Most of the top search results for Bitcoin QR code generators lead to sites that will steal your coins. We’ll show you how to create one safely.
If you use a Bitcoin smartphone app, there’s a very good chance you also use QR codes. These are handy two-dimensional bar codes that are used to encode a Bitcoin address (or just about any other information, depending on the size of the grid). They’re a really easy way to share your Bitcoin address, or to send funds to someone else. But there’s a problem.
Researchers have found that most of the top search results for ‘Bitcoin QR Generator’ and similar terms lead to scam sites. Instead of generating a new Bitcoin private key, address and QR code just for you, they will give you a ‘fake’ code that will deposit funds straight to the scammers’ wallet.
Not. Good.
So how do you do it safely?
Firstly, apply the standard disclaimers. Don’t trust third-party sites. Using these leaves you vulnerable — either of a QR scam, of the sites secretly recording your new private keys as you create them, or of a hacker intercepting sensitive information. If you’re generating new keys, it’s best to do it on an offline machine. You really don’t want to be sending these requests over the web via API (which, being lazy, is what they typically do).
You can do that by going to a site like BitAddress.org and saving it on your computer, then running it offline (we haven’t provided a link here for security and trust reasons, but you can find it easily enough). BitAddress works client-side using JavaScript, so no information is sent over the web. You can generate a new key and address on your own machine, including the QR code that encodes the address.
Alternatively, if you use a wallet like Electrum, or a mobile app like Mycelium, you can use that to generate new addresses safely (assuming your computer is clean and you’re following good security practices).
If you want to create a QR code for a specific address — like a vanity address you have generated, or an existing address — that’s also easily done with BitAddress or another site that converts a string of data into a QR code. Remember, it doesn’t matter who you share the address with so long as your private key is safe. So you can enter your address on a QR code site, then check the resulting QR code using a Bitcoin wallet app or QR code reader on your phone, just to make sure it generated the right code.
Article by Moonhub
