Which crypto wallet is best suited for securing your coins?
When investing in cryptocurrency, the aspect of security should not be neglected. As the value of the major coins increases, hacking crypto wallets has become more lucrative than ever for malicious thieves on the web. Lucky for us, there are two very safe storage opportunities out there.
Caring for and keeping your cryptocurrency investments safe has never been more important than it is today. Thankfully, there are many established organizations and startups that have provided the public with some great cryptocurrency storage options you can count on.
The two products that stand out in today’s market are Trezor and Ledger.
What are the Benefits of a Hardware Wallet?
Hardware wallets are a way to secure your tokens in a very effective manner. By storing your coins on these external devices, you are making sure that your coins stay safe even if your computed gets hacked or infected by a virus.
Hardware wallets also protect you from phishing attacks: Scammy websites that impersonate a legitimate cryptocurrency vendor. To access your tokens, you have to actually enter a PIN on the physical device. In case you loose the device, they can be restores using a so-called seed.
If you have some coins on you, it might be a good idea to secure them with a hardware wallet.
The Two Popular Types
The two most popular products are the Trezor and the Ledger. While they don’t actually store the coins (they are stored on the blockchain) they store your coin access keys and provide a secure way of communication with the blockchain.
Trezor
The Trezor looks like a USB stick and is a convenient way to store and access your cryptocurrency. It is always offline and can be used to transfer tokens elsewhere when needed. It is widely accepted by the Bitcoin community as one of the safest ways to store cryptos.
Ledger
Similarly, the Ledger also looks like a Flash Drive. It is designed to store digital currencies and secure them against potential online threats.
Appearance
Both the Trezor and the Ledger look like a USB stick device. The Ledger is slightly more robust as is comes enclosed in stainless steel. Both devices provide two buttons to control the device and a tiny screen to interact with the device.
Using the Devices
The Trezor is compatible with all desktops and mobile devices. It supports the three major operating systems MacOS, Windows, and Linux. Furthermore it is supported by Android devices. It features a clean and simple interfaces, that allows you to track transactions on the blockchain and monitor your balances.
Likewise, the Ledger is compatible with all three major operating systems and even has a Chrome extension for in-browser usability. The Ledger interface is well-designed and has an even smoother flow than the Trezor.
Both devices bring the advantage to the table of bundling together the different cryptocurrencies and having them secured in one place. This is simple and practical for the user experience.
Supported Coins
One of the most important factors that come into play are the supported crypos.
Trezor
Trezor can be used to hold a variety of digital coins such as:
BTC, LTC, DASH, ZEC, LTC, BCH, BTG, ETC, EXP, UBQ, XEM, DOGE, ERC-20
Ledger
Ledger can also be used to store multiple cryptocurrencies, exceeding the offering Trezor brings to the table:
BTC, BCH, BTG, ETH, ERC-20, ETC, LTC, DOGE, ZEC, XRP, DASH, STRAT, KMD, ARK, EXP, UBQ, VTC, VIA, NEO, XST, XLM, HSR, DGB, QTUM, PIVX, POSW
These are the currently supported coins as of May 2018. Please keep in mind that these lists change rapidly as new updates come out and are implemented into the wallets.
Conclusion
Both devices can be used to send or receive coins, view balances and securely store private wallet keys. The Ledger comes at a price of around $60 and the Trezor costs about $100.
Both devices cover a variety of tokens and more are going to be added in the future.
If you loose your wallet or corrupt it, the data can be recovered via a backup seed.
Both devices provide a high level of security, support many coins and have a great interface that makes interacting with the blockchain fun.
We hope this article could provide some valuable insight into the best cryptocurrency wallets out there and make your choice easier. Secure your cryptos today!
