Which hardware wallet to buy?

[DireWolfM14]

Is it safe to buy on Amazon or for the sake of £10 more just buy through the actual site?

Lol, that's a loaded question!  Save £10, and risk a supply chain attack, or spend £10 and risk Ledger leaking your personal info?  Tough call.

I think you probably made the right choice of going with the Ledger seeing as how you're into alt-coins.  I personally have been a bitcoin maximalist since about 6 months into my foray into the crypto sphere, so when a friend or family ask me to recommend a hardware wallet, I point them to the Trezor.  The Trezor model T has more alt compatibility, but is far too expensive these days, in my opinion.  The Treazor One is arguably the most practical hardware wallet on the market today.

[n0nce]

Is it safe to buy on Amazon or for the sake of £10 more just buy through the actual site?

[...]
Ironically, despite most people saying you should only order directly from Ledger, the people who did order from Amazon in the past were protected against the data breach which was discussed previously in this thread, since the data breach only affected the database of Ledger's own web shop, with all their Amazon customers' data being stored with Amazon instead.

I was about to bring this up.. Amazon may be better for privacy, but you could get a counterfeit wallet with pregenerated seed.

As Pmalek correctly stated, the risks of having someone attempt a physical attack on your hardware wallet are relatively slim. That's one of the benefits of getting them in the first place, instead of using a software wallet; attacks for the most part need physical access.
But on the other hand, for me that means that a data leak of whatever you give them during the ordering process might actually be the higher risk.

For example, Trezor used mailchimp so they had no control over what was going on and apparently mailchimp employees were 'social engineered' by attackers to get their hands on that data [1]. I do believe that this information wasn't public before the incident, but it would be commendable if such companies would put more effort in data privacy and also their own company's 'sovereignty' if they try to be a Bitcoin business.

[1] https://blog.trezor.io/details-of-the-mailchimp-data-breach-a06872caa1fd

[Pmalek]

Ironically, despite most people saying you should only order directly from Ledger, the people who did order from Amazon in the past were protected against the data breach which was discussed previously in this thread, since the data breach only affected the database of Ledger's own web shop, with all their Amazon customers' data being stored with Amazon instead.

That is until the next Amazon breach happens that might involve hardware wallet customers, crypto companies, or other businesses of interest. Amazon has had their share of inglorious leaks as well. Check this out, for example. Centralized data storage providers are always going to be a threat. Inside jobs are also frequent because some employee somewhere saw a chance to cash in on customer data or he is simple dissatisfied with his job/life/the world, etc. and wants to see everything burn. Or his lack of knowledge and judgement can trick him into infecting his work computers with malware or getting social engineered as n0nce mentioned.     

[satscraper]

Ironically, despite most people saying you should only order directly from Ledger, the people who did order from Amazon in the past were protected against the data breach which was discussed previously in this thread, since the data breach only affected the database of Ledger's own web shop, with all their Amazon customers' data being stored with Amazon instead.

That is until the next Amazon breach happens that might involve hardware wallet customers, crypto companies, or other businesses of interest. Amazon has had their share of inglorious leaks as well. Check this out, for example. Centralized data storage providers are always going to be a threat. Inside jobs are also frequent because some employee somewhere saw a chance to cash in on customer data or he is simple dissatisfied with his job/life/the world, etc. and wants to see everything burn. Or his lack of knowledge and judgement can trick him into infecting his work computers with malware or getting social engineered as n0nce mentioned.    

Amazon is a good option as one can choose the delivery to the pick-up point. Recently I have created the fresh Amazon account which is not associated with my old one and  got the latest ledger nano s+ at Amazon pick-up point chosen by me.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Amazon is a good option as one can choose the delivery to the pick-up point. Recently I have created the fresh Amazon account which is not associated with my old one and  got the latest ledger nano s+ at Amazon pick-up point chosen by me.

Do you not still need to register a name and address alongside a payment method matched to that name and address to open an Amazon account though? If that's the case, then even if you deliver to a pick up point, there will still be a record of you buying a hardware wallet against your real name and address.

The safest way to order a hardware wallet is to use their own web shop, and have it posted to a PO box or other drop off location under a pseudonym, therefore completely breaking the link between your real name and address and your purchase. Very few people do this, though.

[Lucius]

Is it safe to buy on Amazon or for the sake of £10 more just buy through the actual site?

The safest option (if available to you) would be to buy a hardware wallet directly for cash at a physical store. I suggest you check your local stores that sell electronic/IT equipment, because they usually sell such devices (at least that is the case in my country). Another option is to rent a PO box at your local post office or use one of the virtual PO box services so that Ledger does not get your personal information - for complete privacy pay with Bitcoin that is not associated with your name (coin mix).

[JamesDaniel90]

Bloody hell so much to worry about isn't there 

So it is not recommended to buy from the official ledger site sending directly to my home address?

[satscraper]

Amazon is a good option as one can choose the delivery to the pick-up point. Recently I have created the fresh Amazon account which is not associated with my old one and  got the latest ledger nano s+ at Amazon pick-up point chosen by me.

Do you not still need to register a name and address alongside a payment method matched to that name and address to open an Amazon account though?

I have registered my second account using the fictive name and address (in EU), and  payed by using amazon gift card bought for btc on bitrefill .

[Lucius]

Bloody hell so much to worry about isn't there 
So it is not recommended to buy from the official ledger site sending directly to my home address?

All you read in this thread are just tips on how you can increase your privacy, although realistically most people have no problem making a purchase in the classic way and don't bother with things like this. In the end, the decision is up to you - it will not be the end of the world if you order HW to your home address and pay with a card.

[m2017]

Bloody hell so much to worry about isn't there 
So it is not recommended to buy from the official ledger site sending directly to my home address?

All you read in this thread are just tips on how you can increase your privacy, although realistically most people have no problem making a purchase in the classic way and don't bother with things like this. In the end, the decision is up to you - it will not be the end of the world if you order HW to your home address and pay with a card.

Yes, that's right. All advice on this forum is advisory in nature. How exactly to use this information is strictly up to you. It's your life and your privacy - do what you want.

In the case of a Ledger, you can order a device from their website to your home address, but keep in mind that with a high degree of probability, any Internet user will ever be able to get all this information about you. This has happened before with this HW manufacturer. Whether they will be able to keep confidential information about you - no one knows.

[o_e_l_e_o]

The safest option (if available to you) would be to buy a hardware wallet directly for cash at a physical store.

I would only do this if the store in question is an official reseller. Since OP seems to be located in the UK, there are no official resellers available to him other than Amazon, according to https://www.ledger.com/reseller.

I have registered my second account using the fictive name and address (in EU), and  payed by using amazon gift card bought for btc on bitrefill .

Interesting. I was under the impression that if you create a new Amazon account and fund it solely by gift cards, and did not also have a valid credit card linked to it matching the name and address on the account, then the account would be locked. But you say this is not the case? Maybe it's different between the US and the EU.

[Lucius]

The safest option (if available to you) would be to buy a hardware wallet directly for cash at a physical store.

I would only do this if the store in question is an official reseller. Since OP seems to be located in the UK, there are no official resellers available to him other than Amazon, according to https://www.ledger.com/reseller.

I see that there are two official resellers for the UK, although they are really not physical but online stores. In any case, the OP has more than enough options to choose from when buying HW, it's just a matter of how much he wants (and if he wants at all) to protect his privacy. Given that it's summer vacation time, maybe the OP is traveling to a country that has physical stores where you can buy HW - and I see that there are several in countries like Spain, France or Croatia.

[JamesDaniel90]

Right, have been looking more at Legder Nano S plus and it accepts 7 of the 11 crypto I hold so its worth getting.

I am a total newbie and not great with tech so just wondering if I was to order this, where do I start?

I have the majority of my crypto on Coinbase with a couple on Crypto.com - is it pretty straight forward to get these off of these exchanges and onto the Nano S Plus?

[n0nce]

I have the majority of my crypto on Coinbase with a couple on Crypto.com - is it pretty straight forward to get these off of these exchanges and onto the Nano S Plus?

It's usually very easy to do, yes; but it's also easy to look up:

You can use your Coinbase account to send and receive supported cryptocurrencies. Sends and receives are available on both mobile and web. Note that Coinbase cannot be used to receive ETH or ETC mining rewards.
[...]
On-chain sends are used to send funds from the Coinbase platform to an external address on the blockchain. On-chain sends are irreversible; Coinbase can’t retrieve funds that were sent to the incorrect address or using the incorrect network. On-chain sends incur network fees and take time to process.
[...]

It's funny to me that this support page doesn't come up when looking for 'Coinbase Bitcoin withdrawals', they hide it under the term 'sending cryptocurrency'; 'withdraw' is a term they only use when speaking about cash. It confirms yet again that they try to keep people's funds on the platform and keeping people in the 'fiat mindset' in general; where 'withdrawing to a crypto wallet' is not even considered or endorsed, since the main objective to buy Bitcoin is just maximizing fiat holdings..

[o_e_l_e_o]

I have the majority of my crypto on Coinbase with a couple on Crypto.com - is it pretty straight forward to get these off of these exchanges and onto the Nano S Plus?

Yes.

Once you have your device, simply follow the set up guide I linked you to before: https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416927988625-Set-up-your-Ledger-Nano-S-Plus. This will involve booting the device up, setting a PIN code, writing down your seed phrase back up, and then connecting it with Ledger Live to update to the latest firmware and install the software for the coins you are interested in.

Once you've done all that, then you can open the relevant coin - bitcoin, for example - and generate a receiving address.* Head over to Coinbase, look for the option to withdraw or send bitcoin to an address, and copy in your receiving address from your Ledger (double check everything, especially that you have copy/pasted the address accurately!) This will send your bitcoin from the exchange across to your hardware wallet.

The very first time you do this, lots of people like to send a small "test" transaction of a few bucks worth of bitcoin to make sure they have done everything properly before sending across their full balance.


*At this point, some people like to reset their device to factory settings, and then recover from their seed phrase back up they've just created, and ensure they generate the exact same address. This allows you to be doubly sure that you correctly copied the seed phrase without making any mistakes.

[JamesDaniel90]

I have the majority of my crypto on Coinbase with a couple on Crypto.com - is it pretty straight forward to get these off of these exchanges and onto the Nano S Plus?

Yes.

Once you have your device, simply follow the set up guide I linked you to before: https://support.ledger.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416927988625-Set-up-your-Ledger-Nano-S-Plus. This will involve booting the device up, setting a PIN code, writing down your seed phrase back up, and then connecting it with Ledger Live to update to the latest firmware and install the software for the coins you are interested in.

Once you've done all that, then you can open the relevant coin - bitcoin, for example - and generate a receiving address.* Head over to Coinbase, look for the option to withdraw or send bitcoin to an address, and copy in your receiving address from your Ledger (double check everything, especially that you have copy/pasted the address accurately!) This will send your bitcoin from the exchange across to your hardware wallet.

The very first time you do this, lots of people like to send a small "test" transaction of a few bucks worth of bitcoin to make sure they have done everything properly before sending across their full balance.


*At this point, some people like to reset their device to factory settings, and then recover from their seed phrase back up they've just created, and ensure they generate the exact same address. This allows you to be doubly sure that you correctly copied the seed phrase without making any mistakes.

Thanks. I am going to order it later today as I have come across quite a few detailed videos on youtube showing how to set up, seems pretty straightfoward.

And yes I will do a small test transaction first to make sure I have done everything correctly.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I am going to order it later today as I have come across quite a few detailed videos on youtube showing how to set up, seems pretty straightfoward.

Be very careful following YouTube tutorials. I'm sure many of them will be just fine, but there will certainly be a few malicious ones thrown in which encourage you to enter your seed phrase on a fake website or something similar. It is fairly trivial for scammers to generate thousands of fake views and fake comments on their videos to make them look legit.

Make sure that everything you do is part of the guide I linked above, make sure you only download software form the official Ledger website, don't enter your seed phrase anywhere except on the hardware device itself, and don't follow any links in YouTube video descriptions.

[JamesDaniel90]

I am going to order it later today as I have come across quite a few detailed videos on youtube showing how to set up, seems pretty straightfoward.

Be very careful following YouTube tutorials. I'm sure many of them will be just fine, but there will certainly be a few malicious ones thrown in which encourage you to enter your seed phrase on a fake website or something similar. It is fairly trivial for scammers to generate thousands of fake views and fake comments on their videos to make them look legit.

Make sure that everything you do is part of the guide I linked above, make sure you only download software form the official Ledger website, don't enter your seed phrase anywhere except on the hardware device itself, and don't follow any links in YouTube video descriptions.

Thanks again.

Yes I can imagine there being a few scammers out there, I will be really careful.

[JamesDaniel90]

Nano S Plus ordered 

Is there anything I can do until it arrives or do I just wait?

My cryptos are the following, have read each one will require different appa? If anyone can give me an idea which apps I will need for each one?

Bitcoin
Quant
Algorand
Polygon
Cronos
Decentraland
Enjin
Shiba Inu

[o_e_l_e_o]

Is there anything I can do until it arrives or do I just wait?

You could download and install Ledger Live, so it is read to go once your hardware wallet arrives: https://www.ledger.com/ledger-live

My cryptos are the following, have read each one will require different appa? If anyone can give me an idea which apps I will need for each one?

If it is a token, then you'll need the app of the coin it is based on (so ERC20 tokens will use the Ethereum app). Coins like Bitcoin will have their own app.

You can type each one in here, and then click on "More details": https://www.ledger.com/supported-crypto-assets