VLOG 196: HARDWARE WALLETS ARE SCAMS

in #trevonjb7 years ago

Now, todays video may be a little controversial as I have never heard anyone come out with this opinion on Bitcoin hardware wallets. But hey, it's my opinion. I think hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies are scams. And in todays vlog I talk about why. Release the trolls!

Enjoy!

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Maybe they are not scams but I don't like them.

Tre gone say what he wanna say......

Wrong. If you are storing more than a few thousand dollars in crypto assets, they are definitely the smartest way to keep your keys safe.

A hardware wallet simply stores your private keys on a secure hardware device. Unless you are keeping the only copy of your private key on a piece of paper. Nothing is more secure.

The whole point is the private keys don't leave the device.


They are immune to viruses or anything along those lines. The keys can not be removed from the secure element. Even if you use a paper wallet to keep your private keys, you have to import them into software at some point.

Even if you break your hardware wallet, and you have the key phrase you are completely secure. You lost your money because you failed to have a recovery method. Keeping your BTC on your offline computer

They are not a scam...

Your also not including the fact that at least for the trezor, it has an on board real random number generator chip. This ensures that the signatures do not expose your private keys. Most software uses a psudo random number generator, which has caused many people to lose coins and causes people to generate keys that sometimes already have crypto on it! To date no one has hacked the coins from a Trezor device when used properly. It offers more redundancy then a simple paper wallet as well, especially if you use a safe deposit box.

Well yeah mostly.

There is no such thing as a real random number generator.

Followed ya. You know what your talking about. Need more of that on steem.

So following this logic wouldn't it be just as fair to say, "I lost my bitcoin private key - bitcoin is a scam." -
They are not a scam.

.

If it breaks you can get another one and restore it with your personal passcode and seeds.

Thanks for the heads up!

Been thinking about getting a hardware wallet recently. I'll give it more thought

Hardware wallets are the best /sarc😂😂😂

Sorry dude...don't agree with this one AT ALL.
I believe the safest way to keep your private keys safe are in a hardware wallet where even you don't know them.
Even if your laptop/PC is infected with malware, my understanding is that the wallets are supposed to protect your private key info because they're stored on the wallets themselves and not copied or cached to the laptop/PC when you're making a transaction.

  1. Ensure your recovery password(s) are kept safe in a couple of places (think about using something like cryptosteel where your recovery phrase is etched in resistant metal) so if you need to configure another wallet to access your crypto accounts you can.
  2. Incorporate a 'duress' account on the wallet where you effectively keep your main crypto holdings in an account whose recovery is protected by one further password which you'll only ever remember in your head and a 'duress' account you can access in times of a brute force attack (e.g. man standing over you with a crowbar demanding crypto with menaces).

Just in time as I was just thinking about buying one. But you made it clear I don't need it. You are a moneysaver!

Thanks for clearing that up. No need to be paying extra for a false sense of security, especially when a paper wallet serves the same purpose. I had been going back and forth about it but you just convinced me to go the paper route and just secure my codes.