Is it actually wise to get a hardware wallet?

[wiivita]

BTC Hi, i am not new to crypto but i slowly gathered up a decent protofolio and i recently had an issue with my old phone that has authentication installed so i had to go through alot of hoops and whatnot to recover my wallet in exchange! After this stressful experience, i am looking for options and thinking about getting a hardware wallet. I can't decide on which to go for and i don't need those fancy ones that looks like a cellphone , rather a compact one that does the job but also secures my asset. I'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me some hardware wallets out there and explain why.. preferably people that owns em and can share their end of experience. Thank you!

[OmegaStarScream]

A hardware wallet is definitely worth it. Since you want something that support multiple assets, I would go with the Trezor.

A comparison between their three devices can be found here: https://trezor.io/compare

Trezor One should be good enough, unless you want to hold Monero, Solana, XRP or Cardano then you should grab the Safe 3.

[Charles-Tim]

Hardware wallet are good but you should go for a reputed hardware wallet that is open source. Trezor is good just as OmegaStarScream posted already. I like the fact that they are open source wallet. It is also supporting multiple coins if you go for multicoin option.

But if it is bitcoin-only wallet, there are many hardware wallet that are airgapped which makes me feel safer and know that the wallet is completely offline or a cold wallet. Example of such wallet that is open source is Passport.

[Catenaccio]

Hardware wallets are your best choice but remember to choose open source hardware wallets, not close source.
You have to buy hardware wallets properly too.
[LIST] Open Source Hardware Wallets
[GUIDE] How to buy a Hardware Wallet the right way

If you can not have enough money for buying a hardware wallet, and you only want to store bitcoin, you can use Electrum wallet.
[GUIDE] How to Safely Download and Verify Electrum
Creating a multisig wallet with Electrum
The paranoid user's security guide for using Electrum safely.

[Findingnemo]

~

So you have been using the exchange as your wallet all these time.

Exchange to a hardware wallet is not really mandatory, you can pick the open-sourced wallet like Sparrow or electrum in a secured device is a starter for someone and a hardware wallet is overkill if the funds are not really that much.

Anyway BlockStream Jade is one of the cheaper hardware wallet for Bitcoin storage only, which has everything that is necessary too.

[Helena Yu]

A quick tip @OP, don't buy a hardware wallet from random person including someone who have trusted account in online marketplace, instead you must buy it from official sites or official resellers.

I would also go for Trezor, it's the most popular, support multiple coins and trustworthy, the problem is just pricey.

[Coyster]

It is definitely wise to get a hardware wallet if the funds you are hodling is large, "large" can be a relative term, so you can basically use it to hodl an amount you know that you can't afford to lose. You said you have been using an exchange as a wallet, that is very unsafe, exchanges are for trading only, and not for keeping your assets, move your funds out of there to an open source software wallet, until you can get a hardware wallet and then move it there for offline storage.

[SFR10]

Trezor One should be good enough, unless you want to hold Monero, Solana, XRP or Cardano then you should grab the Safe 3.

@wiivita: As a Trezor Model One owner, I can confirm that is more than enough to get the job done, but the last time it received a firmware update was roughly one and a half years ago and considering that they've recently reduced its price, it'll probably get discontinued very soon ^{[go with the Safe 3 instead]}.

[Mia Chloe]

A hardware wallet is not a must as a bitcoiner HODLER. You mustn't follow the crowd when talking or deciding the safest and best way to store your coins. There are numerous ways of storing your coins both offline ranging from the Hardware wallet method you mentioned, to paper wallet method which is also very common and even making use of an airgapped device. The idea is to do your research and understand the different ways of storing your coins offline and then select the best for you.

Take for example, you stay in a region where hardware wallets aren't common and as a result getting one would be difficult in such a case you would likely just fall back to making use of probably an old PC you have to make an airgapped device instead. The idea is being safe and understanding what method you use to the fullest so you don't make an expensive mistake.

[Faisal2202]

BTC Hi, i am not new to crypto but i slowly gathered up a decent protofolio and i recently had an issue with my old phone that has authentication installed so i had to go through alot of hoops and whatnot to recover my wallet in exchange! After this stressful experience, i am looking for options and thinking about getting a hardware wallet. I can't decide on which to go for and i don't need those fancy ones that looks like a cellphone , rather a compact one that does the job but also secures my asset. I'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me some hardware wallets out there and explain why.. preferably people that owns em and can share their end of experience. Thank you!

That's really suck when we have to go with some authentication, and especially when your phone stops working too. My phone doesn't know how but lost its fingerprint option from its software, although it worked fine, I am not seeing any fingerprint option on it now. Which caused me great stress because I did not remember the pins for all the apps I was using, so I have to reset the passwords for all of them and have to recover wallets again.

Getting a separate hardware wallet is a good option. If you want more options than the ones Members have mentioned here then you can visit this site --> https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet? Besides this site you can also get best option for you here. You might want to know what airgapped wallet are so keep such information in your mind too because keeping your wallet airgapped increases the security.

[348Judah]

You can choose to get for yourself hardware wallet, but before we go into it deeper, let me alert you not to go for ledger hardware wallet because it's not safe completely for privacy.

going by the opinion of choosing for hardware wallet or not, its a better decision to make because you will not regret doing it, there are many of them available.

Open Source Hardware Wallets

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5288971.0

[coolcoinz]

I've been in this debate a few times and my stance is that you don't need a hardware wallet, but I've been telling people to invest at least 1% of what they hold in security. Therefore, if your bitcoin is worth $1k, buying a hardware wallet makes no sense, but if it's $10k, you can easily get a decent hardware wallet for 1% of that value. If someone owns a $1m in BTC, not owning a hardware wallet is a mistake.

You don't have to buy a hardware wallet if you don't travel and prefer to have a dedicated air gapped computer. I actually prefer that.

[dkbit98]

After this stressful experience, i am looking for options and thinking about getting a hardware wallet. I can't decide on which to go for and i don't need those fancy ones that looks like a cellphone , rather a compact one that does the job but also secures my asset. I'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me some hardware wallets out there and explain why.. preferably people that owns em and can share their end of experience. Thank you! [/b]

Hardware wallet is a good option for most people because it provides a fine balance between security and usability.
I would strongly suggest against purchasing any hardware wallets that are not having clear open source firmware code.
If you want cheap solution in form of credit card than you should check Satochip wallet, Trezor is also OK, but safest options are airgapped devices like Passport (only for BTC) and Keystone.
Last option if you like to make your own DIY hardware wallet is SeedSigner and Krux, they both support bitcoin (and maybe monero).

[Potato Chips]

As a trezor user, I would recommend trezor's wallets too but in case you wanna explore more options:

1. https://bitcoiner.guide/wallet/hardware/ -- not a lot are listed but pretty solid picks imo
2. https://thebitcoinhole.com/ -- huge list with a pretty detailed table comparing features of each HW. Check out for the possible discount codes as well.

BTW, about "authentication" bit , I'm guessing you lost access to your 2fa app? Perhaps you wanna look into aegis that lets you backup all your entries into one single encrypted file locally. Just suggesting as you'll probably still use exchanges for trading. see: https://getaegis.app/

[batang_bitcoin]

Before, many will suggest you to get a Ledger hardware wallet and even I, I'd probably say the same thing. But not anymore today, because of how f*cked up they are with the recover option, that didn't do the job well done for the team and its hardware wallet. Most are going to suggest now Trezor but there's a lot of option still aside from these giant known hardware wallets. Look at Hardware wallets section, you'd see that there is more aside from them.

A quick tip @OP, don't buy a hardware wallet from random person including someone who have trusted account in online marketplace, instead you must buy it from official sites or official resellers.

I agree. Avoid purchasing from marketplaces that has already been in hand of a third-party/person. Preloaded seeds are rampant there and injectables on the hardware wallet itself can be done in such. So, avail from official manufacturers, stores and resellers for which can be seen on the official websites of the chosen brand.

[BIT-BENDER]

The major purpose of a wallet is to ensure the safety of your coin be it hardware wallet or soft ware wallet. Everyone has the luxury of having both the hardware wallet and the software wallet. Since you have showed interest on the hardware wallet then I will still have to go with the majority suggestions of using Trezor but you can still explore other options by doing a very comprehensive research.

[tabas]

Trevor has to be one of the best hardware wallets

It's not the GTA V character.  
Just joking but yes, Trezor is one of the best.

You don't have to buy a hardware wallet if you don't travel and prefer to have a dedicated air gapped computer. I actually prefer that.

I've done this in the past as well. When I didn't have a hardware wallet yet, my old laptop used to be my air-gapped device and had Electrum installed there. It was disconnected for so long until my hardware wallet arrived. This is a good way to keep when you don't want to spend some money on better security because it's also secured. But nowadays, who doesn't buy hardware wallets for something better in having a tighter security of their assets?

[ultrloa]

BTC Hi, i am not new to crypto but i slowly gathered up a decent protofolio and i recently had an issue with my old phone that has authentication installed so i had to go through alot of hoops and whatnot to recover my wallet in exchange! After this stressful experience, i am looking for options and thinking about getting a hardware wallet. I can't decide on which to go for and i don't need those fancy ones that looks like a cellphone , rather a compact one that does the job but also secures my asset. I'd appreciate if anyone can recommend me some hardware wallets out there and explain why.. preferably people that owns em and can share their end of experience. Thank you!

Its totally worth it especially if you usually deal with huge amount of bitcoin or altcoins then plan to hodl it since this is one of the safest wallet you could choose without getting any much worries towards possible hacking issues.

But if you are dealing with small amount of balance and frequently cashing out your bitcoin into fiat then I guess trust wallet application which has been regulated by law is enough to used. Its just picking up wallets to use differ on your needs on how you gonna use it.

So care to read up more suggestion since each people recommendation is helpful information.

[jcojci]

Buying a hardware wallet or not will be personal decision. It is enough to use a smartphone that will not always be connected to the Internet with installing a multiwallet application. But if you think that you need a hardware wallet, you can buy Trezor or other hardware from member's suggestion but you need to research for more which wallet you need. We can only suggest some hardware wallet but you decide by yourself.

Besides that, that will depends on how many coins you have that you want to save it in your hardware wallet. If all of your coin can be stored in a smartphone that you can fully control, you don't have to buy a hardware wallet.

[notocactus]

BTW, about "authentication" bit , I'm guessing you lost access to your 2fa app? Perhaps you wanna look into aegis that lets you backup all your entries into one single encrypted file locally. Just suggesting as you'll probably still use exchanges for trading. see: https://getaegis.app/

Aegis is a good application for 2FA but there are some others too.

Privacytools.io has its list of best 2FA and also a guide on Securing online accounts: Always use Two-Factor Authentication.

• Best Privacy Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).