Bitcoin Forum

I have recently been looking into the Ballet physical wallet since it seems like a solid solution for entry level crypto users however there has been a lot of controversy on Crypto Twitter about them keeping the private keys. I decided to go straight to the source and speak to the CEO Bobby Lee myself about the wallet. I pleased from our conversation and seems like he really wants to provide a solution that brings in new users. I loved his philosophy of possession = real wealth. Curious to know what everyone else thinks?  ;DBTC

You can watch the interview here if you're interested https://youtu.be/gAUwpehJLAY (https://youtu.be/gAUwpehJLAY)

It looks user friendly, but that's probably where the positives end. Here is a thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5184005.0) with good discussion about its safety features (Spoilers: it's quite negative). I get that they don't necessarily hold the private keys, but I'm sure most people would prefer generating their own.

I probably wouldn't mind keeping a small amount in one, but a cold wallet is essentially useless if you can't trust it to house a significant portion of your savings lol. To each his own though I suppose.

No, it's not newbie friendly.

You'll see that the majority here will say that it's their first time hearing this hardware wallet. If it's just for being good for the beginners, you will buy the trustworthy and known hardware wallets.

https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet?step=5&platform=hardware

I learned it's a none electronic hardware wallet like the size of  a debit card and private keys/address. My only  problems with this is that the private keys are not generated by the owners of wallet.  Owning one would be ok if the company is very trustworthy and that they have in no way seen the keys nor have any copy. Problem is how do you know the company is honest.

Whichever wallet you use make sure it has best security and some aspect of securing the wallet lies on user shoulder also. Crypto is nasty in a sense that once your wallet is compromised you can never recover your coins back. If your computer is infected with a malware that install keylogger on your PC, you are done with your coins. I am not promoting any wallet, just saying always choose it with care.

It's pretty much just a pre-made paper wallet, but etched in metal, and with fancy design stuff to make it look more "premium".

I repeat, pre-made. That itself is a huge problem in itself. How do we know that Bobby Lee's company doesn't have those private keys backed up before they print out the keys on the sheet of metal? It's not like you can reset the ballet wallet to create a new set of private keys. It's literally just a sheet of metal with private keys printed in it.

I've never heard of this Ballet wallet.Is it something new?
I don't recommend buying physical wallets,unless you have to store really big amounts of BTC.
Since 2015,I have used only online wallets and I never had any issues,but if you are too paranoid that soembody is going to steal your precious BTC,then choose electrum.

Appreciate you sending over that thread. I agree a proper cold wallet is definitely a good choice.

That's a pretty bad take, and I'm sure most would agree. Just because you haven't had a problem in 5 years on your online wallet(assuming you're talking about Coinbase/FreeWallet/Wirex/etc), it doesn't mean that it's "safe" or "secure". MtGox and Bitfinex was also deemed "secure" by some people in the past.

Topic: [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0

So it is a wallet with pre-generated private keys that someone else gives to you, and all you have is a promise that the creators of the wallet haven't seen the keys and aren't keeping logs of them!? If you don't have a problem with the fact that someone might be able to empty your wallet at any time, or maybe not, you can try something like that. This is enough for me not to try one.   

For those who want a good balance between "easy use" and security, Satochip is offering the same "small form factor" with their Bitcoin hardware wallet on a smart card.
You can use it with Electrum client and it supports many cryptos including Litecoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash.

The project is open source... It's a plus !

And on such a card, you generate your very own private keys!
Check https://satochip.io

Remember: not your keys, not your coins.
And if the keys are not generated by you, beware !