People who don't use hardware wallets: Why not?

[Smartprofit]

Just purely out of curiosity. 99% of people who don't know how to properly create an airgapped device should be using hardware wallets.

Hardware wallets also have their drawbacks. 

Hardware wallet software may not be perfect.  Developers and testers can make a mistake in their work, as a result of which your funds that you store using hardware wallets can be stolen. 

To buy a hardware wallet, you need to make an official money transaction using fiat currency.  Disclosing the purchase of a hardware wallet will also put your financial security in question.  In addition, your hardware wallet can be misused while being sent by mail.

In addition, the very fact that you have a Ledger or Trezor indicates that you have a cryptocurrency.  This information can be used by attackers.

[DanWalker]

Just purely out of curiosity. 99% of people who don't know how to properly create an airgapped device should be using hardware wallets.

Hardware wallets are considered the safest of all wallets today, but I think many people are used to software wallets and during use they have almost no problems, so they will have no reason to buy hardware wallets.
I still use a hardware wallet because in my opinion it is the best way to protect my bitcoins but I have a friend and he is also an investor but he uses Electrum and runs it on a computer without internet connection. He says he feels safe using that storage method and he hasn't had any problems with it since he entered the market so far. I advised him to equip himself with a hardware wallet which would be more secure, he said he would buy but didn't say when.

[Genemind]

For me as long as you get to keep your private key/seed phrase buying a hardware wallet is just like an option for additional security. If you don't have thousands of dollars of crypto investment, buying a hardware wallet is not cost-efficient. Another thing, not everyone is aware of it or how to set it up. I bought a hardware wallet about a year when I first started in cryptocurrency, it's a hassle to set it up every time you need to close or open your wallet for transactions.

[hZti]

Hardware wallets are considered the safest of all wallets today, 

Thats not true at all. Hardware wallets just offer the highest user friendliness while keeping a pretty high protection against theft of your coins. There are many more secure ways to store your coins, but basically all of them require to just store the coins and not have outgoing transactions.

[lovesmayfamilis]

Using a hardware wallet can be compared to convenience. People have different attitudes toward different kinds of amenities. Someone prefers to sleep on a hard mattress, knowing full well that there are good beds. Someone drives an old car or eats food that has expired. Anyone who values their health will never allow this. By saying the phrase "I can do without it," people show how they do not love themselves. Namely, this is what says that those who use improved methods of storing bitcoin, namely hardware wallets, understand both the value of their deposits and the value of bitcoin itself. But life very often teaches people lessons, after which saving and a careless attitude towards oneself become unacceptable factors in one's existence.

[ultrloa]

I am sure that the main reason is distrust, and rather even fear for one's own funds. Those who have not had experience in using this can, quite rightly, be worried.

Not that they didn't trust hardware wallet since this is much recommended to have for people which have huge money entered in cryptocurrency. But the problem for other user is they cannot afford to buy it since they only use small amount of money which they can afford to lose that's why we see so many people not using it because some of them think that its pricey to have and they think cloud wallets or apps is much user friendly wallets to have.

[hZti]

I am sure that the main reason is distrust, and rather even fear for one's own funds. Those who have not had experience in using this can, quite rightly, be worried.

Not that they didn't trust hardware wallet since this is much recommended to have for people which have huge money entered in cryptocurrency. But the problem for other user is they cannot afford to buy it since they only use small amount of money which they can afford to lose that's why we see so many people not using it because some of them think that its pricey to have and they think cloud wallets or apps is much user friendly wallets to have.

That is reason is just stupid because some hardware wallets are under 50 USD. If you invest less then that in Bitcoin you can basically not invest altogether. You Investment return will more or less be eaten up by transaction fees that can sometimes be even a few dollars, so you won’t even be able to send money without loosing a significant amount of your investment.
In any case it is still clear that there are also secure ways to store crypto without a hardware wallet.

[Ziskinberg]

For me as long as you get to keep your private key/seed phrase buying a hardware wallet is just like an option for additional security. If you don't have thousands of dollars of crypto investment, buying a hardware wallet is not cost-efficient. Another thing, not everyone is aware of it or how to set it up. I bought a hardware wallet about a year when I first started in cryptocurrency, it's a hassle to set it up every time you need to close or open your wallet for transactions.

Many people are preferred to keep their assets online and never think about the risk of keeping them there because they believe that having these seeds and private keys gives them enough security. And I was indeed to believe it as well. Maybe if I own 5BTC or let's say $100k worth of Bitcoin, I never hesitate to buy a hardware wallet but since I don't have it, I don't think it was necessary to acquire it. Practically, having a hardware wallet will depend on how much you have and the capability to have it. Because in reality, though we know that this could give us a higher level of security, however, we can't be too confident that we are free already from hackers, unless we no longer use it for online transactions.

[xSkylarx]

People don't have spare money to buy a hardware wallet since it is very costly, but you will improve your security once you have one. I also don't have a hardware wallet, firstly because I don't have spare money to buy it, and, at the same time, I don't want to be less cautious because I am thinking that I do have a hardware wallet, so they can't touch my wallet. Though if I have the opportunity, it is fine with me, but for the time being, I am focusing on improving my security and being cautious about everything. 

[noorman0]

For my personal reasons, I'm not very good at storing small goods the size of a flash drive. My environment is not too private to store something valuable.
The potential risk to lose small goods by people around me is very high, otherwise they are not very good at operating computers.

[gabbie2010]

In as much as I am still dealing with small amount of bitcoin used for daily transactions I don't think there is any reason or any need to acquire a hardware wallet because I am contented with the services offered by trusted and reputable online wallets, however if there a need to buy a hardware wallet I will do so provided that I am in possession of huge amount of bitcoin thus I will be able to keep my key, of course I have a safe where I kept many of my security gadgets such as Token a hardware used for receiving OTP from my bank thus I wouldn't have any problem with regards to using a hardware wallet.

[Viscore]

In the same manner that you can also ask, why do people who have Bitcoin don't know anything about Bitcoin? I know of someone who invested money in Bitcoin but doesn't have a clue about what it is. I know of another who has Bitcoin herself but doesn't know what a hardware wallet is. She hasn't even heard of the Lightning Network yet. So if they don't even know what Bitcoin stands for, how surprising it would be to know that they don't have a hardware wallet?

Those were exactly the people who only go with the hype and just invest for quick profits, without even thinking the risk of having it especially if they never care saving their coins in a hardware wallet. So it’s not surprising really that some lose instead because they never know how to secure their bitcoin and put it in a secured and private wallet. While others are extra careful, some are not even mindful and would even care to keep their coins in a centralized exchange rather than having a secured and safe wallet.

[mendace]

Just purely out of curiosity. 99% of people who don't know how to properly create an airgapped device should be using hardware wallets.

Maybe you should review your percentages because many still don't quite understand what an exchange is and the difference between custodial and non-custodial wallets.  So first you need education to understand which wallet is suitable for your needs.  Those who hold a lot of funds do well to rely on a hardware wallet but those who are approaching, for example, electrum may be fine.

[TanhyaTrudy]

I didn't use to use hardware wallets because I was afraid I'd lose my bitcoins by mishandling them, now I don't use them because I lost them after I put them on an exchange and switched to altcoin. I'm so stupid.

[cheezcarls]

I have Ledger Nano S. But my mistake back then is that I’ve forgotten to transfer all of my assets to Ledger Nano S due to being complacent with Metamask and Trust Wallet.

As a result for not being careful nor doing my due diligence, I’ve accidentally clicked that fake PDF malware and my assets are siphoned to the hacker’s wallet after. It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in the crypto space.

Now I’ve learned my lesson, I’ve put most of my assets in Ledger Nano S and the rest are in my new non-custodial wallets in which I use them to swap, buy and sell NFTs, etc.

[Leviathan.007]

If you ask me the reason is very much clear most people who own lots of bitcoins or other worthy cryptocurrencies they prefer to buy a hardware wallet because it is worth it for them and they care about the security of their bitcoin, while other people don't buy these hardware wallets because they have to pay money for it, for example, if you own only 10 dollars of bitcoin id doesn't make any sense if you pay money for a hardware wallet, also some other people really trust the software wallets and they see no reason for paying money for a hardware wallet.

[DanWalker]

Hardware wallets are considered the safest of all wallets today, 

Thats not true at all. Hardware wallets just offer the highest user friendliness while keeping a pretty high protection against theft of your coins. There are many more secure ways to store your coins, but basically all of them require to just store the coins and not have outgoing transactions.

We only have a hardware wallet and software wallets. If comparing them, what is wrong with saying hardware wallet is more secure? And how to use a secure wallet depends on how we use it?, not just having a hardware wallet means that our assets are automatically safe.
Apart from using these two wallets, would you happen to have a way to store our assets more securely? Can you share? I used software wallets for a while, then switched to hardware wallets, and I really feel my assets are incredibly safe compared to software wallets.

[Ale88]

Just purely out of curiosity. 99% of people who don't know how to properly create an airgapped device should be using hardware wallets.

There are many reasons behind that people are not using hardware.wallet. And let me show you these,
1) First Of All All people are not aware of Hardware wallets like ledge nano wallet etc.
2) hardware wallets are not cheap and they cost some hundred bucks. And low volume users cannot afford to buy these wallets.
3) most people do not trust hardware wallets.

As you can see it ranges from 150 to 300 dollars and that's the reason mostly people do not know about this.

Actually you can find the Ledger Nano S Plus for less than $80, and if you wait some holiday discount or Black Friday probably you can even get it for like $50, which is a very reasonable price. If people are not aware of hardware wallets maybe they shouldn't even be in the crypto world in the first place.

[Tubicolous]

That’s true. Hardware wallets are mostly used by those who want to hold on to their coins for a long term. For traders, merchants and others who frequently buy and sell cryptocurrencies are better off using a hot wallet. But there are also people who are using both. Being a merchant, I accept crypto payments, so I have to convert or withdraw them quite often. This is why I have kept them in a hotwallet, Capitalwallet which is quite convenient. The coins which I want to hold for long term investment, I prefer to keep them in the cold wallet - ledger nano X. It all depends on the requirements.

[Bobrox]

I don't used hardware wallet because my trading priority with short term and not hold Bitcoin or cryptocurrency assets for long term and not really required with hardware wallet. Transaction will delay and take longer time when saving Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in hardware wallet actually when Bitcoin confirmation on busy, need almost one hour above for depositing success in exchange market.

I think have risk when saving fund in exchange wallet only because our fund controlling by the owner and some time could be scam like FTX, but when saving Bitcoin assets in hardware wallet we are the only one have access and controlling our fund ability to withdraw whenever we want.