What better gift to share with loved ones than the one that may keep on giving for years to come?
If you have a special event like Christmas or a birthday coming up for one of those hard-to-buy family members (especially children), friends or colleagues, Bitcoin (BTC) could be the perfect gift. BTC can be used as a store of wealth and medium of exchange and it’s a great way to diversify your portfolio and hedge against inflation.
This article explores the various ways that you can gift Bitcoin, as well as step-by-step instructions for how to go about it.
Before we begin, it’s essential that both you and the recipient of your satoshis know the basics of crypto wallet management, or you could lose everything. The most important is understanding how public and private keys work, which are used for some of the most popular gift methods including paper wallets, gift cards and hardware wallets.
Here’s what you need to know:
A simple way of gifting Bitcoin could be to help the receiver of the gift, especially beginners, to simply set up an account on a trusted cryptocurrency exchange, like Binance or Coinbase, which will manage their accounts and don’t require them to keep private keys or recovery seeds. Please note that exchanges are vulnerable to hacking and scamming due to their centralised nature, therefore it’s best to only deal with regulated and reputable ones.
Exchanges can also help gift recipients to effortlessly sell Bitcoin back to local currency or trade it for altcoins or stablecoins.
Once they’re signed up, ask them for their public address, which they will normally find by locating the “Deposit” button in their exchange profile’s Wallet or Assets section. Transfer Bitcoin from your wallet, which you would need to already have set up and have a positive balance in your account. If you don’t have any Bitcoin to gift, check out our article on how to buy Bitcoin.
A very straightforward way to gift Bitcoin to someone is to give them a paper wallet where they can access already stored Bitcoin or wait to receive it from you.
So, what is a paper wallet and why use paper to store a digital asset? Well, in a super-connected digital society, sometimes low-tech (offline) solutions are the best. Bitcoin is not a physical asset, therefore wallets that are used to store Bitcoin are usually apps or software programs, which can be targeted by hackers or scammers.
A paper wallet is a method of cold storage to keep private cryptocurrency information safe by ensuring it is never connected to the Internet. It’s simply a printed or written physical copy of your Bitcoin wallet’s recovery seed and/or private key.
Paper wallets do not actually store your Bitcoin, but rather provide a method of access to the cryptocurrency, containing a hard copy of your public and private keys to funds, or QR codes that are used to enable cryptocurrency transactions.
Paper wallets are safer than hot wallets (Internet-connected digital wallets like an app, browser extension or computer program) but less secure than hardware wallets (dedicated offline crypto key storage devices).
For one, there is the risk of losing or damaging your piece of paper, thereby rendering the cryptocurrency associated with it irretrievable. Unless you keep your crypto with an exchange or custodian, your Bitcoin will be lost, as there will be no way to redeem your cryptographically generated private key or recovery seed.
Also, you’ll need to interact with a digital wallet at some stage in order to use your funds. The receiver of the Bitcoin paper wallet gift needs to scan the QR code or enter the key into a wallet application in order to make transactions, which makes it vulnerable to hacking or phishing practices. A hardware wallet will securely connect your digital wallet offline with an app without the need to manually enter any private data, and authorise transactions following biometric verifications. It’s not cheap though and could cost you between $50 and $300.
If you only want to gift a small amount of Bitcoin, a paper wallet should be okay.
To create your own paper wallet, the recommended way is simple: Generate an address, write it down and make sure no digital copy, image or file is created or retained. Always remember, your paper wallet is only as safe as its hiding place. Keep it away from any prying eyes to avoid future heartache.
Gift cards are another easy and fun way to gift Bitcoin. Here’s how it works:
From there, the dollar value of the gift card will be converted to Bitcoin at the market rate (minus fees and commission) and sent to the wallet address that you have provided.
If you decide to make use of this method, it’s important to do your due diligence and make sure you choose a trustworthy provider.
A hardware wallet offers the most secure way to protect crypto assets. This dedicated crypto storage device keeps your private key offline at all times, and is required to authorise any transactions.
Leading hardware wallets like Ledger Nano, Trezor and CoolWallet connect offline over encrypted Bluetooth or USB to a custom app on your phone or computer and permanently protect your private key through a special hack-resistant chip called a secure element.
These cold wallets further use several biometric measures such as fingerprint scanning and physical button press to ensure the best possible security. Of course, your hardware wallet is only as good as your hiding spot for its recovery seed phrase. Expose it to the wrong person and they can simply use your seed words in a compatible application to gain access to your funds.
The recipient of a hardware wallet gift should always generate their own unique Bitcoin wallet on it during set-up, and record the private key or recovery seed by writing this information on a paper wallet and keeping it somewhere safe.
Therefore, it will be poor form for you to first set up a hardware wallet before you gift it, as it may rightly end up in the trash can. Rather, send it to them in its unopened packaging, with an unbroken seal to prove that no tampering took place.
Let them follow instructions to set up their own wallet, and ask them to send you their public address in either a QR code or alphanumeric format. Usually it’ll be easy to find the public address; simply ask them to click on the “Deposit Funds” button in-app and copy the address displayed.
Check the address format to ensure they’ve provided you with the correct cryptocurrency’s details. For example, if you want to gift Ethereum (ETH) or any ERC20 token, the address should always start with 0x, while Bitcoin addresses usually start with 1 or 3.
Bitcoin can also be gifted on “physical coins”, like Denarium. These aesthetically pleasing collectables add that extra presentation factor when gifting Bitcoin.
Denarium is a Bitcoin wallet but in physical coin form. The private key is stored underneath a security seal but multisignature coins are also available. The coins, which are produced in Finland, are available in brass, bronze, silver and gold. There is a hologram on each coin, which adds an extra layer of security for the protection of the private key. The hologram is an anti-fraud mechanism which makes it extremely difficult to counterfeit.
As you’ve probably seen above, there are several great ways to gift Bitcoin with ease. However, if you need to know how to buy Bitcoin before gifting it, have a look at our article on how to buy Bitcoin, which includes options for buying Bitcoin with a credit card, using cash or via PayPal.
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