How do I keep Nano ledger cold?

[teddybear]

Hi all

Titel says it pretty much:

If I (newbie) get it right, then as soon as secret key is entered in an internet connected PC, the wallet is cold. 

Now, at some point I'm going to plug in the usb into the pc, no? 

Say I want to send sth from the usb, ehm.. I'll have to enter the secret key no?

So how do I keep a 70$ stick wallet cold?

Confused...

Thanks for your help!

[pucksterpete]

put it in the fridge 

Edited July 15, 2017 by pucksterpete

[JackTheRippler]

Ledger nano  is a hardware wallet. Hardware wallet is a type of wallet. There is also other types called hot wallet and cold wallet.

 

Cold wallet = has never been on a computer connected to the internet

Hot wallet = on a computer with an internet connection

 

Don't confuse your Ledger nano with cold or hot wallets - it's neither of them.

Keep your Ledger somewhere safe from other people and that's as close as you can get to a cold wallet.

 

You need to read more about how wallets work. You don't have to use your secret key, that's only used to restore your wallet. For transactions a public key is used as the address. Here is a good source of information:

 

[Xilobyte]

On 7/15/2017 at 3:06 PM, pucksterpete said:

put it in the fridge 

Crap ya beat me to

it 

[Bagheera]

On 2017-07-15 at 6:58 AM, teddybear said:

Hi all

Titel says it pretty much:

If I (newbie) get it right, then as soon as secret key is entered in an internet connected PC, the wallet is cold. 

Now, at some point I'm going to plug in the usb into the pc, no? 

Say I want to send sth from the usb, ehm.. I'll have to enter the secret key no?

So how do I keep a 70$ stick wallet cold?

Confused...

Thanks for your help!

Took me 20 minutes to set mine up... here are some links that will help. There are also several videos on YouTube that were very helpful. Just search on YouTube

https://www.ledgerwallet.com/start/ledger-nano-s

http://support.ledgerwallet.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-to-start-with-ledger-nano-s

 

 

[teddybear]

Thank you very much all.

[gray]

To elaborate on why a ledger wallet IS a cold wallet--the Ledger stores all your private keys encrypted inside it. It is not just stored in some kind of open flash storage like a usb stick. So when you plug it in, you aren't exposing those keys to an internet connected computer--the Ledger is a permanently offline computer itself, and it "signs" transactions offline using the private keys it stores and then transfers the signed transaction to your computer to then be broadcast to the network--the computer never needs to or even is able to see the actual keys, only the signed transaction that the Ledger gives it. 

Edited July 18, 2017 by gray