It's a lazy, raining, spinning your wheels type day over here at the KafkA shack.
I had about a million ideas for posts and initiatives today, but none of the threads ultimately seemed worth following.
So, instead, I decided to do some crypto housekeeping I've been meaning to lately, and make a few paper wallets.
Why paper wallets?
Paper wallets are a form of cold storage that allow you to keep your crypto holdings offline and thus safe from malware, hackers, etc, etc. I prefer paper wallets for cold storage even to hardware wallets such as Trezor or simple USB drives. These are both great ways to store crypto more securely than an online wallet or exchange, but a paper wallet to me is still the simplest and most secure for a couple reasons:
1. It's just a fuckin' piece of paper.
That's it. Paper. There is no technology in between you and your money to get messed up, outdated, or compromised. As long as the internet still exists and the protocol of whichever blockchain has not undergone irreversible, critical change rendering old addresses unreadable or obselete (hard to imagine, but hey), your money is safe and secure until you choose to spend it.
Sure, with a hardware wallet like a Trezor or Nano Ledger the same could be said to be true, but even these wallets require you to write down a recovery seed on PAPER in the event that your device is lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised. Paper wallets skip all that. You can make a paper wallet on construction paper and decorate it with macaroni if you want. It doesn't fucking matter. It is all about function.
2. You don't have to trust anyone but yourself, really.
Actually this one kind of scares the shit out of me, but whatever. I'd rather eliminate as many variables as possible when it comes to the security of my coins. I am not a programmer. I do not know how to verify PGP signatures or to audit code. When I use my an exchange, an online wallet, or even my Trezor device, I have to trust that the folks who write the code and run the enterprise know what they are doing and are not con artists. I pretty much follow my gut and make sure the group has a good track record and at least that the source code is available for audit, etc.
In making paper wallets, I simply need to trust the github file or archived, offline-viewable webpage, and myself, to make sure none of the computers I am using are online while creating the wallets.
Some paper wallet generators to check out (don't make wallets while connected to the net!)
If anyone in the #steemcityniigata would like to make a paper wallet and needs help, hit me up in Steemit chat and I can help you out as best I can. Same name over there.
(DISCLAIMER: It is up to you to make sure that the generator sites linked above are not malicious "copy sites" and are legitimate. You should ALWAYS be able to view the source code and download not only the web page but the original file and code for the generator. Create at your own risk.)
Alright, now that that's out of the way, have fun, and see you in Steemit chat!
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