bitcoin_usb_wallet

How To Store Bitcoin On USB Stick

Learn how to store bitcoins on a USB stick.

Storing bitcoins on a USB stick is not as straight forward as storing regular data. Bitcoin private keys are secret codes and storing them on a regular USB stick leaves them at risk of theft if someone were to physically discover the USB.

Luckily, entrepreneurs have created unique solutions that allow Bitcoin users to store coins on USB sticks or similar devices. The rest of this post will run through your options for storing bitcoins on these devices.

Ledger Nano

The Ledger Nano is a smartcard based Bitcoin hardware wallet. It stores Bitcoin private keys and signs transactions in its secure environment. It is not a traditional USB stick, but rather requires a software wallet to provide an interface to interact with the wallet’s keys.

The Nano costs about $30 and is a portable, secure solution for storing bitcoins on a USB device.

Ledger HW.1

The Ledger HW.1 is a dimmed down version of the Ledger Nano. It costs about $17.

The OpenDime is a new Bitcoin hardware device that was released in April 2016. It calls itself the “First Bitcoin Bearer Bond”.

The OpenDime is unique because it stores just a single private key. It acts like a read-only USB device and contains just one address. It is meant to be passed along and used as cash.

The main downside to OpenDime is that it contains just a single address. Because address re-use is harmful to privacy, users who plan to transaction often should look for other alternatives.

Encrypted USB Stick

One creative option is to create a Bitcoin paper wallet. Instead of printing the paper wallet’s private keys, they can be saved on an encrypted USB stick.

You can read this guide and follow steps 1-5 to create a secure paper wallet. Instead of printing in step 6, just save to an encrypted USB. Just make sure this is done on an offline computer!

An encrypted USB stick like the Kingston Digital DataTraveler 4000 sells for $28 on Amazon.

Transcript - How To Store Bitcoin On USB Stick

Hello and welcome to my video where I’m going to show you how to create a simple and secure USB Bitcoin wallet. We’re going to create this USB Bitcoin wallet using MultiBit. MultiBit is a free open source program that’s available for Mac, PC and Linux and we’re going to create this wallet offline which is very important since malware and or potential hackers would need to access your computer through the Internet in order to steal your money. So, by doing all this offline we can really lower the chances of getting hacked. Now I want to make a quick side note. I am using a PC running Windows, but if you need instructions for a Mac or Linux there’s a link in the video description for that. So, let’s get started.

The very first thing we’re going to do is download the MultiBit wallet. And we can do that just simply by going to multibit.org. Please take note of the https. That’s for secure connections and we can download the MultiBit wallet from the right hand side. I’ve already done that. Here it is. The next thing we’re going to do is we’re going to plug in our USB drives. So, I have my USB drive I’m going to plug it in right now. After we plug in our USB drive we’re going to run the installer. And we’re going to install MultiBit. We’re going to go through this wizard here, next, next, accept the terms, next. But instead of installing it in C program files we’re going to click on browse and we’re going to install it in our USB drive. So, here’s my USB drive, USB Disk E. I’ll just click on that as you can see it’s completely empty yours should be too. I don’t recommend using this USB drive for anything else but this. And we’re going to just click on save and we’re going to click on next. The directory already exist that’s okay. We can click on yes. Keep everything the same, next. And that should be it. It’s finished, next and we can click on done.

Now here’s a little shortcut that popped up. It’s kind of irrelevant, we could click on it. I’m going to just delete it. And I’m going to manually navigate to my USB disk and here’s mine. Just click on my computer USB Disk E and here is our MultiBit installation. Now there’s one quick thing that we need to do in order to run MultiBit locally on this USB and that’s right click anywhere in this folder. Click on new, text document and we’re going to delete everything, even the TXT part and we’re going to type this in multibit.properties. And I made a typo. No, I didn’t. MultiBit properties. Click on enter and we’re going to get a little dialog box “are you sure you want to change it”. I’m going to click on yes. And that’s going to allow us to run MultiBit locally.

So now that we’ve done that let’s go ahead and run MultiBit. And that’s going to be this exe file here. We can just double click on that and that’s going to launch MultiBit. Now MultiBit is going to attempt to sync with the network and I’m connected to the Internet right now and I think it’s a good idea to sync MultiBit with the network. Let it completely sync and once it’s completed syncing it’s going to say online, synchronized with network. Now we’re going to close MultiBit and we’re going to unplug our USB drive from our computer safely. And we do that by clicking on this little white arrow, right clicking on the USB and we’re going to eject the USB storage device. Now it’s safe to remove this USB storage device I’m going to unplug it.

Now I’m going to disconnect from the internet and I can do that just by unplugging the cable or turning the switch on my laptop from my wireless card from on to off. You can also right click on the network icon down here in the bottom right, right click, open network and sharing centers, change adapter settings. And we can right click on our wireless adapter or our local area connection and we can click on disable and that’s going to disconnect us from the Internet. Now it’s important that we disconnect ourselves from the internet before we restart our computer. Often there are programs that will start with your computer and connect to the Internet immediately. So, we don’t want that to happen before we can disconnect. So, we’re going to disconnect from the Internet. Now let’s restart our computer and when we do we’ll still be disconnected from the Internet.

Okay, now that we’ve plugged in our USB back into our computer we’re going to navigate to our USB drive. So, here’s my USB drive right here. Once again we’re just going to double click on the multibit.exe file. That’s going to launch MultiBit. Now it’s not going to be able to connect to the network, but that’s okay. We can still create a new wallet. So, let’s click on new wallet and we’re going to create a new wallet. Let’s call this my USB wallet. And I’m not going to save this in my documents and I’m not going to save this on my computer. I’m going to save it in my USB drive because that’s what I’m going to be removing.

So let’s make sure that we click on our USB drive where we installed MultiBit. Click on save. Now it’s going to generate a new wallet for us. Now that we’ve created a new wallet we need to password protect it. So, let’s do that by clicking on file, add a password. And we can just type in a password here. Now this is the most important part of the tutorial because the password is the only way somebody could hack and get the coins. So, it’s up to you to use a password that has never been used for anything else before and is at least ten characters long and it contains uppercase and lowercase letters. It contains numbers and symbols.

So just to give you an idea this is an example of a strong password. So, you’re going to want to write that password down because if you lose the password you’re going to lose all the money in your wallet. There is no forgot password link or anything like that. There’s no way to get the money back. That’s just the way Bitcoin works. So, make sure you write the password down and keep that safe. After we add a password, we can click on add password to wallet and it’ll change this icon here to a lock. And so now we’ve got a password and we’ve encrypted our wallet. So, even if somebody were to get one of our USBs and get our private keys to our wallet they still can’t get the funds because they don’t know the pass phrase. And so that’s why we want to make it as difficult as possible to guess, to hack and we don’t want to store it with the USB drive. So we’ve added a password. Now let’s click on the request tab and let’s create a few new public addresses.

So we’ll need to enter in our password to do this and let’s create five receiving addresses. These are public addresses. Click on create new and it’s going to generate five new addresses for us. Click on cancel. So, these addresses here – this is how you could send money to the wallet. That’s the only thing that these addresses could be used for and you could click on one of these addresses and you could go over here and click on this magnifying glass and you could take this QR code and you could put it anywhere. You could put it on a website and you could say “hey, we’re accepting donations” or “we’re accepting payments” and what have you and people can use this QR code to send money to the wallet.

So now that we have some addresses we’re going to close MultiBit and I’m going to actually safely eject my USB drive. Right click, eject. And now I have my wallet on my USB drive in my hand. It’s in my hand right now and I made it offline. And so I could now send money using any of those public addresses that I just created to the USB stick that’s in my hand. This USB stick doesn’t need to actually be anywhere for me to receive the funds. So, let’s just do a little test. Let’s take it a step further. Let’s pretend that somebody or ourselves wanted to send money into this wallet. So, I’m going to send 50 cents into the USB stick that’s in my hand. And so we’re going to check that. Okay. So, I’ve just sent 50 cents to my USB Bitcoin wallet using one of those public addresses that we created. And now let’s go ahead and pretend that we want to send the money now out of our USB wallet. So, we’re going to need to connect to the Internet to do this. So, let’s just say this is even a completely different computer and this is a week or month later.

So we’re on a different computer and this computer that we’re on is going to have Internet so let’s re-enable the Internet here. Okay. We’ve re-enabled the Internet and now let’s reconnect our USB Bitcoin wallet. There we go. Okay. So, now it’s time to retrieve the funds from our wallet and we’re going to send them out of the wallet. And we can do that by opening up the USB. There it is right there. Here’s the shortcut multibit.exe, we’re going to just launch that. And because we’re connected to the Internet we’re going to be able to synchronize to the network. And you can see that the money is already in here. So, the second that we’re able to connect to the Internet the money will appear in our wallet and that’s really all we need to do. Now we can just simply send the 50 cents to another address and we can do that just by pasting a Bitcoin address in this field and then clicking on send and that’s how we would send the money out of the wallet.

Now there’s also something that you could do is check the contents of the wallet. So, let’s just say you have – you’re not sure how much money is in the wallet. You know, people or yourself have been sending money to the USB wallet and you’re not sure how much is in it. You could always just take one of your addresses and you could just copy it and you can head over to blockchain.info. Once again please take note of the https and just take your public addresses and you can paste them or type them and we can just search and we can see how many transactions and for how much.

So you can see that no transactions have been made with the address that I just punched in. But I have six. So, which address did I just use? Well, you know, to be honest I don’t remember so if I wanted to I could just simply copy each of these until I find the one that I just used which is this one. And you can see that it just had one transaction, total received 50 cents. So, this is a way to check how much money is in your USB Bitcoin wallet without having to plug in your wallet and sync to the internet. So, I just wanted to point that out. I created six addresses right here. You could use one. But that’s how you could check the balance of your wallet without actually needing the USB device.

So also I just wanted to make one final note. You should back up your USB drive so that if anything happens to it you have a second or third or even a fourth backup copy of your USB drive that you can fall back on and use to recover your funds. So, to do that you would just simply plug your USB drive into your computer and you would just copy the contents, right click, copy and then you would paste them into a fresh second USB drive. So, I just wanted to point that out and it’s very important to do that as well. Okay. That’s how you create a USB Bitcoin wallet and that’s fairly secure and we made it offline. So, I hope you enjoyed the video. I hope you are able to follow along. If you have any questions or comments like always please feel free to leave a comment. And yes, thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.

Bitcoin Swiss Army Knife in a verifiably secure self-contained Live CD/USB. Supports air-gapped Bitcoin transactions. Makes offline cold storage (slightly more) practical.

What's BitKey?

BitKey is a bootable system image based on Debian containing everything you need to perform highly secure air-gapped Bitcoin transactions. You don't need to install it to a hard drive because it runs live from RAM. You just write the ISO image to a USB drive or burn it to CDROM.

Under the hood it contains a swiss army knife of handy Bitcoin tools that support a wide range of usage models, including a few very secure ones which would otherwise be difficult to perform. We created BitKey because we wanted something like it for our own use.

We're avid Bitcoin fans but after going to our first local Bitcoin meetup we discovered the elephant in the room was that there was no easy way to perform cold storage Bitcoin transactions where the wallet lives on an air-gapped system physically disconnected from the Internet.

The idea was to see if we could use the TurnKey GNU/Linux build system to create a self-contained read-only CD/USB stick with everything you need to perform Bitcoin transactions with as much security as you wanted - including highly secure air-gapped Bitcoin transactions.

How do I use BitKey?

How secure are air-gapped systems?

It depends! Air-gapped systems raise the bar because they are physically prevented from communicating with the Internet. That prevents an attacker that doesn't have physical access from actively attacking the computer and/or remote controlling it.

But like all other security measures air-gaps are no silver bullet, especially when you don't trust the system behind the air-gap. There are many ways an evil air-gapped system can betray its user, including creating bad transactions and smuggling out secret keys via covert channel (e.g., USB keys, high frequency sound, covert activation of Bluetooth/wifi chipset, etc.)

Do I have to use BitKey on a separate air-gapped computer?

Not if you don't want to, or if you just don't need the extra security. BitKey also works online in two modes: cold-online and hot-online. See the usage section for details.

How much security does BitKey provide?

It depends! At one extreme, using BitKey in just the right way is currently the closest you can get to perfectly secure Bitcoin transactions (without doing them in your head).

Even when you use BitKey in the most insecure mode possible (e.g., hot-online) it still provides better security than 99% of Bitcoin users are getting from their web wallets and Bitcoin phone apps.

If the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin from the Bitcoin exchanges has left you, like us, with a healthy sense of paranoia, then you'll want to use BitKey in the most secure way possible in which case nobody in the world is getting better security for their Bitcoin transactions. Nobody.

How does BitKey compare with a hardware wallet like Trezor?

In terms of pricing and availability, BitKey is free and runs on ubiquitous general purpose computers.

In terms of security, it can provide equivalent or better security than a hardware wallet, depending on how you use it.

In terms of convenience it's hard to beat a hardware wallet. Using BitKey to implement the most paranoid, trust-minimized workflows provides superior security at the price of not being as easy to use.

For an in-depth analysis, read the discussion with Trezor developer Tomas Dzetkulic (better security than Trezor?) and judge the pros and cons for yourself.

Do I need to trust BitKey not to steal my Bitcoin?

Not if you're careful. In fact, if you have reason to worry we encourage you not to trust BitKey. In the words of our dear leader: trusted third parties are a security hole.

As a Bitcoin swiss army knife BitKey supports many usage models. What's interesting is that this includes at least one use case which doesn't require you to trust BitKey at all. We call it the If I tell you I'll have to kill you usage model. It provides almost perfect security even if BitKey itself is rotten to the core.

Also, if you don't trust the binary version, you can always build BitKey from source.

Do I have to be ultra paranoid to use BitKey?

No. We understand that people routinely trade off security for convenience, otherwise they wouldn't get anything done.

We recognize that there is an inescapable trade off between convenience and security and that risk is proportional to the value of your wallet. So it doesn't make sense to enforce any specific trade off. We want BitKey to help make the most paranoid usage model practical for day to day use but at the same time, we want to let the user decide how high (or low) to raise the bar. It should be your choice.

Is BitKey perfect?

No. There's room for improvement. Mostly in terms of improving the usability and reducing the potential for human error. Also, adding support for locally attached printers so you can print paper wallets. Stuff like that.

But for a solution to be useful it doesn't need to be perfect, just better than the alternatives for some use cases.

Unfortunately, the problem is many people currently using Bitcoin don't understand the risks they are taking and place too much trust on incredibly insecure solutions such as web based Bitcoin wallets, accessed from a general purpose PC that is installed, configured and used by a person who is not and will never be a security expert. That might be OK for very low value wallets that you wouldn't mind losing but beyond that it is very foolish.

Installing BitKey

BitKey on CDROM: use your favorite program to burn the ISO to CDROM. Nothing special. CDROMs are naturally read-only and tamper resistant.

BitKey on USB: If you don't burn BitKey to a CDROM, writing BitKey to a USB stick with a hardware read-write toggle (e.g., Kanguru FlashBlu) is the next best thing.

On USB sticks without write protection, you can remove the BitKey USB after booting as an additional security measure. BitKey loads into RAM so after booting you no longer need the USB.

Insert USB stick and detect the device path:

Write ISO to USB:

Data storage flash drive

By default, BitKey stores your wallet encrypted on a USB flash drive AKA USB stick.

It expects your flash drive to be vfat formatted. This is the standard format for store bought drives. If this isn't the case, BitKey may have trouble detecting your drive. In that case you can reformat the drive from Windows, or on Linux / BitKey using the following steps:

Insert data storage flash drive and detect the device path:

Reformat the drive:

Boot modes

BitKey Live CD/USB supports three modes of operation selected from a boot time menu.

High security - Cold storage boot modes

Two cold storage modes:

cold-offline: create wallet, sign transactions. In this mode, the desktop background is green (mnemonic for cool and safe)

cold-online: watch wallet, prepare transactions. In this mode, the desktop background is blue (mnemonic for cool and informative)

If the instructions are carefully followed, cold storage modes creates an airgap which ensures that your wallet's private keys are never loaded into RAM on a computer connected to the Internet.

Medium security - Hot-online boot mode

In this mode the desktop background is red (mnemonic for hot and dangerous)

Allows you to create & watch wallet, prepare & sign transactions.

In hot online mode, the private keys are known to a computer connected to the Internet. This is the most convenient mode because you only need one computer. After booting BitKey resides in RAM and saves nothing to your hard drive.

The flip side is smaller security margins:

You need to trust that your copy of BitKey hasn't been tampered with and that the original signed BitKey image hasn't been compromised.

If you use a network enabled app (e.g., Chromium) and an attacker exploits a zero-day vulnerability to gain access to your online system, say goodbye to those Bitcoins!

Low security - Hot storage on your PC/phone

In this mode you don't use BitKey or any hardware wallet type device. Your wallet's private keys are stored on your phone or PC and known to an Internet enabled device that is vulnerable (or will be sometime in the future) to the efforts of thieves who would like nothing more than to steal your Bitcoin.

You rely on the magical power of wishful thinking. You're not important enough to get hacked and any opportunistic malware infection you do get is not going to include any Bitcoin stealing functionailty. Right? Right! Good luck!

Paranoid brainwallet support

Hardest to use but leaves no trace of wallet keys in any storage medium. Minimizes trust in BitKey. Your wallet keys are only stored in your head.

Generating wallet

1. Boot BitKey in cold-offline mode, remove BitKey USB
2. Use Warpwallet to create a secure brainwallet
3. Save public Bitcoin address (e.g., scan qrcode)
4. To ensure private keys do not survive in RAM, turn off computer running BitKey and disconnect power source for 15 minutes.

After generating wallet, you can send Bitcoin to this address.

Warpwallet Public Service Announcement

Do not use Warpwallet without a salt

Unfortunately, Warpwallet makes it foolishly easy to skip the part where you input your e-mail as salt. Providing a salt mixes it in with the passphrase you provide. Non-experts may not realize how important this is. Without the salt, attackers can attempt to crack all Warpwallets simultaneously. With a salt, they have to divide their cracking power amongst a list of suspected e-mails. Cracking a million salted Warpwallets is a million times harder than cracking a million unsalted Warpwallets.

Using a salt gets you much more security risk free. There are no privacy implications and your e-mail is never exposed anywhere. In fact, you can use any e-mail you want, as long as you're sure you won't forget it.

Creating a secure passphrase and remembering it is hard

Humans are poor sources of randomness and much more predictable using statistical models than they think. Technology is ever moving forward and cracking techniques always get better, never worse. You may not be familiar with the state of the art, so be extra careful.

The ideal passphrase is 6 to 8 truly random diceware words. If you're going to try and come up with a random passphrase yourself, be paranoid. They really are out to get you. At least use zxcvbn to measure passphrase strength. It's not perfect, but it should give you a clue. You'll want at least 65 bits of entropy for a salted warpwallet, especially if you are going to be storing funds long-term.

DO NOT USE KNOWN PHRASES, QUOTES OR SENTENCES FROM A BOOK.

More wallets are lost to routine forgetfulness than sophisticated theft. If you're not continually accessing your Warpwallet there is a very high likelyhood you will eventually forget your passphrase after a few months or a few years. You only need to forget a single character for your wallet to be lost forever. This risk needs to be balanced with the risks of making a paper backup.

Consider making a paper backup of your passphrase and destroying it only when you are absolutely sure you will not forget it, then use spaced reptition learning to ensure it stays in memory until you want to access the funds.

Thanks to Ryan Castellucci for inspiring this section.

Generating unsigned transaction step

This step is easiest to do from an Electrum watch-wallet on a PC, but you can also do it from BitKey:

Boot BitKey in cold-online mode, remove BitKey USB

Restore watch-only wallet and run Electrum, from command line:

Signing transaction step

Boot BitKey in cold-offline mode, remove BitKey USB

Insert USB stick where you stored unsigned transaction. Copy to RAM and remove from disk:

Unplug USB stick

Use Warpwallet to restore brainwallet private key

Launch Electrum from command line so that it stores wallet in RAM:

Import private key and sign transaction

• In the Electrum Install Wizard, select 'Restore a wallet or import keys'
• Cut and paste the private key, click Next
• Click Next again (you don't need encryption for a wallet in RAM)
• Tools > Load transaction > From file
• Verify Outputs, Sign & Save signed transaction

Create a QRCode for the signed transaction:

• Open Signed transaction in text editor
• Open qrcode app: cut and paste hex of signed transaction

Scan qrcode of signed transaction with phone and broadcast transaction to network.

Turn off BitKey, disconnect power source, wait 15 minutes to clear RAM

Security guidelines

• Defense in depth: increase security by forcing attackers to overcome a plurality of obstacles.
• Minimize trust: minimize the number of third parties that need to be trusted, and minimize the degree of trust that needs to be placed on the existing trusted parties (e.g., BitKey developers to a degree).
• Minimized complexity: attack surface grows with complexity, so decrease complexity by minimizing number of components, using simpler components (e.g., chromium with webapps)
• Minimum privilege level policy: for example, if a component doesn't need network access, don't give it to it. If a mode doesn't need network access, enforce lack of network access.
• Transparency and verifiability: only use open source components who's integrity can be verified in principle and in which violations of integrity are more likely to be detected.
• Assume and attempt to compensate for human fallibility: avoid assuming users are advanced Bitcoin and security experts. Do the most to protect them from natural mistakes and lack of awareness with more secure defaults, friendly reminders, health warnings, tools for verifying against mistakes.

See README in source code for specifics.

How to build from source

BitKey is built with TKLDev, the TurnKey GNU/Linux build system.

Deploy TKLDev (e.g., as a local VM)

SSH into TKLDev, clone bitkey git repo and run make:

You're done, enjoy your new BitKey ISO file:

Usage: Hot Storage (online wallet)

This mode trades off security for the convenience of not having to sign transactions on a separate offline computer. We recommend it for low-medium value wallets. It's better than storing your wallet on a typical malware infested PC.

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select hot-online from the bootmenu
• Once the OS has loaded, remove BitKey device
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Enter passhprase for secure encrypted storage
  • Select create wallet
  • Write down mnemonic seed on paper (store in lockbox)
  • Prepare and sign Bitcoin transactions.
• Close Electrum
• Remove data storage USB device
• Shutdown BitKey

Usage: Cold Storage (offline wallet)

This mode trades off convenience for the security of keeping your wallet offline in cold storage. Transactions are prepared in cold-online mode and signed in cold-offline mode. This usage model is appropriate for medium-high value Bitcoin wallets.

The most paranoid usage model assumes an evil BitKey is part of the attack. It's the closest you can get to perfectly secure Bitcoin transactions without doing them in your head.

cold-offline (create wallet)

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select cold-offline from the bootmenu
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Enter passhprase for secure encrypted storage
  • Select create wallet
  • Write down mnemonic seed on paper (store in lockbox)
• Close Electrum
• Remove data storage USB device
• Shutdown BitKey

cold-online (prepare transaction)

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select cold-online from the bootmenu
• Once the OS has loaded, remove BitKey device
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Prepare transaction, save to USB
• Close electrum
• Remove data storage USB device
• Shutdown BitKey

cold-offline (sign transaction)

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select cold-offline from the bootmenu
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Enter passhprase for secure encrypted storage
  • Import unsigned transaction from USB
  • Sign transaction and save to USB
• Close Electrum
• Remove data storage USB device
• Shutdown BitKey

cold-online (broadcast signed transaction)

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select cold-online from the bootmenu
• Once the OS has loaded, remove BitKey device
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Load signed transaction from USB and broadcast
• Close Electrum
• Remove data storage USB device
• Shutdown BitKey

The recommended workflow with multiple PC's is to use another USB storage device, which we'll call shuttle, for transfering data between your regular PC and BitKey cold-offline.

BitKey (create wallet)

• Insert BitKey device and power on PC
• Select cold-offline from the bootmenu
• Insert data storage USB device
• Open Electrum
  • Enter passhprase for secure encrypted storage
  • Select create wallet
  • Write down mnemonic seed on paper (store in lockbox)
• Insert shuttle USB
• In Electrum, export master public key to shuttle USB
• Remove shuttle USB

Regular PC (prepare transaction)

• Install Electrum
• Insert shuttle USB
• Open Electrum
  • Select create watch-only wallet
  • Enter master public key
  • Prepare transaction, save to shuttle USB
• Remove shuttle USB

BitKey (sign transaction)

• Insert shuttle USB
• In Electrum, import unsigned transaction, sign it, save to shuttle USB
• Remove shuttle USB

Regular PC (broadcast signed transaction)

• Insert shuttle USB
• In Electrum, import signed transaction and broadcast to network

The recommended workflow with multiple PC's is to use another USB storage device, which we'll call shuttle for transfering unsigned transactions from your regular PC to BitKey cold-offline, and a smartphone with QR code scanner to transfer from BitKey cold-offline to regular PC.

Hardware wallet

A hardware wallet is a special type of bitcoin wallet which stores the user's private keys in a secure hardware device.

They have major advantages over standard software wallets:

• private keys are often stored in a protected area of a microcontroller, and cannot be transferred out of the device in plaintext
• immune to computer viruses that steal from software wallets
• can be used securely and interactively, private keys never need to touch potentially-vulnerable software
• much of the time, the software is open source, allowing a user to validate the entire operation of the device

This page is an attempt to summarize all the known developments of hardware wallets that can use Bitcoin as part of their operation.

Security risks

To date there have been no verifiable incidents of Bitcoins stolen from hardware wallets. Hardware wallets are relatively new, but at least for the time being they have maintained a good track record, unlike the numerous incidents of Bitcoin theft from Internet-connected computers.

However, it's important to understand that hardware wallets are a high value target and depend on various assumptions holding true to maintain security. They are not a silver bullet, and there are several realistic ways in which a hardware wallet can fail to protect your Bitcoin. These risks need to be carefully considered when deciding how much trust to place in a hardware wallet, and which hardware wallet to buy.

How a hardware wallet could fail to protect your Bitcoin:

1. Malware swaps recipient Bitcoin addresses: a hardware wallet won't protect you from being tricked into sending Bitcoin to the wrong address. For example, malware on a PC could monitor for high value transactions and then swap out the recipient's authentic Bitcoin address for an address controlled by the attacker. When the stakes are high, multi factor (e.g., over the phone) confirmation of a recipient's Bitcoin address is recommended.
2. Insecure RNG (Random Number Generator): hardware wallets rely on the security of an RNG, often embedded in hardware, to generate your wallet's private keys securely. Unfortunately, it is notoriously difficult to verify the true randomness of the RNG. An insecure RNG may create wallet keys that can later be recreated by an attacker, by generating psuedo-randomness that would seem statistically indistinguishable from true randomness yet still be predictable to an advanced attacker. An RNG may become insecure as a result of malicious weakening or an unintentional mistake. This failure mode is common to any wallet generation procedure in which the true randomness of the source of entropy being used can not be verified.
3. Imperfect implementation: the security of all computing devices relies on the quality of their implementation. Hardware wallets are no exception. Bugs at the software, firmware or hardware level may allow attackers to break into a hardware wallet and gain unauthorized access to secrets. Even if the design is perfect, proving the security of a hardware or software implementation is a very hard, mostly unsolved problem. To date, no wallet in existence is implemented using provably correct software.
4. Compromised production process: even a perfect software and hardware implementation of a hardware wallet would be vulnerable to a corrupt production process that introduces intentional or unintentional holes into the final product. The introduction of hardware backdoors is a real concern for high risk financial and military applications.
5. Compromised shipping process: a compromised fulfillment process may substitute or modify secure devices for superficially identical but insecure replacements. Government programs that intercept hardware and modify them in route to insert backdoors are known to exist.

• While not a silver bullet hardware wallets can still be extremely useful, assuming you take care to use a good one: an authentic device manufactured by trustworthy, technically competent security experts with a good reputation (e.g., TREZOR).

• Cold storage solutions implemented with open source software and general purpose hardware (e.g., BitKey, Pi Wallet), using a verifiable source of entropy such as physical dice may provide superior security for some use cases (e.g., long term savings).

Connecting to a full node

By default, most hardware wallets instruct the user to connect to the manufacturer's own web interface. The web page cannot steal the user's private keys but can spy on them or trick them into accept fake payments.

Hardware wallets only keep the private keys safe and create spending transactions; they cannot tell you if you have actually received coins and in what quantity. Bitcoin's security model also requires that full node wallets are used. If not, somebody could pay you with a transaction of something other than bitcoin. If bitcoin is digital gold then a full node wallet is your own personal goldsmith who checks that the incoming payments are actually real. Also the third-party wallet will see all your bitcoin addresses so this is very damaging to your privacy.

Most hardware wallets can be connected to Electrum bitcoin wallet. Electrum can be connected to your own full node via a server.

Which is the Best Bitcoin Wallet?

This guide will help you to find the best Bitcoin wallet for YOU!

There's no "one size fits all" Bitcoin wallet. Wallets come on different platforms with different features.

If you want the best possible wallet, keep reading.

Select Your Preferences

Wallet Finder

Just enter your wallet preferences and we'll show you the best wallet for your needs.

Recommendations

Ledger Nano S Buy Learn More

The Ledger Nano S is the cheapest hardware wallet. Hardware wallets secure your coins by storing them offline and away from hackers. The Ledger Nano S supports more coins than any other hardware wallet, like bitcoin, litecoin, ether and more. It can be used with any desktop computer or Android device.

TREZOR Buy Learn More

TREZOR launched in August 2014 as the first Bitcoin hardware wallet, offering secure bitcoin storage plus the ability to spend with the convenience of a hot wallet. TREZOR is a small, thumb-sized device.

Samourai Wallet

Samourai is 100% the best available Android wallet. It has the most features, the best privacy and its developers are constantly working to add the latest Bitcoin features to the wallet. Samourai Wallet has been around for more than 3 years and its code is fully open source.

Coinomi

Coinomi is the most popular multi-coin cryptocurrency wallet for iOS and Android. It supports over 100+ coins including bitcoin, litecoin, ether, dash and more.

BRD

BRD is a mobile wallet for both Android and iOS. Its clean interface makes it easy to use for beginners. It supports bitcoin and ether.

Electrum

Electrum wallet is an easy to use desktop wallet for Mac, Windows and Linux. It's east and fast to setup so you can start sending and receiving bitcoins right away.

Exodus

Exodus is the most popular multi-coin cryptocurrency wallet. It supports Bitcoin, ether, litecoin, dash, Golem and many more.

What is a Bitcoin Wallet?

A Bitcoin wallet is the first step to using Bitcoin.

A “wallet” is basically the Bitcoin equivalent of a bank account. It allows you to receive bitcoins, store them, and then send them to others.

You can think of a wallet as your personal interface to the Bitcoin network, similar to how your online bank account is an interface to the regular monetary system.

Bitcoin wallets contain private keys; secret codes that allow you to spend your bitcoins.

In reality, it’s not bitcoins that need to be stored and secured, but the private keys that give you access to them.

A Bitcoin wallet is simply an app, website, or device that manages Bitcoin private keys for you.

This guide will show you how to create a bitcoin wallet and pick the best one.

Types of Bitcoin Wallets

Let's discuss the types of bitcoin wallets and why you might want to use one kind over another.

Hardware Wallets

A hardware wallet is a physical electronic device, built for the sole purpose of securing bitcoins.

The core innovation is that the hardware wallet must be connected to your computer, phone, or tablet before bitcoins may be spent.

The three most popular and best Bitcoin hardware wallets are:

Hardware wallets are a good choice if you’re serious about security and convenient, reliable Bitcoin storage.

Bitcoin hardware wallets keep private keys separate from vulnerable, internet-connected devices.

Your all-important private keys are maintained in a secure offline environment on the hardware wallet, fully protected even should the device be plugged into a malware-infected computer.

As bitcoins are digital, cyber-criminals could, potentially, target your computer’s “software wallet” and steal them by accessing your private key.

Generating and storing private keys offline using a hardware wallet ensures that hackers have no way to reach your bitcoins.

Hackers would have to steal the hardware wallet itself, but even then, it can be protected with a PIN code.

Don’t worry about your hardware wallet getting stolen, lost or damaged either; so long as you create a secret backup code, you can always retrieve your bitcoins.

Think of a hardware wallet like your own underground steel vault. If you own a significant amount of bitcoin, you should strongly consider getting one!

Why are hardware wallets good?

• Easiest way to securely store bitcoins
• Easy to backup and secure
• Less margin for error; setup is easy even for less technical users

Why are hardware wallets bad?

• They're not free!

Hot Wallets

Hot wallets are Bitcoin wallets that run on internet connected devices like a computer, mobile phone, or tablet.

Private keys are secret codes. Because hot wallets generate your private keys on an internet connected device, these private keys can’t be considered 100% secure.

Think of a hot wallet like your wallet today: you use it to store some cash, but not your life savings. Hot wallets are great if you make frequent payments, but not a good choice for the secure storage of bitcoins.

Why are hot wallets good?

• Easiest way to store small amounts of bitcoin
• Convenient; spending and receiving payments is easy and fast
• Some hot wallets allow access to funds across multiple devices

Why are hot wallets bad?

• Not safe for the secure storage of large amounts of bitcoins

Which Wallet is Best for You?

Investing or saving? Then a hardware wallet will keep your coins safe.

Otherwise, a software wallet will send and receive bitcoins just fine. Best of all, software wallets are free.

Each wallet has pros and cons, and different wallets are built to solve different problems.

Here is a video that may help:

Some wallets may be geared towards security, while some wallets may be more focused on privacy.

Your specific needs should determine the wallet you use, as there is no “best bitcoin wallet”.

Below, we've listed wallets you can buy or download. We suggest using the wallets listed or doing research before buying or downloading any wallet.

Each day, new Bitcoin scam wallets are added to the Google Play Store and Apple app store that are designed to steal peoples' bitcoins.

We only list wallets that have published and open-sourced their code.

Hardware Wallets: Keep Your Coins Safe

Hardware wallets aren't free.

But the price can be worth it if you own a significant amount of bitcoins. A hardware wallet will protect a few hundred in Bitcoin just as effectively as a few million.

How Hardware Wallets Work

Hardware wallets are secure, offline devices. They store your private keys offline so they can't be hacked.

This means you can even use one on a malware infected computer.

Why A Hardware Wallet with a Screen is Important

In the table below, you'll notice we show which hardware wallets have screens.

Screens provide extra security by verifying and displaying important wallet details. Since the hardware wallet is nearly impossible to hack, its screen is more trustworthy than data displayed on your computer.

Bitcoin Hardware Wallet Comparison

Check the table below for a quick comparison. Note:

Best Bitcoin Hardware Wallet Overviews

Ledger Nano S Buy Learn More

The Ledger Nano S is the cheapest of the three hardware wallets with a screen; it costs about $95. Ledger, one of the most well-known Bitcoin security companies, released the device in August 2016.

TREZOR Buy Learn More

TREZOR launched in August 2014 as the first Bitcoin hardware wallet, offering secure bitcoin storage plus the ability to spend with the convenience of a hot wallet. TREZOR is a small, thumb-sized device.

KeepKey Buy Learn More

KeepKey was released in September 2015 and was the second hardware Bitcoin wallet to offer a screen. The KeepKey's larger screen gives it some extra security features that the Nano S and Trezor lack.

Hot Wallets

Just a quick refresher:

Hot wallets are Bitcoin wallets that run on internet connected devices like a computer, mobile phone, or tablet. As hot wallets generate private keys on an internet connected device, these private keys can’t be considered 100% secure.

Think of a hot wallet like your wallet today: you use it to store some cash, but not your life savings. Hot wallets are great if you make frequent payments, but not a good choice for the secure storage of bitcoins.

Online Bitcoin Wallets (Web Wallets)

Web wallets store your private keys online, where they are encrypted with a user-selected password. Although they offer the lowest level of security, online bitcoin wallets have the advantage of being accessible from any internet connected device.

GreenAddress

GreenAddress is a multi-signature Bitcoin wallet available on the web, desktop, Android, and iOS. GreenAddress is compatible with hardware wallets like TREZOR, Ledger Nano, and the HW.1.

“Multi-signature” in this context means that the site requires a manual confirmation from you for your coins to be moved; this greatly improves security.

Android Bitcoin Wallets

There is a large selection of Android wallets. Since Bitcoin wallets were originally banned by Apple, developers spent much of their time developing for Android.

Samourai Wallet

Samourai is 100% the best available Android wallet. It has the most features, the best privacy and its developers are constantly working to add the latest Bitcoin features to the wallet. Samourai Wallet has been around for more than 3 years and its code is fully open source.

Mycelium

Mycelium is the most popular Bitcoin wallet on Android. It's very easy to use for sending and receiving payments. Backing up your wallet is also simple, since Mycelium makes it very clear with setup and backup instructions.

breadwallet

breadwallet, the great iPhone Bitcoin wallet, recently released an Android wallet. It offers the user control of private keys, an easy to use interface, and passcode support.

Edge

Edge is an easy to use Bitcoin wallet for iPhone and Android. Its familiar login feature makes using the app a breeze for people new to bitcoin. The wallet also creates automatic backups, so you don't have to worry about the technicalities of performing manual wallet backups.

GreenBits

GreenBits is the native Android version of GreenAddress. It’s a multi-signature wallet that also supports hardware wallets like TREZOR and Ledger.

Bitcoin Wallet

Bitcoin Wallet, or “Schildbach Wallet”, was the first mobile Bitcoin wallet. Bitcoin Wallet is more secure than most mobile Bitcoin wallets, because it connects directly to the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin Wallet has a simple interface and just the right amount of features, making it a great wallet and a great educational tool for Bitcoin beginners.

iOS and iPhone Bitcoin Wallets

Apple banned Bitcoin wallets from the App Store in February 2014, but reversed its decision a few months later. Luckily, there are now plenty of options for iOS users.

breadwallet

We consider breadwallet, along with Copay (below), as the best bitcoin wallet for iPhone. It’s open source and gives the user full control over their private keys. It also has a clean interface which makes the sending and receiving of bitcoins a pleasurable and super-simple process.

Edge

Edge is an easy to use Bitcoin wallet for iPhone and Android. Its familiar login feature makes using the app a breeze for people new to bitcoin. The wallet also creates automatic backups, so you don't have to worry about the technicalities of performing manual wallet backups.

Desktop Wallets

Desktop wallets are downloaded and installed on your computer. If privacy is your main concern, the Bitcoin core wallet is a good option since it does not rely on third parties for data.

Electrum

Electrum is a light weight Bitcoin wallet for Mac, Linux, and Windows. Electrum was created in November 2011. The main features of Electrum are: support for hardware wallets (such as TREZOR, Ledger Nano and KeepKey), and secure Bitcoin storage using an offline computer. Electrum is a good option for both beginners and advanced users.

Bitcoin Banks: $1 Billion Lost in Hacks

One last thing to keep in mind when it comes to bitcoin wallets is that there is a difference between a wallet and a bank. Some Bitcoin users view Coinbase as a Bitcoin wallet, but companies like this operate much more like banks.

The private keys are what users need to protect to safely use the Bitcoin network without getting robbed. When you hand someone else control over your private keys, you are essentially making a deposit at that financial institution – much like a deposit at any bank.

Don't store coins on exchanges! Bitcoin users have lost over $1 billion worth of bitcoins in exchange hacks and scams. Control your own private keys.

This is not to say that bitcoin banks are inherently bad. Companies like Coinbase have done wonders for bringing more users into the ecosystem. It is simply important to remember that whoever controls the private keys controls the bitcoin attached to those keys.

A misunderstanding of this point has led to hundreds of millions of US dollars being lost in the past, so it’s important to understand this critical difference in how Bitcoin private keys can be stored.

Understanding how bitcoin wallets work is an important aspect of safely using this new technology. Bitcoin is still in its early years of development and wallets will become much more user-friendly in time.

In the near future, certain devices may eventually come with pre-installed wallets that interact with the blockchain without the user’s knowledge.

For now, it’s vital to keep in mind that the private keys are what you need to protect if you want to keep your bitcoin safe from hackers, user error, and other possible issues.

Theft and Scams

No matter which wallet you choose, remember:

Your bitcoins are only safe if the private key was generated securely, remains a secret, and--most importantly--is controlled only by YOU!

Here are two examples where users got ripped off by leaving bitcoins in the care of a third party:

To avoid theft, scams, and any other loss of funds, follow these three basic principles:

1. Generate your private keys in a secure, offline environment. (Except if using trivial amounts, in which cases keys may be created in a hot wallet).
2. Create backups of your private keys. This helps to protect against the loss of your bitcoins due to hard drive failure or some other problem or accident. Ideally you should have a duplicate set of backups kept off-site to protect against the possibility of fire, robbery, etc.
3. Encrypt wallets to provide additional security. This helps prevent the physical theft of your funds in the event that your device or hardware wallet is stolen.

Securing your bitcoins properly is the most important step for any Bitcoin user.

With Bitcoin you have the privilege - but also the responsibility - to safeguard your own money. There have been countless scams related to Bitcoin that could have been prevented had people not entrusted others with their bitcoins.

It’s a good rule of thumb to never trust anyone else with your money.

Bonus Chapter

Bitcoin Wallet Frequently Asked Questions

Bitcoin wallets. What are they?

Bitcoin Wallets let us send, receive and store Bitcoin amounts all the way down to the Satoshi unit.

Wallets secure funds by guarding our private keys. These private keys act as the proof of ownership for our Bitcoins. As such, a Bitcoin wallet is like a key to your safe deposit box on the Blockchain.

What is a private key?

Private keys emerged as a way to communicate securely through insecure communication channels.

Historically, before the advent of public key cryptography, the greatest cryptographic weakness was the inability to communicate the ‘key’ that makes sense of encrypted messages. As a solution, the use of two keys (public and private) entered the picture.

It’s a nifty little trick.

Keys come in pairs. The public key is used to encrypt the message whereas the private key decrypts the message. The only person with the private key is you. Everyone else is free to have your public key. As a result, everyone can send you encrypted messages without having to agree on a key beforehand. They simply use your public key and you untangle the gibberish by using your private key.

Why should I care about private keys?

At the end of the day, all of this can go over your head without much danger. Just remember that it’s good to know what you’re dealing with. Bitcoin wallets make use of a fundamental cryptographic principle that we use for things ranging from https for websites or sending anonymous tips to Wikileaks. Most importantly, by understanding private keys you’ll have a much easier familiarizing yourself with Cold Storage wallets.

What is a Bitcoin address?

A Bitcoin address is like an account number, just better. The address denotes which wallet the coins should be sent to. Like a bank account number, where the difference lies in the wallets having multiple addresses. These can be customized by including payment request information such as an amount and a date of expiration.

What should I know about addresses?

Bitcoin wallet addresses are case sensitive, usually have 34 characters of numbers and lowercase letters, start with either a 1 or a 3, and never use 0, O, l and I to make every character in the address as clear as possible. That’s a lot to take in. But don’t worry. What they consist of is largely irrelevant to you. Just know they’re a string of characters that denote a destination on the Bitcoin Blockchain.

How do I generate a Bitcoin address for my wallet?

How to generate a new Bitcoin Address varies between wallets. Some manage your addresses for you. Others give you full control. As with many other Bitcoin technologies, the option to dirty your own hands is always open.

If you do end up taking the easier route, just press a button to generate a new address for your wallet.

Some wallets, like Electrum, allow you choose in how many blocks your transaction should be confirmed. The faster you want your payment to go through, the more you will have to pay miners for confirming your activity. We find here another difference between Bitcoin wallets and Bank accounts. Given the right wallet, the control and oversight that we have over our transactions is far more extensive than that of the traditional banking system.

How do I fund a Bitcoin Wallet?

First, acquire some Bitcoins. Go through an exchange in your country, ask an acquaintance to share, or use Buybitcoinworldwide.com if you want as seamless of an experience as possible. The purchased coins can then be sent to your wallet by specifying one of its addresses.

Some wallets, particularly online ones, also let you buy coins. Keep in mind that these come with larger exchange margins which are best left alone.

Are Bitcoins safe?

Is Bitcoin a safe way to store value digitally? Are we wise to save our coins on our computer? It’s true that online wallets are necessarily more dangerous than offline wallets. However, even offline wallets can be breached, meaning that security in the Bitcoin world depends largely on following good practices. Just like you would avoid flailing your bills about in a dangerous place, you should make sure to keep your passwords and keys as safe as possible.

How do I secure my Wallet?

• Secure your computer
• Restrict unsupervised access. Set a strong password and close all ports and maintain a strict firewall.
• Frequently change address. Use a different address for every transaction.
• Multiple Signatures (Multi-sig). Multiple private keys to deter breaches.

Where are Bitcoins stored?

Bitcoins simply consist of a string of data. That’s why they can be stored anywhere. You could paint Bitcoin on a wall with your blood. Nobody does that though. Hopefully.

Instead, we store BTC on computers because we need them handy to trade. After all, we need to be connected to the internet to send value from one wallet to another over the Blockchain.

How do I open a Bitcoin account?

To some readers this might seem like a weird question. Truth is, people coming from a financial or business background are likely to expect Bitcoin to be a direct alternative to our current financial system. This is not the case.

You don’t need a Bitcoin account. There is no such thing really. You just need a wallet. The only accounts you might encounter are online wallets that are separated into various accounts via a user system.

How do I know which wallet is best for me?

Let’s be honest. It’s unreasonable to expect anyone else to make this decision for you. After all, your preference depends entirely on your personality and needs. So just be honest with yourself.

Frankly, you shouldn’t need anything complicated if you’re using the wallet for simple internet expenses or as a way to save money.

If, however, you’re planning to run a Bitcoin centered business make sure to use advanced wallets that support automated mass payments.

Any common mistakes to be careful of?

First of all, don’t rest your money in an exchange wallet. Keep your coins in an environment where you have complete control.

Secondly, don’t keep all of your coins in one place. You’ll be crushed if you lose access to a wallet with all of your funds.

Thirdly, double check the target address. Bitcoin transactions cannot be reversed, so don’t lose your coins forever to a stranger!

Last of all, use trusted online wallets (if at all). Don’t just trust anyone with your money. Make sure that the online wallet provider has a reputation of upholding the highest possible security standards.

Security Risks with Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets are more secure than any other software wallet, like one that runs on your Android or iOS device, or desktop. However, hardware wallets have some unique security risks to be aware of.

Tampering of the Device

We always recommend to order directly from the hardware seller. This is because someone can buy a hardware wallet, tamper with it, and sell it used. They could program it to steal any bitcoins or add a back door.

Most hardware wallets add some special kind of tape on the packaging to try to make any tampering more noticeable. This is another reason we recommend only ordering from the hardware wallet company, and not from a website like eBay.

Bad Random Number Generator

Bitcoin private keys are based on cryptography. Random number generators, also called RNGs, are used to create the private keys that secure bitcoins.

If the random number generator is not random enough, that means someone else can recreate the private key of the hardware wallet easier. This attack has happened in the past with blockchain.info, a web wallet. Over 300 BTC were lost because blockchain.info did not use good RNG, so a hacker was able to generate the private keys again and steal coins.

One way to help prevent this is to use the hardware wallet’s custom 25th word. TREZOR, for example, allows you to add a 25th word to the 24 word seed. This means that you can technically add your own RNG to the computer generated RNG to ensure your private key will be truly based on good RNG.

What happens if the hardware wallet company goes out of business?

All hardware wallets listed above work with other wallets. So, if the hardware wallet company goes out of business you will still be able to use your wallet with a different wallet like Electrum.

Let’s say you use TREZOR with TREZOR’s myTREZOR wallet. TREZOR goes out of business and no longer supports myTREZOR wallet and it gets shut down.

You could, in just a few minutes, download Electrum on your computer. Once installed, you’d setup your TREZOR and all of your transaction history and balance would get imported and be exactly the same. This is because Electrum will use the same 24-word seed you generated with TREZOR on setup.

Which wallets can be used for each device?

Ledger Nano S, KeepKey and TREZOR all work with:

• Mycelium (Android version only)
• Electrum for Mac, Windows and Linux
• Multibit HD
• GreenAddress

Do these hardware wallets work for Ethereum?

Yes, all of these wallets work with Ethereum, Litecoin and many other coins.

TREZOR and Ledger both have blog posts explaining their integrations with various Ethereum wallets.

The hardware wallet tells me to write down the 24 word seed on paper.

Should I take a picture of the seed with my phone as a backup?

The seeds generated by hardware wallets are meant to be written down only. By taking a picture of your seed with an internet connected phone, you put your entire wallet on a device that is connected to the internet and easier for hackers to get into. Please do not do this!

Why do the hardware wallets have buttons?

The buttons are used to confirm transactions. In order to send a transaction, you must physically press or hold buttons on the devices. This is a security feature. If a hacker were to access the hardware wallet somehow, the hacker still would not be able to send a TX without physical access to the buttons. Read more about this in TREZOR’s security philosophy.

Do hardware wallets work with Coinbase?

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is how Coinbase works with hardware wallets.

It’s a trick question!

Coinbase does not work directly with hardware wallet. You should, however, send bitcoins from Coinbase directly to your hardware wallet once you buy. Never store bitcoins on Coinbase or any other exchange for long periods of time.

Too many people in the past have lost money from hacks like Bitfinex and Mt. Gox.

So, yes, use a hardware wallet in conjunction with Coinbase. Buy on Coinbase, then send to hardware wallet.

Also, what we said above goes for ALL exchanges. Use Bitstamp? Cool! Once you buy bitcoins on Stamp, send the coins to your hardware wallet. The same goes for Kraken, Poloniex, or any other exchange or service that holds your coins!

What other kinds of wallets can I use?

Other wallet types are hot wallets. This means they are wallets run on an internet connected computer.

Android wallets, iOS wallets and desktop wallets are all examples of this.

How many backups of my seed should I create?

We recommend keeping at least two backups of your seed in multiple locations.

You can also laminate your seed to protect against water damage or any other damage.

Keeping your seeds in fire proof safes can help protect in the event that the storage location is burned down.

Another option is to put your seed into metal manually using stamps, or using cryptosteel.

What happens if someone finds my 24 word seed?

Unless you’re using a 25th word, someone who finds your 24 word seed can sweep your entire wallet.

Coinbase is a web wallet with a simple design and a number of very useful features that make it excellent for beginners. You can send and receive bitcoins via email and buy and sell bitcoins directly from Coinbase.

Once you get the hang of things, it is better to move your coins off of Coinbase and into a wallet mentioned above like the Ledger Nano S . Coinbase is a good place to buy bitcoins and learn how it works, but not a good solution for long term storage.

A full-featured Android app enables access to all account functions on the go. Coinbase’s founders have a proven startup track record and have raised money from very prominent venture capitalists. This gives Coinbase a level of legitimacy unparalleled in the Bitcoin space. They are also one of the only large Bitcoin companies to never suffer a major hack. Click here to sign up.

Electrum is a software wallet that enables you to set up a strong level of security very quickly. During the simple installation process, you are given a twelve word phrase that will allow you to recover all of your bitcoins in the event that your computer fails. Your wallet is also encrypted by default which helps protect your coins against hackers. Electrum is available for Windows, OSX, and Linux and is our recommended software wallet for beginners. Click here to download the right version for your operating system.

Bitcoin Wallet for Android

For those looking for mobility and security, we recommend the simply-titled Bitcoin Wallet mobile app. There is a version for both Android and BlackBerry OS . It is a software wallet, so you retain complete control over your bitcoins. It also works well with QR codes and NFC, making transferring coins to someone else’s phone easier than writing a check. Be sure to backup your wallet (with the included “Backup Wallet” feature) or you risk losing all your coins the next time you get too close to a pool.

Other Wallets

We also recommend a few other wallets, but not for the beginning Bitcoin user. If you are up for more of a challenge, Armory is a good choice for those requiring the highest possible security, and the original Bitcoin-Qt client is also trusted and worth learning how to use.

Now that you have a wallet set up, it’s time to learn how to get some bitcoins .

Ledger Launches USB Bitcoin Wallet With 'Bank-Grade' Security

The team behind a new affordable multisig bitcoin wallet say their product has security features that make it almost immune to hacking attacks.

The Ledger Wallet Nano is the result of a merger between three French startups: La Maison du Bitcoin, a bitcoin centre in Paris; BTChip, a hardware wallet manufacturer; and Chronocoin, an exchange platform.

Priced at €34.90 (or 0.1213 BTC), the USB device contains a banking-grade EAL5+ smartcard, the same as found in credit cards. Additionally, as a hierarchical deterministic wallet (BIP32), the Ledger can hold an infinite number of bitcoin addresses.

Connecting to each user's computer through their USB port, the device carries out cryptographic work, such as signing bitcoin transactions, inside its own protected environment. Once safely initialised, it can even be used without risk on an insecure or compromised computer, its makers claim.

Lessons from past hacks

Notable hacks in the bitcoin space over the last year have highlighted the need for improved wallet security.

While two-factor authorisation, multisig and the other technological improvements being ushered in by online and mobile wallet providers do offer some peace of mind, the general advice is to keep any significant amount of bitcoin in 'cold storage', such as paper wallets or drives not connected to the Internet.

Dedicated hardware wallets are increasingly being pitched as solutions that offer equivalent or greater security with added convenience. Hence, the recent arrival of new devices such as the Trezor wallet, and the ongoing development of other solutions, such as CryptoLabs' Case.

In turn, the Ledger Nano is an evolution from BTChip's original multisig HW-1 hardware wallet.

Eric Larchevêque, co-founder and CEO of Ledger, told CoinDesk that, despite all its challenges, bitcoin brings many opportunities for startups. "We had, from the beginning, identified consumers' bitcoins protection as critical," he said.

Producing affordable, more secure bitcoin storage was an obvious area for the firm to enter, Larchevêque added, explaining:

"Hardware wallets are essential to the development of bitcoin. We strongly believe in decentralized, open and affordable products. This is one of the main reasons to have chosen smartcards. On top of the added security layers given by decades of research and development, production costs are extremely low."

How it works

To use the Ledger Nano, all the user needs is the device itself, the supplied 'second factor card', a computer (with Windows, Mac or Linux OS) with a USB port and a recent version of Google Chrome.

The wallet interfaces with the user's computer through a dedicated Chrome app, which must be pre-installed. No additional software installation or account creation is needed, the team says.

After initialization of the Ledger, the user is provided with a deposit public address to which they will be able to send their bitcoins for storage.

To allow the wallet to be restored in the event of loss or theft of the device, a mnemonic seed for a master key is randomly generated when the device is initialised, which must be written on a paper backup and stored safely.

Importantly, the wallet does not need to be restored onto another Ledger wallet, any BIP39 compliant software solution will work.

Security features

To be able to access their bitcoin, Ledger users will need three things: the Ledger Wallet, a PIN and a second factor card. If one of these elements is missing they will not be able to sign a transaction.

This behaviour, the firm says, is guaranteed by the use of the smartcard, which offers a banking-grade "walled garden" that conceals any critical information and would "take weeks" to crack, even if a hacker had possession of the device.

The company's website states:

"There is no known attack vector which could result in the exposure of your private keys or bitcoins. Even if your computer was totally compromised and was able to replace the sending address of a transaction on its own, the second-factor verification would prevent it from doing so."

Even if malware on the computer could steal the PIN, the company says, it would still not possible to execute a transaction, since a second-factor verification is mandatory.

The 'second factor' is a unique security card (pictured above) that is paired with the device upon assembly in the factory, Larchevêque explained. It is used to verify the payment address (so users know malware didn't change it), or, in the near future, to pair a mobile app with the wallet, which will then act itself as the second factor. The mobile app option should become available in January, he added.

"Malware cannot even reset the wallet by sending three wrong PINs, because before trying a new PIN it is necessary to unplug and replug physically the wallet to the USB port," the firm's website says.

A future version of the Ledger will sport even more features, according to Larchevêque:

"We are in the process of assembling and testing 100 prototypes implementing various stages of our developments (NFC, BLE, screens etc). We think we'll be production ready in the next six months, soon launching a hardware wallet compatible with desktops, mobiles and POS for NFC one-tap payments."

Importantly, that upcoming screen will address the one weakness that the team concedes with the device: if the Ledger is initialised on a compromised PC, the seed can be stolen. Hence, it says, it is absolutely essential to first use the Nano on a secure computer.

Bright future ahead

BTChip started working on the HW-1 in 2012 and launched the product back in September, before joining with its new partners on the Ledger project.

Larchevêque indicated that all Ledger's research and development has been self-financed so far. "Now that we have a product ready," he said, "we are focusing on growth and are in the process of raising a seed round to finance our expansion."

In the conversation with CoinDesk, the company's CEO was extremely positive about the future for the Ledger product and hardware wallets in general.

"Average users won't accept complex or insecure products. Horror stories about people losing all their funds due to malware attacks will be used as cautionary tales. Thus only one-stop-shop centralised services or seamless secure hardware-based wallets will gain massive traction. Insecure solutions will just disappear."

CoinDesk has now reviewed the Ledger Wallet Nano.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

US Search Mobile Web

Welcome to the Yahoo Search forum! We’d love to hear your ideas on how to improve Yahoo Search.

The Yahoo product feedback forum now requires a valid Yahoo ID and password to participate.

You are now required to sign-in using your Yahoo email account in order to provide us with feedback and to submit votes and comments to existing ideas. If you do not have a Yahoo ID or the password to your Yahoo ID, please sign-up for a new account.

If you have a valid Yahoo ID and password, follow these steps if you would like to remove your posts, comments, votes, and/or profile from the Yahoo product feedback forum.

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Improve your services

Your search engine does not find any satisfactory results for searches. It is too weak. Also, the server of bing is often off

I created a yahoo/email account long ago but I lost access to it; can y'all delete all my yahoo/yahoo account except for my newest YaAccount

I want all my lost access yahoo account 'delete'; Requesting supporter for these old account deletion; 'except' my Newest yahoo account this Account don't delete! Because I don't want it interfering my online 'gamble' /games/business/data/ Activity , because the computer/security program might 'scure' my Information and detect theres other account; then secure online activities/ business securing from my suspicion because of my other account existing will make the security program be 'Suspicious' until I'm 'secure'; and if I'm gambling online 'Depositing' then I need those account 'delete' because the insecurity 'Suspicioun' will program the casino game 'Programs' securities' to be 'secure' then it'll be 'unfair' gaming and I'll lose because of the insecurity can be a 'Excuse'. Hope y'all understand my explanation!

I want all my lost access yahoo account 'delete'; Requesting supporter for these old account deletion; 'except' my Newest yahoo account this Account don't delete! Because I don't want it interfering my online 'gamble' /games/business/data/ Activity , because the computer/security program might 'scure' my Information and detect theres other account; then secure online activities/ business securing from my suspicion because of my other account existing will make the security program be 'Suspicious' until I'm 'secure'; and if I'm gambling online 'Depositing' then I need those account 'delete' because the insecurity 'Suspicioun' will program the casino game 'Programs' securities' to be… more

chithidio@Yahoo.com

i dont know what happened but i can not search anything.

Golf handicap tracker, why can't I get to it?

Why do I get redirected on pc and mobile device?

Rahyaftco@yahoo.com

RYAN RAHSAD BELL literally means

Question on a link

In the search for Anaïs Nin, one of the first few links shows a picture of a man. Why? Since Nin is a woman, I can’t figure out why. Can you show some reason for this? Who is he? If you click on the picture a group of pictures of Nin and no mention of that man. Is it an error?

Repair the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

I contacted Samsung thru their Samsung Tutor app on my phone. I gave their Technican access to my phone to see if there was a problem with my phone that stopped the Yahoo Search App from working. He went to Yahoo and I signed in so he could try to fix the Yahoo Search App not working. He also used another phone, installed the app from the Google Play Store to see if the app would do any kind of search thru the app. The Yahoo Search App just wasn't working.

I also had At&t try to help me because I have UVERSE for my internet service. My internet was working perfectly. Their Technical Support team member checked the Yahoo Search App and it wouldn't work for him either.

We can go to www.yahoo.com and search for any topic or website. It's just the Yahoo Search App that won't allow anyone to do web searches at all.

I let Google know that the Yahoo Search App installed from their Google Play Store had completely stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I told them that Yahoo has made sure that their Yahoo members can't contact them about anything.

I noticed that right after I accepted the agreement that said Oath had joined with Verizon I started having the problem with the Yahoo Search App.
No matter what I search for or website thru the Yahoo Search App it says the following after I searched for
www.att.com.

WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE
This webpage at gttp://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geJGq8BbkrgALEMMITE5jylu=X3oDMTEzcTjdWsyBGNvbG8DYmyxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDTkFQUEMwxzEEc2VjA3NylRo=10/Ru=https%3a%2f%2fwww.att.att.com%2f/Rk=2/Es=plkGNRAB61_XKqFjTEN7J8cXA-
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

I tried to search for things like www.homedepot.com. The same thing happened. It would say WEBPAGE NOT AVAILABLE. The only thing that changed were all the upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols.
Then it would again say
could not be loaded because:
net::ERR_CLEARTEXT_NOT_PERMITTED

This is the same thing that happened when Samsung and At&t tried to do any kind of searches thru the Yahoo Search App.

Yahoo needs to fix the problem with their app.

Yahoo Search App from the Google Play Store on my Samsung Galaxy S8+ phone stopped working on May 18, 2018.

I went to the Yahoo Troubleshooting page but the article that said to do a certain 8 steps to fix the problem with Yahoo Services not working and how to fix the problem. Of course they didn't work.

I contacted Samsung thru their Samsung Tutor app on my phone. I gave their Technican access to my phone to see if there was a problem with my phone that stopped the Yahoo Search App from working. He went to Yahoo and… more

Ledger Nano S Wallet

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons

Trezor Wallet

TREZOR Wallet is an easy-to-use interface for your TREZOR device. From this Wallet, you can easily control your coins, manage your balance and initiate transfers.

KEEPKEY WALLET

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons

Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one.

Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one.

digital bitbox

Digital Bitbox is a minimalist bitcoin hardware wallet packed with security and privacy. Safely hold and spend your coins with peace of mind.

Keepkey Wallet

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons

Trezor Wallet

TREZOR Wallet is an easy-to-use interface for your TREZOR device. From this Wallet, you can easily control your coins, manage your balance and initiate transfers.

News & Blog

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons

instruction video

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons

ABOUT
BUYBITCOINWALLET.COM

BuyBitcoinWallet.com is your number one destination for Bitcoin Hardware wallets. Our Goal is to provide you with the best bitcoin hardware wallets that enable you to manage your coins and initiate transfers in a secure manner. You can also read our latest blogs, for the latest news on bitcoins.

Bitcoin, one of the most popular Cryptocurrency and it’s a worldwide accepted payment system that can be securely stored in Hardware Wallets. Bitcoin is the de-centralized digital currency in the world, as the system works without a central bank or the single administrator. Bitcoin miners gain the bitcoins by solving math problems, they are provided with bitcoins in exchange for solving the problems. Miners also store the Bitcoins in hardware wallet with security. Mining is an integral part of the Bitcoin, which ensures fairness by keeping the Bitcoin network stable, safe and also more secure. When it comes to security, you can keep the bitcoins secured by storing the keys in a wallet stored on your hard drive.

How to Store Your Bitcoin

Last updated: 20th January 2018

Before owning any bitcoin, you need somewhere to store them. That place is called a "wallet." Rather than actually holding your bitcoin, it holds the private key that allows you to access your bitcoin address (which is also your public key). If the wallet software is well designed, it will look as if your bitcoins are actually there, which makes using bitcoin more convenient and intuitive.

Actually, a wallet usually holds several private keys, and many bitcoin investors have several wallets.

Wallets can either live on your computer and/or mobile device, on a physical storage gadget, or even on a piece of paper. Here we'll briefly look at the different types.

Electronic wallets

Electronic wallets can be downloaded software, or hosted in the cloud. The former is simply a formatted file that lives on your computer or device, that facilitates transactions. Hosted (cloud-based) wallets tend to have a more user-friendly interface, but you will be trusting a third party with your private keys.

Software wallet

Installing a wallet directly on your computer gives you the security that you control your keys. Most have relatively easy configuration, and are free. The disadvantage is that they do require more maintenance in the form of backups. If your computer gets stolen or corrupted and your private keys are not also stored elsewhere, you lose your bitcoin.

They also require greater security precautions. If your computer is hacked and the thief gets a hold of your wallet or your private keys, he also gets hold of your bitcoin.

The original software wallet is the Bitcoin Core protocol, the program that runs the bitcoin network. You can download this here (it doesn't mean that you have to become a fully operational node), but you'd also have to download the ledger of all transactions since the dawn of bitcoin time (2009). As you can guess, this takes up a lot of memory – at time of writing, over 145GB.

Most wallets in use today are "light" wallets, or SPV (Simplified Payment Verification) wallets, which do not download the entire ledger but sync to the real thing. Electrum is a well-known SPV desktop bitcoin wallet that also offers "cold storage" (a totally offline option for additional security). Exodus can track multiple assets with a sophisticated user interface. Some (such as Jaxx) can hold a wide range of digital assets, and some (such as Copay) offer the possibility of shared accounts.

Online wallet

Online (or cloud-based) wallets offer increased convenience – you can generally access your bitcoin from any device if you have the right passwords. All are easy to set up, come with desktop and mobile apps which make it easy to spend and receive bitcoin, and most are free.

The disadvantage is the lower security. With your private keys stored in the cloud, you have to trust the host's security measures, and that it won't disappear with your money, or close down and deny you access.

Some leading online wallets are attached to exchanges (such as Coinbase and Blockchain). Some offer additional security features such as offline storage (Coinbase and Xapo).

Mobile wallets

Mobile wallets are available as apps for your smartphone, especially useful if you want to pay for something in bitcoin in a shop, or if you want to buy, sell or send while on the move. All of the online wallets and most of the desktop ones mentioned above have mobile versions, while others – such as Abra, Airbitz and Bread – were created with mobile in mind.

Hardware wallets

Hardware wallets are small devices that occasionally connect to the web to enact bitcoin transactions. They are extremely secure, as they are generally offline and therefore not hackable. They can be stolen or lost, however, along with the bitcoins that belong to the stored private keys. Some large investors keep their hardware wallets in secure locations such as bank vaults. Trezor, Keepkey and Ledger and Case are notable examples.

Paper wallets

Perhaps the simplest of all the wallets, these are pieces of paper on which the private and public keys of a bitcoin address are printed. Ideal for the long-term storage of bitcoin (away from fire and water, obviously), or for the giving of bitcoin as a gift, these wallets are more secure in that they're not connected to a network. They are, however, easier to lose.

With services such as WalletGenerator and BitcoinPaperWallet, you can easily create a new address and print the wallet on your printer. Fold, seal and you're set. Send some bitcoin to that address, and then store it safely or give it away. (See our tutorial on paper wallets here.)

Are bitcoin wallets safe?

That depends on the version and format you have chosen, and how you use them.

The safest option is a hardware wallet which you keep offline, in a secure place. That way there is no risk that your account can be hacked, your keys stolen and your bitcoin whisked away. But, if you lose the wallet, your bitcoin are gone, unless you have created a clone and/or kept reliable backups of the keys.

The least secure option is an online wallet, since the keys are held by a third party. It also happens to be the easiest to set up and use, presenting you with an all-too-familiar choice: convenience vs safety.

Many serious bitcoin investors use a hybrid approach: they hold a core, long-term amount of bitcoin offline, while having a "spending balance" for liquidity in a mobile account. Your choice will depend on your bitcoin strategy, and your willingness to get "technical."

Whatever option you go for, please be careful. Back up everything, and only tell your nearest and dearest where your backups are stored.

For more information on how to buy bitcoin, see here. And for some examples of what you can spend it on, see here.

(Note: specific businesses mentioned here are not the only options available, and should not be taken as a recommendation.)

Authored by Noelle Acheson. Wallet image via Shutterstock.

Bitcoin Smart Banknotes Launched in Singapore

A digital asset smart banknote manufacturer has launched bitcoin banknotes at a store in Singapore. Designed to make owning and circulating cryptocurrencies as easy as using paper money, they are currently available in denominations of 0.01 and 0.05 BTC.

Bitcoin Banknotes Debut in Singapore

Digital asset banknote manufacturer Tangem announced the launch of smart bitcoin banknotes at the Megafash Suntec City store in Singapore on Thursday.

Megafash store in Singapore.

The announcement states:

Available immediately in denominations of 0.01 and 0.05 BTC, Tangem Notes radically improve the simplicity and security of acquiring, owning, and circulating cryptocurrencies for both sophisticated and incoming users.

With headquarters in Switzerland’s cryptovalley Zug and Hong Kong, Tangem also has offices in Singapore, Moscow, and China, according to its website.

The company says it “is delivering the first shipment of 10,000 production notes to prospective partners and distributors around the world for commercial pilots.”

How Tangem’s Smart Banknotes Work

Tangem explains that their bitcoin smart banknotes are “Comparable to a well-protected paper banknote” and “Cheap enough to hand over.” Citing their ease of use, the company says there is “No special infrastructure, no complicated applications – just touch the banknote with an NFC-capable smartphone to be 100% sure it has valid assets.”

Illustration of how the banknotes work.

Transferring ownership of the notes is anonymous and instant, Tangem claims. “Physically hand over the whole wallet together with the blockchain private key. No transaction fees, no need to await confirmation blockchain.” Moreover, the company says that its banknotes are equipped with “high-grade EAL6+ protection for all cryptocurrencies. Irretrievable private keys prohibit replication of wallet and its assets.”

Competitor Opendime has long offered a physical product with a similar purpose but shaped more like a USB thumb drive and without any amount printed on them.

Security Questions

Tangem’s hardware is based on Samsung Semiconductor’s S3D350A chip. The company claims to offer “the first hardware storage solution on the market with its entire electronics and cryptography certified to the Common Criteria EAL6+ and EMVCo security standards.”

As with any embedded firmware-based product in the cryptocurrency space, security audits and open-source code are paramount to earning users’ trust to ensure that the company does not have access to the funds stored on their product. At the time of this writing, Tangem’s only publicly available code is for its iOS and Android apps on Github.

However, the company claims that it has shared the full source code of its proprietary chip firmware with a Swiss security firm, Kudelski Group, adding that this firm has completed an in-depth review and comprehensive security audit of its product’s architecture.

What do you think of these bitcoin smart banknotes? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Samsung, and Tangem.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

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Take time to educate yourself

Bitcoin is different from what you know and use every day. Before you start using Bitcoin for any serious transaction, be sure to read what you need to know and take appropriate steps to secure your wallet. Always remember that it is your responsibility to choose your wallet carefully and adopt good practices in order to protect your money.