Hardware wallet

The bitcoin stock price is making new records every day. The fame of Cryptocurrencies has attracted millions of investments over the past few years. But we can’t deny the risks some of the Cryptocurrencies hold. But there are some secure ways to both preserve and improve your stock share on bitcoin. One such method is a hardware wallet. Bitcoin hardware wallets provide security and utility to cryptocurrency investments.

When the price of bitcoin dropped from an all-time high of around US$20,000 to US$6,000 in 2018, people thought that it was the demise of cryptocurrencies. Fortunately, the bitcoin rate has bounced back with even extraordinary growth and is now at US$50,000. Even though investing in bitcoin could be intimidating at the beginning, it also comes with a lot of risks. Moreover, the bitcoin market is volatile and needs keep observed before investments. Many fall victim to preying on hackers or their own mistakes and lost hold of their cryptocurrency savings. Don’t have a way out? Indeed, there is. We can go back to the way we used to operate with bitcoin investments in the early days. Yes, it is the bitcoin hardware wallet method. Even though maintaining bitcoin hardware wallets was not easy to use, they were very secure and encrypted the information. To know more about bitcoin hardware wallet, let me begin by explaining bitcoin wallet. 

Basics of bitcoin wallet

Bitcoin wallets are like properties that provide ownership to our bitcoin investments. Therefore, whoever holds the private key of an address owns the bitcoins stored at that address. In a nutshell, a bitcoin wallet stores the address and the public and private keys to one or more bitcoin addresses. Not to say that these bitcoins are locked to just one wallet, as the technology allows you to transfer bitcoin between wallets. There are four types of bitcoin wallets and they are online wallets, software wallets, paper wallets, and hardware wallets. While online wallets and software wallets are designed to store bitcoin on a server and applications installed on a smartphone or computer, paper wallets keep them in a physically printed format.   

What is a hardware wallet?

Hardware wallets are the key components of the blockchain ecosystem where your bitcoin is stored on a specifically designed hardware piece. Even though the computer or the smartphone you are using is not secure, hardware wallets provide another level of encryption against cyberattacks, phishing sites, and malware. A hardware wallet works with multiple blockchains simultaneously and lets users manage many types of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoins, etc at the same time. 

The hardware wallets also come with many conveniences. They are often small lug-in devices that are portable keys to access your crypto assets safely from anywhere. You can directly log in and log out based on your needs in the hardware wallet. Besides, your cryptocurrencies are never stored within the hardware wallet itself, they always live on the blockchain. Hardware wallets store the private key that unlocks your address on the blockchain. 

Hardware wallets have many positive implications on the cryptocurrency market. They reduce the risk of your bitcoin being compromised to hackers’ attacks by isolating your private keys from the internet. The private keys are immune to computer viruses that steal information from software wallets. We have listed some of the well-knowing bitcoin hardware wallets to keep your crypto assets safe.

Trezor Model T: Trezor Model T is an advanced cryptocurrency hardware wallet, designed to be the master access key to all your digital assets. The device can store and encrypt your bitcoin public keys, passwords, and other digital tokens with confidence. 

Ledger Nano S: Ledger Nano S supports over 30 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, and XRP. It allows users to manage multiple assets with the same hardware wallet. Users can also safely install and uninstall applications on their devices to optimize their capacity needs.

Coincide ColdCard: Coincide ColdCard is a bitcoin wallet that signs transactions to keep the private keys offline. The device never needs the touch of a computer. It can work entirely from a USB power pack or AC power adapter. It also comes with a handful of advantages on security and portability.