Topic: What do you use your paper wallets for? (Read 1515 times)

Honestly, it has to do with how is the address generated and how the coins are spent. If you're generating it and spending it on a computer that hasn't been wiped, the risk could be more or less equal. Desktop wallets can be safe if you use linux and dont go to random sites.

As far as security goes - that really isn't much better than having your wallet permanently on your computer that is synced with the blockchain. You'd be far, far better off running a proper cold storage (i.e. Armory) and simply sign your TXs offline. Paper wallets are particularly designed for regular usage - that's why you keep a hot wallet - they are designed with the intention of securing your coins in a physical medium that is in most scenarios hacker-proof.

Honestly the best security has nothing to do with passwords at all, but instead just make sure that the keys never, ever touch the outside world.  Have an offline computer that never, ever goes online.  Then only load very trusted SW on it.  Use this offline machine to generate the paper wallet keys, and use it to print them.  To spend, a common approach is to boot a machine (preferably without a nic) using an Unbuntu disk, then side load bitcoin-qt and sign your cold wallet transaction, then only expose the signed transaction to the outside world.  You could even enforce multisig between two cold wallets to make the attack vector even more complex.

Highly technical, but infinitely secure.  Someone would have to infect the Unbuntu disk or infect the bitcoin-qt client before sideloading to gain access to your keys.  Once you start shuffling around thousands of dollars in BTC, this lunacy starts to make sense.

I just came back to read that article about 1Password. From what I gained, the attack happens through iCloud. I disabled iCloud completely on my Mac and use dropbox for 1Password backups. Do you think it'll be safe from that type of attack?

Damn... I'm not worried about anyone getting my usb password, since they can't use it unless they physically have it, but I have a ton of other passwords on their as well. I guess it's time to look for a better way to store passwords...

In reference to 1Password, check this out:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/06/serious-os-x-and-ios-flaws-let-hackers-steal-keychain-1password-contents/

What you have described sounds reasonable otherwise. Maybe not use computer software to store your passwords.
Also make sure you have a backup somewhere else, for your USBs.
I'll keep using paperwallets in the mean time..

Interesting. Would that be considered a multi signature wallet?

I just setup a wallet that I'm thinking is super-secure. Basically, I have Multibit and my wallet files/keys running off a usb drive. The drive is then encrypted using a piece of software called VeraCrypt. I'm thinking that this wallet is near impossible to crack. The password to the drive is ginormous and since Veracrypt takes about 10 seconds to verify the password is correct, it won't likely be bruteforce-able. The wallet is still easily accessible for me because I can get the usb drives password quickly using another app called 1Password.

It can't do much, just can store bitcoin just as simple as that. The difference with bitcoin wallet is that bitcoin wallet is online and it has a higher risk to get hacked but paper wallet you store it without having a risk at all. So if you got more bitcoin to store this paper wallet is the best. And it will hold your bitcoin so you wont spend it randomly for gambling 

for storing BTC, which I will not melt to dollars for next 10 years. also it is cool to hold bitcoin.) ahh, and for tipping others..

you can do whatever you want with your paper wallet. it is the same as any other bitcoin wallet with an address and a private key. but whenever you use your private key you risk your address.

http://www.secretservice.gov/money_illustrations.shtml
OK... nevermind....

I do NOT print them in USD denominations.
I do NOT print them on both sides
After printing, I take the the printer, the toner, all memory chips and all disk drives out to my back yard, soak them in gasoline and light them on fire.

There... happy?

I actually like to keep my paper wallets in USD denominations... seems silly perhaps, but easy on the math.

If the exchange is say $200 = 1BTC, then I make a few wallets with $10 USD graphic where each one has 0.025BTC.  Now when I need to spend say $80 in btc, I just grab 8 $10 (paper-wallet) bills.

Our minds are trained to treat dollars with reverence, so I leverage that with my BTC and feels about the same.

Main reason I like them, is SW is too transiant.  Imagine someone gave you a swiss bank account number with a million dollars in it, but the account number was in a 1980 wordstar file using some forgotten password protection scheme stored on a cassette tape.  You would be wishing for a simple printed piece of paper with the number at that point.

i find them good, for storing bitcoin, but you need a good paper, that don't start a reaction with air, or your paper wallet, will burn slowly, that yellow color is the paper burning, if you 've ever wondered about it, so they are not immune to the time, but they still last much longer than anything else

personally i think that paper wallets is a nice way to store your BTC, so in the end i think that ppl use it as a cold storage, you know, to store your BTC like your own personal bank , ofc you must laminate it and use high quality papers.

Paper wallets are much less likely to spoil unless you didn't laminate it or use high quality papers. USB drives and hard disk have a much failure rate than paper wallets. They are most ideal for use with cold storage but I use it daily since I have a mycelium app in my phone.

I use mine for long term storage, travel and gifts.
I've got a few for storage which is kind of like my savings. Because they're locked away somewhere I can't access them easily and therefore I don't spend them.
I have a few others that I use here and there. My Laptop has a lot of sensitive information on it and I don't like taking it with me everywhere I go. If I think I need some BTC when I go somewhere I'll make sure I can either access blockchain.info or bring a few paper wallets with small denominations with me.
To avoid your issue of having to import the whole wallet balance, I always make sure that my wallets never have more than a certain amount to prevent that problem from happening. If I need more than that amount then I'll use one of my higher denomination wallets or use multiple small ones.

i never using paper walet before but i heard that paper wallet save your bitcoin for secure (aka cold wallet) , and as a gift to actually i've been watched using paper wallet on youtube and i think that was awesome

Bitcoin paper wallet, it is generally used as a gift for a friend.

it is exactly what i'0m doing, best way indeed, but you need to be sure that your pc is clean, i guess that dust is there for this purpose, still it is better to add a virtual enviroment, to strengthen your security

only be aware of usb randomly undetected by the OS that can occur, sometime they appear to be detected and then when you copy the wallet.dat, you will get a good corruption...this gave me nightmare more than thieves....

When working with paper wallets you need more than one in order to use them effectively.

Following is an example of how I use them:

I create paper wallets A, B, C, D etc.... I then transfer my coins to wallet A and leave the others empty.
When I need funds I import paper wallet A into MyCelium on my phone and send the balance I do not need back to paper wallet B. So if paper wallet A for example has a balance of say 10 coins and I only need say 2 for the week I then keep 2 coins in MyCelium and transfer the balance of 8 coins to paper wallet B. Paper wallet A is never used again.

If I need funds again say the next week I do the same. I import paper wallet B and transfer the balance I do not need back to paper wallet C. So a paper wallet is only used once.

Any funds I'm to receive I have sent to my MyCelium wallet and whatever I do not need at that stage is sent to the paper wallet in use at that stage. So if you send me say 10 coins to my MyCelium wallet and I only need say 3 then the balance of 7 will be sent to the paper wallet that is in use at that stage.

By doing this you always keep the bulk of your coins in paper wallets and only what you need in a 'hot' wallet on your phone.

Important to remember: If you do this never give the paper wallet addresses out to anybody in order to receive funds. If you do this you might end up with funds being send to an 'old' used paper wallet. Always give out your 'hot' wallet address and then move what you do not need from there to your paper wallets.