Which best for long term investment? Hardware wallet or Software wallet .

[Z-tight]

Recommend paper wallet and airgapped wallets to newbies and let them know the pros and cons. With both, the bitcoin user will be able to know you do not need any hardware wallet before you can hold bitcoin securely offline. Then it is also good to recommend hardware wallet, also letting them know about the pros and cons. But it is worth learning about airgapped devices and how to avoid hacks if not going for altcoins.

I do recommend air-gapped wallets, but i still believe it and paper wallets would be difficult for a newbie to use in a safe enviroment. Many newbies have the wrong idea of air-gapped wallets, some of them believe it can be connected to the internet once in a while, some of them may consider it paranoid to create tx's in their watch-only wallet and then send it to their offline device to sign the transaction, and back again to their online device for broadcasting, so they may just say "to hell with it" and connect their offline device to the internet to create and sign their transaction quickly, choosing convenience over safety and security.

You are correct that you do not need a hardware wallet to hold BTC offline and securely, but hardware wallets is easier for newbies to use, they can learn how to create their own air-gapped wallet or use paper wallet, but there is a possibility that they will make a mistake and set it up or use it in an unsafe enviroment.

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[Charles-Tim]

I do recommend air-gapped wallets, but i still believe it and paper wallets would be difficult for a newbie to use in a safe enviroment.

People are different from one another. Newbies are better than one another. It was not hard for me to know when I was introduced to both paper wallet and wallet on airgapped device. It is their money, they should learn how to protect it. There is nothing hard to know about cold wallets generally, but some people just not not want to learn.

some of them may consider it paranoid to create tx's in their watch-only wallet and then send it to their offline device to sign the transaction, and back again to their online device for broadcasting, so they may just say "to hell with it" and connect their offline device to the internet to create and sign their transaction quickly, choosing convenience over safety and security.

It is airgapped, there is no way it can go online. People that study about airgapped wallets are better in safety reasoning and more security conscious than people that just go and buy hardware wallet without learning the basics of cold storage which are paper wallet and wallet on airgapped devices. And if they want to transfer PBST and ST, advice them to use QR code which is safer than Bluetooth, NFC and USB stick.

[taufik123]

some of them may consider it paranoid to create tx's in their watch-only wallet and then send it to their offline device to sign the transaction, and back again to their online device for broadcasting, so they may just say "to hell with it" and connect their offline device to the internet to create and sign their transaction quickly, choosing convenience over safety and security.

It is airgapped, there is no way it can go online. People that study about airgapped wallets are better in safety reasoning and more security conscious than people that just go and buy hardware wallet without learning the basics of cold storage which are paper wallet and wallet on airgapped devices. And if they want to transfer PBST and ST, advice them to use QR code which is safer than Bluetooth, NFC and USB stick.

The basics of Cold Storage knowledge on hardware wallets seems to be necessary for most people to know, because it is very important.
We even know that many hardware wallets have many features, some are completely open-source, and some Closed Source, and even recently, one of the hardware wallets has a Recovery Phrase feature that makes all its users worry and choose to abandon it.

Many Hardware wallets support Airgapped such as ColdCard, Trezor Model T, KeepKey, Ellipal, Safepal, and Ledger Nanox (Exception). just choose the best one.

[virasog]

Hardware wallet, it gives unparalleled peace of mind compared to software wallets. But then again, it will take away 1 part of your holding if you were to buy it right now. So stick to software wallet like muun for time being, once savings are grown enough, purchase HW.

This is another important thing that for most people software wallets may fulfill the purpose as they do not have a lot of funds.
Let's suppose you are a beginner and newbie in a Bitcoin world, there is no need to possess a hardware wallet right from day 1. Better get an understanding of different wallets and you will be able to choose the right one according to your needs.

You are correct that you do not need a hardware wallet to hold BTC offline and securely, but hardware wallets is easier for newbies to use, they can learn how to create their own air-gapped wallet or use paper wallet, but there is a possibility that they will make a mistake and set it up or use it in an unsafe enviroment.

First of all, whether you use hardware, software, air-gapped or whatever wallet, you need to have an understanding of it completely. When you say that hardware wallets are easy to use for newbies, the newbies must know how to use a hardware wallet and how to keep it secure. Lack of knowledge can still result in loss of funds even if a person has a hardware wallet.

[Dimitri94]

First of all, whether you use hardware, software, air-gapped or whatever wallet, you need to have an understanding of it completely. When you say that hardware wallets are easy to use for newbies, the newbies must know how to use a hardware wallet and how to keep it secure. Lack of knowledge can still result in loss of funds even if a person has a hardware wallet.

Agree with you mate. If I don't have proper knowledge about the wallet I choose to keep my bitcoins in a secure position, I will not get any profit from using that wallet instead it will become a loss source. Many newbies don't know much about hardware wallets so they should first get a good idea how to use that wallet.

A few days ago I saw a safepal hardware wallet from one of my friends. But he didn't know how to use that wallet. He was intelligent. He took help form his nearest to learn about it and then he was able to use it. I personally had no idea. I learnt something from YouTube. Later I was able to get a better idea by looking at my friend's wallet. If he could try to do by his own self without lack of knowledge, the guy would have been fallen in danger and possibly even lost his bitcoins.

[aylabadia05]

Many newbies don't know much about hardware wallets so they should first get a good idea how to use that wallet.

A few days ago I saw a safepal hardware wallet from one of my friends. But he didn't know how to use that wallet. He was intelligent. He took help form his nearest to learn about it and then he was able to use it. I personally had no idea. I learnt something from YouTube. Later I was able to get a better idea by looking at my friend's wallet. If he could try to do by his own self without lack of knowledge, the guy would have been fallen in danger and possibly even lost his bitcoins.

Not generalized. If newbie do not know much about hardware wallets can still be understandable because it is still very new so it needs effort to learn. It's a bit strange if there is something more senior but still don't know how to use a wallet well.

This means that anyone needs to find out in their own way if you want to get good security because the wallet is very important as a place to storage coins. It doesn't matter if we have to watch the YouTube channel if some of the tutorials available on the forum are not easy to understand.
This is my experience and I keep trying to be able to increase knowledge about the wallet both hardware and software.

[virasog]

First of all, whether you use hardware, software, air-gapped or whatever wallet, you need to have an understanding of it completely. When you say that hardware wallets are easy to use for newbies, the newbies must know how to use a hardware wallet and how to keep it secure. Lack of knowledge can still result in loss of funds even if a person has a hardware wallet.

Agree with you mate. If I don't have proper knowledge about the wallet I choose to keep my bitcoins in a secure position, I will not get any profit from using that wallet instead it will become a loss source. Many newbies don't know much about hardware wallets so they should first get a good idea how to use that wallet.

A few days ago I saw a safepal hardware wallet from one of my friends. But he didn't know how to use that wallet. He was intelligent. He took help form his nearest to learn about it and then he was able to use it. I personally had no idea. I learnt something from YouTube. Later I was able to get a better idea by looking at my friend's wallet. If he could try to do by his own self without lack of knowledge, the guy would have been fallen in danger and possibly even lost his bitcoins.

Again when talking help on the wallets from anyone, make sure you are getting help from a trusted person. I have seen people randomly asking in groups / Social media / Forums to set up their wallets and end up dealing with a scammer who will just run away with your funds while trying to explain how to use a Hardware /software wallet.

Getting help from youtube videos is great if you are a good learner and also you may have a new wallet with no funds, experiment with it, even get help from strangers and when you want to transfer funds, get a brand new wallet.

[Pmalek]

Again when talking help on the wallets from anyone, make sure you are getting help from a trusted person. I have seen people randomly asking in groups / Social media / Forums to set up their wallets and end up dealing with a scammer who will just run away with your funds while trying to explain how to use a Hardware /software wallet.

This is an open and public community. People worldwide can read the posts and conversations. When you ask for help for random how-to issues, and someone offers it to you, ensure it's all public so everyone can see and warn you if what you are doing isn't the best approach. And, of course, if the person pretending to help you is lying or is outright malicious. Don't ask for help over DMs or Telegram and don't respond to such requests to protect yourself from possible problems.