So, basically the reason for having an Electrum offline cold "wallet" is really just to protect your private keys, right?
Yes. It's to give your private keys as safe of an enclosure as you possibly can. With wallets connected to the internet, there is the threat of remote access and malware infection. You have greatly mitigated the possibility of someone accessing your wallet from afar by keeping your keys offline. They would have to know some serious stuff to perhaps find a way to get to your private data. 
Topic: How to receive Bitcoins with a cold wallet (Electrum offline wallet) (Read 304 times)
March 10, 2024, 04:25:54 AM
March 07, 2024, 04:03:31 PM
So, basically the reason for having an Electrum offline cold "wallet" is really just to protect your private keys, right?
Yep. Exclusive knowledge of the private keys is what gives you ownership of your bitcoins.
Thank you!
March 07, 2024, 07:52:41 AM
So, basically the reason for having an Electrum offline cold "wallet" is really just to protect your private keys, right?
Yep. Exclusive knowledge of the private keys is what gives you ownership of your bitcoins.
March 06, 2024, 06:03:01 PM
So, basically the reason for having an Electrum offline cold "wallet" is really just to protect your private keys, right?
June 01, 2022, 11:50:21 AM
So I think I get it. Thus my next question: if my cold/offline wallet has no knowledge of transactions and is only an airgapped signing device, how is it that I can recover my Bitcoins from the 24 word seed phrase? Wouldn't I have to have the Electrum watch-only wallet backed up as well?
Your hot Electrum wallet doesn't have the necessities to sign and broadcast Bitcoin transactions, thus there is nothing of significance in it to back up. It contains your master public key. If you were to lose that, it can be generated again thanks to your seed that is hopefully securely backed up. You can't spend Bitcoin with public keys. You can even post them publicly but that wouldn't be recommended for your privacy. The security of the funds wouldn't be affected though. Electrum is just an interface and a software that lets you see what coins are yours. For obvious reasons, you can't do that with your cold storage because it can't retrieve that information from the nodes without an internet connection. But that doesn't mean there is nothing there. Compare it with a mirror. You just got a new haircut. Just because there is no mirror where you can see how you look like, that doesn't mean you didn't get a new haircut.
May 31, 2022, 11:19:30 PM
So I think I get it. Thus my next question: if my cold/offline wallet has no knowledge of transactions and is only an airgapped signing device, how is it that I can recover my Bitcoins from the 24 word seed phrase?
Wallets do not contain bitcoins at all.Wallets only contain private keys which can be used to unlock bitcoin which are in the blockchain that are stored in every bitcoin node.
The watching only wallet "watches" for the coins your keys can spend by using your "public keys" and the cold-storage wallet contains the "private keys".
The private keys are derived from your 24-word seed phrase deterministically so it's all you need to restore the necessary info to spend funds.
Then I had the same question as humblewrist: how do I update the ColdCard offline wallet with received transactions?
I think you mistook "Cold Wallet" with "ColdCard" Wallet.humblewrist and ajaxtempest are both talking about another Electrum wallet in an air-gap (offline) machine.
For questions specific about hardware wallets, you can try hardware wallet board: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=261.0
May 31, 2022, 10:55:01 PM
Like humblewrist, I too am a new Bitcoiner. I studied BTC/crypto then decided on starting with a small amount of BTC on CoinBase, downloaded/verified Electrum, and bought a ColdCard MK3 wallet. I successfully moved a few USD worth of BTC from CoinBase to a watch-only Electrum wallet. So far so good.
Then I had the same question as humblewrist: how do I update the ColdCard offline wallet with received transactions?
So I think I get it. Thus my next question: if my cold/offline wallet has no knowledge of transactions and is only an airgapped signing device, how is it that I can recover my Bitcoins from the 24 word seed phrase? Wouldn't I have to have the Electrum watch-only wallet backed up as well? Therefore losing the Electrum wallet to a hard drive crash or virus or whatever would leave me with no record of transactions, since they're not in the cold wallet.
In other words, I thought that if I used a cold storage wallet, I could lose my ColdCard AND completely lose my computer/files/Electrum wallets and still recover my BTC with only the BIP39 seed phrase. True or no? I feel certain I am misunderstanding.
Then I had the same question as humblewrist: how do I update the ColdCard offline wallet with received transactions?
the offline wallet is not up to date with the state of your wallet. you have the watch only wallet for that purpose. the offline wallet can't access the blockchain so it doesn't know about your transactions. this is by design.
So I think I get it. Thus my next question: if my cold/offline wallet has no knowledge of transactions and is only an airgapped signing device, how is it that I can recover my Bitcoins from the 24 word seed phrase? Wouldn't I have to have the Electrum watch-only wallet backed up as well? Therefore losing the Electrum wallet to a hard drive crash or virus or whatever would leave me with no record of transactions, since they're not in the cold wallet.
In other words, I thought that if I used a cold storage wallet, I could lose my ColdCard AND completely lose my computer/files/Electrum wallets and still recover my BTC with only the BIP39 seed phrase. True or no? I feel certain I am misunderstanding.
May 16, 2022, 08:25:22 PM
I have the same problem. I had bought btc via watch only wallet. I want to update my cold storage offline wallet. How to do it?
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
This video is about sending btc and signing and updating tranx\broadcast but what about receiving it and updating it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQumISxkJsQ
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
This video is about sending btc and signing and updating tranx\broadcast but what about receiving it and updating it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQumISxkJsQ
the offline wallet is not up to date with the state of your wallet. you have the watch only wallet for that purpose. the offline wallet can't access the blockchain so it doesn't know about your transactions. this is by design.
May 14, 2022, 01:09:32 AM
-snip-
both are same version 4.2.0
Then it should work without any issue.both are same version 4.2.0
The video you linked is too old but the steps should be similar.
Basically, you need to create the transaction in the watching only wallet, then export it using "Export->Export to file".
Then transfer the .psbt file to the offline PC; Open cold-storage Electrum and use "Tools->Load transaction from file" then browse to the .psbt file's directory.
Load it, click "Sign" (type your password),
then export the signed transaction to the online PC (same menus as the first step).
load the signed transaction to the watching only Electrum (same menus as the second step)
Review the transation's details and click "Broadcast" to send it.
If you're thinking of "updating" the balance of the offline Electrum, then it's unnecessary since bitcoins aren't stored in Bitcoin wallets.
It's locked in the blockchain which is in every full node of the Bitcoin network, wallets do not receive bitcoins but only "watch" coins that they can spend.
Your offline Electrum has the necessary key to spend it while your watching-only wallet watches for the balance.
May 14, 2022, 12:38:13 AM
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
Both offline and online Electrum should at least be version 4.0.1 or higher.If either one is an older version, the exported transactions wont be compatible.
To upgrade: Simply download the binaries from electrum.org, verify its signature (steps).
Then transfer it to the cold-storage machine via flash drive.
May 14, 2022, 12:06:48 AM
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
Both offline and online Electrum should at least be version 4.0.1 or higher.If either one is an older version, the exported transactions wont be compatible.
To upgrade: Simply download the binaries from electrum.org, verify its signature (steps).
Then transfer it to the cold-storage machine via flash drive.
May 13, 2022, 11:38:44 PM
I have the same problem. I had bought btc via watch only wallet. I want to update my cold storage offline wallet. How to do it?
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
This video is about sending btc and signing and updating tranx\broadcast but what about receiving it and updating it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQumISxkJsQ
I tried Qr code\text load transaction in my offline wallet but nothing happens.
This video is about sending btc and signing and updating tranx\broadcast but what about receiving it and updating it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQumISxkJsQ
May 09, 2018, 12:01:01 AM
Thanks a lot @HCP and @nc50lc, you guys made everything clear for me now!!
May 08, 2018, 11:23:42 PM
Normally, you would just get the address from the watching-only... (NOTE: you should check that the watching-only wallet is actually generating the same addresses as your offline wallet! 
)... Then you give that address to the other party to send the coins to.
And that's pretty much it. Your offline wallet doesn't need to know about any receive transactions as when you want to send coins, you create an "unsigned" transaction with the watching-only wallet. Electrum will then automagically include all the appropriate info regarding the inputs that the offline wallet needs to know about. You then take that unsigned transaction to your offline wallet (USB or QR-codes etc) and it will be able to sign the transaction... you take the "signed" transaction back to the watching-only wallet (USB or QR-Codes again) and broadcast it.
NOTE: The reason for using the watching-only is that is the one that is connected to the network and is probably just easier to get the address out of But theoretically, you can use either one... as long as they're generating the same addresses!
)... Then you give that address to the other party to send the coins to. And that's pretty much it. Your offline wallet doesn't need to know about any receive transactions as when you want to send coins, you create an "unsigned" transaction with the watching-only wallet. Electrum will then automagically include all the appropriate info regarding the inputs that the offline wallet needs to know about. You then take that unsigned transaction to your offline wallet (USB or QR-codes etc) and it will be able to sign the transaction... you take the "signed" transaction back to the watching-only wallet (USB or QR-Codes again) and broadcast it.
NOTE: The reason for using the watching-only is that is the one that is connected to the network and is probably just easier to get the address out of
But theoretically, you can use either one... as long as they're generating the same addresses! May 08, 2018, 10:57:39 PM
I'm really new to Bitcoin and its community. I've bought some Bitcoin from an online exchange and then I created both a hot wallet to transfer some of my Bitcoins to, and a cold storage to hold the rest of my Bitcoins. All wallets were created using Electrum (https://electrum.org/) and the cold storage, which I created following Electrum's documentation http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/coldstorage.html, consists of a offline wallet and a watching-only wallet(stored on a online device).
I know this question may sound really dumb, but I searched the web before asking it and I just couldn't find an answer...
So, my question is: How can I receive my Bitcoins from the exchange I bought them from with my cold wallet? Do I need to use an address from my watching-only wallet or can I receive it directly into my offline wallet?
I know this question may sound really dumb, but I searched the web before asking it and I just couldn't find an answer...
So, my question is: How can I receive my Bitcoins from the exchange I bought them from with my cold wallet? Do I need to use an address from my watching-only wallet or can I receive it directly into my offline wallet?
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