A Beginners’ Guide to Cold Wallet

August 24, 2022

Which cold wallet should you pick?

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Metamask is not enough.

You need a cold wallet to keep your money safe.

Here is everything you should know about cold wallets.

1. What are hot/cold wallets?

A hot wallet creates and stores your private key online.
And a cold wallet keeps it offline, like a USB stick.
A paper that records your private key can be a kind of cold wallet!
But we are talking about hardware wallets here.

2. Your coins are not stored on the hardware device.

Wallet and Hardware devices are the keys to your funds.
So if your cold wallets get lost, you still have access to your money with seed phrases.

3. Why you need it?

A hardware wallet guarantees security.
Your keys are not exposed to the internet.
With cold wallets, you are much less likely to fall victim to a hack or other type of attack.

4. Do DeFi with a hardware wallet.

Most hot wallets will allow you to connect with a hardware.
Cold wallets level up the security when using DeFi.

5. What is the downside?

You CAN lose it.
Once you lose your cold wallet, you lose access to your funds.
And if you don’t have your seed phrase either, it’s gone.

6. How to get your hardware wallets?

Only buy them from real manufacturers. not from eBay or Amazon.
Make sure the website address is correct and has SSL (secure sockets layer).
(P.S. websites with SSL start with “https” instead of  “http”.)

7. Top 7 cold wallets to use

the Ledger Nano S ⭐⭐⭐

Pros: affordable price (US$59); you can store 27 coins and more than 1500 tokens with it.
Cons: only install 3-5 apps on the device.
🚨Ledger suffered a data breach in mid-2020.

Ellipal Titan ⭐⭐⭐

pros: affordable price (US$119); easy to setup; support 10,000+ tokens; 100% air-gapped (high-level security)
cons: No Metamask integration; poor-quality touchscreen

KeepKey ⭐⭐⭐

pros: affordable price (US$49); you can install 40+ apps on it.
cons: lacks connections to many web3 wallets like Metamask.

Trezor Model T ⭐⭐⭐⭐

pros: big screens; user-friendly You can install 500+ apps on it.
cons: expensive (US$189); no mobile support for iOS, Windows systems and Chrome OS.

SafePal S1 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

pros: Affordable price (US$49); easy to set up; good for mobile users; support 20 blockchains and 1000+ tokens.
cons: slow; no Metamask integration; poor-quality camera

NGRAVE ZERO ⭐⭐⭐⭐

pros: Specially designed for security; ease of use; You can install 500+ apps on it;
cons: VERY expensive (US$249)

the Ledger Nano X ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

pros: big screens; Bluetooth connectivity; support 1800+ cryptocurrencies; You can install 100+apps;
cons: expensive (US$149)

More cold wallets companies to Watch:

@Ledger

@ellipalwallet

@iSafePal

@Trezor

@cryptokeepkey

@slavi_io

@ocwallet

@KeyWalletTouch

@KeystoneWallet

@satoshilabs

@COLDCARDwallet

Key takeaway:

Get a cold wallet to protect your funds!

Sources

https://time.com/nextadvisor/investing/cryptocurrency/hot-wallet-vs-cold-wallet/

https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/best-crypto-cold-wallets

https://cointelegraph.com/news/ongoing-solana-based-wallet-hack-has-already-seen-millions-drained

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQO7KePXUEQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t3Brlb0qzQ

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