Fellow industrial design student, seeking Veeky Forums's help and I have a question, the answer to which might not be that simple - why are hardware wallets needed? The ones such as Ledger Blue, Trezor and KeepKey, given the fact that the same service can be delivered trough a mobile app, ones in the like of BelugaPay and TenX. Why would you want a separate entity of storage when your currency is never actually off-the grid, and only the PrivateKey is? In other words, is it safer to store the PrivateKeys on a device such as Ledger Blue rather than simply on your mobile wallet? If so, why? Does the hardware device’s connectivity options (bluetooth, 4G) affect affect that?
Hoping to hear compelling arguments of why it is or isn't redundant. Yes, the presumption upon which this hypothesis is formed is one of cyptocurrency mass adoption - but indulge in my fantasy for a bit, would you?
Because if someone hacks your phone or computer with the private key, they can transfer the money to their own address.
Hacking a segregated hardware device is orders of magnitude harder, therefore keeping your private key there is useful.
Kayden Bennett
because you dont want to store a few thousand Dollar on a mobile device where the Source code isnt public, and then read something like that;
Cheetah Mobile Blockchain Research Lab found that Bitcoin.com (Bcash) Wallet stores mnemonic phrases in plain text format within the “/data/data/com.bitcoin.mwallet”
thats why, the only thing thats secure is a paper wallet dedicated hardware wallet or multisig wallet with a cold rasperry for a example
Asher Sanchez
it's useful because you can le lock le price my dear redditfriend XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Michael Anderson
>buy $2 USB stick >put seed in encrypted 7zip file >store 7zip file on USB
There, you just achieved the same thing without wasting your money on some retarded meme ledger
Justin Sullivan
rather than that, you should use KeePass and set the key transformations to like 1 billion. That way it'll be impossible to brute force since each attempt would take several seconds
Ayden Stewart
care to elaborate a bit on that? for the record, I have close to null expertise on coding and what encrypting on certain operating systems might entail. I'm guessing that given the fact that a hardware wallet is a closed enviorment, there are less possible niches to attack. My question is: is this due to the hardware components of said wallet? Or its "operating system" - if it even has that (i know ledger blue kinda does). And furthermore - does the potential integration of a 4G chipset reduce the level of security whatsoever? LedgerBlue has bluetooth connection, but you can only transact in tandem with your phone/pc. I'm looking into possible solutions of solving this drawback.
William Young
Can still be hacked if your computer has malware. Much harder for a hardware wallet.
Andrew Jackson
I can't be fucked with making a cold storage wallet or whatever. I'd rather just pay $100 for a ledger and know my crypto will be safe. It's really not that much in terms of securing tens of thousands of dollars in crypto.
Brody Harris
This, also hardware wallets are kinda fun, its like im in some cyberpunk future where we use flimsy plastic devices to store large sums of money.
Eventually Im sure most people will use mobile wallets but for now Id rather just use a little device.
don't use hardware wallets, trezor and ledger were both proven to be inherently flawed by design and company can program a backdoor, not sure about the rest but it's unlikely that they are completely safe
John Powell
They aren't needed. They're a stupid gimmick
Jaxson Watson
Ppl gonna respond with security, but deep down everybody knows that hardware wallets give you the feeling of owning your crypto. You can buy it on an exchange and export to a cold wallet, but unless you can see or touch the physical storage it doesn't feel like you own it
William Smith
The way I understand it, the key is generated off your computer. I know absolutely nothing about computer security and I almost guarantee my computer has some sort of malicious virus
Easton Sanchez
I like the idea of keeping your private key safe. How would normally sign a transaction in public while hiding your private key?
Xavier Ramirez
I'll concede, that's one instance where a hardware wallet might be convenient. But if you're using crypto in public in your daily life you should use a wallet separate from your main stash anyways. I find that reporpusing an old computer to be used exclusively as an airgapped wallet works better.
Jaxson King
>Airgapped wallet
What does that mean exactly? Excuse the brainlet.
Camden Powell
>wasting your money
Except access your coins is about 1000x easier when using a Ledger. When you have $200k in coins, paying $150 for easy or use and security is pretty much a no brainer. I had to restore my keys the other day and it was very comforting to see the way the keys were entered in random order on a separate device to ensure security.
Justin Clark
Airgapped means a computer that is not connected to any sort of network and won't touch anything that can be connectes. The only way to transfer data in and out of it is by physical storage types or direct input.
Landon Thomas
Another brainlet here, so a ledger has 1 seed phrase but has multiple addresses on various blockchains.
Does this mean that 1 key is used to create all these addresses? What if smb has the knowledge that one key is the source of 3 addresses on 3 blockchains? Won't thT reduce the brute force complexity?
Evan Perez
yo guys
my ledger actually just died on me and the amazon reseller is sending a new one, but they want me to send the old one back.
Is this safe? I feel paranoid about this especially after that exploit was found.
The ledger is dead so I have no was of wiping it either. my last resort i guess would be opening it up and pulling pieces out.
Mason Russell
>Is this safe? No
Matthew Carter
>using an amazon reseller initially Holy fuck user come on
Mason Garcia
Yea that's really pretty retarded. I wouldn't use the replacement either.
Chase Jones
i know, but this was over a year ago, and i was new and everyone said there was no way to tamper with these things back then.
i think ill just use the replacement to move my coins to new addresses.
Mason Martin
Well most likely (but not guaranteed) it wasn't tempered with. But the guy asking for your old one back? That's just unnecessary and cheeky, you should consider reporting him to either Amazon or the Ledger dudes maybe. I don't know if that would have any effect but... he certainly is not up to anything good with your old device.
Samuel Jenkins
Nothing can beat the stamped sheet of metal...
Jeremiah Baker
I'm getting bigger into this every day as I put more fiat in and I keep trading up the best I can. Won't be long before I stop gambling all-in and need to get my stuff off exchanges.
What's the most sure way to not get rekt? I mean how do I know I'm not being keylogged right now. If I set up a wallet, should I use a brand new computer from the factory? Shit, that could come with a backdoor too.
What do?
Michael Garcia
google cold storage wallet
Jaxon Ortiz
Why not use veracrypt
Zachary Baker
No need for a new machine. Get a clean harddisk. Goddamnit you noob, pay me 100k and I'll give you the rest of my advice.
Josiah Garcia
Except that when you actually want to use the coins , at some point you have to open the file on a PC, and that's where the trojan takes your shit
Hardware wallets, on the other hand, validate transactions all by themselves
Aaron Cooper
aren't there hardware or bios viruses these days?
Cooper Martin
IVe always wanted to make one just can never figure out how to for one and how to get stuff out of it
Ian Reed
I'm not 100% up to date but afaik no.. or well, there could be government backdoors, but you cannot protect your coins from the NSA anyway. Fine I'll give you the other hint for free, use Linux on your harddisk. And don't download any other shit. At best make it air-gapped but that's a lot of effort.
