<p>Funds from a cold wallet need to either be <strong>imported</strong> or <strong>swept</strong> (for cybersecurity reasons sweeping is always preferred over importing) into most any hot or warm wallet to then sent to another cold wallet address synthesized from <strong>private keys</strong> that are usually in either the Wallet Import Format (<strong>WIF</strong>) or in <strong>BIP 38</strong> standard format (is AES encrypted and starts with the letters <strong>6P</strong>). Wallet imports or sweeps usually take WIF or BIP 38 input formats that have associated input error checking versus raw hexadecimal that a prone to human input errors like Ethereum.</p>

<p>Electrum is not technically a cold wallet unless the Electrum BIP 39 seed words have never been loaded into an Electrum <strong>warm wallet</strong>.  An Electrum wallet is <strong>warm</strong> only if it uses a hardware wallet such as a Trezor, Ledger or Keepkey token generators that have been loaded with BIP 39 seed words. Otherwise, the Electrum wallet is a <strong>hot wallet</strong>.</p>

<p>Cold wallets need the private keys and associated public addresses generated on a trusted offline computer. Cold wallets can use self contained JavaScript programs, or a standalone binary executable such as Bitcoin-Explorer (bx) running on <strong>air gapped</strong> computers that can also leverage brainwallets provided the brainwallets input text have sufficient entropy.</p>

<p>To answer your side question, you should be using a HD hardware token generator with Electrum to have warm wallet functionality, or you need to use multiple cold wallets probably using a trusted JavaScript key generator program, not a single cold wallet. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-29T02:59:22.163Z
2017-09-29T02:59:22.163Z
skaht
<p>I have the public/private keys for my cold wallet. I want to move it all into an Electrum wallet. I understand that I should send my entire balance at once. What medium should I use to make this transfer? I do not want to use Mycelium or any phone based wallet.</p>

<p>Side question: If I want to be able to spend small amounts of Bitcoin on purchases what is the ideal wallet setup I should be using?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-04T08:49:15.043Z
You should avoid asking several questions in one post
alcio
<wallet><electrum><sending><sendtoaddress>
How do I send Bitcoin from my cold wallet to a new one?
Bob Smith
# How do I send Bitcoin from my cold wallet to a new one?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-28)

I have the public/private keys for my cold wallet. I want to move it all into an Electrum wallet. I understand that I should send my entire balance at once. What medium should I use to make this transfer? I do not want to use Mycelium or any phone based wallet.

Side question: If I want to be able to spend small amounts of Bitcoin on purchases what is the ideal wallet setup I should be using?

**Tags:** wallet, electrum, sending, sendtoaddress

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You should avoid asking several questions in one post  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-09-29. Score: 1

Funds from a cold wallet need to either be **imported** or **swept** (for cybersecurity reasons sweeping is always preferred over importing) into most any hot or warm wallet to then sent to another cold wallet address synthesized from **private keys** that are usually in either the Wallet Import Format (**WIF**) or in **BIP 38** standard format (is AES encrypted and starts with the letters **6P**). Wallet imports or sweeps usually take WIF or BIP 38 input formats that have associated input error checking versus raw hexadecimal that a prone to human input errors like Ethereum.

Electrum is not technically a cold wallet unless the Electrum BIP 39 seed words have never been loaded into an Electrum **warm wallet**. An Electrum wallet is **warm** only if it uses a hardware wallet such as a Trezor, Ledger or Keepkey token generators that have been loaded with BIP 39 seed words. Otherwise, the Electrum wallet is a **hot wallet**.

Cold wallets need the private keys and associated public addresses generated on a trusted offline computer. Cold wallets can use self contained JavaScript programs, or a standalone binary executable such as Bitcoin-Explorer (bx) running on **air gapped** computers that can also leverage brainwallets provided the brainwallets input text have sufficient entropy.

To answer your side question, you should be using a HD hardware token generator with Electrum to have warm wallet functionality, or you need to use multiple cold wallets probably using a trusted JavaScript key generator program, not a single cold wallet.


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