How to set up a Bitcoin cold storage wallet | How Do Bitcoin and Crypto Work? | Get Started with Bitcoin.com

adminSeptember 2, 2022

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YOU ARE READING: How to set up a Bitcoin cold storage wallet | How Do Bitcoin and Crypto Work? | Get Started with Bitcoin.com AT en.noithatvietphat.vn

starting

Before you dive into the process, you may be wondering “what is cold storage?” In simple terms, cold storage refers to keeping your bitcoin completely offline. Although “hot” (online) wallets like the bitcoin.com wallet are perfectly secure, as well as being very convenient for everyday use, including trading, cold storage wallets, because they never touch the internet, provide an even safer method for simple, long-term storage. they are also a unique way to give bitcoins as a gift.

read more: get an overview of the different types of bitcoin wallet, how to create them and their respective pros &; cons.

Reading: Offline bitcoin wallet

generate a private/public key pair

The first step to cold storage your bitcoin is to create an offline bitcoin address. this address will have a “public/private key pair” that is created without touching the internet. A public/private key pair can be thought of as an email address and its corresponding password. To ensure the highest level of security, it is important that this key pair is never exposed to the internet.

read more: get clarity on key terms like public & private keys, transaction inputs & departures, confirmation times, and more.

Setting up your cold storage paper wallet is fairly simple and requires very little technical knowledge. the only “hard” part is that to make sure your paper wallet’s public and private keys have never touched the internet, you’ll need to save the webpage that generates the keys, disconnect your device from the internet, open the saved webpage on your desktop, then generate the keys.

for bitcoin (btc), we recommend this wallet generation tool.

for bitcoin cash (bch), we recommend this wallet generation tool.

printing the page

The step is to make an offline copy. it will then use the public key (also known as the address) to load your wallet with bitcoins and the private key (also known as the password) to sign transactions if you wish to spend the contents of the wallet.

To make an offline copy, simply print the public/private key pair. actually, you could just write the key pair on a piece of paper. however, as long as you’re sure your printer and computer are disconnected from the internet, it’s perfectly safe to hit the print button (thereby avoiding the possibility of human error typing in dozens of randomly generated numbers and letters).

Congratulations, the hard part is over! You have now created an offline bitcoin address and made a hard copy locally for safekeeping. you can now safely reconnect to the internet.

On the printed page there must be the public bitcoin address both in alphanumeric form and in the form of a qr code with the corresponding private key, also in alphanumeric form and in the form of a qr code. If you plan to store a large amount of value in this wallet, we recommend that you store the paper wallet in a safe place, such as a fireproof safe. if there isn’t much in it, you can think of the paper wallet as, say, a $20 bill (this is what makes it a fun way to give away some bitcoin).

how does this work?

The tools recommended above are client-side address generators. they create public and private bitcoin key pairs locally through your browser. the benefit of this technique is that you can load the javascript locally and trust that the javascript didn’t change after it was loaded. the tools are open source, which means the code can be reviewed at any time.

add funds to your cold storage wallet

since your new paper wallet has a public address just like any other bitcoin wallet, loading it with bitcoin is a simple matter of sending bitcoin to the address displayed in both alphanumeric and qr code format on the printed wallet.

redeem bitcoin from cold storage

When you’re ready to spend from your cold storage wallet, you’ll need to import the wallet’s private key into a bitcoin wallet that connects to the internet (a “live” wallet). any wallet that supports importing private keys will work. for example, with the bitcoin.com wallet, just tap add/import and follow the instructions.

once you have successfully imported your paper wallet into your “active” wallet, all funds previously sent to the paper wallet are now ready to spend.

note: never reuse cold storage wallets. once you’ve redeemed them online, follow the process outlined above to create a new one when needed.

Looking for ways to spend your bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies? Check out our interactive map, which lists places to spend bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and ether. You can also find a list of merchants, sorted by industry, that accept bitcoin and bitcoin cash here.