A paper wallet is keys printed (or written) on paper and kept fully offline — an early form of cold storage. Generate the keys on an air-gapped computer, print once, delete every digital trace, and the paper *is* the wallet. Why it matters Paper is free, immune to hackers, and vulnerable to everything physical: fire, water, fading ink, and being thrown away by someone tidying up. It also can't sign partially — spending usually means importing the whole key into software (sweeping it), which ends its cold status. Fine for gifts and tiny amounts; steel plates beat paper for anything serious. Related terms cold wallet · private key · seed phrase
A paper wallet is keys printed (or written) on paper and kept fully offline — an early form of cold storage. Generate the keys on an air-gapped computer, print once, delete every digital trace, and the paper *is* the wallet.
Why it matters
Paper is free, immune to hackers, and vulnerable to everything physical: fire, water, fading ink, and being thrown away by someone tidying up. It also can’t sign partially — spending usually means importing the whole key into software (sweeping it), which ends its cold status. Fine for gifts and tiny amounts; steel plates beat paper for anything serious.