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178 sats \ 11 replies \ @nullcount 6 Aug \ on: What is the benefit to a hardware device for cold storage? bitcoin
None at all! Hardware wallets are just "signing devices". Know what else can sign? Literally anything with a CPU!
Some HWW have secure element (i.e. a chip that can store your secret securely, even someone with access to the secure element will have difficult time trying to read the secret off the chip.) It could be "nice to have" a secure element, but IMO, you're better off keeping your secrets away from attackers in the first place.
And nothing screams "I HAVE SECRETS" like an expensive eye-catching device that was made for signing Bitcoin txns.
Some HWW have esoteric features like "Brick Me PIN" (so you can simply break your HWW and buy another one)
You don't have to think too hard to realize that HWW are scams. They advertise too much, they're overpriced for what you get, and they literally come with "features" that encourage you to buy more of them and discourage you from reusing or reselling them.
Learn to use commodity hardware like Android Phones and old PCs/Laptop in secure environments (by flashing secure firmware like GrapheneOS, or booting TailsOS from USB), do all your signing on airgaped (offline) devices running secure software and you should be fine.
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HWWs do, in fact, make it easier to achieve an airgaped secure environment. If you need to sign txns often, then maybe a HWW will be worthwhile investment.
Or if you're a highly targeted individual (like someone widely known to manage secrets for an exchange or whale) then you might benefit from the esoteric security features from HWW.
However, if you only need to sign once or twice per year (for example). Or if you're a pleb who isn't being targeted, then HWW might not make economic sense.
It might be more worthwhile to setup a secure airgap from scratch each time you need to sign. It maybe takes 10mins to download, verify, flash and boot TailOS, load your seed and sign.
None of this nuance is ever addressed in HWW advertising. They want you to believe its impossible to keep a secret without one.
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"Economic sense" oh gimme a break!
People here probably have thousand's, if not ten's of thousand's in Bitcoin, but $100 - $200 for a professional and secure way to store and access said funds aren't worthwhile?
"Economic sense" my ass, dude.
"I DIY'ed my own hww, but can't access it anymore, help" will probably be his next post 🙄
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Lol...hardware wallets cost more than my current amount of bitcoin... I'm not setting anything up now. I'm just trying to learn. 😀
unfortunately i agree with this. are hw wallets perfect?
no.
but for most non-techy people, which is the great majority, they are a huge improvement in security. flasing tails is probably above the knowledge level of most bitcoiners.
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