Bitcoin paper wallet balance

A paper wallet is one of bitcoiner’s best security practices. In this article we will provide a brief overview about its main advantages and important points to care about before starting to invest in the crypto currency.

What is a Paper Wallet? The Basics

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Also referred as Cold Storage, a paper wallet is a way to store bitcoins as a physical offline document that can be handled as any other real-world materialized currency or value. The main purpose of the paper wallet it to take your private key out of any online record by printing it onto paper.

Once done, bitcoins on a live wallet (web based or software client) can be sent to the public address printed on your paper wallet document for safekeeping.

Paper Wallet Advantages

As of its advantages, bitcoin paper wallets offer:

(1) A high level of protection against software that might be compromising your computer, like malwares and keyloggers, and of course, against hackers!

(2) The security of possessing your bitcoins on paper, as we are used to deal with cash, although it means that mobility might be an issue at certain point and you need to take other kind of previsions to keep the document in shape.

(3) No dependence on a third party wallet service provider.

(4) Risk reduced by not having to rely only on the security standards applied by a website.

Points to Care About with Paper Wallets

- Make sure you create a strong and complex enough passphrase when creating your brain wallet on websites like bitaddress.org

- Be aware that the paper contains all the data needed to check your bitcoin balance and import it or spend it, so choose the right place to store it. Also protect it from humidity and other things that could damage it. Losing a single character of any of your 2 keys could become a big issue to recover your assets.

- Before transferring your bitcoins to your paper wallet, make sure you verify it by checking it on alternative sites to bitaddress.org. If the same info comes up, it means everything is ok. Check it on at least 3 more sites.

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