Bitcoin Forum

Since the failure of centralized exchange (CEX) adoption, those holding cryptocurrencies have been far more concerned about storing cryptocurrencies on centralized exchanges. I am one of the many holders in this regard. I store all my cryptocurrencies in Binance and Kucoin centralized exchanges, not in any other wallets.  I know keeping cryptocurrency in an online wallet is the same thing as keeping money in someone else's pocket.  But I don't know what to do, especially since cryptocurrency is completely illegal in my country, I can't share any steps directly with anyone.  Especially if he gets involved in legal trouble in my country, his life will end completely.  In this case I am looking for suggestions from senior members on how to get a hardware wallet completely hidden from the public eye.  Hardware wallets are commercially available here and there in other countries but hardware wallets are not commercially available in our country.  So can you give me a proper suggestion on how I can purchase a hardware wallet completely safely.

I guess you can visit neighboring countries where Bitcoin/crypto isn't banned and buy a hardware wallet from there. You don't have to declare you have them once you enter your homeland. That could be more costly but safer than buying them online and having the item delivered to you (Customs might open/scan packages). If that's not a good option for you, then you might as well consider non-custodial and open-source software wallets.

Buying from your local crypto community is also an option but it could still be dangerous.

You have the option to build your own hardware wallet, if you dont want to risk prosecution. There are some tutorials about it on internet.
For example, since Trezor software and hardware is open source, there are ways for you to build your own which would work perfectly with their wallet (and other compatible wallets) using common electronic supplies you can import without breaking any law or raising any suspicion.

There is an example:

https://www.pitrezor.com/2018/02/pitrezor-homemade-trezor-bitcoin-wallet.html

As always, if you go for it, please make your own research.
I have seen some nice packs on Raspberry Pi websites which come with everything you need to build your own Trezor.

Here you can see one of the packs:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3192

https://i.postimg.cc/GpKkxJSB/f5s.jpg

Good luck.  :)

Not sure how risky it is so proceed with caution, but a loophole might be using one of those cross-border delivery services. Whereas the package will be directly delivered to your doorstep and probably wouldn't go through customs. You just need to pray that they don't have an idea on what a hardware wallet is.

If you want to be completely safely, you must not buy hardware wallet because if your local expedition unbox your package, you will have a problem. Although most of packages aren't get unboxed since the expedition don't really care with it and just trust with the seller words. You might consider this if you think there's a chance you can bought hardware wallet [GUIDE] How to buy a Hardware Wallet the right way. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288201.0)

The best way is to create your own cold storage, but it's need a lot knowledge since you must not miss or did anything wrong, if you did anything wrong your wallet will not 100% safe like hardware wallet created by centralized company.

This is what I would do, and nowadays, the most normal thing is that at the border they don't even know what it is. In the unlikely event that you are searched, it looks like a USB memory stick or similar. Besides what will be prohibited will be the possession of Bitcoin, not a HW in which you have not yet withdrawn the funds. In other words, it is extremely unlikely that you will have any risk by buying a HW in a neighboring country and returning to your country.

Why don't you just mention the name of your country? It will be easier to give a location specific/based solution, instead of letting forum members give random location-based answers. Tell us the name of your country, so the answers you get can be directly based on your location. You may even get lucky to find that a very high senior ranked member here who has been using bitcoins for a longer time than you is from your country and has the answers you need. You may even get advice from them through personal messages, and that will solve the problem easily.

You are in a difficult situation and if I'd put myself in this situation, I would rather not buy a hardware wallet but just install a Bitcoin wallet on your computer and store coins there. I wouldn't try ordering from outside will be risky.

I'm surprised though that Binance and Kucoin allowed you to have an account. I'm assuming you use VPN?

Bitcoin was banned in my country when I first ordered for a Trezor hardware wallet, thing is I used a third-party importer and I received my package fully wrapped in a box 📦.

No one even understands what a Trezor is in my country, the only red flag is if you order for a hardware wallet that says Bitcoin wallet on it, I don't know if there are hardware wallets like that.

Im sure this is just another general topic thread created by the OP, and bitcoin is not banned in his country.
Wow, you're lucky enough to be a part of bitcoin and the industry overall, by belonging to such crypto-uneducated country. Im eager to know which country you belong to.

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Btw, if ppl are unable to purchase a hardware wallet for some reasons, they can store BTC even on a self-custodial wallet in a private device where they dont browse or download random things. Just keep two devices, one for crypto only and other for nsfw/social media ;)

You don't have to store your money in a centralized exchange because you can't buy a hardware wallet yet, there are good software wallets that are just as safe as hardware wallets if you do things correctly, Electrum is a very good software wallet that is open source and non custodial, you can use electrum for the meantime before you find a way to buy a hardware wallet.

Electrum can serve as a hot or cold wallet depending on how you use the wallet, it is a hot wallet if you download, verify it and use the wallet on the phone you do your online and internet activities. It is offline or cold storage if you have two devices and use one as an airgapped device that would never go online to store your funds and the other one as a watch-only wallet to 'watch', create and broadcast transactions, all your offline device or wallet does is to sign the transaction. But make sure that the device you use for cold storage is free from malware or any virus, you should also format it if it is an old device you wish to use; if you do everything correctly your money will be safe and you may not need a hardware wallet.

Download electrum: http://electrum.org/
How to set up electrum offline storage: https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

First tell us where you live, we might be able to help, or just don't use a HW, use an offline PC instead, generate addresses on it, print private keys, store the keys on USB as well.

I second this. Buy a cheap phone or install a live OS on a USB stick, store your crypto there, and secure your seeds somewhere safe. You can also use the cold storage setup with Electrum as mentioned above. It is easy to setup and the cost can be lower than buying an HW wallet. Not having an HW is not the end of the world, no need to risk getting jailed to get one. As long as you manage your security properly there should be no problem.

Most of the time phishing attack is the reason you lost your crypto, even if you have an HW wallet you won't be completely immune from that. CMIIW.

OP where are you from? I am from Nigeria and I don't use services like DHL to get my ordered packages because they go through your goods, there are other shipping companies out there that delivers to your doorstep, and nobody will know what you order for.

If you are too scared then use offline wallets, I believe they can still be generated, Electrum wallet is also a very good choice.

If you have really a huge amount of Bitcoins, then hardware wallets are the best option. Else you can go for wallets like Electreum. I mean Electreum does the work upto some extent and you can easily download it in your PC and store your Bitcoins. Still if doesn’t satisfy your needs then hardware wallet like Ledger will be the appropriate option. Isn’t it available at amazon for your country? I mean in my country also Bitcoins aren’t legalised, but still Amazon sells Ledger at my place. Nevertheless what you can do is that make one of your friend outside nation to buy it and ship it to you. And pay some extra commission to your friend also.

I don't believe there's been a single country where the customs has prohibited entry of hardware wallets just because the country's banned Bitcoin. I even am aware of Pakistanis (trading banned, but not owning) who get Ledgers by the dozen.

You can always customize the wallets too, or buy a brand that isn't Ledger/Trezor.

In fact, I'm willing to bet you can buy any brand shipped to yourself, and get it. A literal bet. Quote me if you want to take that bet (we'll figure out how to do it, but I'll cover your losses if it happens, in Bitcoin).

Do you use centralized exchanges, don't they ask you to pass KYC?
I followed your posts earlier, remember why you don't ask your local section?


I doubt that no one uses hardware wallets.

And besides, why are you ignoring Electrum? For those who do not have a huge amount of their assets, this wallet is especially convenient, in particular for your country.

I made a tutorial before on scenario like this because I though that there’s no official reseller on my country. You can purchase it online using a drop shipping service. You can order online on trezor and use drop shipping address to receive the parcel then those parcel will be delivered to you once it arrived on the drop shipping address.

I’m sure hardware wallet is not illegal since this is just a device so you will not gonna have a problem on doing this. Find a trusted drop shipping services on your country.

You can check my TuT here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5423104.msg61347526#msg61347526

Hardware wallets are like USBs and you can order and buy them overseas then requests to ship those wallets to your locations. I believe that hardware wallet companies don't restrict orders from any location globally. Exceptions can be available for countries that are under sanctions.

They are ready to send hardware wallets for customers in many nations without international sanctions.

Trezor.io

Ledger.com

Some ideas (not all may be good).

1. Learn to configure yourself cold storage. Especially for Bitcoin it's easy.
2. Look for DYI hardware wallets, see the DYI part of this topic (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0). Still, most may be Bitcoin only.
3. Get somebody trusted on the forum buy you a Nano S Plus, take it off the original box, send you only the device (you can find data cable without others' help) and ask him to put it into a box with other USB sticks, maybe it goes unnoticed.
4. Get somebody trusted from a neighboring country buy it for you and then go in person to take it.

Possible to look for local sellers? at least trusted one before you buy a hardware for you. How about Amazon though?

And in any case, maybe you can read this one, https://www.ledger.com/academy/buying-a-ledger-from-a-third-party

Specially on how to spot a tampered Ledger or any hardware wallet. I will also refer you to this board if you have like technical questions,

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=261.0.

If we live in a country where bitcoin is banned, then really don't risk buying a cold wallet it's pretty risky, and we have many safe solutions like a cold wallet. In OP's case, I will buy an old computer and will use it only to store my bitcoins, not for any work, and of course, it will always be offline. I think a computer with no internet connection and only used to store bitcoins is as safe as a cold wallet.



As long as you use a VPN, you can access any exchange you want, it shouldn't be too difficult.

The Customs duty is to prevent the inbound international packages and mail of substances that are against the country’s laws, regulations, and policies.
The chance of you buying the hardware wallet yourself is slim and I will suggest you get a reliable neighboring country person to purchase the hard wallet for you, and then travel personally to collect it or you buy it yourself when you travel out of the country but you still need to be careful when coming back home at the checkpoint.

Now after seeing this dilemma discussed about banning bitcoin in certain countries lately, I do remember reading about how Nigeria's government wants an outright ban of bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies in their country.
I didn't know if it was just the banks they wanted to ban it's use or the entire usage which would include the receiving of parcels containing any device that gives the owner the use to transact anything to do with cryptocurrency.
Rather just use a laptop with a solid wallet just as you have suggested in Electrum or Exodus.