What is a cold wallet?
To put it simply, it is a new wallet created without internet connection, or the former plus collection records (that is, deposit records). Because the whole process is offline, it is very safe and reduces the risk of being stolen due to Internet interactions.
Generally, cold wallets are used to store tokens that are not intended to be moved for a long time. Because once they are moved, they need to be connected to the Internet and interact, so they become hot wallets, and the risks are uncontrollable.
Because cold wallets are generally deleted after they are created and recoverable (of course the private key or mnemonic phrase, as well as the wallet address will be saved). Therefore, we generally use a "read-only wallet" to observe the status of the wallet (such as balance, transfer records, etc.), or observe it through a block browser. The principle is the same.
How to create a cold wallet?
It's very simple. I mentioned it roughly in the previous article. Take creating an evm wallet as an example:
To make it simple, first download a well-known wallet application, such as:) Ledger (I have never used this, it is just an example). Then shut down the network (either logically through the operating system or physically by unplugging the network cable), then install the application, create a wallet, and properly save the private key or mnemonic (also record the wallet address), and then delete it. wallet, and then restore the wallet through the private key or mnemonic phrase. After successful recovery, check whether the wallet address is normal. Finally delete the wallet, then delete the wallet application, shut down, start up, and open the network.
The more complicated thing is to put the above simple operations in the virtual machine (only for the desktop). The physical machine should also be disconnected from the Internet, and the virtual machine should also be disconnected from the Internet as much as possible. The advantage of using a virtual machine is that you can directly use snapshots, eliminating the need to repeatedly install the wallet application and uninstall the wallet (just restore the snapshot to after installing the wallet). At the same time, the physical machine is isolated. When the wallet is created, a private key will be generated. will be saved, and the risk can be further reduced by using a virtual machine. Of course, if you say that engineers use disk recovery tools to restore the private key, there is nothing you can say.
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