Topic: Where do i buy bitcoin to store on a usb (Read 234 times)

Unfortunately a seed on a paper can be easily spotted as a seed from a crypto wallet by anyone finding a paper like that nowadays. And you can't be sure that no one will ever find it wherever you are hiding it. So it's better to use a seed with a passphrase, to encrypt your seed or to use a split seed when you do that. Hence your funds will stay safe if someone finds the paper but doesn't know the passphrase or has no other share of the split seed.

Not at all. There are ways to buy btc and get them directly to your wallet. For example, the same exchangers.

Do you want to buy bitcoin and save on usb? It seems that you should study the topic of cryptocurrencies in more depth, because you misunderstand how they work. In fact, it is impossible to own crypto and store them on a USB flash drive. Theoretically, you can store private keys and seed-phrases on a USB flash drive, but in fact this is not a very reasonable solution. Because this is not a reliable way due to their frequent failure. As a last resort, if you want it via USB, then you can use the hard drive option. But I would recommend that you take some time to read the info on the forum, which will allow you to use the best solution for you.

You are right Azhari, even if USB flash ended up going bad or something, the user still has the recovery seed and that's all that matters, the difference between USB flash and hardware wallet is just the security, as a hardware wallet user you still have to keep your keys very safe too, I haven't heard about this Tails OS but I have seen a friend installing some tiny Linux OS on USB Drive and keeping his wallet in the OS running Electrum Linux Appimage.

You can use Electrum wallet (Portable version) but there is security risk and advice. Electrum team noted it at their Download page.

If you simply use an USB to store your wallet but plug it in an infected computer, that is terrible. Let's read that topic and use Tail OS.

How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose.

Last but not least, your USB can be broken technically and if you don't have other backups, you will lose your wallet, your bitcoin. Having other backups in other USBs are good but not enough. Better if you have other backup formats like paper.

I don't think this is an issue here, if you are afraid about the physical health of your USB drive or hardware wallets, then the solution here is always to have a backup somewhere else so just incase whatever happens like it will be lost or broken over the time, you have a backup.
You can have multiple backups offline but make sure also you are aware that these offline backups are safe also from some situations like natural calamities.

Hardware wallet is more expensive than a USB drive, but if the user is very careful to treat that, 10 years and more is safe with a very high quality drive.

I have a friend who saves his bitcoin on USB drive called Tails OS (electrum wallet). It's not problem, his bitcoin is still there after 5 years. maybe not many, just under nine hundred thousand satoshis, but this shows us the USB drive is safe, just don't put in a lot of satoshis to maybe happen human error in the future

If you want to buy some bitcoin why not go to an exchange and buy some and also another thing why you will store in a USB if you can afford to have a hardware wallet it's more secure because every time you make a login and transaction, it will prompt the authentication first in your hardware so you don't need to get bothered with the hackers unless you store your seed phrase online.

That is some worst idea, if anyone things about to store bitcoin on a flash drive/USB drive. Virus attacks a flash drive very often, flash drives are very risky to store files, lets forget about hacking, flash drives stops working after a few months. So it is not a good idea to store bitcoin in a flash drive.

Electrum is one of the safest option if you had no money to buy a hard-wallet. At least it is far better option to keep bitcoin in electrum wallet rather than keeping them on a exchange. 

Buy a Hardware wallet, using a USB flash drive to store your Bitcoin is very risky, the USB flash might stop working after some months even if you don't use at all, and they easily get corrupted too, another big headache is zero security of USB, plug into a PC and virus take the best of the USB flash.

If you don't have money for a hardware wallet, download electrum wallet online and write down the recovery phrase, the recovery phrase is your security key, keep it privately, it is meant for the user only.

Note: if someone managed to get your recovery seed they can easily import into about Bitcoin wallet and move out your funds.

Yes. The only way you can protect from computer being infected is with a hardware wallet that has a secure chip set. I will try to keep it simple for you but I think you meant hardware wallet when you said usb wallet. Hardware wallets connect over the usb cable but they are not normal usb. They are products that are developed to allow people to use their wallet online but without compromising their device with a normal usb you would compromise your usb as soon as you plug it into a infected computer with a hardware wallet it does not allow writing to the device and only allows reading but it has other features too.

When you 1st use a hardware wallet you will create a seed which you need to back up physically and store it in a safe place. This can never touch a online device and should never be revealed to any one else. Keep this in your vault or safe deposit box at home. Then you will create a PIN number but this pin number is handled on the device. When you enter your pin you will not enter it on the device but on your computer it will pop up showing your buttons but the actual numbers will be obfuscated on your computer but will show on your hardware wallet. This is what stops people compromising your hardware wallet when your computer is compromised. Instead they just see you clicking blank buttons. When you enter the correct pin the hardware wallet will send a token to the computer without revealing your pin number but will tell it there was a successful pin

Hardware wallets should be stored safely at home because there has been examples of people breaking into hardware wallets when attacking physically but online and stored safely they are probably the best option for new people.   

You seem to be new to crypto. If that's the case I suggest reading more on how to secure your seeds/private key/whatever you end up using later before you buy a hardware wallet or something similar. Those devices are not a shortcut to magically protect your BTC forever, you need to understand how to use them and their drawbacks. For example, even if you use a hardware wallet but store your seed on the cloud/unsecured computer, you can still lose money. If at the end of the day, you can only use your computer to store crypto for whatever reason, you should focus on increasing the security of your computer with better security practices.

Please don't rely on an exchange to store your crypto. They are not invulnerable to hacks either. Not to mention you don't control the seeds/private key required to spend your coins, and they can ban/close your account anytime they wanted to. Don't allow another FTX or scam exchange to come again if you really want to own your BTC. Stop relying on a third party if you want to store your cryptocurrency. I'd say if you really need a hot wallet and you can't find an app that is flexible enough for your purpose then using a closed-source wallet is slightly better compared to using an exchange. That being said, you should move your funds/switch asap to an open-source wallet. CMIIW.

Use a Linux computer that is not connected to the internet, and to broadcast transactions from it, export the transaction hashes from it using QR codes + a camera, or if you want, clean USB sticks that are known to not be infected with malware.


...You mean the distant (1 year+) future. It's not a good idea to burn through a hardware wallet if it will severely hurt your finances.

Do keep in mind that is $550 now can easily be $1,000 or more in the future. Make sure your storage solution is also suited in a longer term, not just for this moment in time.
The cheapest recommendable hardware wallet is probably still the original Trezor Model One. Do keep in mind that it comes at the cost of being susceptible to hardware attacks, so make sure nobody gets access to it. On the other hand, such attacks aren't worth it for $500 or $1,000...

General recommendation, since you seem to be new to this topic: operational security should be your best friend. If nobody knows about your BTC, nobody will go searching for it, either.

Yes. That is why you want a separate device for your key storage (i.e. a hardware wallet).

Cheapest, yes. Easiest, I doubt it. Definitely easiest way for a newbie to lose his money, that's for sure..

There isn't any cheap hardware wallet but among them, we may call cheap to Trezor Model One and Ledger Nano S Plus. Btw trezor needs USB cable (It comes with that).

If you think that you can't ensure security of your device, then invest in hardware wallets without hesitation. If you are going to hold bitcoins and add even more, doesn't matter frequently or occasionally, invest in HW!
Otherwise, if you want to use it as hot wallet, you can even open an exchange account, for instance on Binance and activate 2FA for authorization, for adding crypto addresses into list and for making transactions.
If your device gets hacked and you are afraid that someone will steal or even delete your crypto wallet and you don't think that you'll manage to safely keep private keys, then use exchanges but only as a hot wallet!
Hot wallet means the one that is meant for frequent use and not for long-term holding.

Your best bet would be to use an old pc or any device for storing your coins  where you dont ping pong much with it. Its not as easy to hack anyone's wallet as ppl assume. Unless you dont download a random malware or giveout your own seed to a phishing site (who give some fake promises to you) , you wont get hacked.
Paper wallet (as someone above suggested) is recommended if you dont want to spend your coins for a long time.

Just use a paper wallet. Keep multiple copies in different places. And encrypt it in some way you remember so that its not the plain text keys on the paper - so nobody can access your Bitcoin if they get ahold of the paper wallet.

Easiest and cheapest way to secure your money. Much safer and more secure and better than a USB, much cheap and easier and maybe safer as well than a hardware wallet.

And remember OP, you aren't actually storing the Bitcoin on the USB (or whatever you use), you're just storing the keys that let you access it. So even if you were to use a USB you would want to back that up with other things so that you aren't relying on just a USB. Just like if you stored your money in a vault and the only way to get into the vault was with a key and otherwise it was impossible you wouldn't want to rely on just that one key and never losing the key or breaking it or whatever.

What if someone hacks my computer can they steal the btc?

Ah, so since your portfolio value is quite small, I would say you should better use a self-custodial wallet like electrum (remember to write down your seed phrase and keep it in a secure place). Never store your seedphrase in your computer like in your mail or messenger.

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Once you generate enough money to keep a big chunk of BTC in your wallet, then you can opt to buy a hardware wallet. Most hardware wallets cost between 60-100$ depending on the country.

Youch, I have under 550 dollars of btc and I want a cheap way to store my btc is there any cheap hardware wallets u recommend?

I recommend you to use Bisq. Exchange, Decentralized.
It is the only fully decentralized, non-custodial, no-KYC exchange I know of and it's been delivering great service for years so far. It has a built-in wallet - fully stored on your PC; nobody else has access to your funds.

If you want to be safer than that, consider looking into Open-Source Hardware Wallets and AirGapped Hardware Wallets. There are also various threads in the Hardware Wallet section where people asked which one to buy and contain lots of recommendations and explanations. Just have a look around.

I'm personally mostly using the Passport Batch 2. Definitely recommend against just using a USB flash drive. They typically have no security measures and are not made for long-term storage. And whatever you do, create a few seed phrase backups. A cheap and long-term secure way to do that is using steel washers.