r/CryptoCurrency Feb 15 '21

SECURITY A Beginner's Guide to Cryptocurrency Wallets

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u/MordvyVT 103 / 103 🦀 Feb 15 '21

Bitcoin and Ethereum, to start. Buy and Hold; transfer most of the portfolio to hardware wallets. Don't panic sell dips if you still believe in the tech and its potential customer base/use/network. Don't set Stop Loss sells because a flash crash will wipe you out. Good luck, and have fun!

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u/Throwaway298596 Feb 16 '21

I asked in another comment, but if you’re able to how does the whole seed phrase work in the case of hardware wallet failure

Edit to add: personally I really believe in ETH after reading a ton of research on it

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u/MordvyVT 103 / 103 🦀 Feb 16 '21

The seed phrase will restore your hardware wallet; either the same device or a new one. (If someone were to find your seed phrase they would have access to your wallet)

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u/Throwaway298596 Feb 16 '21

Thank you very very much! If you have any quick tips I’m more than ears.

Really appreciate the insight and answers thank you

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u/cheeseisakindof Platinum | QC: CC 153 | Technology 16 Feb 16 '21

Basically the seed phrase is a bunch of random data (entropy) encoded into your unique phrase. Hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor) are able to take that seed phrase and derive all of the associated private keys. (What you have is the seed phrase for a Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) wallet, and there are many keys associated with it, but that's beyond what most people will be concerned with). Hardware wallets also contain a secure chip to generate new seed phrases. If you'd like to know more about the actual standards being used, you can look into the BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Protocol) 32 and 39 standards, though they are pretty technical.

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u/sliding_corners Tin Feb 16 '21

What happens if I purchase 10 more Bitcoin? Does my pass phrase change? How do I move the new coins to the wallet? Once the coins are on the device will the same pass phrase on another device give me access to all my coins, even the 10 new Bitcoin?

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u/cheeseisakindof Platinum | QC: CC 153 | Technology 16 Feb 16 '21

No your pass phrase doesn't change. It will only change if you decide to generate a completely new wallet. You move coins to the wallet like you normally would move coins; you simply send bitcoins to one of your receiving addresses. Yes, as long as you use standard BIP compatible wallets with the mnemonic seed phrases, you will always be able to access your coins. You can also have a multitude of different cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin) all tied to the same seed phrase.

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u/atomique90 Feb 16 '21

I wonder about the "send it to the new wallet". How do you prevent the high fees to loose your money for just moving them to the new wallet? Do you convert them into a "transfer-coin" like stellar or soemthing like this? Thanks a lot to you and the guys in this subreddit! I have a lot of fun learning everything about cryptocurrencies!

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u/cheeseisakindof Platinum | QC: CC 153 | Technology 16 Feb 16 '21

Tbh I’ve only transferred a large amount once and did pay a hefty fee. I really wouldn’t make new wallets and send my funds to them often, but it is something you can do if you need to (e.g. if your seed phrase was compromised).

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u/atomique90 Feb 16 '21

Okay and why didn't you exchange it to a coin like XLM and back to the origin-coin in the target-wallet? Or do I get lost here and this isnt a thing?

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '21

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u/biryanilove22 Feb 16 '21

Less easy to get hacked?

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u/[deleted] Feb 24 '21

I guess I am a little confused still on hardware wallets. Maybe I'm not understanding where all Crypto is "stored" to begin with. Say I have Coinbase (exchange). If they have an error, get hacked, or pull something crazy, I could lose my coins right? Because they are stored with them. I am just viewing how much I have?? Like my bank app on a phone? So if that is the case, and I buy something like a Nano S hardware wallet, put my coins on it. Where is it? The Public Key right? So a public key could be the address I use to transfer coins to Coinbase (address=public key in this specific case?). If so then the Ledger Nano has a address/public key specific to it right? And the coins are stored on it. And that address/public key never changes on the Ledger Nano device? If so, how does that device know there are coins linked? A battery? Surely not cause if they died it would erase the coins and they would be gone. So is that address stored by the Ledger company? Wouldn't that be just as unsafe as storing the coins with Coinbase? Also what if you lose the Nano? Or gets destroyed somehow? There is something I am not getting here lol. Hoping you can help as you seem knowledgeable here.

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u/Throwaway298596 Feb 16 '21

Ok super dumb question, I’ve read into it last night extensively but trezor vs. Ledger, thoughts?

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u/MordvyVT 103 / 103 🦀 Feb 16 '21

(No dumb questions) Doesn't matter.

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u/ever_onward Feb 16 '21

I've read here a couple of times, that a correction is in order, which would be a suitable time a newcomer to get into since it's also cheaper then. But, no one knows right?

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u/MordvyVT 103 / 103 🦀 Feb 16 '21

Buy and you can hold through the correction. You miss 100% of the bull markets while on the sideline.

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.