Topic: Choosing my first hardware wallet, have some questions. - page 2. (Read 248 times)

Thank you guys.
I have done more of research about open source hardware wallets (there are a lot of brands and models)  and found out that most of open source hardware wallets manufacturers don't have a well established business.
There are some who are about just to start  sales (like this month).
There are some whose website looks like their business is about to die.
There are some who are re-organizing or splitting business between owners who didn't agree with each other (I have read articles about it).
Like this. Though there are a lot of beautifully designed, having interesting features, sounding convenient and secure (according to descriptions) hardware wallets.

When manufacturers business is not well established you never know what you purchase and how long it will work, and how it will work (as there are too few users, too few feed back and too little experience), and whether you are going to get support or not.

The ones who are most reliable (as businesses) are Trezor and Ledger (though Ledger products are not reliable, but its business is).

And there are also some manufacturers about whose business I cannot say anything because I don't know how long they are in business and how many devices they sold.

Could you guys please tell what manufacturers you know who is strong enough on the market. Besides Ledger and Trezor.
Open source hardware wallets.

Judging by the article, it's not that easy to verify the QR code after all. Every hardware wallet has its pros and cons. Is it safer? I'm not sure.


https://shiftcrypto.ch/blog/does-airgap-make-bitcoin-hardware-wallets-more-secure/

This is also very interesting. It might help you to purchase/order a Trezor somewhere else.

https://blog.trezor.io/is-banking-grade-security-good-enough-for-your-bitcoins-284065561e9b#.vc68zeeqp

Open source wallets can have malware included too. But only open source wallets are recommendable. Because a wallet is open source does not mean it is not vulnerable to attack, but the ones that have been tested and seen good to the community are recommended. Example are Electrum and Trezor.

Close source wallets are not recommendable at all, you do not know anything about the code used to build the wallet, the public do not know it, only the developers know it. Storing your coins on such wallet is dangerous and does not comply to how crypto should generate keys and addresses if talking about trust less and freedom. You must know everything about your wallet including the code used to build it. If you do not know how to, at least you can ask on forum like this.

Bluetooth is not recommendable. Better to get a USB hardware wallet, but not still that recommendable, the best is to just make use of QR code while making transaction which is better. Have you seen a device that its bluetooth will always be on? I haven't seen such a device before.

1. It's a lot of things but mainly because when the wallet is closed source, you don't know what's happening behind the scenes. There's no guarantee that the developers/manufacturer hasn't put in malicious code. See this discussion[1]. Ledger's software is open source (ledger live)[2], by the way, it's the firmware and hardware that aren't:

2. It's possible to turn it off with Ledger as explained here[3]. I'm not aware of any other wallets that use Bluetooth, but it should be possible, I don't see why would they not allow the user to turn it off.
 
As for buying the wallet, you should make sure that you're buying from an official reseller if you're planning to buy them from a local shop. Is there any reason why you don't want to order it directly from Trezor's official website?

[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5414995.0;topicseen
[2] https://github.com/LedgerHQ/ledger-live
[3] https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019138694-Set-up-Bluetooth-connection?docs=true

Hi,

I am choosing my first hardware wallet, going to purchase one from a local shop. I would prefer Trezor (from what I know about hardware wallets, it would be best choice for me), but unfortunately they have no Trezor in stock.

They have Ledger in stock though, 3 models. As much as I understand, Ledger is considered to be the 2-d best choice for hardware wallets. But after I have read this forum for several hours I discovered that if you buy Ledger you probably buy a lot problems. For example
 about 50% of topics are dedicated to problems with Ledger.  Unfortunately, it looks like Ledger is not for me.
I would prefer a "smooth ride" with my hardware wallet.

Could you please answer my questions and help me to understand more about hardware wallets.

1. Why are closed source wallets considered as unacceptable choice by many users?
Yes, I know their software may have vulnerabilities which cannot be checked by independent checkers.
But what are consequences that may happen?
Is  it risk of malware with an update?
Is it possibility for hackers to hack it easily when they have physical access to wallet?
Or that manufacturer employees may have possibility to steal funds?

I am asking this because there are a lot of closed source wallets which looks to be convenient, beautifully designed, easy to use and good functioning devices.
And I try to find out why exactly I should not buy them.
And what may happen if I buy and use such hardware wallet.  In order to understand what I am doing and why.
When I choose one of them or when I reject all of them.

2. Hardware wallets with bluetooth.
Is it possible to switch it off or is it always active?

Thank you!