Understanding Bitcoin Cold Storage

Just like the cold storage is used for preserving any food item, cosmetics, plants, and seeds, in cryptocurrency, cold storage refers to the cold wallets where investors preserve different digital assets on a long-term investment. In this context you should know that each digital or cold wallet supports a particular range of coins and tokens –if any incompatible cryptocurrency is sent to that wallet, you may end up losing that amount. And if the wallet does not support, there is no address to send to anyways.

However, a few digital wallet manufacturers like ELLIPAL are now regularly updating their wallets in a way that they are compatible with more tokens and coins. Adding more coins is good, while keeping their stronghold in the evolving crypto market.

What Is Cold Storage Wallet

In cold storage of cryptocurrency, the private key or seed phrase is known only by the owner of the wallet i.e. the crypto coins. It is recommended to avoid any exchanges or third-party hosted wallets that store the private keys on the owner’s behalf because they might face server breakdown or the wallets shut down abruptly resulting in losing all your coins. ELLIPAL has the Metal Mnemonics to keep back-up of your private keys but your cold storage wallet keeps the data secure from any physical or virtual damage over the internet. ELLIPAL hardware wallet and ELLIPAL Titan both keep your coins safe offline without any malware or hackers from the internet.

Types Of Cryptocurrency Cold Storage

The web wallets like Metamask and MyEtherWallet or mobile wallets like Jaxx and Mycelium are prone to network corruption and software failure respectively. Here are your choices –

• Paper Wallets

Just as the name suggests, paper wallets refer to a printout sheet containing the private keys and wallet address. The cheapest option of storing cryptocurrency is available free of cost and as the keys are created offline there is no chance of online hacking. After the user has transferred the coins to a wallet address, there is no need to worry. Different currencies have different clients of paper wallets. They are easy to carry but are not weatherproof, not restorable, can be tampered and even be stolen by anyone who sees it.

• Desktop Wallets

From Bitcoin Core to Atomic Wallet and Exodus, there are various easy-to-use and easily available desktop wallets for your Bitcoin storage. Crypto users often export private keys in encrypted form offline and these software wallets store your private keys in offline medium although while making transactions, you have to go online. However, they can be physically damaged, hacked and there might not be any way to restore these.

• Hardware Wallets

While the above-mentioned options are not restorable or lack shield from external forces and physical damage, the hardware wallets solve these issues in most cases. You cannot copy any data from the hardware wallets and they can be quite costly but their secure service pays off. These wallets are electronic gadgets that monitor and operate transactions through secure private keys stored offline. In case you lose the wallet or it gets damaged, you can recover the funds with a backup seed phrase. The USB drives, however, are prone to get damaged by external forces, magnets and hardware, and software issues.

ELLIPAL Cold Wallet

ELLIPAL Titan cold storage is made up of a single piece of metal in air-gapped technology so that it cannot be disassembled or tampered with. The data transfer takes place only through scanning of QR codes and the IP65 sealed body is waterproof and shockproof while preventing attacks from evil maid and supply chains. Firmware updates, recover, and backup can be made offline and the device is mobile-oriented. Over a thousand tokens of TRC10, TRC20, ERC20, BEP, and EOS are supported along with more than thirty mainstream coins like BTC, ETH, DASH, LTC, BTX, and ECA.

The crypto market is evolving and hardware wallets can be the best option to store your currency and keep them safe from phishing, hacking and physical damage. Paper wallets, web wallets, desktop wallets, and mobile wallets have long been in the crypto market but none of these stands safer than the hardware wallets or cold wallets.