Author

Topic: Is paper wallet public address safe for reuse? (Read 317 times)

newbie
Activity: 41
Merit: 0
November 29, 2017, 03:50:23 PM
#9
read this to understand why they say don't "reuse" addresses: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse

and remember than a paper wallet's main purpose is for you to store some bitcoin away in a safe place. some amount that you don't want to use. for example you buy/receive 1BTC and want to hold it for at least a year, you put that in paper wallet. it is not meant for receiving payments nor for spending from it regularly.

Much thanks for the link you sent. It fully answered the question and only proofs my worries.
hero member
Activity: 1008
Merit: 510
Many guides suggest using unique bitcoin addresses to receive bitcoins, what enhances the privacy of your wallet balance, and transaction history. For example, blockchain.info does it in such a way.
When I decided to learn more about paper wallets and create one for myself, I found out that there is only 1 public key to receive funds. So the question is, if it is ok to use 1 address for a paper wallet?

As far as I know, there is no way that someone can figure out your private key by knowing your public key. You should be able to publish your public key just like people do on this forum and elsewhere with no risk of losing your funds. You just need to make sure that your private key is protected and that no one knows it or has access to it. I keep that in a safe deposit box as a hard copy for a long term investment.
jr. member
Activity: 52
Merit: 10
Try out Blockchain.info
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 10611
read this to understand why they say don't "reuse" addresses: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Address_reuse

and remember than a paper wallet's main purpose is for you to store some bitcoin away in a safe place. some amount that you don't want to use. for example you buy/receive 1BTC and want to hold it for at least a year, you put that in paper wallet. it is not meant for receiving payments nor for spending from it regularly.
newbie
Activity: 41
Merit: 0

No, he means that you simply import the adress of your paper wallet into blockchain.info (https://blog.blockchain.com/2016/05/31/how-to-use-watch-only-addresses/), although there isn't really a reason to.. You're not going to spend the funds anyway for a long time, right?

For some months I think. But I think it's common to sometimes withdraw a certain amount of money from the cold storage. So in case of pretty often manipulation with the same public address, the overall balance can be easily calculated. My concern is how we can "workaround" this? Or it's not possible and the only point is to really keep the private key safe?
legendary
Activity: 1946
Merit: 1427
I don't think that there is an issue in single wallet address. It just helps you to prevent trackers from tracking your financial information and activities. However, if you are worried about using single paper wallet address then you can save it to your Blockchain.info account as a watch only address and create another web wallet with the dynamic addresses to receive funds and then transfer to your paper wallet either directly or through a mixer to avoid others to track your information.

There's also a security issue i believe.

Once you make a transaction from an adress, your public key becomes known, which means a hacker/cracker will only need your private key to get access to your funds.

If you had used a new adress, they wouldn't had either of the keys, until you spend, but the bitcoin would already be transacted by then.

As of currently this isn't really an issue, but it could become one in the future if computing power increases ( Quantum computing ).

I don't think that there is an issue in single wallet address. It just helps you to prevent trackers from tracking your financial information and activities. However, if you are worried about using single paper wallet address then you can save it to your Blockchain.info account as a watch only address and create another web wallet with the dynamic addresses to receive funds and then transfer to your paper wallet either directly or through a mixer to avoid others to track your information.

Don't see the why do I need to add the paper wallet's address as a watch-only address? As I understood, your suggestion is to first receive money with the online wallet, and then send them to the paper wallet myself. Such that only I operate with the paper wallet's public address directly? But this would double the transaction fees, as I know.

No, he means that you simply import the adress of your paper wallet into blockchain.info (https://blog.blockchain.com/2016/05/31/how-to-use-watch-only-addresses/), although there isn't really a reason to.. You're not going to spend the funds anyway for a long time, right?
newbie
Activity: 41
Merit: 0
I don't think that there is an issue in single wallet address. It just helps you to prevent trackers from tracking your financial information and activities. However, if you are worried about using single paper wallet address then you can save it to your Blockchain.info account as a watch only address and create another web wallet with the dynamic addresses to receive funds and then transfer to your paper wallet either directly or through a mixer to avoid others to track your information.

Don't see the why do I need to add the paper wallet's address as a watch-only address? As I understood, your suggestion is to first receive money with the online wallet, and then send them to the paper wallet myself. Such that only I operate with the paper wallet's public address directly? But this would double the transaction fees, as I know.
hero member
Activity: 1190
Merit: 534
I don't think that there is an issue in single wallet address. It just helps you to prevent trackers from tracking your financial information and activities. However, if you are worried about using single paper wallet address then you can save it to your Blockchain.info account as a watch only address and create another web wallet with the dynamic addresses to receive funds and then transfer to your paper wallet either directly or through a mixer to avoid others to track your information.
newbie
Activity: 41
Merit: 0
Many guides suggest using unique bitcoin addresses to receive bitcoins, what enhances the privacy of your wallet balance, and transaction history. For example, blockchain.info does it in such a way.
When I decided to learn more about paper wallets and create one for myself, I found out that there is only 1 public key to receive funds. So the question is, if it is ok to use 1 address for a paper wallet?
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