# Cryptocurrency wallet questions



## hat (Mar 7, 2021)

I've been considering using some type of "cold storage" BTC wallet, rather than letting it all simply sit in Coinbase. I'm interested in paper wallets, but I have questions. As I understand it, a paper wallet essentially contains two strings of random characters, such as "DFgdfgdfgDFGSDF34534sd". One is a public wallet address, and one is a private key that serves as a password of sorts to this wallet. So, I could send you bitcoin, and you would see it came from "DFgdfgdfgDFGSDF34534sd", or you could send bitcoin to it. The other string of characters, I assume, I would need to provide whenever I do an action with this wallet. 

My main question is... uh... how exactly does this work? If I send BTC from Coinbase to this as of now metaphorical paper wallet, where are the bitcoins, really? And how exactly would I send bitcoins from this wallet?


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## R-T-B (Mar 7, 2021)

hat said:


> where are the bitcoins, really?


At the address you sent them to.



hat said:


> And how exactly would I send bitcoins from this wallet?


Use any wallet software and add your private key.  I advise Electrum if you are new at this.


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## hat (Mar 7, 2021)

So, it still requires me to install wallet software. So what's the difference between just installing a wallet on my machine and keeping it there? The fact that I have a piece of paper somewhere with the keys on it?


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