Is there a guide to Cold Storing your Bitcoins?

DannyHamilton

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Quote from: ranlo on May 19, 2014, 01:19:49 PM

So a cold wallet has to have never been connected to the Internet? But "cold storage" just means that you are using something like a paper wallet, right?

When discussing bitcoins, cold storage generally means secure storage that cannot be accessed from the internet, and for which spending requires manual intervention by the human being (or group of human beings) that are intended to have access.

When properly created, a paper wallet can be a "cold wallet", but if it was created online, or contains private keys that have ever been accessible online, then there is potential that someone other than the intended human being (or group of human beings) has (have) access.

ranlo

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Quote from: DannyHamilton on May 19, 2014, 07:46:29 AM

None of the following are "cold wallets":

Quote from: chennan on May 18, 2014, 03:05:03 AM

save wallet dat file . . .

Quote from: BitcoinAwesomeMan on May 18, 2014, 03:21:40 AM

Thats all it takes just saving your wallet.dat? . . .

Quote from: Malin Keshar on May 18, 2014, 03:34:10 AM

only way would be transfer them to a computer wallet, then transfer your dat file . . .

Quote from: Unluckyduck on May 18, 2014, 06:05:29 AM

. . . You can use advanced options tab in blockchain . . .

Quote from: lda1000 on May 18, 2014, 07:19:08 PM

How about encrypting . . .

Quote from: ranlo on May 18, 2014, 07:42:36 PM

If you use a service like Coinbase . . .

Quote from: cookmac on May 18, 2014, 07:43:20 PM

. . . go on blockchain . . .

Quote from: cahirlet on May 19, 2014, 05:51:18 AM

Use wallets like myceilum . . .

At worst, a cold wallet is a wallet that is not and never has been accessible from the internet.

At best, a cold wallet:

Was generated with a source of randomness that is guaranteed to have at least 160 bits of entropy.
The private keys and addresses are calculated on an operating system that itself has never been connected to the internet.
No address that has value associated with it has ever received an output that has been spent.

So a cold wallet has to have never been connected to the Internet? But "cold storage" just means that you are using something like a paper wallet, right?

cahirlet

newbie

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Quote from: DannyHamilton on May 19, 2014, 07:46:29 AM

None of the following are "cold wallets":

-snip-

Quote from: cahirlet on May 19, 2014, 05:51:18 AM

Use wallets like myceilum . . .

At worst, a cold wallet is a wallet that is not and never has been accessible from the internet.

At best, a cold wallet was generated with a source of randomness that is guaranteed to have at least 160 bits of entropy, and the private keys and addresses are calculated on an operating system that itself has never been connected to the internet, and no address that has value associated with it has ever received an output that has been spent.

I'm sorry for my poor phrasing of my word. I was trying to say there is an option to spend from cold storage, making it more convenient.

DannyHamilton

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Activity: 3472

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None of the following are "cold wallets":

Quote from: chennan on May 18, 2014, 03:05:03 AM

save wallet dat file . . .

Quote from: BitcoinAwesomeMan on May 18, 2014, 03:21:40 AM

Thats all it takes just saving your wallet.dat? . . .

Quote from: Malin Keshar on May 18, 2014, 03:34:10 AM

only way would be transfer them to a computer wallet, then transfer your dat file . . .

Quote from: Unluckyduck on May 18, 2014, 06:05:29 AM

. . . You can use advanced options tab in blockchain . . .

Quote from: lda1000 on May 18, 2014, 07:19:08 PM

How about encrypting . . .

Quote from: ranlo on May 18, 2014, 07:42:36 PM

If you use a service like Coinbase . . .

Quote from: cookmac on May 18, 2014, 07:43:20 PM

. . . go on blockchain . . .

Quote from: cahirlet on May 19, 2014, 05:51:18 AM

Use wallets like myceilum . . .

At worst, a cold wallet is a wallet that is not and never has been accessible from the internet.

At best, a cold wallet:

Was generated with a source of randomness that is guaranteed to have at least 160 bits of entropy.
The private keys and addresses are calculated on an operating system that itself has never been connected to the internet.
No address that has value associated with it has ever received an output that has been spent.

Light

hero member

Activity: 742

Merit: 502

Circa 2010

Quote from: cahirlet on May 19, 2014, 05:51:18 AM

Use wallets like myceilum? They offer a cold storage spending option. Make sure your BIP38 passphrase is long enough and give one to your TRUSTED friend. If you happen to lose it, you can get it from your friend.

I'll stay away from phone wallets - I seem to hear about them having holes and attack vectors every other day. In the case of myself - I'm pretty happy with my set up of an air gapped computer running Electrum and a main computer connected to the internet to create txs from. And an encrypted version of the seed stored on paper and an encrypted version of the wallet on various USBs/personal dropbox with 2FA. It'd take a lot to get through that and steal my coins Wink

cahirlet

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Quote from: Light on May 19, 2014, 05:36:26 AM

Quote from: cookmac on May 18, 2014, 07:43:20 PM

Edit: How come blockchain isnt a good reliable source for cold storage? for paper wallets, I was actually considering this..

The problem with Blockchain/any online service is that if you somehow get your details stolen (ie from a keylogger/reusing passwords/not having 2FA enabled) they can quite easily log into the wallet there and steal everything. The only way around that would be to create the paper wallet and then delete the private key from the wallet.

I personally don't like paper wallets as a cold storage solution - sure they are pretty safe (please encrypt with BIP38 so if you lose one you don't have your coins stolen) but you can't actually make transactions without having to import the whole address again which is frustrating.

Use wallets like myceilum? They offer a cold storage spending option. Make sure your BIP38 passphrase is long enough and give one to your TRUSTED friend. If you happen to lose it, you can get it from your friend.

Light

hero member

Activity: 742

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Circa 2010

Quote from: cookmac on May 18, 2014, 07:43:20 PM

Edit: How come blockchain isnt a good reliable source for cold storage? for paper wallets, I was actually considering this..

The problem with Blockchain/any online service is that if you somehow get your details stolen (ie from a keylogger/reusing passwords/not having 2FA enabled) they can quite easily log into the wallet there and steal everything. The only way around that would be to create the paper wallet and then delete the private key from the wallet.

I personally don't like paper wallets as a cold storage solution - sure they are pretty safe (please encrypt with BIP38 so if you lose one you don't have your coins stolen) but you can't actually make transactions without having to import the whole address again which is frustrating.

beetcoin

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Quote from: BitcoinAwesomeMan on May 18, 2014, 02:57:23 AM

Looking to try cold storage, can anyone lead me to a "good" guide?

just look up a guide for electrum.. i found it to be the easiest. you can figure it out within a few hours. better than storing a .dat file, because you can check your balance on a read-only wallet.

ranlo

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Quote from: cookmac on May 18, 2014, 07:43:20 PM

You can use a paperwallet - go on blockchain which seems the easiest way to do.

Edit: How come blockchain isnt a good reliable source for cold storage? for paper wallets, I was actually considering this..

The reason for this is the same reason they'd likely recommend against Coinbase. A computer being connected to the Internet ONCE could mean it's already been infected. To have 100% safe cold storage you have to ensure the system the addresses are generated on have NEVER been online before (at least after being reformatted).

cookmac

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You can use a paperwallet - go on blockchain which seems the easiest way to do.

Edit: How come blockchain isnt a good reliable source for cold storage? for paper wallets, I was actually considering this..

ranlo

legendary

Activity: 1988

Merit: 1007

If you use a service like Coinbase, you can print out a cold storage voucher. Just store this paper somewhere. When you want to access the coins, you just scan the QR code (or input the private key) and you're good to go. That's a quick and easy (and pretty much automated) method.

lda1000

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How about encrypting your wallet and keeping the password encrypted on a USB drive?

Light

hero member

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Circa 2010

Quote from: BitcoinAwesomeMan on May 18, 2014, 03:21:40 AM

Thats all it takes, just saving your wallet.dat? Is there a way to cold store blockchain.info coins?

Oh lord, that's pretty much the exact opposite of cold storage. Don't use Blockchain if you're planning on running cold storage. To give you it simply:

1. Get a separate computer that is air gapped (Raspberry Pi's are good for this)
2. Install Electrum on your choice of Linux distro on your Pi
3. Get the Master Public Key from Electrum and copy it onto your main computer so you can view the balance without risking it getting stolen.
4. Create transactions on your comp connected to the net
5. Copy this tx to your offline Pi
6. Sign the tx with your offline Electrum
7. Bring it back to your main comp and broadcast.

ejinte

hero member

Activity: 644

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Look at this information:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Cold_storage

Here is another good guide from coindesk:
http://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-store-your-bitcoins/

Unluckyduck

sr. member

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It isn't really considered cold storage if the coins are left in an online site. You can use the advanced options tab in blockchain to obtain a copy of your wallet.dat encrypted or unencrypted, or alternatively you can just store your private key somewhere.

Malin Keshar

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Quote from: BitcoinAwesomeMan on May 18, 2014, 03:21:40 AM

Quote from: chennan on May 18, 2014, 03:05:03 AM

save wallet dat file to somewhere that doesn't connect to internet, such as hard drive or USB stick. Therefor, no one else got a chance to steal your wallet data.

Thats all it takes, just saving your wallet.dat? Is there a way to cold store blockchain.info coins?

only way would be transfer them to a computer wallet, then transfer your dat file(or the entire wallet) to some cold storage, like USB stick, some non-used hard drive, old notebook or some DVD.

Anything you do, don't do only 1 copy of your dat file, neither let it in your computer with internet acess

BitcoinAwesomeMan

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Quote from: chennan on May 18, 2014, 03:05:03 AM

save wallet dat file to somewhere that doesn't connect to internet, such as hard drive or USB stick. Therefor, no one else got a chance to steal your wallet data.

Thats all it takes, just saving your wallet.dat? Is there a way to cold store blockchain.info coins?

chennan

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save wallet dat file to somewhere that doesn't connect to internet, such as hard drive or USB stick. Therefor, no one else got a chance to steal your wallet data.

BitcoinAwesomeMan

newbie

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Merit: 0

Looking to try cold storage, can anyone lead me to a "good" guide?

Topic: Is there a guide to Cold Storing your Bitcoins? (Read 857 times)