One of the risks in the crypto space is on safe crypto storage
For the past few months, I have been hearing from most crypto quarters that it is worth the money investing in a hardware wallet as it will keep your cryptos secure. I would have never bothered about this if it were not for me now checking out defi stuff(better late than never) and I am hearing from everywhere to beware of the smart contract risks.
Beware of Smart contract risks and vulnerability of hot wallets for your crypto storage
Smart contract risks are basically risks on smart contracts, where their code can be exploited by hackers. This means that these hackers (bad hat obviously) can change/modify the smart contract code and get access to your funds on that smart contract.
Opps… so knowing this risk I never wanted to touch metamask, a hot wallet that’s not safe to keep too much funds or deposit funds into smart contracts of dApps.
Hot wallets with smart contract ability are essential to deal in DEFI
However, I see that to engage in DEFI you have to use hot wallets - metamask for Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Polygon and some other browser extension wallets for other Blockchains - Cosmos(keplr), Solana and Polkadot where DEFI ecosystems are spouting there.
Also once you engage in DEFI, it becomes addictive(: and it’s a niche in future we all will have to explore more and more as engaging in DEFI will become very common place as this DEFI market matures.
So, maybe it’s a good idea to get a hardware wallet for cold storage of your cryptos.
Ensure that you get into the original website of the wallet for wallet downloads
Till you feel convinced in getting that hardware wallet, please see that the hot wallet extensions you use are downloaded from genuine sources and not from phishing sites .
For example, check that your metamask wallet extension is downloaded from metamask’s original sites only - https://metamask.io/
One way to find the source website for these wallets - hot and cold (metamask, ledger etc) is to check details in trusted sites like https://www.coingecko.com.
For example using the coingecko web site I figure out information about Ethereum where information on wallets that have support for this Blockchain is given.
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum
Alternatively, we can find out the original site of Ethereum from coingecko and screen the website for wallets that’s been recommended to use . If it’s not there explicitly on the website, it will be there in the doc section, definitely.
I feel that we will be required to use these hot wallets anyways as support for many coins, won’t be there in the Hardware wallets, especially if we buy the cheapest available hardware wallet on sale as that itself is actually pricey..
I have been hearing about the Ledger wallet as the go to hardware wallet to have, although there are cheaper and other good hardware wallets like Trezor . However, if we intend to buy these wallets, we should purchase it only from their original website, yes.
Please don’t get them from any other source.
For, it’s commonplace for the crypto stealers to sell you a compromised hardware wallet, and once you put your funds there, it will be stolen. So always get your hardware wallet from the original hardware wallet’s website only.
For Ledger it is - https://www.ledger.com/ , for Trezor please go find out doing proper verification.
Ledger Nano S is being sold at a 30% discount!!
The reason, I am talking about the hardware wallet, Ledger now, is because Ledger Nano S, the most basic of available Ledger wallets, is available at a 30% discount now. You can read the details here - https://www.ledger.com/.
There is a dApps League deal till August 2nd where you vote for the dApp application you want Ledger wallet to support and get that 30% discount on the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet.
Possibility of accessing the DEFI space through the Ledger hardware wallet itself
https://shop.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s
This means that users can gain access to popular Blockchain dApps like AAVR, 1inch, Balancer through their Ledger devices soon, which will be safer than accessing dApps through hot wallets like Metamask.
dApp League activity to do for that 30% discount on Nano S wallet
All you have to do is copy the promo code of the dApp you want to vote for, and when proceeding to buy the Nano S wallet paste that promo code of the dApp on the discount code box before checking out your purchase from the cart.
Ledger website. Copy the promo code of your favorite app you want to vote for Ledger Nano S to support
Final thoughts
I have never used this Ledger wallet so I can’t give any review on it, but it works in conjunction with the Ledger Live app, which I reckon we have to download to use the wallet.
This Ledger wallet is the cheapest compared to its other models like the Ledger Nano X. Anyway… this is in no way a promotion of Ledger wallets, but just writing about this because there is a discount on Ledger wallets for those who want to purchase one.
Thank you for reading, would be glad to hear from hardware wallet users on their experience of using a hardware wallet like Ledger or Trezor for their crypto dealings.
Additionally, if you don’t have money to buy a hardware wallet, just ensure you do your crypto activities safely and get one when you make a lot of money in crypto or elsewhere. It’s ok, to just store your cryptos on desktop wallets like Atomic or mobile wallets like the Trust wallet out there till you can afford to get yourself a hardware wallet.
Here are free desktop wallet recommendations from Crypto educator Coin Bureua, some of these wallets let you dabble with DEFI and allow for staking.
Coin Bureau, also elucidates on hardware wallets we can buy once we decide to have one