(Background: hot and cold wallets. Please skip if you understand the difference)
It is very important to have control of your money especially if you have a large amount. Let's understand the differences between the two storage methods: hot and cold wallets.
Hot Wallets
Storing money on an exchange or software application (online or desktop) are examples of hot wallet storage. Your money is very accessible and can be used for exchanges or transactions very quickly. However, your money is also accessible to hackers (especially on exchanges). As best practice, keep small or no amount of money on exchanges. Also, always use a strong password and 2 factor authentication: 2FA.
Cold Wallets
Storing money on a hardware wallet or paper wallet are examples of cold wallet storage. Hackers cannot steal your money since you're storing your private keys off the internet and aren't prone to viruses/malware. A paper wallet consists of printing out a physical document that includes your public and private key. This method is good for very long term holding since you will need to manually input your private keys when you want to perform a transaction. On the other hand, hardware wallets are physical devices that store your private keys digitally and are more convenient for transactions than paper wallets. I'll compare two hardware wallets below:
Review: Trezor vs Ledger Nano S
The goal of this review is to provide the key differences between the hardware wallets: Trezor and Ledger Nano S, and to help you decide which is best for you.
- Supported by Trezor Wallet (wallet.trezor.io)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- DASH
- Zcash (ZEC)
- Bitcoin Cash / Bcash (BCH)
- Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
- Note: Follow set up directions from Trezor and you can send/receive these coins
- Supported by MyEtherWallet
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- ERC-20 Tokens
- Expanse (EXP)
- UBIQ (UBQ)
- Note: These coins are integrated with Trezor via the online platform, MyEtherWallet. You use can use your Trezor pin to access your accounts. Note that any transaction on MyEtherWallet will require Gas which is paid with Ethereum. (This is the transaction fee that is paid to the miners as an incentive to include your transactions in the blocks that they mine). To learn more, read this: What is Gas?
- NEM Nano Wallet
- NEM (XEM)
- Note: Follow the directions here: Nano Wallet
- Other (supported but no official software support)
- Namecoin
- Dogecoin
- Bitcoin Testnet
On the other hand...
*Overall, the Ledger Nano S can only store up to 5 coin types at one time. If you have a 6th currency, you will have to choose which 5 you'd like to store. (The Ledger Nano S set up directions will walk you through how to edit the 5 coin wallets on your device)
- Evidence that I own both devices -
Conclusion
Short and sweet - both wallets are easy to set up. I was able to set up and try out both on the same night (after work). They both have a recovery seed that will allow you to restore your wallets if you lose your hardware wallets. For pricing, the Trezor is about $35 more expensive.
Bottom line: Don't worry about which is easier to use or least expensive. If you have an amount of cryptocurrency that you would hate to lose, please purchase a hardware wallet. Purchase a Trezor if you only want to store the 'big' coins listed above. If you want to store altcoins (and the 'big' coins), then purchase a Ledger Nano S.
Here's where I bought my devices on Amazon: Buy Trezor and Buy Ledger Nano S
Personally, I use my Trezor to store: Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Ethereum (ETH). Then I use my Ledger Nano S to store: Ripple, Komodo, Ark, Neo, and Stellar.
*Remember that Ledger Nano S could also store BTC, LTC, and ETH; however, it can only store 5 types of coins at one time.
Ready for more tips? Join the picnic!
*Remember that Ledger Nano S could also store BTC, LTC, and ETH; however, it can only store 5 types of coins at one time.
Ready for more tips? Join the picnic!
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