They say hardware wallets are the safest

[BlackHatCoiner]

Disk failure. I always fear that scenario. Another concern I personally have is that a vulnerability might be found someday for encrypted archives and my money would just suddenly be transferred into another wallet just because I held my seed/wallet.dat in an archive and someone got in touch with it. I don't trust digitally stored personal stuff.

Lol, disk failure... From every place you've saved it? Play lotto.
If you saved it only on your pc then yeah, it is likely, but we're talking about PCs, laptops, external disks and whatever offline store of storage you have.

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[sunsilk]

@sunsilk

You probably don't know that you can import your seed from a hardware wallet to an Electrum wallet. To easily understand it, you can easily connect your wallet from that hardware even if it's broken with the use of Electrum wallet.

And why would you like to import your seed to electrum since you have the strong hardware?  

That's in case something happens with your hardware wallet which causes it to be broken and, you are in need of your balance from that wallet to use it for other things or important matters. You can still retrieve and take your funds even your hardware wallet is broken through Electrum.

I guess the OP says that if you don't have the backup of the wallet then you are dead

Well, he said if the hardware wallet 'stops working' so I assume it could be broken due to a circumstance.

Also I didn't knew about the importing of key from a broken hardware wallet to electrum wallet, should it be from a backup or we can also extract the key from the broken hardware wallet??

You can do that as long as you have the recovery phrase from your hardware wallet, you can use that with Electrum.

[The Cryptovator]

I will prefer to read Binance academy article about What Is a Hardware Wallet (and Why You Should Use One). When you will read this article then you will have realized why should you use hardware wallet. I don't want to argue or describe in details, but holding your crypto in a good hardware wallet is safer than any online or software wallet. Its because private keys aren't revealed and store into secure chip. Most pros is hardware wallet always in offline. If you can't safe your device, seed and private keys by yourself then any wallet isn't safe for you. Lost device or damage doesn't mean you lost your fund, you are able to recover by using another device or software always by seed phrase.

[coolcoinz]

The protection of hardware wallets is much better. It is in a much better position than software wallets. Hardware wallets keep your money safe at all times. Even if you lose your wallet, your entire money will be perfectly safe.

I had a software wallet on a dedicated offline machine for many years without any problems and believe that an offline computer is as safe as a hwardware wallet, provided that you don't have random people living in your house. People who can mess with your hardware is always a dangerous situation for everyone in it, finances, trading, you name it. If your belongings are exposed, like in a dorm room, running anything, be it a hardware wallet or an offline PC is risky, but a hardware wallet will offer more protection in such case.

[o_e_l_e_o]

And what bad do encrypted text files have? Like txts in rars. In a PC that no one ever touched you download Winrar and add to archive the csv file of the private keys. You put a very strong password that can remember. And you save it to different places with a name that isn't suspicious.

Are you doing this on a permanently airgapped computer (i.e. one which is never connected to the internet) with a clean install of an OS? You've just said "download Winrar", which makes me think the answer is no. To add your private keys to an encrypted archive they must first exist on your computer in plain text. Malware can copy those keys and transmit them to a third party now or at any point in the future when internet access is re-established.

There is a reason that every good wallet tells you to back up your seed phrase non-electronically by writing it down on paper.

So.. Same thing with software wallet? But you have to be careful.

Not so. If your software wallet is lost or stolen, then for the majority of cases it will be significantly easier for an attacker to extract your private keys than from a hardware wallet.

[joinfree]

No doubt about that. Cryptocurrency hardware wallets are the safest form of wallets you can come across in this industry. Saving your digital assets on a hardware wallets provide a 99.9% security against it from being hacked by hackers. Mobile wallets are not all that safe as someone can equally exploit a bug in the application and that can make you lose your entire funds totally.

[Darker45]

@Darker45

1. If your hardware wallet stops working, your funds are safe.
2. If your hardware wallet is lost, your funds are safe.
3. If your hardware wallet is stolen, your funds are safe.

All for as long as you still have your seed with you.

So.. Same thing with software wallet? But you have to be careful.

LMFAO!

Well, yeah, if you insist, they're more or less the same thing. The only difference is just that 4-letter word, hard vs. soft. You are saving on a hardware rather than on a software. And yet there is a huge universe of difference between a hardware and a software and the security they imply.

[KrisAlex18]

That's true, a hardware wallet is a safest and secured wallet for me because you are not prone from attacks when you are using hardware compared to online wallets, what we really need to keep the distance is to hackers and hackers are commonly occurred through online transactions, so if you are using an online wallet, you are prone from many attacks from hackers because they will tet to gain access on your account, not like to hardware wallet which they cannot do things to have access on it, the bad thing on using the wallet is when you forgot where did you place it or it has broken.

1. If your hardware wallet stops working, your funds are safe.
2. If your hardware wallet is lost, your funds are safe.
3. If your hardware wallet is stolen, your funds are safe.

All for as long as you still have your seed with you.

That's right, your seed is one of the important things to keep, you have to keep it on your self and never teel to anyone, including your friends.

[jademaxsuy]

LMFAO!

Well, yeah, if you insist, they're more or less the same thing. The only difference is just that 4-letter word, hard vs. soft. You are saving on a hardware rather than on a software. And yet there is a huge universe of difference between a hardware and a software and the security they imply.

Both had risk and it all depend on the owner of the wallet may hardware wallets or online wallets. If i will be holding great amount of crypto then of course will be having a hardware wallet because there are reports of hijacking especially to dxchanges where we could also consider the deposits as wallets.

However having hardware wallets means that would be more safer as it could also be a problem especially in keeping password or private keys one may able to loss it and that would be a disaster.

To avoid problems in the future with wallets then back up should be done so as to give assurance that you may be able to retrieve it again whe  you'll going to need it.

[Negotiation]

Hardware wallets from Software Wallet provide the most secure way to store your cryptocurrency. ensuring that you never have to worry about your tokens being hacked or stolen. Even if your computer is hacked or your wallet is stolen, the thief will be unable to transfer your coins without knowing your passphrase.

Additionally, if you want to lose your hardware wallet, you can always recover your currency in a new wallet. If you want to search cryptocurrency for a long time and ensure maximum security, the way to protect hardware wallets is to protect, it is recommended that coins should not be stored in any exchange wallet for extended periods of time.

[sayulita]

You can do that as long as you have the recovery phrase from your hardware wallet, you can use that with Electrum.

Now this means that I always have to save the copy of my private key somewhere safe at all times because the bitcoins from the hardware wallet are also not recoverable.
But this also jeopardize the safety of the hardware wallet as already there is a copy of the private key out there outside the wallet so higher chances of the funds being stolen. I guess the problem of storing the private key more securely also arises now since we know that the hardware wallet can also stop working at any time or any mishap can happen.

[Mulann2]

I see hardware wallet as flash drive that you store any valuable and important information, hardware wallet is much more safer than any online or offline wallet in storing your funds, all you need do is store your hardware wallet in a safe and secure place where you will remember, as long as you didn't misplace your hardware wallet you have nothing to fear.

[sunsilk]

You can do that as long as you have the recovery phrase from your hardware wallet, you can use that with Electrum.

Now this means that I always have to save the copy of my private key somewhere safe at all times because the bitcoins from the hardware wallet are also not recoverable.

Exactly.

Actually this practice isn't just for hardware wallets but for every non-custodial wallets. Those are the wallets that give you the private keys, seed, or the recovery phrases. So you should practice that of keeping a copy of it whenever you use it to store your balance for a long time. Always create a back-up and it's safer if you won't use the cloud as a backup or any email but handwritten.

But this also jeopardize the safety of the hardware wallet as already there is a copy of the private key out there outside the wallet so higher chances of the funds being stolen. I guess the problem of storing the private key more securely also arises now since we know that the hardware wallet can also stop working at any time or any mishap can happen.

The manufacturers like Ledger don't know our private keys. Read this discussion for clarification.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ledgerwallet/comments/4xgi2t/does_ledger_know_your_private_keys/

[carlisle1]

Why do they say that? Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't, hardware wallet, a hardware like usb, that generates private keys without being online on the internet?

Why do I not like them? Because, in addition with a txt file that you can encrypt with many ways and save it in many places, if your hardware stops working, you're a dead man. And you're going to fix it somewhere? Not that recommended. If you're a paranoid of course.

Prove me wrong, by not telling me the cons of software wallet. Prove me wrong, by telling me the pros of hardware wallet.

This is one example of the risk hardware wallet can experienced things that just happen now,for how long that there are users of this wallet

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5260116.0

Though we still not sure what happens yet if the allegation is true?now US citizen might consider keeping safe their Hardware wallet orders and delivers.

[htsy585]

Why do they say that? Correct me if I'm wrong. Isn't, hardware wallet, a hardware like usb, that generates private keys without being online on the internet?

Why do I not like them? Because, in addition with a txt file that you can encrypt with many ways and save it in many places, if your hardware stops working, you're a dead man. And you're going to fix it somewhere? Not that recommended. If you're a paranoid of course.

Prove me wrong, by not telling me the cons of software wallet. Prove me wrong, by telling me the pros of hardware wallet.

Nope, that's not how hardware wallet really work and indeed it is the best and the most secure set of wallet available in the market. Taking about losing or when the wallet get damaged, there's a way to recover you damage wallet on a new one because each hardware wallet has a recovery seed. Yoy should learn more about how hardware wallet operates

[Sadlife]

You can always plug it in a different computer then your good to go, even if you use your previous computer that was compromised by a malware to steal data they wouldn't manage to steal your Crypto because an hardware wallet has a series of encryption known as private key, child key and grandchildren keys. It would be extremely difficult to guess password/bruteforce unless they have a super computer.

[Lorence.xD]

You can always plug it in a different computer then your good to go, even if you use your previous computer that was compromised by a malware to steal data they wouldn't manage to steal your Crypto because an hardware wallet has a series of encryption known as private key, child key and grandchildren keys. It would be extremely difficult to guess password/bruteforce unless they have a super computer.

That is one of the advantages of hardware wallet, the problem is not the wallet itself, it is the person responsible for it, you might have the safest wallet ever but you are carefree and disregard security of your wallet then it will ultimately defeat the purpose.

[pooya87]

You can always plug it in a different computer then your good to go, even if you use your previous computer that was compromised by a malware to steal data they wouldn't manage to steal your Crypto because an hardware wallet has a series of encryption known as private key, child key and grandchildren keys. It would be extremely difficult to guess password/bruteforce unless they have a super computer.

if you check all the exploits that were fixed in hardware wallets over the years you can see that they really aren't as safe as people think. in other words there are always a lot of ways to steal your coins even if they are in a hardware wallet and you connect it to a compromised computer.

[witcher_sense]

if you check all the exploits that were fixed in hardware wallets over the years you can see that they really aren't as safe as people think. in other words there are always a lot of ways to steal your coins even if they are in a hardware wallet and you connect it to a compromised computer.

Hardware wallets still require software for constructing and broadcasting transactions, I think thats not possible to do things completely offline since bitcoin doesn't work without Internet ptotocols. I was thinking about a hardware wallet that is completely air-gapped, never connects via USB, Coldcard is arguably the best choice, however it still needs to receive partially signed transactions somehow. SD-cards for transfering information may also be compromised and if it is possible to hack hardware that way we also in trouble. In other words, as long as we can't use bitcoin blockchain completely offline, we have to rely on software, no matter how cold our wallets are, there is no truly safe way to broadcast transactions.

[darmanzds]

Hardware wallets are not bad. I like its security system. I enjoy using the hardware wallet for my daily work. I think it's safest in my language. Others may disagree. Hardware wallet best in my case...