How to Create a Paper Wallet if You Can't Find One Online

in cryptocurrency •  7 years ago 

Download the walletgenerator.net website from GitHub and extract the templates you like the look of from the *:\WalletGenerator.net-master\WalletGenerator.net-master\wallets directory of the downloaded zip

Print these bad boys off after you've encoded your Private and Public Keys within a QR Code and have positioned said code within the white spaces of any of these templates (if you are unsure how to orientate them, I would suggest printing a test wallet off and see how they fold). You can also modify the templates to include your own crypto symbol on the cover.

After you've printed your paper wallet, fold along the dotted lines taking care to cover your Private Key from prying eyes (example image at bottom of page). To go a step further, you can always laminate these - making sure to laminate shut the private key, so that it can only be accessed via destroying the wallet. This ensures that;

  1. you and your cryptocurrency look super awesome,
  2. you don't reuse the wallet once you've exposed your Private Keys, and,
  3. not even god can access your funds unless he cuts open the laminate.

Enjoy using your paper wallets, and remember - to give DAL is to give a fuck (shameless plug to an awesome crypto).

Steps to create your Paper Wallet

Before you go thinking you're ready to print, we need to derive the Private Key (send / withdraw address) from the QT-Wallet using your Public Key (receive / deposit address). Make sure to do these steps herein within an offline environment (Linux Live CD is best, but isn't absolutely necessary), then once you are done - restart the computer to dump the memory and remove all traces of these procedures before reconnecting to the interwebs.

Step 1 : Download the QR Code Generator

Before disconnecting, download this QR Code Generator which can be found here and install it ready for step 2

Step 2 : Dump Your Private Key

This step assumes you've already set up your wallet for your chosen coin : open the wallet on your PC and navigate to help > debug > console, if you have encrypted your wallet with a wallet passphrase you will want to use the command "walletpassphrase" like this;

walletpassphrase <passphrase> <timeout>

...where timeout specifies how long to keep the decryption key in memory

example: if your passphrase is "dallarisawesome", you would write in the console :

walletpassphrase dallarisawesome 500 and hit Enter

then type :

dumpprivkey <your-public-address-here> (without the <>)

Copy the Key displayed on the screen and paste it into notepad (don't save this text file), or if you're the competent kind of computer whiz that you are, just leave it on the clipboard.

Your Public Key is the receiving address of any particular payment request (ie a labelled address). It is recommended that you create a new address labelled PaperWallet and send the funds that you would like to store in cold storage on this address when still online. You can create as many as you like, (ie `PaperWallet_50, PaperWallet_100, etc) keeping in mind that each of these will have their own individual key pairs (Private and Public Key pairs) and you will have to dump your private key from each of the Public Addresses you specify.

Step 3 : Using the QR Code Generator

Now that we have pasted your private key into notepad, we need to open the QR Code Generator we downloaded and installed earlier.

a) After it opens you want to find in the top of the UI on the toolbar, a "Generate Mode On" function. Click that, and then copy the private address out of notepad and paste it in the "QR Code Text" field. This will present to you a QR Code on the screen like some form of black magic.

b) Back up the top of the UI on the toolbar, you will find a "save as" button. Click it. Do it. Save that where you won't lose it - we want to delete this file once we've finished with it (or back it up to a secure, offline location)

c) Repeat steps A & B for your public key

Step 4 : Copy QR Code to Wallet Template

Make your way to your favourite photo editing application such as the trusty Windows Paint, open up the saved QR code file, and cut / paste your newly discovered QR Code into the corresponding White spaces in any of the templates provided to you from the walletgenerator.net website

Step 5 : Printing Your Paper Wallet

Now it's time for you to print your shiny new beast of a Paper Note. While in your editing software, click print, and make sure your page format is set to landscape... then beam it up to your offline printer, Scotty. (Your printer should only be connected to your PC via cabe, not wifi - decouple yourself from any form of network communication)

After you're happy with the results, delete all remaining traces of your presence on this computer, such as the QR Code itself, the template that you so cleverly designed, and by closing notepad with the private key you pasted in it and hit "don't save"... or if you prefer to save this template you've just made, be aware that this will compromise the integrity of your security since you will have your private keys exposed digitally in a few other locations other than this paper wallet. This is wholly not recommended unless you take extreme steps to wipe your tracks and store the digital asset offline. The responsibility is on your shoulders.

Step 6 : Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labour

Now we restart the computer and come back online. You're done!

Bonus Level

By laminating your folded paper wallet, you too can avoid the drama of spilt milk all over your paper notes - just fold the public key tab over the top of your private key QR Code and send the Dallar note through the laminating machine, plastic and all. You won't be disappointed at the results.

Steps to Restore the Funds from Your Paper Wallet

In the case where you have somehow lost your wallet.dat file (or if you have intentionally deleted it), and you have backed up your private key via this method described above, you can still recover your funds. It's basically the reverse process of dumping your keys.

Step 1

Reinstall the latest version of your QT-Wallet

Step 2

Open the wallet on your PC and navigate to help > debug > console, if you have encrypted your wallet with a wallet passphrase you will want to use the command "walletpassphrase" like this;

walletpassphrase <passphrase> <timeout>

...where timeout specifies how long to keep the decryption key in memory

example: if your passphrase is "dallarisawesome", you would write in the console :

walletpassphrase dallarisawesome 500 and hit Enter

then type;

importprivkey <your-private-address-here> (without the <>)

Step 3

If the funds haven't already shown up in your balance, close and reopen the wallet and you should now see them.

Remember to always test these steps out first before transferring any large sums, especially if you are unfamiliar with the processes involved.

Donate DAL - DE6iQ81zW1uTvJHg2QFwjnVjPbRtUcuiqR

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Thanks Josh, Im gonna give it a crack this weekend :)

This is great! Thanks for the post.

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