One of the challenges of investing in cryptocurrencies is security. The whole point of investment is to have some form of security to fall back on. Cryptocurrencies are constantly at the risk of a hack, but crypto is a good investment, I dare say wise investment. Image the horror of having all your investments fall a victim of hack and theft. Horrific right! For many investors, this is a time to wake and take action. It’s no longer safe to keep all your money online, hence the emergence of cold storage.

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**What Is Cold Storage**
Cold storage is one of the most secure ways of storing crypto. It’s an offline medium that involves the generation and storing of crypto coins and private keys offline. This storage is extra secure as it as it makes no contact with the hackable internet. 

**A Paper Wallet**
As the name suggests, a paper wallet is usually made out of paper. A paper wallet is a method of cold storage where you generate your public and private keys and store them offline, this is usually done in QR form. Ideally, bitcoin wallet is composed of two keys. A private and public key. Your public keys are your public address, with this, payments can be made from any part of the world. The private is what enables you to send coins to other wallets. What places paper wallet at an advantage is that they are offline and totally out of reach of hackers since your bitcoins can never be trusted with a third party, paper wallets come in handy, your bitcoins are safe as long as your wallet is secure? 

There are pretty easy steps to creating a paper wallet. All you need :
- A printer to print your wallet
- Spare thumb drive: Although this is optional, it is advised, this ensures you have a copy of your paper wallet.
How to Make a Paper Wallet
- Generate a unique bitcoin address. This is usually done on bitaddress.org. Provide all the necessary information requested for. After this step is completed, you will be given your public and private keys including your QR codes. You can either create your wallet here or
- Copy and paste your keys unto a blank text document, erase all evidence in browser history. You could also opt for one of the free web services that help generate printable wallet key generation is usually done on your browser, which means they are never generated on the internet. To be extra careful though, ensure you clear your browser, never save your wallet on your computer or phone. It can be disastrous if in the wrong hands.
- A number of paper wallet services have available designs which enable you cut, fold and seal. More secure variants involve folding the paper, as such the private key remains hidden, you should also use tape on the fold with a seal which cannot be broken and also ensuring these private keys can’t be seen even when lifted up to light.