Setting up a Bitcoin Wallet, the safe way !

Now that you know what Bitcoin is, the first thing you want to do is get some!

I will get into detail about how to obtain (free) Bitcoin, but to get Bitcoin you first need a place to store them. This place is called a Bitcoin Wallet. They come in different shapes, sizes and flavours and all have their pro's and con's. I will try to explain the most commonly used Wallets and from here you should decide what suits you the best.

#1 Bitcoin-QT

Link: Download Bitcoin-QT

Bitcoin-QT is the original backbone of the Bitcoin Network. If you are looking for a secure wallet where you are fully responsible for your own Bitcoin then this is the Wallet for you. When used correctly this wallet offers you 100% security on your Bitcoin. Making back-up's of your Wallet is as easy as clicking Back-up wallet. Restoring a previously saved wallet is a bit more technical. And so is the overal use of this Wallet.

Pro's:

• Secure
• Support the network
• Store your money localy

Con's:

• Huge HDD space required since it downloads the complete blockchain
• Not really (noob)user friendly
• Forget your password or lose your wallet.dat file and you permanently lose all your Bitcoin

#2 Electrum

Link: Download Electrum

Electrum is a much more noob/user friendly wallet. This wallet offers a lightweight client, as it does not download the complete blockchain to your computer or device. Electrum works in a way that their servers perform all the heavy work so that you don't have to.

Electrum also offers much better options to restore your wallet when you forget a password or lose your computer/device. When setting up your Electrum wallet it will give you a "seed" which consists of a QR-code and a sentence of random words. I would strongly advice to physicly print this QR code along with the words in the correct order on to a real paper and store it somewhere safe.

This way you can always use this little paper to restore your Bitcoin wallet in case of emergency.

All of these nice funcions that Electrum has, have ofcourse, a downside. With Electrum you will have to trust the people behind Electrum. They will be holding on to your Bitcoin, if they screw up you could lose all your Bitcoin.

Pro's:

• Easy to use / Noob friendly
• Easy to restore when lost
• Lightweight client

Con's:

• You have to trust Electrum
• Dependancy of Electrum servers

#3 Blockchain.info Mywallet

Link: Blockchain MyWallet

This is in my opinion by far the most easy to use wallet with the most restore options in case you lose your wallet. Just like Electrum this wallet will offer you a security seed upon setting up the wallet. Again I would strongly recommend to print this seed out on a paper and store in somewhere safe.

Other than that myWallet has alot of security options to prevent people from accesing your Bitcoin. It has the ability to setup a double password, SMS, Yubikey and other verification methods. It will also automaticly send you a back up of your wallet after you change someting, this can also sent to your dropbox, google drive etc.

In other words, you really need to be a complete retard to f*ck this wallet up and lose your Bitcoin.

Pro's:

• Even a complete retard could not lose this wallet
• Only iPhone compatible wallet out there
• No software installation required

Con's:

• You have to trust Blockchian.info with your coins
• Dependancy on Blockchain.info servers

There are many more wallets out there, you can find out more here:

Bitcoin Wallets Summary

Even the best wallet cannot give you any protection from a malicious/infected computer with a keylogger. If you are using a computer that you are 100% sure of its safety I would always like to recommend to use the screenkeyboard in Windows to type in the password, this way you have some security against keyloggers.

Signing out for today.

Did you find this information usefull ? Please throw some Bitcoin my way: 13dprUXbVknKenXFN2qwZaajS8sum8PNMW