
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet#Creation_of_a_paper_wallet
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage

Yup.
You do need a special usb 'on-the-go' cable to do it this way tho. They're easy to find online.

Bitcoin core installed on a offline linux computer.  Since you are storing coins long term, don't bother downloading the blockchain.  You also should back-up the wallet.dat file and encrypt it on several storage devices.