Sooner or later any crypto enthusiast will face a necessity of creating a wallet to store assets: whether it is a desktop, online, mobile or hardware crypto wallet. It is the only way you can store, send and receive crypto, so understanding peculiarities, flaws and drawbacks of every wallet are essential for successful trading.
If you want a clear and in-depth guideline on wallets, you won’t do without the following article, where our experts collected all the necessary facts about each type of crypto wallets.
But today we wanted to tell you more about a bitcoin hardware wallet: the safest way of storing cryptocurrency.
It is a physical device a size of a flash drive, which keeps private keys offline. This means that your wallet can’t be hacked (but someone can steal your keys, so store them safely). Today we will introduce you to the best hardware wallets of 2019.
So if you want to choose a safe, efficient and affordable cryptocurrency hardware wallet then continue reading!
What Is a Cryptocurrency Wallet?
If you still don’t know what a cryptocurrency wallet is (and for some reasons haven’t read previous paragraphs) let us give you a brief definition:
Crypto wallet is a software program, which keeps crypto keys and connects to blockchains to help users with sending and receiving digital money or checking balances. However, crypto wallets are completely different from regular ones: they store private keys, not money.
These keys are associated with the address generated for a particular wallet. They are used to confirm that you are the wallet’s owner. There are five main types of wallets: mobile, online, desktop, paper and cryptocurrency hardware wallets.
Even though online wallets are occupying leading positions, it is hard to disagree that a bitcoin hardware wallet has a variety of advantages over other types.
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What Is a Hardware Wallet?
You have probably heard that the safest way of storing your private keys (the so-called seed phrase) is to keep it out of someone’s reach.
In a strongbox, for example.
That is why it is highly advisable not to keep those keys on any technical devices, which may break down, lose Internet connection or be attacked by malware.
That’s why a cryptocurrency hardware wallet is so popular: it is a physical device, which keeps private keys on the device itself. They are so smart that will protect your keys even if the bitcoin hardware wallet is attacked by viruses.
Even public computers, like those in offices or libraries, won’t be able to do your device any harm!
However, there are quite many bitcoin hardware wallets and users don’t know which one can be trusted. We love our users so much that decided to write a 2019 rating of the best wallets that can be trusted.
Below we will discuss the best hardware wallet based on quality, software, price and other important criteria. So even if you are new to trading and don’t know where to start, just read this article attentively and choose a hardware wallet bitcoin that meets all your requirements!
The best hardware wallets in 2019 include Trezor, Ledger Nano S, and KeepKey. Continue reading to learn about each of them!
The Screen In Hardware Wallets
The screen is an essential part of a hardware wallet. And there is no need to be so surprised!
Even though the cryptocurrency hardware wallet screen is small, it still performs important functions:
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Confirms addresses
If you could name the biggest trading regret ever, what would it be? We bet that you will name sending coins to an incorrect address. Such inattention has already cost thousands of hundreds of people impressive sums of money. Having a screen on your Bitcoin hardware wallet means that you will be able to check the recipient’s address before sending crypto. -
Confirms transactions
To avoid attacks, side interference and other unpleasant situations, the screen of your Bitcoin hardware wallet acts as a checkpoint, where you need to confirm any transaction manually. -
Confirms mnemonic phrases
Mnemonic or seed phrase consists of up to 24 words and is generated in the wallet to give you additional protection. Best hardware wallet shows this phrase only once to let you record it.
This phrase won’t be shown on any other device to protect your assets and privacy.
So the screen of a Bitcoin hardware wallet is its advantage and you should definitely pick a wallet, which can boast one!
Hardware Wallets and Private Keys
The first and probably the most important thing to remember about a Bitcoin hardware wallet is that its private key always stays on the wallet. The transaction and its validation happen on the wallet and not on a side device like a personal computer or smartphone.
Unlike a Bitcoin hardware wallet, regular offline ones use private keys from the storage of the device or the hard drive. This doesn’t protect your assets from attacks and harmful software.
Yes, you can encrypt a hard drive and store your private keys there. But any time you decide to make a transaction or even to check your balance, you will need to decrypt the wallet, making it vulnerable.
Who needs such storage, when there is a cryptocurrency hardware wallet?
Best hardware wallets don’t display private keys even when a transaction is made.
Think that it is too complicated? Wondering how does hardware wallet work? Here is a simple description how everything works:
The wallet will connect to the software on your smartphone or computer so you can provide payment details (necessary amount and address of the recipient).
Once your cryptocurrency hardware wallet receives these details, you will need to confirm them, sign the transaction, and finally send the digital signature back to the software. Thus, the transaction will be completed successfully.
Now, when you know everything about screens and keys, we will eagerly introduce you to the best hardware wallets of 2019!
Best Hardware Wallets 2020
Trezor
Let’s start with Trezor, the first Bitcoin hardware wallet ever created for keeping cryptocurrency offline! It is used both by new and experienced market players due to a variety of attractive features and offers.
Trezor hardware wallet was first launched in August 2014 and continues to provide traders with safe transactions and outstanding services. Trezor is a combination of both: the comfort of hot wallets’ spending and safety of cold wallets’ storage.
This Bitcoin hardware wallet is the size of a flash drive and is connected to a personal computer via a regular cable. The main goal of this wallet is to keep private keys to any cryptocurrency you possess.
Sounds convenient, doesn’t it?
Being the best hardware wallet Trezor can boast working with over 700 coins. If you think that the above benefits are not enough, let us tell you about wallet’s safety:
Even if your PC is infected, your Trezor wallet won’t suffer in any way! It is protected by the latest technologies and even if you are connected to a public computer or to any doubtful device, you can breathe out and just enjoy speedy and convenient transactions.
Trezor is surely a cryptocurrency hardware wallet of the last generation!
Ledger Nano S
Now let us move on to Ledger Nano S, which is also one of the most popular and trusted Bitcoin hardware wallets on the market. It supports even more coins than Trezor – over 1,100 – and the number continues to grow.
First introduced in 2016, Ledger Nano S was developed to backup of Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet structure, and is famous for its safety and simplicity of use.
This cryptocurrency hardware wallet provides users with cold storage of money, keeping private keys offline, on the wallet itself. So you don’t need to be afraid of hacks or any other interventions.
Its size is only 39 x 13 x 4 mm and weighing around 6 g! It comes in a small appealing package and consists of the wallet itself, one micro-USB cable, lanyard, a keychain, and a keyring. As a bonus, you will get a recovery sheet, where you can write down the seed phrase to restore access to your Bitcoin hardware wallet.
Ledger Nano S is integrated with other types of wallets in order to process ERC20 tokens. And one of the things we like the most about this hardware bitcoin wallet is that its price has halved since it was first launched.
What a great way to attract new users! And to spoil existing ones.
KeepKey
The third wallet we would like to mention in our rate of best hardware wallets is KeepKey. It is a USB stick, which protects your bitcoins and deals with all types of operations. When you want to send crypto on someone else’s account via KeepKey, it is necessary to confirm the transaction by pressing the button on the wallet’s display.
Another thing we like about this crypto hardware wallet is that it was purchased by the Shapeshift exchange and allows in-wallet exchanges to trade different types of crypto without turning to an external exchange.
Final Thoughts
We have already discussed what a Bitcoin hardware wallet is, which features it should possess and how to distinguish a good wallet from a bad one.
However, not to repeat ourselves, let us simply highlight the most important parts: all of the indicated best crypto hardware wallets (Trezor, Ledger Nano S and KeepKey) are safe, store all the data solely on the device, have a screen, and are good for storing crypto in a long run.
All these representatives proved that nothing compares to a Bitcoin hardware wallet when it comes to security and protection of information.
With them, you won’t have to worry about losing your data or money.
In addition, any transaction should be checked on a screen and confirmed, which makes it almost impossible to send crypto to a wrong address.
If you want to learn about other hardware wallets, to understand how they work and what makes this type of wallet so unique, don’t hesitate to read other reviews of Safetrading.
Only on Safetrading you will learn about the latest news, market leaders and outsiders, and will be able to decide which wallet to choose.
All the fun is still ahead!