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Have you received your first Bitcoins? Then you need to think about a support to store them. Which portfolio will you choose? The offer is wide, it is not always easy to find your way around. Moreover, if you are a Bitcoin beginner, chances are that a crypto wallet won’t speak to you so much! Here are a few hints…
While transactions are tamper-proof thanks to the exceptional properties of the blockchain, the same cannot be said for the storage of your bitcoins. Just as you are never safe from credit card fraud or cash theft, storing Bitcoins can be risky.
Bitcoin is an electronic currency. If your Bitcoins are not stored on a secure medium, there is always the risk that a hacker will steal your precious tokens. For example, you may read that a trading platform has been hacked. Recently, for example, the KuCoin exchange has been the victim of a significant hack with about 150 million dollars stolen. This risk is particularly present if you leave your bitcoins on the exchanges. Most of them use hot wallets to store their customers’ change. It’s easy to use, it’s free, but unfortunately, hot wallets are not the best when it comes to security…
The hard wallet is part of the cold wallet family. As opposed to hot wallets, cold wallets are not connected to the internet. They are therefore immune to any hacking. In cold wallets, you will find mainly paper wallets and hard wallets.
Concretely, as its name suggests, a hard wallet is a hardware or physical wallet. It is most often a USB key or a mini-computer. The hard wallet has two keys: a public key (which is linked to your Bitcoin address) and a private key. Usually it is locked with a PIN code or password. When you make a transaction, you press a button to validate it. Your equipment and funds are therefore safe from hackers.
There are several models of hard wallet. Some of the main ones are Ledger Nano, Trezor, KeepKey, CoolWalletS. Ledger Nano is the best-seller of hard wallets. Although offering several hard wallets, the Ledger company has made its success on its Nano S model.
The Ledger Nano S can manage 18 different cryptos applications. In total, it supports a hundred different cryptos, making it the most versatile physical wallet on the market today. The Hard Wallet Ledger has a user-friendly interface (Live Ledger) that allows you to consult your accounts at any time without having to connect the key.
The installation of the Ledger is quick and easy. Transactions are not much more complicated! You just have to place the order on the internet, then a message will appear on your Ledger. Offline, you will have to press both buttons on the Ledger simultaneously to confirm the transaction.
From a security point of view, pressing both buttons simultaneously is a practice directly inspired by high-risk industries. This allows you to control the danger of “false manipulation”. The unlocking of the Ledger is done by a PIN code (with the possibility to restore it in case of forgetfulness).
Its excellent quality/price ratio, its capacity to manage a hundred cryptos, its simplicity and its reinforced security make the Ledger Nano S an excellent hard wallet, and this journalist personal recommendation. Click here to buy a Ledger hardware wallet.
This article has not received any money from Ledger to promote its products.