Topic: Which hardware wallet to buy? - page 6. (Read 1404 times)

My bad. I could have expressed myself better. I was trying to say that the Nano S is the oldest Ledger model that is still available on the market. It's certainly not the first one they ever produced, but it did sound like I said exactly that. I think the Ledger HW 1 and Ledger Nano were their oldest models. There was also the Ledger Blue. All these products have been discontinued in the meantime.

I guess it depends on the altcoin. Some of them probably will, either after this bear market or the next one. But generally, Bitcoin tends to pull their price upwards when it begins its run. Even if they are altcoins, I would wait for better times to sell them. The overall state of the market right now isn't the best one.

I think that this is a bad choice of words. Nano S is the smallest, the oldest they're still selling, but, afaik, not their first.


You said that the coins can double or more on next bull run... I would say that the bitcoin may double or more, while some of the altcoins will probably turn to dust.
So (as a second thought) I would do different. I would get the Bitcoins to the hardware wallet (or, even easier, I would generate a paper wallet offline) and I would keep the altcoins on exchange(s).
Altcoins are much more volatile than Bitcoin and one may want to sell them. Fast. Bitcoin, on the other hand, tends to do great on long term.

You are thinking of Ledger's first model, the Nano S. OP wants to purchase a Nano S Plus, the device that came out just a few months ago. It has received a memory upgrade that allows it to hold up to 100 different apps at the same time. In theory at least. Even if it's just half of it, that will still be enough for OPs current needs.

OP owns £3.000 worth of crypto. Personally, this wouldn't be an amount I would be comfortable storing in an exchange account. Not to mention that these £3.000 can easily become £5k or £6k during the next bull run. But people have different needs. OP doesn't strike me as a day trader for him to require access to an asset within a minute or two.

In that case, I guess the (not sure why) pretty unpopular, but super cheap, and reproducible open-source KeepKey could be an option. It costs less than a Ledger, it's been around for 7 years and supports lots of coins.

Keep in mind its tiny memory means it only supports a handful of coins (at most) at a time. If you dabble with more than 2-3 currencies, your workflow will include deleting and installing individual 'apps' for each cryptocurrency every time you have to interact with that currency (like a deposit or withdrawal).

To add to what SFR10 said about diversifying and investing in altcoins - since you mentioned being new to cryptocurrency - I'd just like to recommend giving this thread a read, too.
What Can Happen If You Want to Trade Cryptocurrencies, but You Don’t Know How?

I also believe the main quality of a wallet shouldn't be how many coins it supports; if I were trading, I'd leave the coins I trade on a trusted exchange (with all the risks that go along with that, never forget) so I can make quicker moves when the market changes and stuff like that. That's why you buy those coins; not for holding them for years. You don't want to sit around with a device whose screen suddenly glitches out, doesn't turn on, or have to install an 'app'; then send the coin to the exchange, hope it's not blacklisted and then try to get that trade in real quick.
For long-term it has been shown time and time again that Bitcoin is the best bet compared to other cryptocurrencies; and if you're looking at Bitcoin-only, there are great, reproducible open-source devices for that. The amounts you want to store in Bitcoin should also be able to justify paying more than £100 for such a device.

Your budget for the device also shows me that you're probably dealing with capital that should be fine (not financial advice) to keep on an exchange - as I said, also for more efficient / fast trading ability.

To some extent, it matters but I wouldn't label it as the most important thing in purchasing a certain type of hardware wallet... If you really care about the security of your cryptos, you shouldn't have a portfolio that's composed of mostly alternative cryptocurrencies ^{[most of them just follow BTCitcoin, and the majority of users consider them as shitcoins + sooner or later, "this is going to be the outcome"]}, that's not a proper way of diversifying. The main issue with Ledger as a whole is the fact that they're no longer that reliable and if you decide to go with one of their products, prepare yourself to face some issues as soon as you get your hands on their products ^{[I'm not implying that other brands are perfect, but they tend to have more satisfied customers]}!

The Ledger Nano S plus supports all the crypto I own , I think.

Is this not the most important thing when deciding which hardware wallet to go with? Even if it has some cons, the main thing I want is my crypto to be secure.

There is no point me purchasing a device that does not support half the crypto I own.

Trezor Model One fits your description, but it doesn't support ^[directly] a portion of your portfolio ^{[Algorand, Gala, Cronos and LCX]}.
^{- It seems that you can use a third-party wallet like Exodus for storing both Gala and Cronos [source] with your Trezor device.}

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With a bit of leeway, you can also go with the "multi-edition of BitBox02 ^{[it equates to roughly £110, but I did manage to find a 5% working discount code (BITTEN)]}".
^{- No support for "Algorand and Gala"!}

So now reading a lot of negativity about ledger I am confused and unsure.

As mentioned, I am a beginner having only started investing in crypto February this year.

I would just like a device I can store my crypto on with as least hassle as possible - Ideally paying no more then £100 for it.

Any advice welcome, thanks

It's not all in Bitcoin. He posted a list previously. He owns Bitcoin and 9 other altcoins.

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Since you are considering buying the new Ledger HW, I feel I should mention a few things.

Ledger together with Trezor are two of the most popular hardware wallet brands and they have sold millions of devices. I have been using a Ledger Nano S for years and have no problem with it. Ledger is closed-source though. They have suffered a hacking incident where private data from their customers were leaked and posted publicly. I am talking about names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. Private keys and seeds are not vulnerable. A lot of people lost their trust in Ledger because of this and the way they handled the entire situation. Take note though that Trezor also suffered a similar customer data leak, but on a smaller scale.

Now a little bit about their hardware wallets.

Nano S
A good and reliable little device that gets the job done. No batteries or Bluetooth and only supports USB connection.
It's biggest problem is the small internal memory. Right now, you can only have two crypto apps installed at the same time. This does not mean that you can't store the same coins and tokens as on the Nano X and Nano S+ because you can. But you will be required to uninstall and install the apps each time you want to interact with that particular coin. This is a process that takes 20-30 seconds.

Nano X
Works wirelessly via Bluetooth but can also be connected with a USB cable. Personally, the Bluetooth feature is a big turn off for me. This device has a bigger screen and more memory. It can hold up to 100 coins at the same time, so the installing/uninstalling you would have to do with the Nano S, isn't needed on Nano X.

Unfortunately, the new generations of the Nano X have several problems. Most notably are the issues with the batteries. It goes as far as getting a product you can't even charge or use at all.

Nano S Plus
Nano S Plus is a Nano S on steroids. Bigger screen, more memory in a similar package. The biggest problem with this one is that they were too hasty to release it. Because of that, it lacks (lacked) support for several assets. The same ones that work on the older devices. I am not sure at what stage they are in resolving those issues.
 
My favorite is still the Nano S. If it hadn't been for the security incident with customer data, I would still recommend buying it. But it's not only that. The Nano S is getting discontinued. It's no longer manufactured and they might drop support for it entirely in a few years. We don't know that. I would never buy the Nano X and I am uncertain about the Nano S Plus. The older generations of the Nano X were OK (battery-wise).  

Ledger Nano S plus is merely an electronic device with which to conveniently and securely sign transactions in different blockchains. I mean, its functionality is very limited; it boils down to showing you some information on a small display that you can verify without having to be connected to an online server or even to a personal computer. It is a stand-alone device with a single purpose, but it also needs some GUI  installed either on a PC or mobile so that users can manage a device by creating receive addresses, managing accounts, controlling coins, creating unsigned transactions, etc. In order to withdraw from your Coinbase account, you first need to set up your wallet (hardware wallet + GUI) to be able to generate receive address. Once you have done that, you are ready to make a withdrawal request from your Coinbase account. Also, make sure that you back up all information (such as seed phrase) to be able to restore access to your funds in the future should something unfortunate occurs with your signing device.

I would like to recommend against Ledger products in general.
We've got a few threads, such as:

Ledger Live Liars Data Collection
Why I wouldn't buy Ledger Nano S ever again?
Ledger Nano X - Black box 2022
Ledger Nano X Battery Pandemic

So between terrible data handling and privacy practices, bottom-of-the-barrel hardware quality as well as closed-source firmware and hardware, I see no reason for using such a device or giving this company any of my personal information (e-mail address or even personal address for shipping).

I don't recommend a specific product, but rather recommend to do your own research, for example having a look at:
Open Source Hardware Wallets
AirGapped Hardware Wallets
WalletScrutiny reproducible open-source hardware wallets

It depends on a few things... With Trezor Suite, you can directly sell your cryptocurrencies ^{[a step shorter]}, but it's mostly available to users from European countries:

• Suite manual:Sell cryptocurrencies in Trezor Suite
• Compare crypto exchanges and buy bitcoin instantly with Trezor
• Selling cryptocurrencies

He/she isn't the only one! Back in the day, they were a somewhat reliable brand but everything they've produced in the past couple of years has been nothing but trash.
^{- Since you're leaning towards the plus version, I'd suggest reading the last three pages of "this" thread to familiarize yourself with some of its issues.}

Which part is harder for you?

So I have 90% of my crypto on coinbase - for a beginner like myself how easy/difficult is it to transfer everything from coinbase to the ledger Nano S plus?

I have just watched a few videos briefly and it doesnt look as straight forward as I hoped it would be.

If the assets owned by the OP are all in bitcoin, then I believe electrum is also a good choice in addition to its need to have a hardware wallet. It's just that I prefer to suggest creating an electrum wallet without an internet connection and keeping all the seeds and private keys safe regardless of whether it's creating them into multiple parts or storing them in multiple places.

I probably wouldn't agree if the OP kept his bitcoins (assets) on a centralized exchange long term. The risk is too great and we have seen the fact that many exchanges have been hacked before even if the exchange has a good reputation. Binance is an example, they too have been hacked. So there is no good reason to trade them all our crypto in the long term except for trading needs.

I think you got something wrong here. What is your definition of the term "cold wallet"? What do crypto exchanges have to do with it?

Putting it simply, the term "cold wallet" is used to describe cryptocurrency wallets that don't use the Internet connection. As such, some hardware wallets are often considered cold storage solutions.
Therefore, I think you should rephrase your reply so that there is no confusion.

I am here according to my needs with Ledger Nano X hardware to store my assets in the future of course from all the widely available device wallets you have to do some research to get started, and better see from sharing sources like Youtube how the advantages and disadvantages so that you know which one to choose according to your own needs because of course everyone has their own opinion.

Each hardware wallet has its own advantages, I've seen the reviews of all of them but in the end I prefer the Ledger Nano X until now it's comfortable for me, so so far there haven't been any problems.

Edit: Sorry, I misunderstood something. So I had to delete it so it wouldn't be confusing.

Cold wallets are a great option for storing your bitcoins because they are not actually connected to the internet. A higher level of security than a hot wallet is one of the advantages of a cold wallet itself. Cold wallet have also been adopted by most of the exchanges to secure investors' funds, but keeping them on the exchange is not a good solution either. Have your own cold wallet and that is the best advice, but make sure you choose a really secure wallet as most people recommend based on user experience. Trezor, Ledger Nano S and Ledger Nano X KeepKey are some of the options. So adjust your needs and funds.

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Done, thanks.

You have the right to choose the device that you like, but keep in mind, in the case of Ledger Nano S Plus, it will be better if you provide as little personal data as possible when buying. Ledger has repeatedly been involved in incidents with the theft of personal information about its users. Ideally, pay for the purchase of the device with a dollar, indicating the fictitious details of the buyer and, instead of the real address, indicate the post office or other place from where you can pick up the package. This is the case if you buy on the official website. By the way, don't forget about resellers, from which, in principle, you can buy for cash, which will be better if points of sale are within your reach.

We have a macbook also so will just connect the ledger to there.

Strange you are not familiar with my cryptos mentioned, most are in the top 50 

If you plan to connect it to a Chromebook as you stated in a prior post, you won’t be able to exploit it through Ledger Live. Checkout the requirements here.

Im not really familiar with most of those coins/tokens on your list (except for bitcoin essentially), but I tried all 10 and got 9 hits. The only one that is that didn’t show is an ERC-20 token, and can therefore be safeguarded with Ledger, although Ledger Live may not show it (see this reddit thread).

Gone off alts long(ish) ago. Check the list in a year or two, and see if their ranking in the top 50 still stands ...