Topic: How to safely store big amounts of BTC? (Read 12105 times)

I think it makes sense to use different wallets. But the problem is this. Will people be able to secure all wallets? It is easier to secure a single wallet. Bitcoin offers us many safe options. You can write and store the password on the most guaranteed paper.

Well we have our own different strategies on how we store our BTC.  In fact that was a good idea of spliting because even one bad thing on the the first wallet you still have two. But what we really need in storing our BTC is to keep and save our private keys because that is what we need to access and recover our wallet.

i dont think holding large amount in exchange is a good idea many exchanges close in the past due to different problem
in my opinion, its better not to fully trust exchange and only store amount you use in trading

Well I'm holding more than 5 BTC and currently I keep them at Binance and they are very safe. So the comments you make are completely ridiculous, and everything in this market is safe if you know how to use them. If you hold a BTC with a hardware wallet it is also a good choice, but I think it is a waste

hardware wallets are the best choice to store more than 1 BTC

You can have a wallet to keep it safely. I think there is no other way or place to keep it but the wallet. Otherwise, you'll trade it for a long period. Just make sure to get a safety wallet that is reliable and with good feedback. I also prefer to keep it than trading it in full. At least you can have a breakeven rather than losing it. And in the wallet you can constantly check it. Its good to invest or trade some of it also to at least diversify the fund.

It's a good advise splitting your assets if you have a huge amount of investment, hackers loves to seek for huge amount of money and they will try Everything to penetrate and hacked the wallet. If you can buy additional wallet then it's better.
Doing everything to keep your investment safe is far better than risking your investment.

You should store your bitcoin in the trusted wallet out there preferably those wallet that has a double authenticator so that you can monitor every log ins that will happen to your wallet. Also, you can try to split up your coins into two different wallets so that if the other wallet has been hacked, you still have another wallet that contains your bitcoin.

Maybe I'm paranoid because I understand that 2 wallets will be enough if possible,but I would have made many wallets so that everyone had a maximum of 2-3 BTC, and distributed them to different parts of the house. Or maybe even hid it somewhere on the site.

One wallet is enough to store any big amount of bitcoins so far as you understand that, you are in charge of keeping your wallet safe and secure. You can decide to use two or more wallets but if you don't keep them secure and safe, you can lose all even if you keep them in two or more wallets.  The wallet is not the problem but you the person owning the wallet determines the safety of it....

A lot of people will be saying that the safest way to store your big amounts of Bitcoin are in a hardware wallet like trezor and ledger because it will be difficult for hackers to have an access in their wallet if it is offline. The only thing that you should do when having a hardware wallet is keeping your private keys safe and the hardware wallet.

MtGox had good reviews.
Cryptsy had good reviews.
Cryptopia had good reviews.
QuadrigaCX had good reviews.

Do you want me to continue?

Unless you're into trading, you should go for offline wallet either a hardware or paper wallet with keys kept securely. If you are into trading and hence would need a frequent transfer of funds, then have a secure software wallet preferably on a device which is less frequently used. Trust only those exchanges which have good reviews and downloads.

In cryptos you need to look after the safety of your funds. No one can help you in case funds are lost.
Invest and trade safely!
 

Using a titanium back up is the safest way to store your recovery seed, to make sure your seed doesn't get lost in a house fire etc. Jameson Lopp tested most of them to see which ones are the most durable. Interesting to read:

https://blog.lopp.net/metal-bitcoin-seed-storage-stress-test/
https://blog.lopp.net/metal-bitcoin-seed-storage-stress-test--part-ii-/
https://blog.lopp.net/metal-bitcoin-seed-storage-stress-test-round-iii/

Overall comparison:  https://jlopp.github.io/metal-bitcoin-storage-reviews/

Most ideal approach to store is on numerous scrambled paper wallets, sponsored up to an ordinary hard drive which you control and encode and never open to the web. At that point back it up a couple of times over. Regardless of whether found-yours keys will be encoded with an (ideally) solid secret phrase.

If I were you I would split the BTC on 3 wallets - 2 hardware wallets and 1 paper wallet. Be sure to keep at least two copies of the paper wallet in case something happens to one and make sure you use quality paper that is water resistant - maybe  put it in a protection sleeve or smth like that.

Also assure that you are keeping them in different locations - I mean you could keep one or two in the house, but put the other one in the guest house or in the basement in case of any disaster/calamity.

Yes, pen and paper. And its cold too!

Hardware = physical.
Cold = unplugged (powerless).

Create a new wallet in a secure os/computer (can even be done offline). At wallet creation, you write down the seed words in a piece of paper with your own hands. This is the wallet itself, nothing else matters afterwards. But, before turning on the computer (and broadcasting), make sure you copy/print whatever public addresses so you can sends funds to it.

And now you are done. If you did with a live iso, when you turn off the computer the wallet is deleted, this is good, you only need it to exist in the blockchain, and the "keys" to it are within those seed words. So not protect/secure that piece of paper.

And now you have the perfect secure solution that can store unlimited amount of money and be unhackable, as long as you keep that paper secure. You should hide it in a clever place, preferably make another copy and store it in another physical location. You could get fancy and use a bank vault or whatever, even use stenography, mark words in book etc.

The pen defeats the axe (hack)

A hardware wallet in the "common" meaning, the electronic gadget, should NOT be used for storing long term / large sums. A hardware wallet is nice when you want a wallet that doesn't need a pc or phone, and like those, should be restricted for small amounts you expect to use over a day, or maybe over a month. For long term nothing defeats the paper.

Do not forget, this "hardware" wallet also MUST use the very same paper to write down the very same seed words. If you skip it you are simply taking a giant risk of losing access to it permanently. So in the end you are spending money to do the same thing, in addition to extra annoyances like password, 2fa, etc (its just like a software wallet, but in a less insecure OS).


There is a problem with a certain mindset, lets call it "American", in that something "secure" absolutely has to cost money. This is not necessarily true. You'd think the paper is dangerous (because free) while the gadget is not (because expensive), when in reality its the other way around. But here we return to the trust issue. Whom do you trust, yourself? The company that made the gadget?.

Remember what Bitcoin was all about in the first place: Trust. Fiat = trust in your government. Bitcoin = trust in code (you). The "you are your own bank" has bigger implication and responsibility. If you don't trust in you, you can STILL pay others to keep it safe, this is the way full reserve banking works, exactly like a bank safe, just imagine you put your money in the safe and not in the bank account.

Let say you have 15 btc. I would suggest you to buy 5 different hardware wallets. 3 btc for each wallet.
As long as you have the private key or seed, it will be safe even if you lost your hardware wallet.
Also, it will be great if you can store your private key in a physical private key storage. I dont know the term for this thing. Usually it made from metal, titanium, or something like that. Waterproof, rust proof, fire proof with high melting point, etc. you can search cryptosteel, coldti, simbit on google to know more about what I am talking about.

if you use a third-party wallet it is better to complete your data in it and also prepare security in the form of authenciator by email, google authenciator or by message to the phone. but for me it's better to use a hardware wallet because it's the best choice so far

If you lost your hardware wallet, you can still recover from seed phrases. There are many safe options like you can split your BTC to keep them safe in hardware wallets or send BTC to cryptocurrency storage vault like Xapo.

More about Xapo: Xapo is one of the safest vault systems. Customer Bitcoin is securely placed on an offline server that never connects to the Internet. Servers are located behind concrete walls with steel doors and Faraday shields used to block any radio frequency access. And there is always a guard.