Topic: some simple questions for a noob on site here.... (Read 286 times)

Once I have done this I am interested to buy a bit more bitcoin and then try buying some altcoins (suggestions on good ones would be
appreciated).

I don't want to buy any altcoins until I have got the hard wallet/BITKEY solution working with ordinary bitcoin.

People say that electrum can be used to buy and store altcoins but it seems that might not be as secure as BITKEY could be if I use it correctly.

I may be wrong here but people on the site can set me straight on this - I would appreciate this.

Cheers

Regards

Michael Fothergill

That was a very helpful tip. 

This is encouraging me to try downloading electrum and experimenting with it on e.g. my gentoo install.

I will also make a live distro of tails and try using that on the old PC I have as discussed above as well.

And, with the last hint, I will only buy the TREZOR key in a little while.

I am only dealing with small amounts of coins here. 

Regards

MF

Electrum is simple enough. You could make a wallet on an offline computer, have it generate the seed words (usually 12 words), you save that or write it down.

Electrum then also gives you what is called the Extended Public Key, so you can copy that over to an online wallet or online computer with another copy of Electrum, and that functions as your watch-only wallet.

I'm thinking you can figure out how to move transactions over to the offline wallet for signing if that was your original intent.

Many thanks for all the replies on this subject.  My way of discussing this is influenced by years of posting on linux distro user lists like
debian and gentoo etc.....

Thus I tend to think that something that is really good and inexpensive could be something that no one uses or knows much about etc.

The BITKEY thing is free as in beer as far as I can see and not commercially oriented much either.

Thus even though TREZOR does cost a little bit of money it is beginning to sound like a good idea now.

Sorry for harping on a bit.

Time to experiment with tails electrum, electrum clones for the altcoins and TREZOR.

Cheers

MF






 

I don't know if you're here to ask a question for help or just base on your tune of words seems you're advertising this service, which I just heard of. Too many reputed hardware wallets to start with, but not that one and will not recommend using it as first option, you can try ledger or/and trezor if you want more secure wallet for long term purposes.

Seriously, Its in your best interest not to make this overly complicated. I cringed reading your proposed method. Not saying it will happen to you but losing your stash is easy to do and remembering how to access it again years later can be difficult, or worse, a family member tosses it out after your passing. Don't be that guy, just keep things simple.  I'd highly suggest a trezor hardware wallet. You can get them for like $50 these days. You'll thank us later. Good luck!

If the amount is not high I think you should actually just go for an offline wallet, but if the number runs high then you should definitely use some offline source , unfortunately I haven't tried any and I think you should keep your private keys safe and first of all read reviews on the Google, check the website credibility and talk with people who have actually tried it.
Best option right now would be release them into an offline wallet and then transfer them into one more secure place because it might take time .

There are electrum clones that support some altcoins. I saw an LTC version and there's a BCH electrum.
I use coinomi to hold my altcoins. You can install it on your phone and be able to access it at any moment.

Try Ledger nano S. It's an inexpensive hardware wallet that supports more than 30 tokens.

I don't know any Bitcoin card providers but there are accounts that combine crypto and fiat together. You can send both fiat and crypto to these accounts and use a credit card that will convert your crypto into desired fiat in real time and pay the fiat bill. Check out bitwala or revolut. Some crypto exchanges also issue their own credit cards.

Many thanks for the suggestions and advice on this.  BITKEY is also a distribution of Debian that was designed with cold storage in mind.

See here:

https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=bitkey

https://bitkey.io/

plus usage videos:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm0NkC9RVTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR0ip9k-r7Y

and also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjbDNX87Onk

This site has a section in it that compares TREZOR and BITKEY:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet

TREZOR protects against what are termed keyloggers.

BITKEY would not protect against what is termed a hardware keylogger, and not against extortionists.
Apparently you would be storing an unsigned check using it.

If I understand it correctly, Electrum can only trade in bitcoin.  Is that correct?  If so how does
one buy and store altcoins?

I think TREZOR can store some but not all altcoins.  There seem to be a large number of them.

Is there an equivalent of a credit card that exists in the bitcoin world?  Would the interest rate be lower
than conventional banks charge?

I think I need to experiment with different methods and learn as I go along here.

Regards

MF

I don't know what that BITKEY is, but Electrum and a piece of paper and pen is the safest when done right. Is this Bitkey Free and Open Source software? Else don't bring the word secure here, as the Electrum method only involves FOSS.

You download a secure OS like Tails, and boot that from DVD in your computer (which doesn't even need a hard drive), then you make a wallet with Electrum there, write with your own hands the seed words in a piece of paper, secure this paper. Print/email whatever your public addresses and turn off the PC. Its done, a cold wallet as best as it can be. You should do a copy with your own hands of that paper into yet another one, and secure both in different physical places. Remember to keep those papers safe, and be creative finding better ways to hide those words in plain sight (Mark words in a book, etc).

I don't know if there are Youtube videos of the Electrum method (there probably are), but it has been written in this forum plenty of times.

So start getting Tails and boot that in the old pc. Disconnect the Hard Drive if it has one. You can also do it all in that pc disconnected from the network, but it involves one extra step done in a connected pc.

Why Tails and not other secure alternatives? If you are good with Linux/BSD, you can also use your favorite distro. Tails is simply Debian configured to use Tor by default. Of course you can do that on your favorite distro, live or not. Live would be preferred for the most paranoid, as turning the PC off erases all traces.

---

No, it is important to practice with insignificant amounts, especially the creation, and later handling of cold wallets, BEFORE you actually need them. In fact, there is nothing wrong with creating a safe cold wallet and never depositing anything significant to it, but you already tested it and know the ropes...

A cold wallet does not need hardware beyond the creation phase, and later when you actually need to move the funds. Your "hardware" is that piece of paper with 12 words written into it...

What I understand, you want to transfer your bitcoins in an offline  cold storage! Even though I didn't use bitkey ever, but I already see few threads about bitkey.io...See below,

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitkeyio-how-safe-and-legit-they-are-1165764

Cold storage only makes sense if you are planning to hold an exorbitant amount of bitcoin. Otherwise, you can simply use Electrum wallet. There are other options like trezor or ledger nano S also available in the market with proven track record.

Frankly, bitkey.io didn't see much success! They hardly exists!

Dear All,

I bought a small amount of bitcoin about year it two ago at the peak of the price spike.

I realised it was an opportunity much earlier but could afford to buy any.

I used coinbase to make the purchase.

My aims at present are humble and I will listen patiently and attentively to any advice you can give me on the site here.

I want to take a little of the bitcoin and use some software called BITKEY to make an airgap type store of it on a usb stick (I think that is
what you are meant to do using an old PC I have that I don't need to use for any serious purpose.  I can keep it disconnected from the
internet when using it. 

I will run the BITKEY OS from a DVD and follow the instructions on the useful youtube videos to move the bitcoin from coinbase to the usb stick.

Any suggestions or comments you have about doing this or any other alternative suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Once I have done this I am interested to buy a bit more bitcoin and then try buying some altcoins (suggestions on good ones would be
appreciated).

I don't want to buy any altcoins until I have got the hard wallet/BITKEY solution working with ordinary bitcoin.

People say that electrum can be used to buy and store altcoins but it seems that might not be as secure as BITKEY could be if I use it correctly.

I may be wrong here but people on the site can set me straight on this - I would appreciate this.

Cheers

Regards

Michael Fothergill