Get to know paper wallets, one of the simplest and safest ways to create a crypto wallet or purse capable of providing you with a level of security that few options can offer you.
Las paper wallet are one of the Cold wallets more famous and easier to do. These types of wallets provide a higher level of security compared to other wallets because they provide storage, disconnected from the internet. So they allow us to safeguard and protect our private keys much more securely, if done correctly.
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What are Paper Wallets?
In this printed paper purse containing the private keys and directions to manage cryptocurrencies, . They were very popular during 2011 with the rise of Bitcoinbecause they offer a level of security offline y cold storage, so they are not prone to cyber theft; and obviously, they are not prone to virus and malware attacks either, since it is a piece of paper.
Paper wallets are ideal for the storage and safekeeping of funds that will not be used or moved in a long time. Thus, they can be used as a store of value and savings. However, you must know in detail how they work and how to manage them so as not to make mistakes that could affect the integrity of our funds.
These types of purses are very easy to create. You must access a paper wallet generator and generate a private key. Once this, the option to print paper wallet is chosen and how many backup copies you want. It is important to mention that these wallets can be encrypted before being printed, which provides greater protection.
But it is also important to clarify that the concept "paper wallet" can be extrapolated to other materials, not just paper. For example, you can generate the seed with the security measures explained above and, instead of printing it on paper, engrave it on a long-lasting metal plate.
Characteristics of paper wallets
- Provides excellent protection against hackers as printed paper contains the private key that gives you ownership of your assets.
- They allow the cold storage, since they do not need to be constantly connected to the blockchain or internet services.
- They are ideal for storage of large amounts of money; although the necessary provisions must be taken for the safeguarding and protection of the same.
- They can only be loaded or send funds to the paper wallet. And when you want to use these funds, you must import the private key into software to access them and spend them.
- Generating a paper wallet is a really simple and quick process to do. It only takes a few minutes to create your wallet and the generators explain and point out the process step by step.
- The balance contained in a paper wallet can be verified in the block explorer. All you have to do is enter the public address or scan the wallet's QR code.
Recommendations for use
These general recommendations will help you generate a much more secure paper wallet. Of course you can go further, but these recommendations followed correctly will help you have an ultra secure paper wallet in 99,99% of cases.
- Always consider your paper wallet as cash. Take the necessary precautions to care for and protect your wallet.
- When running a paper wallet generator, do it No internet connection. This way you will not risk a third party intercepting your passwords and stealing your money.
- Make sure your equipment is clean from viruses and malware. Also verify that you do not have browser extensions that could compromise your privacy.
- Use a totally clean operating system installation. For this you can use the Linux distribution Tails (with every restart everything is erased completely)
- When generating your paper wallet, do not do it in front of other people or cameras.
- It is important to make a private key backup and store it in a safe and secure place.
- Never back up your keys digitally.
- When you print your paper wallet, do it from one trusted printer. Never use a printer with shared or wireless connection. And make sure that the document saved in the printer or in the printer's print queue has not been left. This is usually a very typical hacking point.
- Print your paper wallet on a security paper and if possible laminate it. This will ensure that your wallet is protected and will not be affected by external agents such as water, among others.
- Store your wallet in a safe or in a safe place that only you can access.
- When changing your cryptocurrencies, import your private keys into a wallet software. Thus, you can send the full balance of your paper wallet to a deterministic wallet.
- Please note when importing your private key to a customer P2P and make use of your funds, your key will be grouped with other private keys in the P2P client wallet. Thus, when you make a transaction, your change will be sent to another bitcoin address within the P2P client portfolio. So you should back up the P2P client wallet and keep it safe. Since the remaining cryptocurrencies will be stored there and not in your return paper wallet.
Bit2Me Wallet, the perfect match for your paper wallet
A paper wallet is perfect for safeguarding your funds in a totally secure way. However, making use of them to make payments is perhaps one of the most complex tasks in the world of cryptocurrencies. That is why if we want to make this type of payments we must use another wallet and Bit2Me Wallet it's perfect for it.
On the one hand, Bit2Me Wallet allows you to manage your cryptocurrency portfolios easily, and if you need to save money, you can send funds to the address of your paper wallet. This way you will always have most of your funds under protection and they will only be accessible if you carry out the process of creating a transaction manually. In this way, Bit2Me Wallet and your paper wallet become the perfect couple to manage your cryptocurrencies. The first, giving you flexibility and simplicity when managing your cryptos on a day-to-day basis, and the second, ensuring that your funds are safe.
Ways to create your paper wallets
As we mentioned at the beginning, they became very popular in 2011 with the rise of Bitcoin. Users required them to safeguard their funds from piracy present on the Internet, so they entered a generator and created them. But currently, there are even ATMs that are used to issue them in the event that a user does not have a wallet.
Let's see which are the most popular paper wallets on the market the services they offer.
BitAddress
This site offers a generator for Bitcoin wallets written in the JavaScript language. They are open source and can be printed from a laser or injection printer.
All JavaScript code is integrated into the official website, so the HTML file on the website can be saved and copied to a computer disconnected from any network. This is because an Internet connection represents a greater danger and there is the possibility that there are viruses or malware that can spy on the generated addresses and private keys.
The public and private keys generated through BitAddress, together with the addresses, allow the receipt of funds. Which can be spent later importing the private key to some other deterministic wallet.
Bitcoin.com
Provides offline, safe and efficient cold storage. The key generator Bitcoin.com It is based on Bitaddress.org, which we mentioned earlier, and allows you to generate a paper wallet quickly and safely. It uses the user's browser to generate the wallet, and no data is transmitted to Bitcoin.com's servers or the internet.
Walletgenerator.net
walletgenerator it is another way to generate paper wallets. This generates a pair of private and public keys and random open source public addresses. Just like BitAddress uses the JavaScript engine of your browser, so no keys are sent over the Internet or the server. On the generator page, the step by step is specified to generate a paper wallet with total security. And like the previous ones, it is recommended to download the HTML file on your computer and run it without any internet connection.