If you put money into Bitcoin or another crypto, it's mad essential to store your wealth in a hardware wallet. These devices keep your private keys off the line which significantly increases your security and limits the chances of your currency being stolen.
I picked up my first hardware wallet back in 2015 about a month or so after I started to invest in Bitcoin. Even though I had very little I knew that as time goes on the value of any fraction of Bitcoin would increase. My investment was worth the amount I put in but also any gain in value over time, and I did not want to put my money at risk of theft.
There are two hardware wallets that I own and use today. The first one I owned is the Ledger Wallet and while the exact one I have is no longer sold their new version is even better. I also picked up a Trezor Wallet to get some hands-on experience with another brand in 2017.
Both of these wallets are an excellent choice for keeping your crypto safe from thieves and robbers. Any time someone asks me about buying Bitcoin or another currency in the space I always tell them to send the $80-$150 USD on a hardware wallet before purchasing any cryptocurrency.
There is no point in me telling them to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Monero if they are only going to leave it on an exchange or in a mobile wallet. When it comes to Monero, I actually do not tell people to hold off on buying any unless they are tech savvy enough to run the desktop wallet.
Even then there is still a chance of messing up and exposing the private keys to the world, and at the time of writing this post, there is no hardware wallet for Monero. However, Ledger is working to add this currency to their devices, and there is also a team working on a Monero specific hardware device. So look into the state of these wallets after reading.
Tips When Buying A Hardware Wallet
First, never buy from a site other than the original manufacturer's website. Even if the device is found on Amazon or eBay, it is never okay to trust these sources since they only offer a portal to sell. You can never be sure if a seller (other than the manufacturer) messed with your device an is then able to steal your funds.
Second, make sure the currency you want to store offline is available on the device you chose. The sheer number of coins out there make it hard for any developer to keep up. The principal currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are almost always supported in one way or another. The same can not be said about some of the lesser know coins such as IOTA, EOS, and many others.
Third, make sure to copy down your seed phrase from your device and store it in a place that it will stay safe. This is the sole way to recover your funds if your device is lost or stolen and it is entirely in our hands. The manufacturers cannot reset our devices nor can they give us our seed phrase if we lose it.
Ledger Nano S
Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons.
Features:
- Multi-Currency
- Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Zcash (ZEC), XRP, Dash (DASH), Stratis (STRAT), Komodo (KMD), Ark (ARK), Expanse (EXP), Ubiq (UBQ), Vertcoin (VTC), Viacoin (VIA), Neo (NEO), Stealthcoin (XST), Stellar (XLM), Hcash (HSR), Digibyte (DGB), Qtum (QTUM), PivX (PIVX), PosW (POSW)
- Multi-Application
- Ledger supports ERC20 tokens via the "My Ether Wallet" platform. They also have apps for Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum along with non-currency apps such as two-factor authentication and PGP.
- Built-In Display
- FIDO Certified U2F
- Backup And Restorations
- Provides the user with a seed key to use in the case of restoring the keys to a new Trezor device as needed.
Trezor Wallet
- Multi-Currency
- Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), DASH, Zcash (ZEC), Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold (BTG), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), ERC-20 Tokens, Expanse (EXP), UBIQ (UBQ), NEM (XEM), Namecoin, Dogecoin
- Multi-Application
- Currently, this applies to Ethereum and the ERC20 tokens since the Trezor wallet uses the "My Ether Wallet" platform and does not have a built-in option with their software.
- Built-In Display
- U2F
- I am unsure if it is FIDO Certified like the Ledger, but this device does support two-factor authentication for those security-minded people (that means you).
- Backup And Restorations
- Provides the user with a seed key to use in the case of restoring the keys to a new Trezor device as needed.
Thanks For Reading!
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Have control over bitcoins. It is important that the user has access to the private keys of the bitcoins wallet; if not, you have no control over them. By having these keys it is possible to decide how and when to transfer the coins from the wallet and also to make a backup out of service.
Make a backup or back up. This security measure is valid for everything that happens in the digital world. In addition to having the data in the cloud is essential that there is a correlate of that information in a hardware such as a disk or pendrive and take all the precautions that apply in these cases. "It is advisable to make frequent updates, use different media and locations, as well as keep them encrypted," says the computer security expert.
Transparency. It is suggested that the wallet be based on open source, since that way you can know how bitcoin is being secured and it is also possible to verify, in an effective way, if there is any vulnerability, as highlighted in the Bitcoin.com site. , greetings, this is very good
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I think "off the line" is key here. Hardware wallets can also be breached , but the required effort to do so is a lot higher due to also having to control the physical device.
Alternatively a paper wallet might also do the trick.
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Yes, I thought about adding a section about paper wallets here but chose not to.
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What are your thoughts around open source offline phone based wallets? I've been using coinomi for a while now as I "harvest" my tokens from the exchanges as I trade
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They are fine but it is still considered a "hot wallet" since it is attached to the internet.
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Totally agree -- I have a Trezor and it's probably the best investment I've made.
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I agree, they are awesome. Still need to get my hands on a Ledger Nano S so I can see how it stacks up against the Trezor.
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nice post! i have a top tip for writing that secret key down.. which is to buy a permanent UV marker and UV torch for 15USD and write the key invisibly on paper.. Then only when the torch is used will you see the key ;-)
stay safe!
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Great article, thanks for sharing. I've smashed the upvote button for you! Yes follow this article, you should be very careful and protect your tokens. I personally use a Trezor (which means safe in Czech) and i couldn't be happier with the security.
Also, if you are looking to get some tokens without investing or mining check out Crowdholding (https://www.crowdholding.com). They are a co-creation platform were you get rewarded for giving feedback to crypto startups on the platform. You can earn Crowdholding's token as well as DeepOnion, ITT, Smartcash and many other ERC-20 tokens.
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