Online Wallets vs Hardware Wallets

[Swiftexpress]

What is the difference?

[1714953619]

1714953619

[PauloLuks]

Online wallets offer greater convenience. You can generally access your Bitcoin from any device if you have the right passwords. All are easy to set up. The disadvantage is the lower security. With your private keys stored in the cloud, you have to trust the host's security measures.
Hardware wallets are small devices that occasionally connect to the web to enact bitcoin transactions. They are extremely secure, as they are usually offline and therefore not hackable. However, they can be stolen or lost. Some large investors keep their hardware wallets in secure locations such as bank vaults.

[BitcoVast]

Online wallets offer greater convenience. You can generally access your Bitcoin from any device if you have the right passwords. All are easy to set up. The disadvantage is the lower security. With your private keys stored in the cloud, you have to trust the host's security measures.
Hardware wallets are small devices that occasionally connect to the web to enact bitcoin transactions. They are extremely secure, as they are usually offline and therefore not hackable. However, they can be stolen or lost. Some large investors keep their hardware wallets in secure locations such as bank vaults.

Where i can get hardware wallet? Can it be sent directly to my country?

[Suharti12]

All have advantages and disadvantages of each, for Online wallet we can just use anytime to trade, but for hard wallets we usually use to save in the long run.

[Swiftexpress]

How can you tell in the blockchain whether the transactions are in a Online Wallet or a Hardware Wallet? Thank you for your replies.

[mk4]

Make sure to read the pinned topics in this subforum.

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

[ClaraLuV]

Online wallets and hardware wallets can be used to store bitcoins, but online wallets are less safe than hardware wallets as online wallets are prone to hacking and you should store your private keys securely because if one looses the private key any one who gets the private key will have complete accessibility to your wallet, whereas with hardware wallets like USB wallets and Trezor Wallets are safer in your hands you can save the private key and all your bitcoin earnings in your hardware wallets which is safe form hackers and third party. Sometime bitcoins exchanges can also act as wallets, one should always keep in mind that it is not safe to store bitcoins in exchanges as they have the private key and can control your wallet and bitcoins. It is better to use exchange for trading, rather than as a wallet.

[rivkavender]

What is the difference?

one is more secure than the other!

[Swiftexpress]

Can you tell which type of wallet a user is completing the transactions on when viewing say, the Blockchain? Reason is, a friend and I are debating that on the Blockchain you can determine whether one is using an online wallet vs a hardware wallet. I need some support on whether this is true. Cheers.

[Wxrhino]

What is the difference?

Hardware (cold) wallet = Better security
Online (hot) wallet = Better liquidity

I primarily keep a good amount of coins on my Ledger Nano S, I leave ICO tokens on a MEW, and the rest is on exchanges. The only reason I leave it on the exchange is because it's not worth the withdrawal fees.

[mk4]

Can you tell which type of wallet a user is completing the transactions on when viewing say, the Blockchain? Reason is, a friend and I are debating that on the Blockchain you can determine whether one is using an online wallet vs a hardware wallet. I need some support on whether this is true. Cheers.

Nope, it's impossible to say between software, online, and hardware wallets. Though it MIGHT be possible to know if a certain address is an address of a certain exchange or not by looking at the transactions of that certain wallet though a blockchain explorer.

Not 100% sure, so correct me if I'm wrong for those with more knowledge on this.

[Coinster]

The biggest difference is convenience. An online wallet is usually point click and use. A hardware wallet must be purchased, learned, backed up and then used properly. See this story of a guy who lost $30K using Bitcoin Trezor:

https://www.wired.com/story/i-forgot-my-pin-an-epic-tale-of-losing-dollar30000-in-bitcoin/

As others have said when using an online wallet you're trusting the handling and security of coins to that site. In this case it's a good idea to keep balances low and ideally spread across different sites so if anything does happen your losses are contained.

[socks435]

Online wallets offer greater convenience. You can generally access your Bitcoin from any device if you have the right passwords. All are easy to set up. The disadvantage is the lower security. With your private keys stored in the cloud, you have to trust the host's security measures.
Hardware wallets are small devices that occasionally connect to the web to enact bitcoin transactions. They are extremely secure, as they are usually offline and therefore not hackable. However, they can be stolen or lost. Some large investors keep their hardware wallets in secure locations such as bank vaults.

Where i can get hardware wallet? Can it be sent directly to my country?

You buy hardware wallet like ledger nano directly from https://www.ledgerwallet.com/products/ledger-nano-s
And you can receive directly to your country.

Can you tell which type of wallet a user is completing the transactions on when viewing say, the Blockchain? Reason is, a friend and I are debating that on the Blockchain you can determine whether one is using an online wallet vs a hardware wallet. I need some support on whether this is true. Cheers.

As of now, I don't find any software that could know which wallet you are using by checking transaction ID.

If you are looking for a wallet which is safe I suggest you hardware wallet and desktop wallet like electrum.
For mobile, mycelium and electrum for android.

[Ciscopro2000]

Online wallets are basically any wallets that you can access anywhere from any machine.  They are convenient if you want fast access to your funds.  But that convenience comes with the risk of the wallet getting hacked.  It’s happened to many people before.  Hardware wallets like Nano Ledger or Trezor are offline wallets.  They are less proned to hacking but obviously not as convenient since you need to have the hardware device to get to your funds.  There is really no perfect wallet.  There are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. 

[Alluro]

There is the big difference between online wallets and hardware wallets. Online wallets security is pretty low. Hardware wallets security is high. If you can buy a hardware wallet, It will be a good choice.

[kingragnar]

The online wallet does not guarantee you secured your account because it is only a low security and a lot of holes for it to be hacked. The hardware wallet is that most of its users have a cash discount and that it suddenly scares them to lose their money so they use hardware wallets that are secured to secure their money

[Ahed.s]

What is the difference and how can I have the best option?

[rivkavender]

What is the difference and how can I have the best option?

listen if you want the best security and also spend a tiny bit more money than a hardware wallet is ur best option or just wait for ETHOS to come

[MintDice]

A hot wallet means that it’s connected to the Internet. Two of the most popular examples of hot wallets are Jaxx and Exodus. Hot wallets are either hosted on your mobile device or desktop computer. However, hot wallets are super convenient because you have access to the wallet at your fingertips. Hot wallets are generally used for keeping a smaller amount of cryptocurrency on hand for frequent transactions or trading.

A“cold” wallet is stored offline. This can be in the form of a paper wallet, a hardware wallet (like Trezor), or even on a USB stick. So if someone hacked or stole your mobile or desktop, there’s NO WAY they could access your crypto assets. Two of the more popular examples of hardware wallets are Trezor and Ledger.
They're often used for storing larger holdings of cryptocurrencies to keep them offline and off exchanges. They are basically like a savings account.

Hope this helps!

[WhoAmAi]

Online wallet
-Unsecure, someone can hack you account
-You need internet access
-Free

Hardware wallet
-Extremly Secure
-Offline
-a little expensive

I prefer to Hardware wallet, altought it's little expesive, it's worth the security that offered