I have a Bitcoin investment that’s in cold storage on a hardware wallet, but I don’t really know anything about exchanges. A friend asked me for assistance, she wants to buy a small amount, to hold long-term for her kids’ futures ($100 each, for two kids) just on the hope that it may appreciate into a nice nest-egg after a couple decades.
It’s such a small amount that it’s not worth purchasing a hardware wallet, so where does she hold it? Is there a trustworthy exchange to use?
Also, the kids are minors, so is it possible to make each of them accounts, or should it be in her name until such time that she decides to transfer it to them one day?
I don’t see the correct answer here so I thought I’d chime in.
This is the right answer frog. Yes, she can store the Bitcoin on a piece of paper. There are many wallets that can do it, just find out what operating system she's on, she can use Exodus wallet on just about any platform, that is what I would recommend.
Paper wallet is the way. Bump this thread so OP does it free and right!
Sounds like a Johnny Mnumonic plot line. Another prescient movie by Keanu Reeves.
Exactly this, I would only add that one should document how to access the coins in detail. If the idea is to pass along wealth to another generation, those folks may need a step-by-step to access it.
This is an excellent point!
Paper wallet. Free. Write private key in pen on paper and throw in your safe. Free, easy, self custody.F hardware wallets for small wallets. Free, paper self custody in pen.
If there is a level of trust between the two of you, you could just make a contract. I did this with two friends back in 2018, I had some alt coins that they wanted to gamble on so I juat wrote up a sinple agreement between us. They gave me cash, and in return they "owned" x amount of whatever coin they were interested in.
In 2020 they were both in hard times and asked about the value, it had gone down slightly from their buy in, but I just refunded them and took the loss on my books.
This is obviously not the safest option, but it is an option.
No. Dont insert self between IRS and friends.
Putting your crypto on an exchange gives your crypto to that exchange, and as we learned with FTX, the exchange can do whatever it wants with your crypto.
Cold storage only.
Agree. Never leave on an exchange. Safest bet is cold storage. If that isn't an option then maybe something like a hot wallet like metamask but definitely do not leave anything parked on an exchange.
Self custody. 100%. Free paper wallet.
What do you think of this BitKey device by @Jack?
Shoot, spending a $100 on each I'd suggest buying a few oz of silver. No clue on how long BTC will be around, especially in a couple decades but precious metals certainly will be.
Look into SW wallets such as Atomic Wallet. Same concept as a hardware wallet.
You create your keys for the wallet and can safe keep those.
That sounds like a good option. Thanks.
I recommend Cake or Stack if you use a mobile wallet. You can use an old cell phone with no SIM card (do a factory reset to erase personal info) and just connect over wifi. That is about as secure as a hardware wallet and you can have an unlimited number of wallets on it.
Also I suggest you look into Bitcoin Cash and what happened during the "Bitcoin Civil War". There is a new book about it that just came out: Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC
Check out Loopring's smart wallet. It has many decentralized features not available anywhere else. WBTC is their wrapped Bitcoin for Level 2, built on ETH blockchain.