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What Are the Top 5 Best Ledger Wallet Alternatives?
There are many players within the hardware wallet sector of crypto, with Ledger perhaps being the most well-known of the bunch. For years, their hardware wallets have been considered one of the best ways in which to store your digital assets securely.
However they announced the launch of their Ledger Recover service earlier this year, which was controversial to say the least. This optional service essentially gives users a way to recover their wallet if they lose their device and recovery phrase. This has created a bit of an uproar within the Ledger community because it means third-parties can potential access your seed phrase. It seems against the ethos with which the company was built.
Let’s first dive into the controversy before giving you five Ledger alternatives.
Why Not Ledger?
The Ledger Recover program has to be opted into by users. They have to have their identity verified and pay a subscription fee in order to be a part of the program. Ledger Recover essentially breaks up and encrypts your private key, and then sends those pieces to various data centers for safekeeping. It theoretically gives users another back-up option in case they misplace their wallet or recovery phrase.
The issue for most Ledger users is that Ledger had long stated that there was no way to create a firmware update that would allow the private key to be exported from the device. Ledger Recover does just that, hence the hoopla.
However, the overall idea that this has made your Ledger device insecure is a bit blown out of proportion. First of all, you need to opt into the program for your device to even be able to do the function (and you could just not update your firmware if you’re really worried). This means that unless you opt-in, there’s not a lot of risk (and even if you do, the risk is still low).
Second of all, in order for someone to force your Ledger device to do this, they’d need your Ledger device, meaning that as long as you keep your device safe, there’s no chance that it’s just going to transmit your private key out into the world. Even if a bad actor did get a hold of your device, it would still be incredibly hard for them to get in and take advantage unless they knew your device pin. So, the device itself is still safe as long as you take ample precautions as the owner of it.
Finally Ledger has decided to postpone the launch of Ledger Recover until publishing a white paper with open source code so that users can just for themselves.
With that in mind, let’s look at five Ledger alternatives.
The Best Alternatives to Ledger
Here’s a look at the five best Ledger alternatives. Keep in mind these are all hardware wallets as we’ve decided to skip free wallet apps as they aren’t really a viable substitute for a cold wallet like Ledger.
Trezor Model One
The Trezor Model One was created by SatoshiLabs in 2014 and was the first cryptocurrency hardware wallet in the world. It’s Trezor’s basic hardware wallet that comes at an affordable price of $69 USD and can store over 1,000 digital assets. Trezor has their built in Trezor suite that allows users to buy, sell, and trade crypto assets directly within the wallet application.
Your private keys are stored and isolated inside the Model One, keeping them offline. You also need a PIN code to access the hardware wallet, and all your transactions must be confirmed by pressing physical buttons on the wallet.
An extra security feature is that you can create a separate account within the wallet that’s protected by a passphrase. You can store whatever assets you wish here. If your PIN is compromised, whatever is stored in this separate account cannot be accessed without the passphrase.
Trezor Model T
The Trezor Model T was released in 2018 by SatoshiLabs and is their higher end hardware wallet offering. It has all of the same features as the Model One, but rather than having a small screen and physical buttons that you need to press, it has a color touchscreen that is used for all the functions.
It can support more digital assets than the Model One and also offers USB-C so you can connect to a mobile device.
Tangem Wallet
The Tangem Wallet is a different type of hardware wallet in the sense that it’s not a device, but rather a card with NFC communication. It’s quite affordable, with a price point of $55 USD for two of the cards, or $70 for 3. As a stark contrast to most other wallets, Tangem initially launched without an option for recovery phrase, meaning that your 2nd and/or 3rd cards are your back-ups.
Tangem’s argument was that recovery phrases are just another attack vector for hackers or thieves. That’s debatable but the company recently introduced an option for recovery phrases on the device so if you really want a recovery phrase you can have one.
If you decide to go without a recovery phrase the advantage is that you don’t have to worry about keeping a wallet and recovery phrase safe. But if you lose both your 2nd and/or 3rd cards then you’ve likely lost your crypto.
The Tangem Wallet allows you to swap crypto assets using 1Inch integration, and connect to dApps using the WalletConnect feature. The Tangem Wallet supports over 6,000 crypto assets across 30 blockchain networks.
Ellipal Titan
The Ellipal Titan is a fairly high-end hardware wallet that comes in at a price of $169 USD. It’s the world’s first air-gapped cold storage wallet that is fully metal sealed and tamperproof. The Ellipal Titan uses QR codes for data transmission and does not rely on connections such as USB, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth reduces attack vectors for bad actors. Using the Ellipal App means transactions are seamlessly performed with a few QR scans.
The Ellipal Titan has a 4-inch touchscreen display and a built-in camera for scanning the QR codes. Your private keys are stored safely offline with no way to be connected to the internet and therefore safe from hacks. Trying to break open the wallet causes considerable damage and it deletes all private keys when a break is detected.
KeepKey
KeepKey is an affordable hardware wallet that is offered by ShapeShift after they acquired the company in 2017. ShapeShift’s exchange integration is one of the main features of the wallet. The wallet itself costs $49 USD when on sale (often), or $79 regularly. It’s a basic hardware wallet that has a large display and basic 12-word recovery phrase backup. Your private keys never leave the device, and it’s PIN protected. It’s also virus and malware proof because there is no operating system. KeepKey supports most blockchain networks and their assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more.
