Hardware wallet list and review

[btcnbegun]

- Do It Yourself: Best
  - No need to trust a company for the hardware
  - Infinitely customizable
  - Takes the most responsibility to set up correctly

- Coldcard: Good
  - Strong secure element
  - Bitcoin only
  - The only recommended off the shelf wallet

- Jade Plus: Fine
  - Airgap support
  - Phones home if not in signing mode
  - Blockstream is a shitcoin company
  - Bitcoin only

- Jade: Bad
  - Bad airgapping support

- Bitkey: Bad
  - Uses biometrics
  - App required
  - Multisig with phone and company

- Trezor: Bad
  - Shitcoin support (Attack vunlerability)
  - Weak secure element
  - History of user leaks

- Ledger: Awful
  - No airgap
  - Shitcoin support (Attack vunlerability)
  - Weak secure element
  - History of user leaks and hijacks

Please put updates and corrections in this forum below

[Zaguru12]

- Do It Yourself: Best
  - No need to trust a company for the hardware
  - Infinitely customizable
  - Takes the most responsibility to set up correctly
  - Do "!w hardware" or ask in chat how to make your own

I think this option is most likely pointing towards the use of airgapped devices where you make one out of your devices and then install one of this wallet in it. Yes I can categorically say this is the best out of it and most trustworthy but that depends on who is building it. I personally prefer my own airgapped device as my wallet than a hardware wallet most especially if you’re from a region where it is hard to get the direct access to your preferred hardware wallet company but most at times I advice newbies to simply go for an hardware wallet.

My reason been that you need to be knowledgeable and careful setting this up and any tiny bit of mistake might leave a back door or even make the airgapped device not longer airgap again, and sincerely newbies can easily make this mistakes and exposes the wallet.

[Stalker22]

~
My reason been that you need to be knowledgeable and careful setting this up and any tiny bit of mistake might leave a back door or even make the airgapped device not longer airgap again, and sincerely newbies can easily make this mistakes and exposes the wallet.

That. Thats the main issue right there.

OP is advocating for a solution that demands a level of technical expertise most people simply dont have, and frankly, dont need. The whole point of a hardware wallet is to provide that secure, isolated environment without requiring the user to become an IT security expert. Otherwise, you are at a great security risk purely from the point of your ignorance or lack of expertise.  Thats a gamble most users wouldnt, or shouldnt, take.

[satscraper]

OP is advocating for a solution that demands a level of technical expertise most people simply dont have, and frankly, dont need.

The question is whether the OP themselves have this level of technical expertise.
Their words sound like "blah-blah-blah," nothing more. the statement like "The only recommended off-the-shelf wallet" ^{regarding Coldcard} seems ridiculous.

I quickly checked their other post and found the similar mix of information, likely drawn from AI.

[btcnbegun]

~
My reason been that you need to be knowledgeable and careful setting this up and any tiny bit of mistake might leave a back door or even make the airgapped device not longer airgap again, and sincerely newbies can easily make this mistakes and exposes the wallet.

That. Thats the main issue right there.

OP is advocating for a solution that demands a level of technical expertise most people simply dont have, and frankly, dont need. The whole point of a hardware wallet is to provide that secure, isolated environment without requiring the user to become an IT security expert. Otherwise, you are at a great security risk purely from the point of your ignorance or lack of expertise.  Thats a gamble most users wouldnt, or shouldnt, take.

Most safe custody providers use this tech that’s why it’s called ‘cold’ storage. These company won’t reveal the wallet they are using because of security. Experts would suggest wallet to be custom built.

[apogio]

Experts would suggest wallet to be custom built.

Not really. It's advisable to follow the best approach, always considering your skill level. I wouldn't tell anyone to create a custom setup, unless they know what they do.

In general, if you want to avoid privacy concerns, but also want to feel self-sovereign without worrying about compromised keys etc, I would suggest that you get a fully offline laptop, install linux and electrum. All of a sudden, you 've got yourself a new hardware wallet.

[Audrey Simmons]

Most safe custody providers use this tech that’s why it’s called ‘cold’ storage. These company won’t reveal the wallet they are using because of security. Experts would suggest wallet to be custom built.

Custody providers operates as team, individual setup don't need a custom built, as may fail to realise faulting after building.

If you want a hardware wallet with cold storage forget about custom set up and fix yourself with what has been and anyone can recommend.

You aren't going to be the first whale investor, how many Bitcoin are you planning to hold that others are not aware of.

[bitcoin_pirate]

Foundation Passport
- BTC only
- FOSS
- QR scanner
- Simple
- Great optional companion app, supports taproot
- Supports BIP85
- Highly compatible with many different wallets
- Encrypted SD back ups as an option
- many many more, very similar features of a coldcard but in a different UI

[satscraper]

Foundation Passport
- BTC only
- FOSS
- QR scanner
- Simple
- Great optional companion app, supports taproot
- Supports BIP85
- Highly compatible with many different wallets
- Encrypted SD back ups as an option
- many many more, very similar features of a coldcard but in a different UI

Good summary.

I bought the Passport Core two years ago, and I must confess it was one of the best choices I've ever made. Regarding the features you listed, I’d also add the upcoming support for Miniscript language, which will enable more advanced use cases like multi inheritance schemes supported by Liana coordinator. The team behind Passport Core is also fully committed to advancing the wallet with adding static payment address according to BIP 352.

I strongly recommend Passport Core to anyone who cares about security of their BTC stash.

[ABCbits]

- Jade Plus: Fine
  - Airgap support
  - Phones home if not in signing mode
  - Blockstream is a shitcoin company
  - Bitcoin only

- Jade: Bad
  - Bad airgapping support

I have few questions,
1. Why do you think "Blockstream is a shitcoin company"? Is it because their Liquid Network sidechain?
2. By Jade, do you mean Jade Classic from Blockstream?

[dkbit98]

- Coldcard: Crap
  - Not open source
  - Mentally unstable owner
  - Not recommended because they become useless, unusable and insecure after a while (mk1, mk2, mk3...)