If you have a significant sum of Bitcoin you can get a Hardware Wallet like ColdCard or TREZOR (or even LEDGER but the company keeps information about you which isn't really great if they get hacked AGAIN). If you don't trust or can't afford/keep safe a Hardware Wallet, you can create a Cold Wallet.
Creating a Cold Wallet used to be really difficult task in the past. Not anymore. Here's a quick guide how to create one, using an USB stick and any computer that's offline.
- prepare a bootable USB key with tails, which is a full live operative system. Tails is made for storing nothing on the HDD, all is done in RAM
- shutdown your computer
- disconnect Wi-Fi, printer, ALL network cables - this is very important step!!!
- connect USB key with tails and boot it in your computer
- inside the Tails OS is a pre-installed version of Electrum (a software bitcoin wallet), before you open it, check the next step
- double check that you are not connected to the internet or to any Wi-Fi device or Bluetooth
- run ELECTRUM and use it to generate a new wallet
- write down on a piece of paper the seed and the xpubkey and a few public addresses. Beware to be case-sensitive!
- double check the seed
- shutdown the computer
- once the PC is turned off, disconnect the USB stick
You can now receive bitcoin payments on the address you have written on the paper. Go ahead and send a few satoshis to the first address and check if everything is working. If you need more addresses you can generate them with xpubkey. Is very important to store your seed secure. Written on a piece of paper or stamped to a metal, like SAFU.ninja and hidden in a safe place - two geographical locations is the best way to avoid disasters like fire, water, tornado, etc.
If you're planning to spend your Bitcoin often, Cold Wallet isn't the best solution for you and you should rather get a Hardware Wallet instead. If you're spending Bitcoin on a daily basis, a Hot Wallet like Samourai or Wasabi. If you have any questions, write it in a comment, I'll try to reply to all of them.
Thank you guys for reading, liking, following, and tipping. Extremely appreciated! ??
