With the increasing popularity of bitcoin, many investors and traders have got attracted to it. People are looking for more efficient ways to own bitcoins. There are several methods to get bitcoins easily. If you already have some bitcoins, you can deposit them in crypto bank accounts and earn good interest for them. You can also try affiliate marketing or cash-backs for online shopping and get rewards as bitcoins. Making use of cryptocurrency freelance and getting paid as bitcoins for your work is another way to earn. Among all these, trading or mining is the easiest way to own bitcoins. Ensure that you use the best trading strategy that works for you so that you can earn maximum bitcoins.
Now that you have a good number of bitcoins, you will need the best system to store them securely. Hackers are around looking for some loopholes to hack all your bitcoin assets. Therefore, you have to store your bitcoins in the best places that are free from all threats.
Mostly, people store their cash and cards in their wallets. In the same way, you can store your bitcoins in digital wallets. These digital wallets will be either web-based or hardware-based. The security of both these wallets depends on the way the user manages them. There will be private keys in each wallet for the user to access. The safety of these private keys is a crucial factor in the security of your wallet. If you lose these private keys, you will lose all your bitcoins.
Here are some of the best ways you can safely store your bitcoins.
- Hot Wallet
A hot wallet is the other name for an online wallet and runs on devices connected by the internet like computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. The private keys generated by these wallets will be on the internet-connected devices. Therefore, they do not have strong security, even though they are easy to access. They are good for small amounts of bitcoins. If it is an exchange account, you have to withdraw your funds frequently and move them to your cold wallets.
- Cold Wallet
Cold wallets are one of the safest storage methods which are not connected to the internet. They are also called offline wallets. They will have software that helps the users to update their portfolio without risking their private keys. A paper wallet is the best way to store your bitcoins. The private keys from the paper wallets can be printed on a piece of paper and stored in a safe deposit box. Typically, a cold wallet is a USB drive device where the private keys of users are securely stored. The devices will be open-source which allows the community to analyze the safety, rather than a single company.
- Multi-Signature Wallets
These wallets use multiple private keys instead of a single coin. These keys can be sent to multiple devices that are located in various places. They are cheaper than cold wallets.
- Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets are security-hardened devices that have a special purpose. They store the bitcoins as seeds in their wallet and prevent physical and cyber attacks. The transactions happen internally and only the signed transactions are transmitted to the computer.
- Physical Coins
The investors can also buy physical coins which contain a tamper-proof sticker that covers a certain bitcoin amount. You will have to pay some extra amount as manufacturing cost and shipment cost in addition to the actual value.