How To: Import Paper Wallets & Beginners Guide to Wallets

in cryptocurrency •  7 years ago 

How to transfer your bitcoin from your paper wallet to a blockchain.info account so you can access your funds.

I’ll also cover the basics of how to move your crypto from one wallet to another for those who are brand new to crypto.

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I’ve created a new bitcoin paper wallet using bitaddress.org.
When you are generating your paper wallet it’s important to disconnect your computer from your wifi or internet connection.
You'll now have a public address and a private address.
It’s the private address that you want to keep from exposing to potential hackers by keeping your computer offline while this is being displayed because it is the private key that allows you to withdraw the funds.

Print out this page, make a copy just in case, or write it down, both the public and private keys or addresses and store somewhere very safe.

Now when you are ready to move your bitcoin or you want to cash out, you can do this by creating a free account with blockchain.info.
All you need is an email and password.

Once you are signed up they will send you an email with your wallet ID, now this is very important because you’ll need this ID to log into this account.

With your brand new account you’ll need to go to the settings menu and under the Security option be sure to back up your account with the wallet recovery phrase.

This will allow you to still gain access to your funds even if you forget your password.

Once you’ve written down your recovery phrase store this in a safe place much like you would your private key for your paper wallet.

Now this is how you import your paper wallet onto your blockchain.info account.

Go to Settings and then select the addresses option.
Here you can Import addresses.

Now pay attention.

In order to import your paper wallet you’ll need to type in the PRIVATE address of your paper wallet.
It is for this reason that I highly suggest that you take out all coins from the paper wallet as the private key has essentially been compromised.
Even if you want to continue storing some of your bitcoin on a paper wallet, just create a new paper wallet and store them there.
Discontinue use of any paper wallet that has had it’s private key used anywhere on the internet.

This is why I highly suggest moving everything out of this imported address into your blockchain.info bitcoin address.
You can do so by getting your blockchain.info wallet address by selecting the Request option, copy that address and then go to the Send option and select the wallet from which you’d like to send coins. Then you will paste the address of the blockchain.info wallet into the recipient field.
So you will have effectively imported your paper wallet and transferred all of your funds out of that paper wallet address and onto your blockchain.info wallet, the same wallet that is now backed up with your recovery phrase.

Congratulations!

Whenever you want to send coins from one wallet to another, this includes exchanges, since the coins you have on an exchange are in a wallet on that exchange… you’ll need to follow this general protocol.

Open the wallet that is currently storing your coins, select the “Send” or “Send Coins” option.
This is when you will need the wallet address of the location to which you would like to send your coins.
This is the address you will put into the “recipient” field. You’ll also need to input the amount of coins you’d like to send, keeping in mind there might be a transaction fee depending on which coins you are transferring, you’ll need to compensate for that fee if you need a certain amount of coins in the new location.
If you want to give your address to someone so that they can deposit a coin into the appropriate wallet, you can go to the
Receive option and that’s where you’ll find your public address.
This is the address that is meant to be shared, where as your private key or private address is what you want to keep very safe, since that is what enables you to ultimately withdraw the coins.

Three very important tips for anyone new to transferring their crypto:

1: Be sure the wallet you are sending your coins to is appropriate for the coins you are sending.

You cannot send ethereum into a bitcoin address, or pivx to a Monero address, or steem to a steem backed dollar address. If you do this your coins will be lost.

2: Be sure you input the correct address into the recipient field.

I know most crypto addresses have a lot of upper and lower case letters and numbers and they can be daunting to look at at first, so I always double check the first few characters and the last few characters to be sure that I’m sending my coins to the right address.

3: If you need to transfer a large amount of coins and you’re nervous because it’s your first time transferring that particular coin or it’s your first time using that particular address, just send a small amount first.

Once you see that it’s gone through then you can have some peace of mind that you can send the larger amount successfully.

Additional Reading/Sources:

BitAddress
Blockchain.info
Jaxx Wallet

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  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Nice and useful post.
One thing I like to comment, on the new paper wallet creation process security
Someone may call me super paranoid, but simple network disconnect is not save enough for me. How I can be sure that there is no any Trojan bug hiding in my computer, lying quietly in the background, monitoring and logging literally everything what is slightly similar to the bitcoin url private keys? Which may then latter, maybe hours and days later, once the network access becomes available again, mail all my private keys in an eye blink to the attacker?
The way I do this is as follows:

  1. disconnect & disable ALL external connections from a PC. WiFi, Ethernet cable, Bluetooth, NFC, printers, external hard drives, memory cards. EVERYTHING !
  2. Turn off your PC
  3. Boot you PC from a bootable Linux DVD with a verified, trusted Linux ISO image. Bootable USB can be an option. But i prefer DVD since it is a lot more " write-protected"
  4. Double check the OS has no access to WIFI, network, printers, hard disk drives, etc
  5. Launch crypto-address creating tool. Can be for any coin, not only Bitcoin. Depends on what your needs are. Many different tools exist.
  6. Make sure you apply Private-key encryption by BIP38 method. Do it while you create address, if you can, not later. Use sufficiently long (22+ characters alphanumeric+special keys) password for your BIP38.
  7. Make sure nobody else can see your screen. And there are no any hidden video cameras behind you.
  8. Hit CREATE, and write down BIP38 encrypted private key on paper.
  9. Turn off your PC. Job is done
    10.(optional) Send $1 mln worth of cryptos into your newly created crypto address, and announce a public challenge on FB or Steemit:

If you brake it - you take it




Then see how much interest and up-votes it will generate
:)

sounds secure enough now

Nice points for securing your investment. I use a separate machine for transactions and save all the keys encrypted with SHA-256 algorithm along with paper wallets to be on the safer side.

save the page that generates before generates the add of the bitcoin or ltc, or ether paper add... then using an usb with antivirus to transport to a computer that never touched the internet, if possible, an apple...there you will generate offline the address, yep, the page that generates works offline...than u print on your print that never touched a wifi conection via usb...thats it hahahhahahha when u need to import the private key to a wallet, u go to the offline computer, write the key, transport to another computer offline yet, put the key, then you conect the wifi and import the key and the btcs...at this point that you imported the key to a wallet, I would not use the paper wallet u imported the private key anymore....better creat another one... hahaha at least I use on this way... :)

congrats on 10,000 subscribers

Nice work Heidi!!!!

AND, don't do this on a public wifi peeps.

YES That's one I should've included. Thanks for the supplement!!

Why is that?

Public WiFi is not secure and can be monitored by the owner of the network.

Tip #1 is very important and you really can never get your coins back...Even if you are a little buzzed and click 'BAT' instead of 'BTC' lol.

Drunk crypto transfers are worse then drunk texting :o

Haha... That is why I store my coins off line. When I am drunk it is to much work to move them to a wallet exchange lol.

love your tips, useful and practical

Nice alternative, but why not just generate a signed transaction to use the paper wallet? I think using online services for paper wallets omit all the security benefits they have and it's much more efficient to use an online wallet in the first place.

Your videos have helped me in my journey to learn more about crypto. This is definitely one I was waiting for. Thank you!

I so agree! I am new to this and all the info on here has been priceless!

That makes me so happy to hear! What other topics would you like to be covered?

I would like to learn more about the "atm" cards that bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies offer. How do we get them and load 'em up? I know this may be an advanced topic but I am a quick learner. Thanks for your reply :)

That's a good one, I'll work on that one soon.

I am hoping to gather enough steem one day so I can put this great information to use. Thank you!

Don't stop believing! :)

Thanks @heiditravels!

Thank you @heiditravels. I love your videos. I have been sharing them lately to peeps new to crypto.

Sweet! Thanks for your support and for spreading the knowledge :)

Great stuff!

And yes, it's important to start small first...with just about everything in life.

Keep sharing the knowledge, Heidi!

Heidi I saw your resteem of your portrait. That guy was really fantastic. Made u look like the dutchess of decentralization. Or maybe our crypto queen either way your vids are very informative keep them coming. I think u do well not over flooding your channel too. But who am I to say. But if this doesnt work out for u witch I doubt. Just start a hair channel. It's always on point.😎

Dutchess of Decentralization, that has quite a ring to it ;) Thanks for the words of encouragement! (Glad you like my natural wavy locks ;) )

Good info for a newbie like me and i like the idea to test with a small amount in any transfer situation first -- i am now following you and will upvote too - i hope you like original music and paintings cause i produce both -D

Thanks! This is a good tutorial to use right now with all this Agust 1st bitcoin segwit2x nonsense....

Thanks @heiditravels . Do you know how to import it to 2 chains after a split in the chain / Fork?

I had done this method and also tested it. Thank you.

@cryptopie got you a $0.01 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice!
@cryptopie got you a $0.01 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)


Want a boost? Click here to read more!

Thank you for the update on this crypto. I find this quite useful!

This was a VERY helpful article for likes of me... thank you... and meant even more coming from a fellow lady :) hehe - I live in a family of crypto maniac men... so us ladies are a minority and I am furiously trying to "plough" my way through the learning :) so thank you!!!

I actually write about it earlier... so you can relate to my situation... haha

https://steemit.com/life/@jaynie/curry-cousins-and-more-crypto-welcome-to-my-world-4

@@ -7,16 +7,17 @@
dvice.
+k
Treat pr

Top notch info as always, thanks!

Love your work, keep it up.

10,000 subscribers, whoehoe :)

Thanks for this! As a beginner when it comes to crypto, storage is still a little confusing to me

Thank you for this information :)

Nice one. The thing that drives me nuts is that all the hardware wallets are out of stock till the end of the summer. Insane!

Thank you for giving us this information

useful and practical.This is definitely one I was waiting for. Thank you!

I wish there would be a simple secure solution like Trezor, and Ledger Nano S for all the altcoins.

It's better to keep them in those wallets, and you never need to worry about another Mt. Gox case.

Yes I agree with you there. The ledger just had an update that allows it to store more alt coins.

This is really good stuff Heidi. Excellent breakdown for me since I am new to crypto. Thanks for sharing.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

This the same Ryan from the Warrior Forum

Yes this is he :)

Cool to see you here. Lots of good information to learn about crypto here. You will be a positive force in this place.

Great post I learned a lot.

very helpful thanks.

Thanks for the info, ive been wanting to know how to do this.

@ heiditravels Thanks for the information, knowledge is power. I have a blockchain wallet - not much funds yet though, but I am scared as to using it seeing there is a risk loosing the money well earned if not done correctly. I will go over your method once again to understand more clearly.

Thanks again.

good information. thank you

genial

Needed this guide. Thank you! <3

Thanks for the very informative post about wallets - will be a boon for newbees like me to the whole crypto world.
It is quite a scary thing though that the private key is not secure enough and that we need to take such elaborate measures to keep them from "evil eyes". I hope as we go forward, the security increases manifold so it's safer for mainstream usage.

Could you please give an insight as to which are the best wallets around for Bitcoin and ether currencies.

This is a very informative post and I appreciate you taking the time to write it! Helped me out a lot!

good video, one additional information is always only use public address.never use any private address for any transaction

Hi. This blockhain.info supported what currency? Would love to know

Bitcoin

what a wonderful piece for the beginners.well articulated and on points. i think i gain something,especially regarding sending a coin you haven't transferred before.thanks

vote please help me

Many congratulations for your publication, who can help me with upvote will thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much indeed.

very important information...thanks for sharing

upvoted... resteemed .. and followed.. now for the comment : Thanks I needed this.. :) thank-you-smiley-animated-blowing-kiss-thank-you-smiley-emoticon.gif

Thank you for the support :) Glad I could help!

yes I must review it is all so new to me :)

Great video as usual, thankyou for all of your quality videos! They have definitely helped me with understanding the crypto world since I first began exploring alt-coins.
I was just wondering, what are your thoughts on the exodus wallet? Have you all ready covered this in a video, I couldn't see one but might just be going blind from too much steemit!

I haven't covered Exodus wallet exclusively...yet ;)

Thank you for this important information.

Im new here. And I do not speak English. Im working with the language . Even so the clarity of your post has helped me, thank you. After reading a little more I will start to create!

Hello my name is Carlos I am new to this to make money through the internet look at my profile and I hope you like follow me and help me get ahead ok thanks ..

hola mi nombre es carlos soy nuevo en esto de ganar dinero por medio de internet mire mi perfil y espero te guste me sigas y me ayudes a salir adelante ok gracias..👍

Thanks for the helpful info - does anybody have a suggestion for a good Litecoin wallet?

coimpaymet amigo soy nuevo pero esa me dijieron tiene para muchas monedas

I'm using Electrum LTC

Hello my name is Carlos I am new to this to make money through the internet look at my profile and I hope you like follow me and help me get ahead ok thanks ..

hola mi nombre es carlos soy nuevo en esto de ganar dinero por medio de internet mire mi perfil y espero te guste me sigas y me ayudes a salir adelante ok gracias..👍

That s great guide. great Info.

thanks you so much sister

Nice and informative post I knew about blockchain.info and have an account on it but didn't know about bitaddress.org its better for me to know both of them....
nazirkhyber_01.JPG

Thanks for the information! I have been wondering about this for a while.

Thank you for sharing this tip.

Cheers,
Please follow me @Yehey
Thank you.

Thank you very very much for your explanation my friend @heidtravels. I hope you always ready to shere us about steemit strategy or steemit roleplay.
Upvote and follow me @nasrullahilyas

Excellent...!! Gracias por tu información, muy valiosa. From Venezuela by @gaborey07

Thanks @heiditravels, great info here.
I'm also very fond of paper wallets and have kept bitcoin in cold storage this way for a long time.

Recently, I bought some Ethereum and I wanted to do the same with ETH storing it with a paper wallet.

I found a reddit thread linking to a github service

https://ryepdx.github.io/ethaddress.org/

but I've been unable to 'generate' new addresses. Failed everytime.

Do you know of any resources for ETH paper wallets?

https://www.myetherwallet.com is decent plus their site is pretty decent for interacting with the Ethereum network.

Cheers, maybe I'll have a look at that soon as it seems like one of the better options if there are no viable paper wallet options currently ;)

Thanks! Your videos are very important to help us, the newbies, on this journey.

Congratulations! Now I'm following you. Upvote and resteem :)

Very informative article thank you . Cheers mike

Good advice. Great video.

Having crypto is good - but inform yourself about the type of wallet you might need to hold and protect your crypto!

Top 5 Best Cryptocurrency Wallets - https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@nzfxtrader/top-5-best-cryptocurrency-wallets

Read here to know the importance of keeping your crypto funds safe, and why keeping coins in the wallet should be the standard process to buy and sell crypto - https://blog.coinswitch.co/how-to-protect-your-crypto-holdings-with-a-private-wallet-ad2c6070778d

This is such a helpful post and in the perfect level of detail and written in consumable blocks!

Thank you!

Lets get started, follow me follow you^^

@heiditravels Thank you for posting this info. It is important to to consider hardware wallets for long term holding. I even came across these little once use sticks https://opendime.com/ recently. Think disposable hardwallet! They are great for holding a certain amount for a purchase or storage. But once you release the private key, it is useless. BTW: followed and upvoted

Hmm interesting with the disposable hardware wallets, that's a new one for me. I'm a huge fan of the hardware wallets!

Gratz on reaching 10k followers! This is good info, thanks!

I found most of your posts informative. For the new beginners it will help a lot. Thank u so much for providing us so many informative ideas. I genuinely want to be a good friend of yours so i followed. Hope u do the same. If then follow me @bindu. Will updating your beautiful post dear friend

I'm glad you value my posts. I see you live in Nepal? I'd love to travel there some time, perhaps next year! I'm now following you as well :)

Thank you So much . yes i am from Nepal. i will be updating your post.

nice pics

Beautiful post @Kingjan

Very nice

Very nice video I like

Great tips as always. Thanks for the info.

Very informative post... thanks for this I always had confusion on this topic ... but is it recommended... SHOULD i use it or not I am still a bit scared but i will try it anyway ...--!!

I liked your article : D

Great post and very usefull :0) lots to think about but good learning. Thx for sharing.
Upvoted resteemed

great post..... i love your posts and video both....

Thank you for the directions : )

I'm new to cryptocurrencys so this is helpful.

Will all this ever get any easier?

Thanks you !

thanks for sharing that really useful information

@heiditravels ! Clutch considering the importance of digiwallet security. A lot of uncertainty from across the board on how and where to store your BTC with upcoming August 1 confusion. Great post!

useful tips..... thanks

Nice post

Congrats! And thank you for such a useful information!

it will change my life i got a paper wallet filled with btc :-)

thanks for the post

Ty Heidi for this informative post. So many are still new to the Crypto-space and need this valuable info!

I like your GIF :D

Thanks. I like to make to my posts pop! Lol

Great article as I am sure many will make this mistake. What do you feel about hardware wallets? So far I have the keepkey and ledger

Thanks so much for this post. Just started with steemit and I'm trying as best as I can not to be so confused all the time! Again thanks for all of the info :)

wow, basic but lots of info. I need basic, lol. Transferring a small quantity first is an excellent obvious idea, that is hidden in plain sight.

Useful, especialy for new ones! Thanks

Very informative and helpful to the community. Thank you, Heidi! I just recently got a Trezor and love it.

great work, cool post!
Upv and followed U.
Cheers

Very helpful, thank you. I'm new to crypto currency and appreciate the break down. Thanks for making it human!

this was exactly the info I was looking for, presented well. thanks!

Thanks for sharing this valuable information, the truth is every day I learn more about the cryptonedas and now with what is coming about segx 2x it is very important to have the bitcoins in better shelf that is with one same.

Thank you so much for the info. I successfully took my bitcoin off line!
Wendy