Topic: Private key & Ledger Nano - Transacting with the Block-chain or an intermediary? (Read 179 times)

That's great, I will have a read.

Thank you.

Not at all, glad to help.

For further reading, Ledger have a couple of series of blog posts which cover a lot of what you've asked. Their Ledger 101 series (available here: https://medium.com/@ericlarch) talks about best security practices when using a Ledger device. Their Back to Basics series (only 2 parts released at present, but with more on the way) explains the basics behind public keys, private keys, mnemonic phrases, what is stored where, and so forth. The second part of this series in particular (here: https://www.ledger.com/back-to-basics-part-2-an-infinite-number-of-keys/) covers a lot of what we've just talked about, and would be worth a read.

Thanks buddy. I understand that last point you made and yes i have that 24 word phrase written and tucked away somewhere safe. Thinking this through and writing about it has helped to clarify and cement a few things in place.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated

Correct. There are several other reasons such as phishing, hacks, poor security, new KYC requirements, and so forth that mean keeping your coins on an exchange is universally considered a bad idea.

Also correct. Your private keys are held within the secure element of your Ledger device. The software wallet (in this case Yoroi) is simply an interface between your Ledger device and the relevant coin's blockchain.

Correct.

Correct.

Then you could use an old version of Yoroi, or a different piece of software altogether. I don't own any Cardano, but the Ledger website (https://shop.ledger.com/pages/supported-crypto-assets) says it is also compatible with the "AdaLite" wallet for Cardano.

Your Ledger device, and the 24 word mnemonic phrase it generated for you when you first initialized it (which you should have backed up by writing it down on paper), are what give you access to your coins. The software you install on your computer is simply an interface. You can uninstall, reinstall, delete, etc., the software, and your private keys are always safely stored within your Ledger device. If you device breaks or is lost or stolen, then your 24 word phrase is your backup to give you access to your private keys again. If you lose both device and phrase, your coins are lost forever.

Private keys and the Ledger Nano S - Am I Transacting with the Block-chain or an intermediary?

Hey guys,

I am a bit of a newb and trying to get my head around a few things, specifically security using the Ledger Nano S. I want to understand how private keys work on the blockchain in relation to a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano S.


So here is my thought experiment using ADA Cardano as an example.


1) My ADA ‘coins’ reside on Binance and I don’t have the private keys. Therefore I don’t really own those coins. They are held on my behalf by Binance. In theory Binance could cease operations due to regulation, corruption, war, whatever and that is the last I could see of my assets.

2) I Install a desktop wallet, let's say Yoroi for Cardano. I understand that i do not create a 'seed' or private key to be held locally by that specific install on my PC, as using the Ledger device, it translates my private key (which is encrypted and held on the device) and communicates with the blockchain via Yoroi.

Therefore the Yoroi wallet install on my PC is not a great concern, I don’t need to back it up right? I could just re-install Yoroi, or install on another PC and still access my coins using the ledger?

3) I send my coins from Binance to my public wallet address, created in Yoroi, verified with Ledger.

Once confirmed I could uninstall Yoroi and forget about it? Six months later, re-install Yoroi on another computer, plug in my Ledger and see all of my transaction history?

So Ledger interacts with Yoroi, Yoroi interacts with the Cardano Blockchain?

What happens if development stops on Yoroi? What about if Daedalus offers support for Ledger – could I just install and set that up, plug in my Ledger and see my stash of coins?

I think what I am getting at and trying to understand is how important is the wallet itself if secured by Ledger. If I secure by Ledger am I communicating directly with the blockchain or an intermediary?


Thanks in advance!