All of your bitcoin wallet questions, all right here.
In the wide world of bitcoin tumblers and keeping your bitcoins zesty fresh- there are few things so important as your bitcoin wallet. Bitcoin wallet addresses can dirty up those clean coins just as fast as any other type of transaction. So if you’re planning on going through the process of cleaning your coins, you’re going to want a clean wallet to put them into.
The best way to ensure that your wallet won’t tarnish your bitcoins is by having more than one, and ensuring that the registration process for your wallet is fully anonymous. By far, the best way to do this is to snag yourself a deep web or dark web wallet. If you’re a firm user of the clear net, then you’re going to want to consider some sort of VPN service.
Friendly reminder: if you choose an anonymous wallet, you and you alone are in control of the funds held within that address. As you’re not going to be providing any sort of information or identification to create the wallet- you will have no way to recover it should you lose your key. Which means that those funds will be gone forever with no hope of ever getting them back.
Bitcoin Address: What is a Bitcoin Wallet Private Key
With bitcoin wallets, there are two types of addresses or “keys” associated with them. One is your public key and one is your private key. Public keys work like email addresses in that anyone you send money to or receive money from, is privy to that key. These keys are also stored in the blockchain ledger anytime bitcoin is transacted with them.
Public keys provide the address that is stored in the blockchain and subsequently, what blockchain analytics use to track bitcoin with. Only truly anonymous bitcoin wallets, with variable public keys, make it possible to use the same bitcoin wallet address several times without making those transactions easily traceable through blockchain.
Your private key is what you use to send and receive money using your wallet. These keys are not viewable by anyone else. They consist of a 256-bit number. Which looks a bit similar to the public key of your wallet- a long string of numbers and letters. Because these are almost as difficult to remember as Pi to the 50th place, oftentimes wallets will offer users a “seed phrase”. This is something closer to a password that makes it easier for users to remember and use. Both seed phrases and private keys should be written down and kept in a secure location.
Some wallets will have multiple private keys, held by multiple people. These are called “multi-sig” wallets and require the use off all the private keys before bitcoins can be transacted from these wallets. Think of a multi-sig wallet similar to a joint bank account, where each party must sign off before sending or receiving money.
How to Create Your Bitcoin Address and Wallet
Depending on what type of bitcoin wallet you’re looking to create, there are a few different ways that you can conjure one into existence. Generally, there are four main types of bitcoin wallets, each with their own ways to create and use them.
Web Wallets
Web wallets are those that are accessible from your web browser. Whether it’s from a computer, tablet, or mobile phone, these wallets are stored online. They’re incredibly easy to use and super simple to set up.
Web wallets work like an email client. You head to the desired webpage, register a wallet, then access it as needed through that webpage. The security and anonymity of Web wallets vary, as it’s rare that your bitcoin address will be variable with these types of wallets. They are also considered a type of “hot wallet”, meaning that they are connected online at all times.
Desktop Wallets
Desktop wallets generally require some sort of purchased software in order to set up. The type of software you buy, and where you buy it, will depend on what type of desktop wallet you’re planning on using.
Desktop wallets can be connected and disconnected from online traffic as the user desires. There are two main types of desktop wallets: The Full client, and the Lightweight client. Full client desktop wallets require you to download the entire blockchain in order for them to work, and you’ll need to keep that updated in order to use the wallet normally. Lightweight clients will store your private key on your computer, but won’t require you to download the blockchain in its entirety. Instead, they access it through proxy servers.
Mobile Wallets
Mobile wallets are those that are stored on your mobile phone, generally through some sort of app. These can work as full clients, lightweight clients, or web clients. Where they can be connected or disconnected from the network based on which wallet you use and user preferences.
Many mobile wallets also offer cross-platform features, which means that they can link up with web clients and desktop clients to share your bitcoin across multiple devices.
Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets are also called “paper wallets” because they are generally just public addresses and private keys that are written down on pieces of paper and used only when needed. You can also store hardware wallets on USB drives or other types of removable devices. Keeping your coins in cold storage at all times, as hardware wallets don’t generally go online.
What to Do Now You’ve Got One
Most wallets are fairly user-friendly, even for bitcoin newbs. Almost all of them offer easy to use interfaces that make it obvious how to send and receive money. They should also present simple options for wallet backups and sharing your bitcoin address. Your transaction history should be easily accessed as well, so you can keep an eye on those coins and what’s happening with them.
Now all you have to do is make a note of each bitcoin address you have, so you can give those addresses to your friendly bitcoin mixer. Because you’d never deposit dirty coins into a clean wallet, now would you?
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