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.
Unpacking and installing the Litecoin core wallet
Start by extracting the package using tar
Next, for ease of use, move the binaries somewhere in your $PATH and the man pages where they belong:
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:
You should be greeted with it launching...
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)
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.
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
To unencrypt the wallet.dat.gpg file down the road, simply use the same gpg command without the -c:
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!
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.gzUnpacking 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.1Next, 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-qtYou should be greeted with it launching...
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)
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.
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.datTo 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!
