Protection Series Part 4: A Paper’s Worth A Thousand Coins

In an era where people constantly scream “go paperless”, you might be surprised to find that a simple piece of paper will do the trick to keep your cryptocurrencies safe, with little fuss. Online security remains under intense scrutiny and hackers will continue to target exchanges for an easy pay day. By keeping your coins on exchanges, you’re dangling a carrot in front of these criminals.

While a hardware wallet remains the boss device to keep your coins offline, human nature might still get the best of your device’s safety. If your hardware wallet gets lost or damaged, there is going to be a whole lot of panicking and hassle with your recovery seed especially if you’re not cut from the same cloth of other tech savvy investors.

Alternatively, you could use a paper wallet, which is another solution for offline safekeeping, to save yourself some grief.

EASY AS 1-2-3

A paper wallet isn’t complicated. It’s a simple document to keep your cryptocurrencies in cold storage. It has your public address and private keys printed on it and you can easily scan the QR code for access.

Forget your birthday if you must but never forget that your private keys are for your eyes only. Once all that is needed is printed, stash your paper wallet safely away to keep prying eyes at bay. A paper wallet can be easily locked up in just about any safe place.

PLAN B OR ELSE, PLAN BYE

A simple plan A sometimes require a simpler plan B. Assuming your crypto safety is entirely reliant on paper wallets, create a back-up copy just in case you lose the original, because restoring your access will be a pain in the glutes.

History has yet to document a cybercriminal remotely hacking a piece of paper. However, if the computer you use to access your cryptos via your paper wallet is already compromised, you might as well send a formal invitation to hackers to feast on your coins.

Getting a paper wallet is a reasonably cheap and cheerful process, so it won’t burn a hole in your pocket. You can generate yours online through reputable generator sites such as Bitaddress.org, Walletgenerator.net and Bitcoinpaperwallet.org.

In the fifth part of our protection series, we look at the significance of using VPN to protect your online visibility.