What is a Paper Wallet? Paper wallets provide both a public and a private keys printed on paper. This enables you to securely save these offline from your internet connection, and store them somewhere else like a home safe or a safety deposit box for example.
Users can still use the public key to receive cryptocurrency transactions. It is worth pointing out that the wallet is cryptocurrency specific and cannot be used for multiple coins. This is because each cryptocurrency will have individual public and private key formats. One of the main security benefits is that your funds are stored in cold storage (offline – not on your pc). If you need to gain access to your funds, there are services online that give you the option to import your paper wallet.
Download a Blockchain?
Try if you can, to download a cryptocurrency blockchain on your pc or laptop (spec permitting) that you are using for your paper wallet. Peace of mind and security should be the utmost importance, and you ideally want control of every aspect of the transaction.
The reason is, with paper wallets, if anybody has access to the paper your keys are printed on, then they will know your private key. This is why we can take extra security measures to store your private key in perhaps two separate locations. You need to be more efficient and organised than technical when it comes to retrieving your funds from a paper wallet. But overall it can be a great alternative for an offline solution to protect the security of your cryptocurrency.
Protect your Paper Wallet.
Be careful how you store you paper wallet as they can get damaged in a variety of ways such as:
- Mould
- Damp
- Water
- Fire
- Creepy Crawlers
- Your Pets
- Small Children
- People!
Once you have printed your paper wallet, store it in a safe or fire proof container. Do not let anyone look after it for you!
