Cryptocurrency wallets and Linux

Rob

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I'm sure you've heard of cryptocurrency, likely even own some. It's been bought, sold and traded since 2009 and has really gained a lot of steam lately. Some of the more popular coins out there are Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

When you purchase cryptocurrency, you need to use a wallet to keep track of it. There are hardware wallets, software wallets and paper wallets. We'll concentrate on software wallets, specifically for Linux systems.

Going forward this article will focus on Litecoin, however, you will be able to apply much of it to other coins as well.

Downloading the Litecoin software wallet for Linux

Visit Litecoin.org and download the appropriate Linux package. Also download the GPG signatures.

Once downloaded, check the package against the sha256sum in the signatures file using the sha256sum command. Below is an example checking against the 64bit version. If the numbers don't match, don't use the file and alert someone at litecoin.org.

Code:
sha256sum litecoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
05f409ee57ce83124f2463a3277dc8d46fca18637052d1021130e4deaca07b3c  litecoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

cat litecoin-0.14.2-linux-signatures.asc |grep x86
05f409ee57ce83124f2463a3277dc8d46fca18637052d1021130e4deaca07b3c litecoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz

Unpacking and installing the Litecoin core wallet

Start by extracting the package using tar
Code:
tar zxvf litecoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
litecoin-0.14.2/
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/litecoin-cli
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/litecoind
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/litecoin-qt
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/litecoin-tx
litecoin-0.14.2/bin/test_litecoin
litecoin-0.14.2/share/
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/litecoin-cli.1
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/litecoind.1
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/litecoin-qt.1
litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/litecoin-tx.1

Next, for ease of use, move the binaries somewhere in your $PATH and the man pages where they belong:
Code:
sudo mv litecoin-0.14.2/bin/* /usr/local/bin/
sudo mv litecoin-0.14.2/share/man/man1/* /usr/share/man/man1/

Starting up and using your new Litecoin wallet

Now, you should be able to start up your new Litecoin wallet just by typing the following in a terminal:
Code:
litecoin-qt

You should be greeted with it launching...
litecoin-core0.png


After this initial screen it'll be time to step away from the computer as it's about to download the whole history of transactions (about 14G worth).

Once that is finished, the wallet will look like this (minus the transactions on the right obviously)
litecoin-core1.png


Create a receiving address

In order to receive Litecoin, you need to generate a new wallet address. Click the Receive tab and type in a name of the wallet in the Label spot. Then, just click Request payment and it will add the address below as well as pop up an easy-to-scan barcode with the wallet address just below it. I named this one Linux.org.

litecoin-core2.png

litecoin-core3.png

You are now ready to accept your first Litecoin payment! If you need to receive LTC from someone else you can send them your Litecoin address. The address starting with L above can be safely shared anywhere. You can also create unlimited addresses which helps out in the privacy department.


How to back up and secure your wallet

Let's encrypt your wallet now to add a little security. Go to Settings --> Encrypt Wallet
Next, enter your passphrase twice. Do not lose this passphrase!

Lastly, let's back up the wallet so you can recover if your hard drive dies. Grab a thumb drive and insert it into your PC. Next, go to File --> Backup wallet. This will copy your wallet.dat file to a 2nd location. Pick your thumb drive as the destination.

Once the wallet.dat file is on the thumb drive, let's go a step further and encrypt it in case that thumb drive falls into the wrong hands.

Here, you will change directory to the thumb drive, encrypt the wallet.dat file with gpg, then remove the unencrypted wallet.dat file leaving only wallet.dat.gpg
Code:
cd /path/to/thumb/drive/
gpg -c wallet.dat
(enter a passphrase)
(re-enter the passphrase)
rm wallet.dat

To unencrypt the wallet.dat.gpg file down the road, simply use the same gpg command without the -c:
Code:
gpg wallet.dat.gpg
(enter the passphrase)

Again, most of this tutorial can be applied to other coin wallets as well.

Good luck in the crypto world! If you appreciated this post, feel free to test your LTC skills and send a donation to help out with hosting costs! ;)

Linux.org Litecoin address: LfwgLTymw3hSFAjpqjP7BWqF5QioRWktQJ

Please comment below if you have any questions or concerns - we're here to help!
 


Not a question (yet), not a concern ... just ... nice one, Rob :D

I am bookmarking this for further digestion.

Wizard
 
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OK @Rob I've digested it now - only took 9 months, which is pretty fast when you are 5,000 years old :rolleyes:

I have a couple of questions, and either you can answer them, perhaps, or tell me to go Google, lol.

BACKGROUND

I have recently installed my (maybe) 200th Linux Distro, one which has eluded my ability to install for a long time (over 3 years), but has now got easier, thankfully.

I won't mention the Linux Distro because I plan to write a review on it soon. :)

As part of the installed result, it offers $10 in cryptocurrency to start a wallet.

Choices offered are
  • Bitcoin
  • Bitcoin Cash
  • Ethereum
  • Ethereum Classic and
  • LiteCoin
Now, I plan on following your lead, perhaps, with LiteCoin, the Distro's Reward Gift mentions Coinbase, as follows:

Take advantage of our Free $10 Gift!

128-bitcoin.png




Since you can use Bitcoin to pay for things it is becoming very popular. Why not get a Bitcoin wallet & $10 of Bitcoin for FREE?

When you sign up for a Coinbase account using our special link below you will receive $10 in FREE Bitcoin! People this is a NO Brainer!



So my questions are:

  1. Do you know of coinbase, and can I follow through with this to perform what you have described above?
  2. After this initial screen it'll be time to step away from the computer as it's about to download the whole history of transactions (about 14G worth).
    Is that actually how much spare space I need, nett, to pursue this? Reason is the subject Distro is sandwiched currently on my 256GB SSD with 5 other Linux plus Win10, with only 12.4GiB left available. However, I can simply move it with Timeshift , to a Partition on my 4TB WD My Book external HDD and grow the destination partition there that will receive it to accommodate the size.

  3. Beats me, I will think of one, besides the 1st question was in 2 parts, so that's 3 questions.

TIA Rob - Thanks for the great work you do with this site, it is the best place to be, for Linux, IMO.

upload_2018-11-24_16-26-29.jpeg



Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 

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