Are These Hardware Wallets Worth It? — Bitcoin Lockup
By: Crypto Renegade
Tags: Bitcoin, Hardware Wallet, Bitcoin Wallet, Crypto, Cryptocurrency

BC VAULT vs Ledger Nano X! In this comparison, we are going to do a head-to-head of two of the most competitive and popular new cryptocurrency hardware wallets in this edition of the hardware wallet roundups.

I am going to dive into which of these hardware wallets is better and more secure. How big is your portfolio? Do you need mobile AND desktop support? Do you use any 3rd party wallets for integration? Do you need web-based access instead of a required download?

These are all questions you will need to consider when deciding which of these wallets will be best for you. At the end of the day, the coin support is one of the most important factors (besides security) when deciding which hardware wallet is best for you.

Ultimately, if it doesn’t support the coins you want to store offline, it won’t work for your particular situation. So keep that in mind as we dive into what I consider to be the most important factors when making such an important decision, such as choosing a cryptocurrency hardware wallet.

The comes beautifully packaged with the device itself, a USB-C cable, a set of instructions and recovery seed cards. The previous bulky buttons that were on top of the device are now seamlessly integrated on it in a way that’s even a bit hard to notice. All in all a beautiful design. The primary features of this device are the bluetooth connection which allows you to manage this device using your smartphone via the iOS and Android app.

Additionally, you can now hodl, store, or manage up to 100 cryptos simultaneously, all without access to your desktop or laptop computer. This is easily it’s best new features, but aside from the upgraded storage capacity and the wireless connectivity, the device itself is now larger, has an integrated 2-function button, and an overall larger screen for verifying transactions. With a trusted device and a more universal charging cable, this makes it much more compelling to spend the extra money to store more coins and one that you can easily take with you as you travel.

Ledger is at the forefront of developing the industry’s device security. How? And in what ways?

CC EAL5+ SECURE ELEMENT

Only Ledger’s devices can claim the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI’s full certification.

The and both feature what is called a ‘secure element’. The chip seen below is the next generation chip that comes in the Nano X:

The secure chip meets the CC EAL5+ certification and run’s Ledger’s proprietary BOLOS operating system.

A Secure Element is a secure chip that…embeds intrinsic countermeasures against many known attacks. This kind of chip is tamper-resistant and protects your device to a range of different attacks.”

Honestly, the user experience is a massive upgrade from the Ledger Nano S. With that said, It has a few usability issues that I find to be quite difficult to overcome. Although this device is physically larger than it’s predecessor, it still has a fairly difficult to use early experience.

For example, the screen is still fairly small and still cannot accommodate a QR code for scanning. This may not seem like a big deal, but after using several hardware wallets, it really does make a big difference. Using a QR code is not only safer (because it removes the chance of error from manually typing in a wallet address), but it is incredibly faster and makes the entire of transacting offline, a much easier experience.

Although this device has stepped up the quality considerably from it’s latest iteration, I still feel that utilizing an all new form factor could have been beneficial and a little more innovative than replicating their 1st generation device with a few small tweaks.

The Ledger Nano X utilizes the “Ledger Live” dashboard which is a desktop application that allows you to manage all of your coins, portfolio, and potential trades in an easy to use application. You can use this on both an iOS or Android app as well as a desktop.

This app allows you to manage up to 1,100 coins that are supported by the device. However, only about 200 of them are “native” apps. This means that you can manage them directly within the Ledger Live app, without having to connect to a 3rd party wallet, such as MyEtherWallet or MyCrypto. I will leave a link with a list of fully supported coins.

Unlike most other popular cryptocurrency hardware wallets, like Ledger Nano X and Trezor Model T , you do not set up a recovery seed card before you initialize the device. In fact, there is a gyro sensor for you to randomly generate private keys by physically shaking the device (seriously).

You can also hold more than 2000 unique wallets within the web app, and can granularly set specific passwords for each one and setup multiple PIN’s to not only make it more secure, but also allows for an easy way to share the device and use Multi-Sig. In fact, this is the first device that natively allows you to use Multi-Sig on a per wallet basis and set multiple PIN’s.

This wallet does not use HD wallets, so each wallet has its own unique backup. This does make it more secure, however, if you lose or forget the global PIN and global password for the device, your funds are locked inside forever. They do have an encrypted QR code backup for each individual wallet, or you can create a backup on the included micro SD card that comes in the box.

The storage is reliable. The private keys have complete encryption and they are stored in the FRAM device. The FRAM is fully tamper-resistant and thanks to the reversible USB 3.0 Type-C connector any damage occurring from mechanical error is fully prevented.

In addition to the secure FeRAM that is securely encrypted, and the large display which is useful when confirming transactions, you have peace of mind not having to worry about anyone locating or using a recovery seed phrase to render your funds useless.

You can also import any private keys you have elsewhere via the SD card as well, so you can easily interchange private keys from other wallets if you have them in the correct format.

This wallet has some pretty unique features I will admit, and it’s pretty refreshing. For example, you can use multiple cryptocurrencies at once. There are no “apps” you need to install or fear or worry of running out of space that most wallets have when upgrading the firmware.

Additionally, the amount of coins and wallets that can be used/stored simultaneously is astounding. As mentioned above, you can have up to 2000 unique wallets and can interchange multiple cryptos in multiple wallets.

This is usually one of the most important factors when deciding on a hardware wallet (with the exception of security). If the wallet doesn’t currently support the coins you need to store offline, you can’t really take it too seriously as a deciding factor for purchase. Regardless of whether or not they claim to add more coins in the future.

Needless to say, they have some unique choices for coin support .

BC VAULT vs Ledger Nano X: Conclusion

Overall, these are two highly regarded hardware wallets with unique properties in its own right. If you want to have the flexibility of being able to use this device on the go and utilize it via a smartphone app, then you should go with the Ledger Nano X. If you want something that has a MASSIVE portfolio support and lots of customizable security, you should go with the BC VAULT.

At the end of the day, it really depends on your personal preference and what your immediate needs are. Now, I have used both of these devices extensively and I have a clear favorite (check out the details in the above video). If I only had to choose one of these devices, I would choose the BC VAULT, it has a very unique and strong security model, it can hold up to 2000 wallets simultaneously, and can support multi-sig, which allows for mutliple users to securely use the same wallet and requires a set number of users in order to send money.

Not only that, you can SECURELY share this device with multiple people as all of these wallets are encrypted and can have multiple custom passwords. I would truly feel confident handing this hardware wallet to my friend with over 10 BTC on it, because I know he will have no way to access the funds within my wallet. I can’t say that about the Ledger Nano X.

All in all, these both are great wallets and you ultimately need to decide what coins you need to store offline, how many coins you need to store at once, and if you need mobile support. These are all very personal, and in my case, I would rather sacrifice the mobile support to have a very easy to use multi-sig hardware wallet with the ability to share it with family, friends, or even a new business.

What do you think? Would you choose the BC Vault over the Ledger Nano X? BC VAULT vs Ledger Nano X! Let us know down below in the comments!

The Crypto Renegade

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BC VAULT vs Ledger Nano X (2020) | Are These Hardware Wallets Worth It?