How to setup your Bitcoin cold storage for free

What is a Bitcoin wallet ?

Bitcoin cold storage is the practice of storing Bitcoin holdings in a secure offline wallet. This method of storage is commonly used by long-term savers who want to keep their Bitcoin safe. The best cold storage devices are hardware wallets, but they can be pretty pricey for Africans to get their hands on. The most affordable way to store your Bitcoin offline is by using software wallets or generating paper wallets offline.

What are Private Keys?

Paper Wallet

Paper wallets are a form of cold storage where Bitcoin private keys are printed or copied on paper, which oftentimes also includes the wallet address. Paper wallets enable you to store your Bitcoin safely offline. This makes paper wallets significantly more secure compared to hot wallets, which are accessible online and vulnerable to hacking and theft.
Creating a paper wallet is a simple and inexpensive way to store your Bitcoin offline and keep them safe.
There are many paper wallet generators available online, but not all of them are trustworthy. It’s important to choose a reputable one that has been around for a while and has a good reputation in the Bitcoin community. Some popular paper wallet generators include:

BitAddress

BitAddress is a popular and reputable paper wallet generator that allows you to generate a paper wallet offline. You can simply visit their website on your desktop or phone and create your wallet in a few simple steps. You can also add a passphrase to encrypt the paper wallet for additional protection by ticking the BIP38 encryption box.

BitcoinPaperWallet

BitcoinPaperWallet is based on a well established and trustworthy open-source engine for generating addresses using your own browser’s JavaScript engine. It is a user-friendly paper wallet generator that allows you to create a paper wallet in just a few clicks. It also provides step-by-step instructions on how to generate and use your paper wallet.

How to create your Paper Wallet

How to Generate a Mnemonic Seed Phrase

Bitcoin paper wallet generators will most likely give you a long string of letters and numbers as a private key, and this is usually difficult to memorise. What if we told you there was a cool way to generate a seed phrase from that private key?

To convert a Bitcoin private key into a 12 or 24-word mnemonic phrase, you can use a tool called a mnemonic converter or a seed phrase generator.

Here’s how you can use the BIP39 tool to convert your Bitcoin private key into a 12 or 24-word phrase:

There you have it! You can then use this mnemonic phrase to restore your Bitcoin wallet in case you lose your private key.

It’s important to note that once you have generated your mnemonic phrase, you should keep it secure and private, as anyone who has access to it can potentially access your Bitcoin wallet.

How to Keep Secret and Safely Store Your Keys

Remember that your keys can be a long string of numbers and alphabets or the more modern BIP 39 protocol-generated seed phrase and paraphrase; they are the most important aspect of a paper wallet. So it is important to take steps to keep it safe and secure because if you lose your keys, you lose access to your Bitcoin and if someone gets their hands on your keys, they can easily steal your funds. 

Luckily, there are some easy steps you can take to make sure your keys are as safe as possible. Here are some tips for creating and storing your paper wallet:

Seed Phrase Security Bad Practices

For extra security

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