When you’re ready to purchase your first bitcoin, selecting a bitcoin wallet is a good way to ensure your investment is safe. Bitcoin wallets can protect you from security threats and may enableindependent control of private keys through important features. For example, Coldcard is one of the hardware wallets that serve as an encrypted device to store bitcoins offline. By increasing the level of security to fight against threats continually, Coldcard fights for you when you’re online. It can also use many other layers of protection, such as PINs, passwords, and seed phrases to protect your investment.
However, the industry for these wallets has been saturated with replica and low-quality optionsthat masquerade as secure storage tools. With increasing security threats and fraud in the cryptocurrency world, it’s important to look for the best hardware wallet that will actually keep your bitcoins safe. Not sure what to look for? Here are a few options that will help make certain your wallet has the ability to protect your bitcoin investment.
- Multi-sign Option
When sending bitcoins to your wallet, transactions are created and signed. However, to keep your bitcoins safe, you will need to use a wallet with a multi-sign option. This means you will need more than one signature to have a complete transaction.
Basically, the users involved in a multi-sign wallet are called copayers. Based on the type of wallet, the total number of signatures will be equal or lower to the number of copayers. For instance, a 2-3 is a type of mutli-sign wallet that three people share, but requires two signatures. On the other hand, 3-3 is a multi-sign wallet that three copayers share and requires three signatures.
- Features
Reputable wallets like Keepkey and Trezor are introducing new features to help keep your investment safe. Keepkey comes with the simplest and unsurpassed exchange integrations right in the interface. What’s more interesting about this hardware wallet, though, is that it scrambles the keyboard inputs necessary for enhancing security.
Trezorhas offered a few innovations, too. It is a combination of open-source, security, and accessibility code. This wallet is popular for allowing simple integration with cypherpunk-minded and third-party applications like Wasabi and Electrum Personal Server. In the future, Trezor’s provider anticipates additional improvements like added data encryption and an SD card backup feature. However, you can still evaluate other features in hardware wallets, such as:
- 100mAh battery
- USB cable
- Bluetooth functionality
- Warranty compliance leaflet
- Privacy
Hardware wallets can offer more protection by allowing investors private keys. These wallets also use encrypted chips, which resist the sophisticated threats and host many applications.
For instance, in Ledger Nano S wallet, you can use Secure Element (SE) chips. These chips can be incorporated with SIM cards and passports to secure private keys.
The Right Choice
When choosing the best hardware wallet for your bitcoins, security needs to be your top priority. As the cryptocurrency market continues to develop, it is important to evaluate the security aspects of different hardware wallets before determining other features. Don’t forget, though, to consider other factors like multi-sign and privacy options.