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I started investing a not insignificant part of my salary into BTC a few years ago. I created 10 paper wallets (using bitcoinpaperwallet.com) on a dedicated laptop disconnected from the Internet. I then stored them in my office drawer however I no longer feel safe due to potential theft/elements etc. and I don't have access to a safety deposit box.
I want to digitize them and use strong encryption so I can store them on a few different servers that I own for redundancy. I don't need to regularly withdraw BTC from these wallets as they are for investment, I keep a separate small hot wallet on blockchain.info for spending. I'm confused as to how I should;
a) Digitize the paper wallets. I dont want to have to manually enter the private keys and make a mistake. Is there software I can run on the disconnected laptop that can scan the QR codes for the private keys using the webcam? I know blockchain.info does this but the laptop doesn't have Internet access. b) Once I have the private keys in a digital format (either in a plain text file or some wallet format) what form of encryption do you recommend. I'm currently planning on using PGP with 8k RSA keys.
Any advice would be most appreciated.
Something to think about: where do you keep the private keys (or passwords) to your encrypted digital files? To prevent the accidental loss of your coins, you should be certain that they won't be accidentally lost due to data failure, a human forgetting/dying, etc. A common way to do this (e.g. Armory and Electrum) is to have a paper backup (printed, handwritten, whatever) and keep it in a secure place. This is in essence another sort of paper wallet, so it has the issues you do now. I'd strongly consider a safe deposit box. A paltry sum compared to securing a large portion of a salary. – Tim S. – 2014-06-23T16:10:42.037
Can you clarify, when you say "I don't have access to a safety deposit box." that you don't currently own one, or (trustworthy ones, at least) aren't available in your locale? I'm considering writing an answer along the lines of "you're asking the wrong question", but it only applies if you can have some sort of secure storage for paper. – Tim S. – 2014-06-23T16:15:49.630
1Thanks Tim. I'd memorize the passphrase and also spread parts of it into other encrypted vaults I use e.g. lastpass. When I do this I usually do something like reverse the order or chars or use a simple substitution cipher on it. I'll always need to remember something though but I feel I can handle that. When I said I don't have access, I'm a perpetual traveler working as a programmer in different parts of the world but never long enough to open local bank accounts. I don't want to store the paper somewhere that I need to constantly move. – user18343 – 2014-06-23T17:13:06.787
Why don't you encrypt, use steganography, and drop that into a few and free cloud drives? – YoMismo – 2015-09-21T09:08:15.793