They say hardware wallets are the safest

[bakasabo]

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.

Take a look here. The guy got a hardware, that was already opened. Who knows what was done with it. Even if you buy it from authorized representative, you dont know what or could the worker has done with the device.

"Even if you lose your wallet, your entire money will be perfectly safe" - you mean saving privatkey or seed phrase on separate paper? But this will just weaken your security. You can lose or something might find and use it.

[witcher_sense]

"Even if you lose your wallet, your entire money will be perfectly safe" - you mean saving privatkey or seed phrase on separate paper? But this will just weaken your security. You can lose or something might find and use it.

What do you mean "back up will weaken security"? If you to lose your hardware wallet and you didn't have backup, then you have no chance to prove the ownership of your coins. That is not back up itself makes security weaken. It basically depends on where you store your back up, how you store it, whether it is encrypted or not, in which form it is, etc. Either way, hardware wallets are used only for signing transactions with private keys derived from your seed phrase, i.e. seed phrase is more important than device storing it.

[20kevin20]

I see hardware wallet as flash drive that you store any valuable and important information,

Except information from flash drives cannot be fully restored using a string of words.

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.

You can literally hand it out to a thief and nothing should happen to it. The thief has 3 attempts to unlock your wallet before the Ledger resets. The only thing you have to take care of is the seed.

[Shasha80]

For me hardware wallets are still the safest way to store Bitcoin. Maybe you consider it unsafe because it doesn't save private keys
in a safe place, do not store private keys in an easily encrypted txt file. And most importantly if you have hardware wallets, don't
forget make recovery seed. So if the hardware stops working, lost, stolen and damaged. As long as we have recovery seeds, you
don't need to worry, because the Bitcoin that we have will be safe.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I was thinking about a hardware wallet that is completely air-gapped, never connects via USB

You can use most hardware wallets with a completely airgapped computer if you want. For example, pair a Ledger device with Electrum on an airgapped computer, and use a watch only Electrum wallet on a live computer to monitor addresses and generate transactions.

You can literally hand it out to a thief and nothing should happen to it. The thief has 3 attempts to unlock your wallet before the Ledger resets. The only thing you have to take care of is the seed.

To the best of our knowledge this is true for Ledger devices, but there could easily exist a yet undiscovered security flaw. I don't think saying you don't need to take care of your device is the best advice. We also know this isn't true at all for Trezor and KeepKey devices. If an attacker has physical access to these wallets, then they can extract your private keys.

[charlesmichel1]

Cold storage is supposed to be the safest methods for holding bitcoin. These wallets are not accessible via the Internet, so they can't be hacked. But there are still some risks about them, if users misplace or forget their private keys, they will lose access to their funds. But it isn't the problem created by a hardware wallet itself.

[pooya87]

I don't think some wallets are more secure than others. There is always a risk.

there are always risks involved in everything but some things are riskier than others.
for example a hardware wallet is a lot more secure than a desktop wallet on an online PC and that is a lot more secure than a web wallet and so on. then we have types that are more or less at the same security level: hardware wallet, cold storage (offline-online setup by user), paper wallets. and the only difference in that case is the difficulty of setup and usage while spending from these.

[witcher_sense]

You can use most hardware wallets with a completely airgapped computer if you want. For example, pair a Ledger device with Electrum on an airgapped computer, and use a watch only Electrum wallet on a live computer to monitor addresses and generate transactions.

I didn't get this part. As far as I know, with watch-only wallets one can only track balances and recieve funds. If I sign a transaction on a completely offline PC with my airgapped hardware, can I broadcast a signed transaction using watch-only wallets? What do you mean under "generating"? It is safe to broadcast an already signed transaction on a compromised online computer?

[bearexin]

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.

That’s what they say, but every type of wallet you decide to use has their cons and pros. There are so many wallets that people say are not safe, but I’ve used these wallets and not have any problem with them for one day. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the same way I use these wallets that others are using, because I don’t seem to have any problem with them. It’s just like mobile wallets, I have seen people say a lot, but I make use of them.

You just have to understand what you’re using completely and know the cons and how you can avoid them and you’re good to go. And apart from that there are basic rules you have to follow to ensure that you’re safe in all these.

[o_e_l_e_o]

As far as I know, with watch-only wallets one can only track balances and recieve funds.

You can also use watch only wallets to create, but not sign, a transaction. You can then move these unsigned transactions to an airgapped wallet to sign them, and then back to your watch only wallet to broadcast.

If I sign a transaction on a completely offline PC with my airgapped hardware, can I broadcast a signed transaction using watch-only wallets?

Correct.

It is safe to broadcast an already signed transaction on a compromised online computer?

Yes. If you import an already signed transaction in to a watch only wallet, then it cannot be changed in a way that would result in your coins being stolen.

[yazher]

The hardware wallet is the safest crypto wallet you can use out there because simply you are the one controlling your funds. Unlike web wallets or you simply put your BTC into an exchange, you can't do anything when they suddenly go offline. there are lots of exchanges who suddenly closed and never came back. one of them is Octaex and many others. this is the worse cases and they sometimes happen without a warning. as you can see base on the past history and some statistical analysis, there are many cases of exchanges who got hack than the Hard wallet itself.

[Reid]

This is why in the beginner's section you can still find tips on how you can improve your security.
Here is a good list.
Good topics on security and privacy
CTTO

In my opinion, it will always depend on you.
You can do all the security which was told in the link provided but,  I will still go back to the old school.
Keep that seed in a piece of paper.
Laminate it to avoid getting wet.
Put it somewhere dry and secured.
If you are still paranoid for its security then put another wall which is 2fa.
Now, before they can access your account, they will need your phone and that laminated paper. 

It's not about the hardware wallet. It's about keeping what you did from it.

[pixie85]

The hardware wallet is the safest crypto wallet you can use out there because simply you are the one controlling your funds.

You control your funds on software wallets as well. This is not why a hardware wallet is better! It's better because your computer can be attacked by malware.

A clean and well maintained computer with a software wallet is almost as safe as a hardware wallet.

as you can see base on the past history and some statistical analysis, there are many cases of exchanges who got hack than the Hard wallet itself.

There are more cases of exchange hacks because there are 0 cases of hardware wallet hacks.

Hard wallets are hard for a reason.

[bitbunnny]

Although hardware wallets are the safest types of wallets I prefere to combine multiple types of wallets and not to keep all coins at one place. I think that is the best way to secure my coins. I only avoid online wallets because they have too much security issues.
It's all about your preferences and how much you are aware of vulnerabilities but since scams and attacks become more and more sophisticated we all need to know that there is no absolute security.

[gamer4156]

Hardware wallets are much better than software wallets. The hardware wallet security system is much more modern and improved. It always keeps your private key secret during the transaction. Your private key is opened during the transaction in the software wallet. This is one of the biggest problems to scam your wallet. For this reason hardware wallet is much better than software wallet.





 

[Zackgeno96]

Hardware wallets are much better than software wallets. The hardware wallet security system is much more modern and improved. It always keeps your private key secret during the transaction. Your private key is opened during the transaction in the software wallet. This is one of the biggest problems to scam your wallet. For this reason hardware wallet is much better than software wallet.

If you are having good security on your computer and having your keyboard keystrokes encrypted then your passwords can't be stolen even when you type in your password on a computer with a keylogger installed. So that won't matter much. The main problem that can happen with a software wallet installed on your computer is that if it gets attacked then your wallet.dat file can be downloaded by the attacker which he can compare with the dataleaks from other sites or can even bruteforce the password if it is weak enough.

[BASE16]

The safest wallet is a (stamped) Cryptosteel wallet.
They are safer then a Paper wallet because a paper wallet can burn and probably will not survive being in a liquid for long.
But Paper wallets are safer then Online wallets.
Then there are the Hardware wallets of the USB type i also do not like those they can drop into a liquid or the hardware can get damaged beyond repair.
I see many people on here defending online wallets, but it's all just bullocks.
Many times they will get hacked and the result coin's stolen / lost , these stories pup up all the time.
Sometimes they even get robbed by the ones behind the service.
Other then that remember your keys your coins, not your keys not your coins.
I have seen an instance where some service provider had send out the transaction twice and as a result the party that ordered the coins got funded the double amount they ordered.
This happened to several of their customers which got funded twice their order.
But because these customers had online wallets with the service provider, the selling party then quickly took matters into their own hands and hijacked or 'froze' all their wallets ! until the buying party had deposited back the coins that were overpaid.
Can you imagine this situation ?
You have a rock solid and safe crypto currency system yet because you have online wallet with a service that service can intervene and control your coins.
Just don't take the risk, ever, or you will find yourself in trouble at some point.
It's like disabling the best available security layer and handing out control over your funds to some external party which is a recipe for disaster.
A disaster will be inevitable.

[shoreno]

 creators of those software already think of that before they produce it and before you think of those possibilities .

 never used one but i think they allow several backup options like cloud transfer something like that so that when the hardware got damage or lost , you can be able to restore your keys/coins but most brands are sturdy enough and can handle almost any damages throw to them so lets not be paranoid  and dont buy the generic brand ones   .

[Reatim]

Hardware wallets are much better than software wallets. The hardware wallet security system is much more modern and improved. It always keeps your private key secret during the transaction. Your private key is opened during the transaction in the software wallet. This is one of the biggest problems to scam your wallet. For this reason hardware wallet is much better than software wallet.

But what about the case that tackled recently here?that His hardware wallet is being Hold by authorities?
i know that this is isolated case yet alarming right?

A hardware wallet stores the user's private keys in a secure hardware device. They have major advantages over standard software wallets: private keys are often stored in a protected area of a microcontroller, and cannot be transferred out of the device in plaintext.

But no doubt that this is the safest wallet cryptonian ever had.

In this wallet we are totally secured because we are holding our funds in our own way,not like software wallets that hackable.

[Salamstar]

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.

Yes, that's right .. We are always looking for the safest way to save our encrypted currencies, but there are always pros and cons for each type of hot or cold wallets .. I consider the advantages of cold wallets somewhat more than their negatives, unlike hot wallets that can be penetrated and stolen easily.