Bitcoin Wallets Guide
Our guide covers various wallets for keeping Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and tips on keeping your crypto assets secure, making transactions safely, and addressing several frequently asked questions about Bitcoin wallets in New Zealand
Updated 11 June 2021
If you’re thinking of buying Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, it’s essential to know how to keep them safe. Due to the decentralised and trustless nature of Bitcoin, several side effects occur. For example, if your key is lost or stolen, your coins can be gone forever. There are different types of Bitcoin wallets available, and the distinctions are important.
Summary
Our guide covers:
Warning:
If you’re thinking of buying Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, it’s essential to know how to keep them safe. Due to the decentralised and trustless nature of Bitcoin, several side effects occur. For example, if your key is lost or stolen, your coins can be gone forever. There are different types of Bitcoin wallets available, and the distinctions are important.
Summary
- Storing Bitcoin is a tricky business. There are risks to keeping your coins online on an exchange, but there are also many risks when taking matters into your own hands.
- There are various types of Bitcoin wallet; in this guide, we explain custodial, cloud-based, software, mobile, hardware and paper wallets.
- A Bitcoin wallet isn’t a container that holds values or units; it’s a password to authorise payments. The record of who owns how many BTC is kept on the public blockchain. This guide explains several fundamental principles associated with bitcoin wallets and transactions.
- Not all cryptocurrency wallets are compatible with Bitcoin, and not all Bitcoin wallets are compatible with other cryptocurrencies.
Our guide covers:
- What is a Bitcoin Wallet?
- Types of Bitcoin Wallets - Hot Wallets and Cold Wallets
- Choosing a Bitcoin Wallet
- Frequently Asked Questions
Warning:
- Losing your private key results in the permanent loss of your Bitcoin. Studies suggest that 20% of all BTC is lost. Using cryptocurrencies requires diligence and care.
- There is a constant stream of phishing attacks trying to trick users into exposing their account credentials, private keys and seed phrases; always verify you’re on the right website. Read our guide to Bitcoin and crypto scams to know more.
- Always follow internet security best practices such as having up to date operating systems, professional antivirus on your computer and never use unsecured internet connections to access wallets.
- By publishing this guide, we are not recommending or suggesting in any way or form that Bitcoin is a suitable investment.
- We published and routinely update this guide to help people decide what's best for them - MoneyHub is conservative and our publisher, Christopher Walsh, has zero Bitcoin investments.
- We present this information in good faith and remain objective at all times. By including this guide under our Investing and Saving section, we are not advocating that cryptocurrency is an investment.
Best Bitcoin Wallets for New Zealanders
There are many Bitcoin wallet choices - to make things easier, we've shortlisted four popular options. Please note, we have no relationship with any wallet service below, and this list is not a recommendation or an endorsement. Our shortlist of software, hardware and cloud wallets is as follows:
As a background:
- Exodus (easy to use software wallet)
- Ledger (popular hardware wallet)
- Trezor (popular hardware wallet)
- Blockchain.com (easy to use mobile wallet)
As a background:
- Software wallets store your private key inside the application and use it to generate signatures for transactions.
- Hardware wallets are kept offline and used to hold files containing your private key. A hardware wallet can be as simple as a generic USB with a plain text file containing your private key, or it could be a purpose-built device such as a Trezor device.
- Cloud wallets are platforms that generate the private key online and provide it to you.
What is a Bitcoin Wallet?
When thinking of a Bitcoin wallet, most will think of an app like PayPal or Neteller, where you can check the balance of an account and initiate payments to other people with the same wallet. While there are apps such as Coinbase that provide an e-wallet style experience, they are not truly a Bitcoin wallet.
A Bitcoin wallet is an abstract concept, and the definition varies by source. At its core, a Bitcoin wallet is a public key and private key combination. The definition has been suppressed by wallet applications that provide an interface to use the keys and initiate transactions.
Unless you fancy manually writing scripts to make Bitcoin transactions, like most people, you’ll want to use a wallet client to prepare, sign and broadcast transactions to the network.
A Bitcoin wallet is an abstract concept, and the definition varies by source. At its core, a Bitcoin wallet is a public key and private key combination. The definition has been suppressed by wallet applications that provide an interface to use the keys and initiate transactions.
Unless you fancy manually writing scripts to make Bitcoin transactions, like most people, you’ll want to use a wallet client to prepare, sign and broadcast transactions to the network.
Components of a Bitcoin wallet
1. Public key
The public key, also known as pubKey, is a fundamental characteristic of the cryptography used to authenticate Bitcoin transactions. Whenever you spend Bitcoin, your public key is included in the transaction input and published on the blockchain. When you create a Bitcoin wallet, as in public and private key combination, the public address isn’t known, at least until you make your first outgoing transaction.
A public key is derived from the private key, but you cannot use the public key to figure out the private key. A public key typically looks like this:
03c2c24838fe62c83e2e3366138374df5e4841d0154359d0145b63e56b39296338
2. Address
A Bitcoin address, also known as an invoice address, is an identifier of between 26 and 35 letter and number characters beginning with either a 1, 3, or bc1. The prefixes relate to specific types of transactions; the most common format you’ll see is addresses beginning with a 1 or 3.
Here are examples of the three types of Bitcoin address:
1BvBMSEYstWerqTFn5Au3m4GFg7xJaNVN1
3J98t1WpEZ71CNmQviecrnyiWsnaRhWNLy
bc1qar0drra7xfcvy5l643lydnw9re59gtzzwf5mdq
Addresses are hashes derived from the public key, so if you only want to receive coins, you don’t need to expose your public key until you make your first transaction.
You can compare an address to a bank account number; it’s used to identify the recipient of a transaction. However, the address is disposable. As there aren’t any names involved in the Bitcoin payment network, addresses are used as identification. Imagine selling a product to two people and giving both customers the same address to pay out, and both claim to have paid; there is no way to verify who paid and who didn’t. That’s why Bitcoin users generate new addresses for each transaction or assign an address to a particular customer for recurring payments.
3. Private key
A private key, as the name suggests, should be kept private. When combined with a public key, a private key can generate a signature used to sign a transaction. A transaction with a valid signature will be validated by the network’s nodes and added to the pool of pending transactions waiting to be processed by miners. As you can see, the private key is the only thing safeguarding your Bitcoin.
A Bitcoin private key has 66 characters in the range 0-to-9 or A-to-F and looks like this (not a real private key):
0x8010b1bb119ad37d4b65a1022a314897b1b3614b345974332cb1b9582cf03532
A valid Bitcoin private key could be anywhere in the range of
0x1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
and
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEBAAEDCE6AF48A03BBFD25E8CD0364141
Wallet applications typically hash and compress the private key to generate a smaller key, and the resulting private key format looks like this:
KwDiDMapksBAcfyHsVS5XzmirtyjKWSeaeM2U1QppugixMUeKMqp
4. Seed phrase
The seed phrase is a recovery phrase used as a last resort to recover the private key. Unlike the private key, the seed phrase consists of twelve short words and can be generated in ten different languages. The idea is that the seed phrase is easier to write down than the private key. Imagine if one letter from the private key is smudged, you’ll struggle to figure it out, whereas if a letter in the middle of the phrase is missing, it can be deduced in the same way as completing a crossword puzzle. There is a dictionary of 2048 words, and a seed phrase is generated using that library.
Here is a (not real) example of a seed phrase:
"witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least"
5. Signature
Every Bitcoin transaction is signed with a signature, known as the scriptSig. A valid signature can only be created using the private key and public key together, but the private key never needs to be exposed during the signing process. The signature authenticates a transaction. Every Bitcoin transaction recorded in the blockchain has the signature and public key recorded. The signature is a hash that also consists of simplified transaction information, meaning a signature for a 1 BTC transaction can’t be used to sign a transaction of 100 BTC.
Here is an example of scriptSig; it’s a hash that contains basic transaction information. When combined with the public key the signature verifies it could only have been generated with the private key.
304502210098181929f139c05a4c582aed478829345d25e752ede5fab2ff310c7a0176603502201ec04a3c53530ff13fd0d76d5ec3921aadfe60aef0d894700eb90ded71c2666e01
The public key, also known as pubKey, is a fundamental characteristic of the cryptography used to authenticate Bitcoin transactions. Whenever you spend Bitcoin, your public key is included in the transaction input and published on the blockchain. When you create a Bitcoin wallet, as in public and private key combination, the public address isn’t known, at least until you make your first outgoing transaction.
A public key is derived from the private key, but you cannot use the public key to figure out the private key. A public key typically looks like this:
03c2c24838fe62c83e2e3366138374df5e4841d0154359d0145b63e56b39296338
2. Address
A Bitcoin address, also known as an invoice address, is an identifier of between 26 and 35 letter and number characters beginning with either a 1, 3, or bc1. The prefixes relate to specific types of transactions; the most common format you’ll see is addresses beginning with a 1 or 3.
Here are examples of the three types of Bitcoin address:
1BvBMSEYstWerqTFn5Au3m4GFg7xJaNVN1
3J98t1WpEZ71CNmQviecrnyiWsnaRhWNLy
bc1qar0drra7xfcvy5l643lydnw9re59gtzzwf5mdq
Addresses are hashes derived from the public key, so if you only want to receive coins, you don’t need to expose your public key until you make your first transaction.
You can compare an address to a bank account number; it’s used to identify the recipient of a transaction. However, the address is disposable. As there aren’t any names involved in the Bitcoin payment network, addresses are used as identification. Imagine selling a product to two people and giving both customers the same address to pay out, and both claim to have paid; there is no way to verify who paid and who didn’t. That’s why Bitcoin users generate new addresses for each transaction or assign an address to a particular customer for recurring payments.
3. Private key
A private key, as the name suggests, should be kept private. When combined with a public key, a private key can generate a signature used to sign a transaction. A transaction with a valid signature will be validated by the network’s nodes and added to the pool of pending transactions waiting to be processed by miners. As you can see, the private key is the only thing safeguarding your Bitcoin.
A Bitcoin private key has 66 characters in the range 0-to-9 or A-to-F and looks like this (not a real private key):
0x8010b1bb119ad37d4b65a1022a314897b1b3614b345974332cb1b9582cf03532
A valid Bitcoin private key could be anywhere in the range of
0x1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
and
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEBAAEDCE6AF48A03BBFD25E8CD0364141
Wallet applications typically hash and compress the private key to generate a smaller key, and the resulting private key format looks like this:
KwDiDMapksBAcfyHsVS5XzmirtyjKWSeaeM2U1QppugixMUeKMqp
4. Seed phrase
The seed phrase is a recovery phrase used as a last resort to recover the private key. Unlike the private key, the seed phrase consists of twelve short words and can be generated in ten different languages. The idea is that the seed phrase is easier to write down than the private key. Imagine if one letter from the private key is smudged, you’ll struggle to figure it out, whereas if a letter in the middle of the phrase is missing, it can be deduced in the same way as completing a crossword puzzle. There is a dictionary of 2048 words, and a seed phrase is generated using that library.
Here is a (not real) example of a seed phrase:
"witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least"
5. Signature
Every Bitcoin transaction is signed with a signature, known as the scriptSig. A valid signature can only be created using the private key and public key together, but the private key never needs to be exposed during the signing process. The signature authenticates a transaction. Every Bitcoin transaction recorded in the blockchain has the signature and public key recorded. The signature is a hash that also consists of simplified transaction information, meaning a signature for a 1 BTC transaction can’t be used to sign a transaction of 100 BTC.
Here is an example of scriptSig; it’s a hash that contains basic transaction information. When combined with the public key the signature verifies it could only have been generated with the private key.
304502210098181929f139c05a4c582aed478829345d25e752ede5fab2ff310c7a0176603502201ec04a3c53530ff13fd0d76d5ec3921aadfe60aef0d894700eb90ded71c2666e01
Types of Bitcoin Wallets - Hot Wallets and Cold Wallets
Bitcoin wallet applications are used to generate transactions using a combination of the public key, private key, address of the recipient, how much your spending, and with all that information, the wallet generates the signature, which can be sent to the Bitcoin network.
There are different types of Bitcoin wallets. Common phrases you may have heard before are hot wallet and cold wallet. A hot wallet is a wallet where the private key has been exposed to the internet. For example, a computer with an internet connection was used to sign a transaction. A cold wallet is a device holding a private key that is never exposed to the internet. But there are different types of hot and cold wallets to know about.
There are different types of Bitcoin wallets. Common phrases you may have heard before are hot wallet and cold wallet. A hot wallet is a wallet where the private key has been exposed to the internet. For example, a computer with an internet connection was used to sign a transaction. A cold wallet is a device holding a private key that is never exposed to the internet. But there are different types of hot and cold wallets to know about.
Types of hot wallets
Custodial wallets
A custodial cryptocurrency wallet is a type operating like a bank or an e-wallet. A custodial wallet doesn’t host a dedicated wallet for you; instead, they commingle your cryptocurrency with other app users. Think of it like how you fund an e-wallet, you transfer money to its bank account, and although the money technically belongs to you, you can’t do anything with the money without the permission of the e-wallet.
The most likely place you’ll find a custodial wallet is on cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
Taken from the BitInfoCharts Bitcoin Rich List, here are examples of major platforms and amounts of Bitcoin in their custody at the time of writing:
The examples above show 3.3% of the total 18.7 million Bitcoin mined to date. It’s worth noting that exchanges operate multiple cold wallets; these are just the largest of each exchange.
Pros and Cons of Custodial wallets:
Pros
Cons
The most likely place you’ll find a custodial wallet is on cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
Taken from the BitInfoCharts Bitcoin Rich List, here are examples of major platforms and amounts of Bitcoin in their custody at the time of writing:
- Binanace: 211,427 (NZ$16.8 billion)
- Huobi: 139,451.77 (NZ$11.1 billion)
- Bitfinex: 104,511 (NZ$8.3 billion)
- OKEX: 98,561 (NZ$7.85 billion)
- Bitrex: 41,102 (NZ$3.27 billion)
- Kraken: 23,228 (NZ$1.85 billion)
The examples above show 3.3% of the total 18.7 million Bitcoin mined to date. It’s worth noting that exchanges operate multiple cold wallets; these are just the largest of each exchange.
Pros and Cons of Custodial wallets:
Pros
- Keeping your cryptocurrency on an exchange is convenient. You can easily open an app to view your balance, spend your coins, or convert it to other cryptos or back to fiat and withdraw.
- You don’t need to worry about keeping private keys safe from loss or theft. If you lose your account password, it can be easily reset, just like any other online account.
Cons
- Exchanges are notorious for overcharging for withdrawals, and some set a minimum withdrawal limit. For example, Binance charges 0.0005 BTC (NZ$39.80) for withdrawals, and the minimum withdrawal is 0.001 BTC (NZ$79.60)
- Exchanges are vulnerable as they’re primary targets hackers would attack.
- If the exchange shuts down due to regulator or legal issues, your funds could become collateral damage.
Software wallets
A software wallet is an application you download on your computer to run a client capable of connecting to the Bitcoin network and function offline. It’s hard to comprehend, but Bitcoin wallets can be created entirely offline, which is how you can keep a new private key bulletproof. A private key can even be generated using 16-sided hexadecimal dice.
The public key is derived from the private key, and that calculation requires some computing power. But you can still generate the public key and later the addresses offline. The general idea is the number of possible private key combinations is so vast that no two identical keys could ever be created. The odds of that happening is more than one-in-a Quinvigintillion, which is a number with 78 digits.
A software wallet stores your private key inside the application and uses it to generate signatures for transactions to be broadcast to the Bitcoin network.
Popular examples of Bitcoin software wallets include Electrum, Atomic Wallet and Exodus.
Pros and Cons of Software wallets:
Pros
Cons
The public key is derived from the private key, and that calculation requires some computing power. But you can still generate the public key and later the addresses offline. The general idea is the number of possible private key combinations is so vast that no two identical keys could ever be created. The odds of that happening is more than one-in-a Quinvigintillion, which is a number with 78 digits.
A software wallet stores your private key inside the application and uses it to generate signatures for transactions to be broadcast to the Bitcoin network.
Popular examples of Bitcoin software wallets include Electrum, Atomic Wallet and Exodus.
Pros and Cons of Software wallets:
Pros
- Using a software wallet means your cryptocurrency is completely decentralised, and you’re receiving all of the benefits associated with Bitcoin.
- There is no need to open an account and perform KYC to create a Bitcoin wallet independently.
- More flexibility when it comes to setting network fees and transaction types.
- Access to the can is possible from various wallet clients.
Cons
- You take on the responsibility of safeguarding the secret key, and once it’s lost, it’s gone forever.
- Not very portable, breaking the concept of being a wallet.
- More complicated and difficult for new users to grasp.
- While most software wallets are free and open-source, they lack technical support.
Cloud wallets
Cloud wallets, also known as hosted wallets, are somewhere between a software wallet and a custodial wallet. A cloud wallet is a platform that generates the private key online and provides it to you for safekeeping, and stores the key in an encrypted server. A cloud wallet lets you set up and sign transactions online since the wallet already has access to your private key.
Examples of cloud wallets are Coinbase Wallet and Blockchain.com, and BitPay.
Pros and Cons of Cloud wallets:
Pros
Cons
Examples of cloud wallets are Coinbase Wallet and Blockchain.com, and BitPay.
Pros and Cons of Cloud wallets:
Pros
- The most convenient way to open a cryptocurrency wallet
- You’re able to log in to the account using a username and password.
- Some providers let you reset your password to regain access to your account.
Cons
- Prone to phishing attacks and social engineering hacks.
- Your wallet is linked to your identity by the cloud wallet service provider, resulting in a loss of privacy.
- The safety of your coins is at the mercy of a third party.
Mobile wallets
A mobile wallet is an app installed on your mobile device. Just like a software wallet, the mobile wallet saves your private key in application files which you can use to sign transactions whenever you want.
Popular mobile wallets include mycelium and Bitcoin Wallet. It’s worth noting most custodial, and cloud wallet providers offer mobile applications too. To take your Bitcoin wherever you go, you use other, perhaps more appropriate, types of cryptocurrency wallet while still achieving mobile convenience.
If you decide to use a mobile crypto wallet, you should plan the likely event you lose or break your device. The best measure to take is having a backup key and not holding too much in the wallet.
Pros and Cons of Mobile wallets:
Pros
Cons
Popular mobile wallets include mycelium and Bitcoin Wallet. It’s worth noting most custodial, and cloud wallet providers offer mobile applications too. To take your Bitcoin wherever you go, you use other, perhaps more appropriate, types of cryptocurrency wallet while still achieving mobile convenience.
If you decide to use a mobile crypto wallet, you should plan the likely event you lose or break your device. The best measure to take is having a backup key and not holding too much in the wallet.
Pros and Cons of Mobile wallets:
Pros
- A truly portable way to spend cryptocurrency.
- The app can be protected with the biometric data used to unlock your device.
Cons
- Your device can easily be lost, stolen or broken.
- The devices need to be connected to the internet, and this makes them vulnerable.
Types of Cold Wallets
Hardware wallets
Hardware wallets are kept offline and used to hold files containing your private key. A hardware wallet can be as simple as a generic USB with a plain text file containing your private key, or it could be a purpose-built device such as a Trezor device.
Trezor and Ledger devices are the two most used hardware wallets. Both devices hold your private keys and encrypt the drive where they are stored. Whenever you need to sign a transaction, you temporarily decrypt the key drive using a PIN.
Pros and Cons of Hardware wallets:
Pros
Cons
Trezor and Ledger devices are the two most used hardware wallets. Both devices hold your private keys and encrypt the drive where they are stored. Whenever you need to sign a transaction, you temporarily decrypt the key drive using a PIN.
Pros and Cons of Hardware wallets:
Pros
- Impossible to be compromised when used correctly and stored offline
- Your private key is stored on the device, and all you need to remember is a pin code.
Cons
- There is a risk of losing or damaging the physical device.
- Hardware wallets cost from NZ$80 up to a few hundred dollars.
- A confusing setup process.
Paper wallets
Paper wallets are simply good old pen-and-paper. Some wallets may generate a fancy PDF to print out. Think of a paper wallet as similar to bearer shares. Anyone holding the piece of paper has the rights to the asset.
Since you don’t need to use the internet to generate a Bitcoin wallet, you should not use online wallet generator services. In early 2021, there was a case where crypto users claimed a popular bitcoin paper wallet generator was compromised, allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. There have been cases where wallet generation sites log the private keys they generate and cherry-pick wallets with sizable funds to steal.
Pros and Cons of Paper wallets:
Pros
Cons
Know This: Besides using a fragile paper wallet, you can use a more durable medium to keep your private key safe. Cryptosteel and Cryptotag create waterproof, fireproof, bulletproof, shock resistant and stainless devices to backup your seed.
Since you don’t need to use the internet to generate a Bitcoin wallet, you should not use online wallet generator services. In early 2021, there was a case where crypto users claimed a popular bitcoin paper wallet generator was compromised, allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin. There have been cases where wallet generation sites log the private keys they generate and cherry-pick wallets with sizable funds to steal.
Pros and Cons of Paper wallets:
Pros
- Impossible to be compromised when used correctly and stored offline.
- An easy way to transfer Bitcoin securely without ever exposing the public address except to the recipient.
Cons
- Vulnerable to water, fire and scissors.
- Easy to lose.
Know This: Besides using a fragile paper wallet, you can use a more durable medium to keep your private key safe. Cryptosteel and Cryptotag create waterproof, fireproof, bulletproof, shock resistant and stainless devices to backup your seed.
Best Bitcoin Wallets
We list four popular bitcoin wallet options below - please note, we have no relationship with any wallet service below, and this list is not a recommendation or an endorsement. Our shortlist are software, hardware or cloud wallets:
- Software wallets store your private key inside the application and use it to generate signatures for transactions.
- Hardware wallets are kept offline and used to hold files containing your private key. A hardware wallet can be as simple as a generic USB with a plain text file containing your private key, or it could be a purpose-built device such as a Trezor device.
- Cloud wallets are platforms that generate the private key online and provide it to you for safekeeping and store the key in an encrypted server.
Choosing a Bitcoin Wallet
Bitcoin wallets are borderless, so you don’t need to worry about whether they open accounts for New Zealand residents. What wallet you choose depends on your experience level.
1. First time user
If you’re about to make your first cryptocurrency purchase and use a non-custodial exchange such as Easy Crypto or BitPrime, you’ll need a wallet for the exchange to settle the transaction. At this stage, you should consider starting with a cloud wallet. Frankly, it’s more likely you’ll make a mistake setting up your wallet than a reputable cloud wallet being compromised.
Coinbase Wallet and Blockchain.com Wallet are great starting points. Both wallets have easy to use interfaces and support large-cap coins, such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and others.
2. Frequent buyer and seller
If you’re frequently buying and selling cryptocurrencies, perhaps you’re speculating on the crypto market and moving in and out of positions; in this case, you’ll find it easier to keep your coins in a custodial wallet on an exchange such as Binance.
Exchanges typically charge for withdrawals and set minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal limits, which can obstruct your trading strategy. It’s always recommended never to keep more than necessary on an exchange.
3. Long term investor
If you’re cryptocurrency holdings large enough, they might justify spending several hundred dollars on a couple of Trezor wallets for redundancy and a Cryptotag for maximum security. You can create a wallet without ever exposing the public key. If you’re purchasing more Bitcoin periodically, you can send coins to your cold wallet using addresses, keeping the public key concealed as long as you never make an outgoing transaction.
1. First time user
If you’re about to make your first cryptocurrency purchase and use a non-custodial exchange such as Easy Crypto or BitPrime, you’ll need a wallet for the exchange to settle the transaction. At this stage, you should consider starting with a cloud wallet. Frankly, it’s more likely you’ll make a mistake setting up your wallet than a reputable cloud wallet being compromised.
Coinbase Wallet and Blockchain.com Wallet are great starting points. Both wallets have easy to use interfaces and support large-cap coins, such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and others.
2. Frequent buyer and seller
If you’re frequently buying and selling cryptocurrencies, perhaps you’re speculating on the crypto market and moving in and out of positions; in this case, you’ll find it easier to keep your coins in a custodial wallet on an exchange such as Binance.
Exchanges typically charge for withdrawals and set minimum and maximum deposit and withdrawal limits, which can obstruct your trading strategy. It’s always recommended never to keep more than necessary on an exchange.
3. Long term investor
If you’re cryptocurrency holdings large enough, they might justify spending several hundred dollars on a couple of Trezor wallets for redundancy and a Cryptotag for maximum security. You can create a wallet without ever exposing the public key. If you’re purchasing more Bitcoin periodically, you can send coins to your cold wallet using addresses, keeping the public key concealed as long as you never make an outgoing transaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bitcoin wallets can be complicated - we answer common queries below. If you have any doubt in what you are doing, do not proceed as there can be significant risk when it comes to storing bitcoin.
Why do I only need to back up the private key?
You probably noticed in the guide that only the private key is backed up by the seed phrase; that’s because the public key and subsequently addresses can be derived from the private key. Therefore, the most important thing we need to protect is the private key.
Can I use a Bitcoin address more than once?
If the wallet belongs to you, then yes, it’s possible to reuse a Bitcoin address; it will always be associated with your wallet. If someone else has given you a Bitcoin address to send funds to, such as a merchant, you should ensure the address is still being used.
Do Bitcoin wallets support other cryptocurrencies?
Not necessarily. Although it’s common for cryptocurrency wallets to support various coins, wallets such as Electrum only support Bitcoin. Each cryptocurrency is powered by an Independent network, and the transaction histories are stored on separate blockchains. A few exceptions to this rule, notably the Ethereum network functions like an operating system that enables developers to build their own cryptocurrency, known as ERC-20 tokens. Often, you’ll see Ethereum wallets supporting hundreds of tokens.
What happens if I lose my private key?
If you lose your private key, you should be able to restore your wallet using the seed phrase, which is a sequence of twelve words that can be used to restore your private key. If you lose your seed phrase and private key, you’ve lost access to your wallet forever.
Best Bitcoin Wallets
We list four popular bitcoin wallet options below - please note, we have no relationship with any wallet service below, and this list is not a recommendation or an endorsement. Our shortlist are software, hardware or cloud wallets:
- Software wallets store your private key inside the application and use it to generate signatures for transactions.
- Hardware wallets are kept offline and used to hold files containing your private key. A hardware wallet can be as simple as a generic USB with a plain text file containing your private key, or it could be a purpose-built device such as a Trezor device.
- Cloud wallets are platforms that generate the private key online and provide it to you for safekeeping and store the key in an encrypted server.
