The importance of keeping your crypto in a cold wallet
Introduction
The best way to keep your cryptocurrency safe is to store it in a cold wallet. A cold wallet refers to a physical device that stores your private keys offline. It’s more secure than keeping them on an exchange or online service because hackers can’t break into the device without access to your private key. Trezor is one of the most popular hardware wallets on the market right now—and for good reason! It offers a secure way to store BTC and other cryptocurrencies like ETH, XRP, BCH ETC. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to get started using Trezor with some helpful tips along the way so you can feel confident knowing that your crypto is safe when stored there.
What is a cold wallet?
A cold wallet refers to any wallet that is disconnected from the internet. This includes any hardware wallets and paper wallets. In short, your crypto is safe from hackers, malware and viruses when it’s in a cold wallet.
A hot wallet refers to one that is connected to the internet, which means hackers can attack them much more easily than a cold one. If you’re keeping your cryptocurrency on an exchange that doesn’t allow you to store your own private keys (like Coinbase), then yes: it’s important for security purposes that you keep this account in “hot” mode at all times.
But if you have control over your private keys (and therefore don’t need to store them anywhere), we strongly recommend keeping them in cold storage instead of hot storage whenever possible!
While hot wallets are more convenient because they’re online, they can still be hacked. The best way to keep your cryptocurrency safe is to store it offline in a paper or hardware wallet, which we’ll discuss below.
How to safely store your crypto in a cold wallet.
- Keep your private key safe and secure
- Keep your private key offline
- Store your private keys in a safe place
- Store your private keys in a vault, or with a reputable cold storage service provider
- Store your private key on a paper wallet, if you choose to go down that route
If you choose to store your private key on paper, you should store it somewhere safe and secure. A fireproof safe or safety deposit box will do the trick. You could also use an encrypted flash drive or even a paper wallet if you want to be extra cautious.
The steps to open a Trezor.
To open your Trezor, follow these steps:
- Connect the device to your computer. If you have a new device, it should automatically boot up and ask if you’d like to create a PIN. If it’s an older one that has been idle for some time, plugging it in will wake it up (you’ll still need to enter the PIN).
- Open the Trezor app on your computer and enter your PIN if prompted (if this is the first-time use or if there was no previous PIN set).
- Enter your Recovery Seed Phrase (12 words) into the Trezor Wallet application. This step can be completed via any web browser but we recommend opening this article on chrome or firefox so that you are able to copy/paste text easily without having issues with formatting
When you complete the seed phrase, you will be prompted to enter your PIN again. Once this is done, click on “Start Recovery” and follow the instructions from there.
Using Trezor to interact with your crypto.
The Trezor hardware wallet is a small device that allows you to safely store your private keys and verify transactions. The Trezor is an HD wallet, which means that you can use it to store multiple cryptocurrencies and send them all with the same device.
The following instructions will help you set up your Trezor device, from initializing it to sending crypto and checking balances:
- Initialize your Trezor by connecting it through USB or Bluetooth.
- Create a new wallet using the “New Wallet” option on the main screen of the Chrome extension, then select this newly initialized wallet in order to access any existing accounts for ETH/BTC or other supported cryptocurrencies. This process takes about ten minutes; once complete, there will be an orange notification at the top of your browser window that says “Device initialized successfully!”
Keeping your private key secure.
As you can see, it’s important not to share your private key with anyone. This includes friends and family members who want to participate in a cryptocurrency transaction with you. If they know your private key, they will be able to access all of the information associated with that wallet.
Furthermore, storing your private keys on a computer or mobile device is risky because it’s easy for hackers to steal sensitive information from these devices. It’s also possible that viruses could infiltrate these platforms and cause them to malfunction or crash, which would result in lost funds as well as inconvenience for users who need to restore their devices from backup data after losing access due to malware infection. This means that even if you’re careful about protecting yourself from malware attacks when using computers or mobiles devices (e
One of the best ways to keep your crypto safe is to keep it in a cold wallet
- One of the best ways to keep your crypto safe is to keep it in a cold wallet.
- Cold wallets are more secure than hot wallets, but they’re also less convenient and more expensive.
- Hot wallets are more convenient than cold wallets but less secure and cheaper.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that holding crypto in a cold wallet is safer than holding it in an online wallet, and the benefits of doing so are worth the extra effort. As we’ve seen here, there are many ways to set up your own cold wallet—it all depends on what device or wallet platform you prefer. If you don’t have one already and want something affordable, then consider getting started with Trezor or Ledger Nano S!