Bitcoin Cold Storage Question

I am ready to put some of my BTC holdings into a couple different cold storage wallets. I went through the process already moving around a few mBits as tests, created the keys on an offline PC, sent real funds, then ran an import in bitcoin-qt, all good there!

My concern is this, If I move a few BTC into individual 1BTC wallets, do I have to worry about any Change Address issues if I simply ignore them completely for a long time? Assuming my private keys are kept safe over time, is there any way I can lose funds this way? I do not plan on making further deposits into any of these wallets, if my funds grow I will keep another hot wallet or setup more cold storage. I also do not plan on withdrawing funds at any time, when I do it will be a full sweep per wallet.

Before I proceed with sending my hard earned mining BTC to each address, I want to make sure I take all the proper precautions, any help from you BTC pros is greatly appreciated.

user15400

Posted 2014-04-22T20:50:09.583

Reputation: 41

Answers

There is no reason to use multiple cold storage wallets, but either way, offline-generated keys and a full sweep upon spending is enough to keep your funds completely safe. When the time comes, don't try to "test" moving funds out of cold storage. Do the full sweep. Also see this if my wallet is sufficiently secure, can I ever lose my coins?

hedgedandlevered

Posted 2014-04-22T20:50:09.583

Reputation: 973

1Can you please explain what is meant by "full sweep"? – Scott – 2014-04-24T03:01:55.877

move the entire balance into another address, then never use the first address again. – hedgedandlevered – 2014-04-24T18:41:02.360

Thanks for the reply, I feel better. If I were to generate ONE address offline and use that for cold storage, can I use it to continually make deposits into it? Without running a risk of a change address, etc? – user15400 – 2014-04-24T23:34:09.863