Ledger USB problem in the airport

[Pepinagomez]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

[Despairo]

It's not advisable to carry hardware wallet on airport, if the security check your stuffs and found a warning on his tools, they will ask you to emit the stuff. You wouldn't want to show your hardware wallet isn't? You could be robbed since they thought you're a millionaire.

It's better to carry empty cellphones and the seed phrase on secured place, then you can import your seed pharse on your cell phone and access your wallet.

[btc_angela]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

I don't think that it will be damage thru security arch at airports. But your primary problem should be human in nature, what I mean is that there are chances that you might get mugged, lost your hardware wallet and worst it could be confiscated if the TSA found out that you are carrying bitcoin and they could force you to enter your PIN. So the best thing to do when traveling is to wipe it out, and recover it later with your recovery passphrase, in my opinion.

[DapanasFruit]

Under the kind of circumstances that we are in where many government agencies can be snooping on what you got, personally I would never be carrying my hardware wallet with me or as one suggested by someone here just wipe out your USB wallet clean and have it recovered everything using the recovery phrase. The best rule is better be safe than be sorry later. However, I do understand the inconvenience.

[Upgrade00]

... it could be confiscated if the TSA found out that you are carrying bitcoin and they could force you to enter your PIN. So the best thing to do when traveling is to wipe it out, and recover it later with your recovery passphrase, in my opinion.

In the event of this, there is an option of plausible deniability where you can create an extended passphrase to serve as an extra layer of security.
In this instance how much Bitcoin you own is not known, so you can keep a relatively small amount stored on the regular seed phrase and protect your full stash with an extended passphrase of which you know nothing about when interrogated or harrased.By wipe out, do you mean delete the address and carry the seed phrase on you, to recover it on arrival.

[cheezcarls]

I just recently had my first flight after more than 2 years to attend an NFT metaverse GameFi event here in the Philippines. At first, I was thinking if I want to bring my Ledger Nano S with me. But I choose not to because I don’t think I really need those funds because I already have and I won’t be long anyways.

It just sucks that the disadvantage of the hardware wallet is that it can be possibly flagged and confiscated when bringing it along in the airport. Hardware wallet is the safest for us to store our crypto assets and NFTs, in which I have decided to store most of them there after my 3 Metamask/Trust Wallet accounts were hacked for a grand total of $12k due to a malware that I didn’t know.

[Crypto Library]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

They may seize it without damaging it. Because these devices have not yet been legalized in many countries. I would advise you not to take these kinds of hardware to the airport but you can import their private keys to your mobile or to a safe place. Then after the flight, you can recover it again. Otherwise, you may be in danger.

[|MINER|]

It would not be wise to take these hardware to the airport. Because most airports still consider these hardware wallets or something like that to be illegal. So I would never encourage you to take these things to the airport . If there was no option then there was a point ,But you can save the secret phrases of your hardware wallets in a safe place so that you can recover them later.

[batang_bitcoin]

Just save your private keys. It's not really needed to bring the hardware wallet with you because they may confiscate it. It depends to the airport's rule about these devices. But I think most of them would allow it and if they happen to be alarmed, you just have to explain what it is.
But if you don't want to be bothered by it, don't bring it and go to your destination together with your private keys or seed phrase.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

You are not carrying your bitcoin with you, you are carrying your private keys.

As to whether or not to take it with you, in my case it would depend on how much you have. If you have a lot of bitcoins I wouldn't take it with you, but if you have less than the maximum allowed in cash I wouldn't have a problem. That is, as long as you are not going to a country where bitcoin is forbidden.

At least that's what I thought before I saw the previous answers saying that they might confiscate it in the airport.

I think that if it is for travelling in Europe you shouldn't have any problems as long as you respect the limit I said before, which is €10,000.

[Vatimins]

     While this can be seen as paranoia by some, I myself would prefer being called too paranoid because of being overly cautious with possibilities rather than regret. A wise decision would be to just keep the seed phrase and the private key om a piece of paper or on an a phone that you do not use for online stuff. I myself wouldn't mind going the extra mile or going through tedious stuff if it means I can keep my hard earned assets safe.

[zasad@]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

If you walk through a metal detector with a ledger hardware wallet turned off or models without a battery, then the chance of damage is very small. But the main thing is not to lose the seed phrase.I would be more concerned about your health, because all these safety detectors are harmful to health when visited frequently.

[buwaytress]

Dude, ask Ledger. I am inclined to say there isn't any issue at all or we would have heard about it by now. Am sure many ledgers have already passed through all kinds of detectors and if simple usb drives already pass through ok, be real surprised if the somewhat more robust Ledgers don't.

Besides, don't flight attendants get easier checks? Sure you could clear those in advance.

[Husires]

What country/airport are you trying to fly from? I tried to travel several times and the airport staff thought it was an external memory for my computer, but if I am in one of the developed countries.
I do not advise you to do this often, but it is better to keep the words in a paper and when you travel to another country, you buy a wallet there if you intend to settle down or use a phone wallet.

[BlackHatCoiner]

they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device.

Except that they can't take the coins unless you give the permission; that's part of the financial sovereignty. If you have set a password and have written down the seed phrase, there's nothing they can do to stop you from moving money across the world, whether they confiscate the Ledger or destroy it.

Just tell them it's a hardware wallet and they can search it up. It's 2022, lots of people have these devices.

[teosanru]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

I am assuming that you have stored your 12 word seed somewhere else on a paper in a safe place, if that is stored in a safe place with you there is nothing that can remove your bitcoin from the device. Even if I assume a hypothetical scenario, where you hardware wallet which stores data in a flash format interacts with some cosmic ray or x-ray and changes or corrupts the data inside your wallet, your money isn't destroyed by this, because your money isn't stored on that hardware, instead it is stored on lakhs of nodes which are mining bitcoins and hundred thousands of blocks that have been mined before, just load your private key into a new wallet and you are good to go again.

[franky1]

millions of people use airports daily. they take their phones, thumb drives and smartphones with them.. its not a big deal
just having these things is not a flag.
you being on a watchlist for other reasons is a flag.

so if you are doing anything nefarious, that you worry has already put you on a watchlist then be cautious. if your just a normal person dont worry.
they can take the device just be sure to have a back up of seed.

you are more likely to lose it in 'lost luggage' than you are due to any security checkpoints

if however someone else finds your device for any reason
while they spend weeks trying to brute the device you can just use the seed on another device/wallet and move the funds.

you can also have 2 seeds. one of a small amount that you dont mind being confiscated. just make sure its clean taint.. and i dont mean clean it by using mixers.. because mixers make it dirty. (yep mixers will flag you as a launderer)
so just have a small amount that you dont mind losing that wont get you into any trouble and if they put you into a 'interview room' and question you to open your device or be punished by a fine or court. then give them the small amount and be on your way with your normal life.

[PrimeNumber7]

Hello good morning, I am a flight attendant and I would like to know if it is possible to carry my Bitcoin with me in a usb ledger, as I have been told that when passing through the security arch at airports they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device. I would love to hear from anyone who is in this situation. Regards and thanks.

I don't think this is a real risk. What you are describing is the potential for the data to become corrupted by the x-ray machines at the airport. I am not aware of any reports of this happening.

I have traveled (on airplanes) with my trezor multiple times without incident. Even if your ledger does become defective, you should have a backup of your seed in another format (written most likely for HW wallets), so you can access your seed if something as you describe does happen.

Your bigger risk is traveling through customs, as the customs agent may detain you until you provide access to the PIN associated with your ledger.

[m2017]

they could damage the ledger and remove my Bitcoin from the device.

Except that they can't take the coins unless you give the permission; that's part of the financial sovereignty. If you have set a password and have written down the seed phrase, there's nothing they can do to stop you from moving money across the world, whether they confiscate the Ledger or destroy it.

Just tell them it's a hardware wallet and they can search it up. It's 2022, lots of people have these devices.

Let's look at the situation from a different angle.
When entering any country, there are restrictions on the import of funds. The receiving party, if its representatives at the airport understand the purpose of ledger or other hardware, are simply obliged to check the balance of the device. Therefore, I have doubts whether it is worth saying that this is a hardware.

I see several scenarios:

1 - You are transporting hardware under the guise of a flash drive.
A successful outcome is possible if the airport doesn't know the purpose of this device. Otherwise, you will have to explain and show a balance for the reason described above with all the ensuing problems.

2 - You don't carry a device, but carry seed-phrase with you in a text or other form and buy a device already on the other side of the border. In this case, seed-phrase should be hidden very securely and should not be shown to anyone.
 
The world is constantly changing and I don't exclude that in the near future, with any attempts to cross the borders, restrictions will be introduced and hardware devices will be checked.

[mk4]

Except that they can't take the coins unless you give the permission; that's part of the financial sovereignty. If you have set a password and have written down the seed phrase, there's nothing they can do to stop you from moving money across the world, whether they confiscate the Ledger or destroy it.

Just tell them it's a hardware wallet and they can search it up. It's 2022, lots of people have these devices.

I get your point that it's up to you if you give the permission and yadda yadda, but really? Let's not underestimate the authorities here. There's a non-zero chance that this could end in a $5 wrench attack-like situation, but far worse because it's actually the authorities who's trying to access your funds, not some urban crackhead.