Is that safe to buy a used hardware wallet ?

[kawaiipie]

Based on what I read here on the basics, there are a lot of ways that you can secure your bitcoins and one of which is the hardware wallet. That's the best thing you could do to avoid the hassle and just instantly use it. They could really protect it because you will be the one holding it. I'm planning to get one but I don't have the funds yet.

[Kyraishi]

Hello my friends.

Is that safe to buy a used hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S or Trezor .

Is there any danger to use a second hand hardware wallet ?

Yes, no matter how safe a factory reset or a complete wipe of the system is, technically there is still achance that someone that has evil intentions will scam you, not only with an unsafe Trezor, but anything that you deposit into it as well.

The chances of it happening is low, but when it happens, who's to blame? The seller? Sorry, you've got no proof, it could have been a virus on your laptop.

The whole idea of bitcoin and hardware wallets is to have trustless, secure storage of your coins. Obviously, nothing can be perfectly trustless, but personally by buying a used trezor i can't sleep well at night knowing that someone might have access to my coins. Just spend the extra $50 and buy a new one. Even if you buy from a reseller, it can technically still not be safe.

If you update the firmware you are probably safe, but why take the chance? The Trezor itself (or even the included USB cable https://www.wired.com/2014/07/usb-security/) could have been corrupted/replaced by a sophisticated actor.

If someone gave me a used Trezor for free, I would throw it in the garbage. No discount would be sufficient enough for me to justify buying a used Trezor:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2dbjd9/trezor_tamper_proof_seal_doesnt_help_much_against/

[xskl0]

I'm not 100% sure but I think that if a Ledger is manipulated then the application that you have to run on the PC will detect it

[Muhammed Zakir]

@OP: Please lock (bottom left) this thread if your questions or doubts are cleared.

I'm not 100% sure but I think that if a Ledger is manipulated then the application that you have to run on the PC will detect it

  -snip-
That wouldn't be possible. Both Trezor and Ledger have security measures to avoid the attempt of installing malwares in your hardware wallet. See above:

Trezor:

  -snip-

Ledger:

How to verify the security integrity of my Nano S?

On the hardware side, if you want to check that the Nano S has not been tampered with, or the applications running are the official apps, here are a few things that you might need to know:

1) The Secure Element checks the full microcontroller flash at boot (this is described in our blog post). If it has been modified, you'll get a warning at boot. As an additional check, you can open the device to verify that no additional chip has been added (referring to the attached picture) and that the MCU is an stm2f042k6 (with 32 Kb flash, as a bigger flash could contain code fooling the Secure Element validation). Markings on the chip can vary but you should see the string "042K6".

2) The Secure Element itself is personalized at factory with an attestation proving that it has been created by us. You can verify it by running

pip install --no-cache-dir ledgerblue

python -m ledgerblue.checkGenuine --targetId 0x31100002

The source code is available here: https://github.com/LedgerHQ/blue-loader-python/blob/master/ledgerblue/checkGenuine.py

3) Each individual application will display a "Non Genuine" warning if not signed when opened. A modified User Interface (as found in https://github.com/LedgerHQ/nanos-ui) will also display a warning message on boot.

4) The root of trust for the current batch is the following secp256k1 public key : 0490f5c9d15a0134bb019d2afd0bf297149738459706e7ac5be4abc350a1f818057224fce12ec9a 65de18ec34d6e8c24db927835ea1692b14c32e9836a75dad609 - as checked in checkGenuine.py https://github.com/LedgerHQ/blue-loader-python/blob/master/ledgerblue/checkGenuine.py#L72

Sources:
https://doc.satoshilabs.com/trezor-faq/threats.html
http://support.ledgerwallet.com/knowledge_base/topics/how-to-verify-the-security-integrity-of-my-nano-s

[BartS]

Hello my friends.

Is that safe to buy a used hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S or Trezor .

Is there any danger to use a second hand hardware wallet ?

Even if it is safe, why risk it? Would you risk putting your money into other person bank account? Of course not, if you cannot afford a hardware wallet then wait until you can, it is a waste of money to buy a hardware wallet and store there a small amount of bitcoin.

[kawaiipie]

Hello my friends.

Is that safe to buy a used hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S or Trezor .

Is there any danger to use a second hand hardware wallet ?

Even if it is safe, why risk it? Would you risk putting your money into other person bank account? Of course not, if you cannot afford a hardware wallet then wait until you can, it is a waste of money to buy a hardware wallet and store there a small amount of bitcoin.

There is probably something if you are going to use a second hand knowing that they would have a copy of the wallet or probably can contrpl it but I'm not sure with the companies that offer it is doing with it. There is probably a solution or something.

[Ahasan]

My opinion is not to use a second-hand hardware wallet. If you store many coins, it should be risky. You should buy a new one. I don't trust in used things which are risky.

[dimanyc]

Do you know if I can use 1 hardware wallet like Trezor for multiple accounts? For instance, if I have an account for myself and another one for my wife, can i set them up separately on one device?

[Blake_Last]

If you have the budget worth to buy a new hardware wallet, then it's better to buy it than purchasing a used one. It will also alleviate your fear that your account will get compromised, though I doubt that that is possible unless someone can get hold of your wallet and knows how to access your recovery seed.

[Bianxee]

If you have the budget worth to buy a new hardware wallet, then it's better to buy it than purchasing a used one. It will also alleviate your fear that your account will get compromised, though I doubt that that is possible unless someone can get hold of your wallet and knows how to access your recovery seed.

as far as i know hardware wallet have own seeds or private keys and if t ever lost or compromise your hardware you can able to access it in a new hardware or simply buy a new one then enter your lost hardware .the keys are very important and it is advisable to buy a new one.

[stevebc]

I'd stick with new.

Think of it this way - why would someone be selling a used hardware wallet?

I can think of no conceivable reason for selling either of mine unless Bitcoin totally fails (price drops to like 5 cents a BTC)
I can picture someone selling a used one if they had come up with some nefarious scheme to steal from the buyer.

They aren't that expensive new, just spend the money. 

[Stripple]

I would take a new one as well, is saving a few of the 70 euros really worth any risk (like ones that we may not even come up with at this point)? For something that would carry considerable value, I would not skimp out at this point.

[Reynaldo]

I personally wouldn't trust used hw wallets. Just buy a new one if you're going to store any serious amount of coins in it.

Yes me too, i don't believe with any option for bitcoin wallet. that's why i keep bitcoin at exchange.

Are you trolling? exchanges are not safe, just look at MTGOX and so forth.

OP get a trezor or use the methods for the nano s to verify the integrity of the wallet, dont listen to newbie accounts that are obviously trolling.

[ayeshajum07]

Some hardware wallet made from well refined technology, and some are just made to used.

Try to look the comments on the listed hw wallet https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet.

Evaluate first before you buy.

Lets learn from other experienced. And dont be a victim.

[lampix]

Yes, as long as you reset the wallet and create a new seed (new private key). Make sure to keep this new seed written down and stored in a safe place. Losing this information is very bad, as you will not be able to restore your hardware wallet and may lose all your coins.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Almost everyone here believes that Hardware wallet is the best choice to store our coins. But I beg to differ. If we store our coins in a hardware wallet, then the anonymity is lost. You may be storing the wallet in a safe deposit box or a bank locker, but even then the cops can recover your coins if a need arises. So I prefer to keep my coins in online wallets.

[Muhammed Zakir]

Almost everyone here believes that Hardware wallet is the best choice to store our coins. But I beg to differ. If we store our coins in a hardware wallet, then the anonymity is lost. You may be storing the wallet in a safe deposit box or a bank locker, but even then the cops can recover your coins if a need arises. So I prefer to keep my coins in online wallets.

Don't spread misinformation! Anonymity is lost when using hardware wallets? Where did you hear that? When you use hardware wallets (normally), your anonymity is not compromised.  You WILL loose anonymity if you use online wallets because they will know your IP and all addresses in your wallet. They can basically track all your activity.

[Mike Mayor]

Why wouldn't it be fine ? Unless there is a virus that sends your info through email or something to the attacker but I'm pretty sure the whole point of Bitcoin wallets was to avoid all this. Also you don't know what they do with them when they manufactured ? So it's the same as if you get it second hand. If you that worried buy a new one.

[michellee]

Hello my friends.

Is that safe to buy a used hardware wallet like Ledger Nano S or Trezor .

Is there any danger to use a second hand hardware wallet ?

in my opinion, trezor is the safe hardware wallet and i think we don't have any danger when we use it. but to avoid something bad, we should place our trezor into a safe place too and only us that will know the place, even for our family don't need to know the place. but trezor is really expensive and if i have more than 100 bitcoin, i will buy 3 trezor and safe my bitcoin to that wallet.

[TryNinja]

OP should really just lock this thread since it's starting to become one of those spots where newbies come to spam nonsense and misinformation. His question already got answered multiple times and there is no reason to pump this anymore.

but trezor is really expensive and if i have more than 100 bitcoin, i will buy 3 trezor and safe my bitcoin to that wallet.

I really don't see why anyone would need multiple hardware wallets to store their coins.