How can you in practice use Bitcoin both as a long-term store of value and as something that you transact with, between all the options of paper wallets, potentially custodial accounts and other kinds of online wallets etc. How would you recommend one actually go about in practice using it. Since 2013 the maximum amount of time I have left currency crypto or fiat currency on an exchange is 15 minutes, I transact weekly sometimes more often, I use it as a working currency I get paid in Bitcoin I get paid in ethereum I use these currencies to pay my bills, to live. I live in the Bitcoin community and so I have to transact and I often have to exchange because I can't always buy the things I want with crypto currencies.
How do I exchange in and out, in three confirmations sell ACH or bank transfer, out. I don't even leave fiat on exchanges, I cant trust them to hold money, I don't trust banks to hold money. How am I going to trust the two-year-old startup that has six employees, you kidding me. So I don't leave money on exchanges, now that's difficult to do if you're day trading and if you're day trading in this environment with these assets of great volatility you're a brave person. Now how do I use it, most of my holdings are in tiers so think of it as warm, or hot, too cold all the way down to deep freeze. Right on the cold side I hold a small amount, honestly because this hasn't been the most profitable idea jumping into an untested technology and not getting paid for a couple of years, but anyway.
I have a small amount of Bitcoin that I hold in deep cold storage, that means that they're held on keys that are not instantiated on any device, that exists in such a way that they're encrypted with a memorized pass-phrase, which I have also communicated to people who might become my heirs so that they don't get lost with me, and that's cold storage. Then I have an intermediate tier which is on a hardware wallet, actually several hardware wallets, again think protected passphrase, protected backed up with mnemonic phrases. Then I go to a warm tier where I have a small amount of operating cash that I use for my businesses to pay subcontractors etc., those are in multi signature, either the multi signature multi party wallet, meaning there are other people who are required to consent.
Multi signature multi-factor wallets, in which case I'm the only party but I have several devices that need to sign independently in order to exercise a transaction. Finally I have my hot hot wallet which is in my backpack pocket and is at the moment, is a mycelium wallet, which I keep a couple hundred dollars . So to answer your question I have tiers and I never keep more in my hot wallet than I'm comfortable keeping in cash in my physical wallet, such as Fiat and I often have to move things around in order to manage it. So far I have only lost Bitcoin through my own stupidity like for example misplacing a backup, and then trashing my phone, I've lost small amounts like less than $100. I've never been hacked fingers crossed I don't assume I won't be hacked I assume, I might but as long as it's on the warm side of my wallets I can take that risk.
