So, you’ve bought Bitcoin. Now what? – GQ.com

So, youve bought Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) and hey! its shot up in value. Good for you. But what do you do with your digital money now? If youve made a serious profit, you might be wary of leaving it on an exchange such as Coinbase or stashing it in an online wallet (after all, North Korean hackers have reportedly stolen almost $90,000 of Bitcoin in the last two years). The most secure alternative is to take your currency offline altogether with a hardware wallet. This is a purpose-built, secure device for cold-storing the private keys that allow you to spend your digital currency. Two of the most popular are the Ledger Nano S and the Trezor, both of which employ open-source code (meaning that even if the companies were to fold, the devices would not be rendered obsolete). We tested them both

The Ledger Nano S looks like a USB stick, except it comes with a tiny screen that means you can operate it independently of your computer (as otherwise it would be vulnerable to malware). The controls are pared back to two buttons on the top of the device, which are used for everything from scrolling through menus to entering your PIN.

Set-up is simple. On-screen instructions take you through configuring your PIN and randomly generating your passphrase. The passphrase is important. If you were to lose or break the device, you can restore your entire balance on a new Ledger by entering this 24-word phrase.

Next, you download a set of Chrome extensions: a main device manager, and wallets for the different currencies you hold. Ledger currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum / Ethereum Classic, Ripple, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Zcash, Dash and Stratis. If you wish to send or receive currency you do so via these browser-based apps, and your Ledger will ask you to press buttons to confirm that you do indeed want to carry out that function. Without the Ledger plugged in, moving your currency is impossible.

Pros: This is a compact device that has found clever systems to make a two-button control system viable. It supports a multitude of currencies, and is the most affordable of the two hardware wallets on test.

Cons: The build quality on our model could have been better. The left-hand button often registered one click as two, and it encountered problems a number of times during setup, though we succeeded eventually.

61, ledgerwallet.com

The Czech-built Trezor which translates as vault in its native language has many similarities with the Ledger. It, too, has a screen that means you can use it to keep your money safe even on an infected computer, and operating it also comes down to two buttons. The set-up is similar as well its all about choosing a PIN and a 24-word passphrase that allows you to restore the device. How you interface with this dongle from your computer, however, is rather different.

Whereas the Ledger asks you to tap away on its buttons in order to input your PIN, the Trezor displays the numbers 1 - 9 in a random formation, and asks you to click the corresponding buttons on a digit-less pad displayed on your computer screen.

The Chrome app through which you control your Trezor and your wallets is slicker than the Ledgers. It involves opening fewer windows, and the visuals are rather more glossy though it essentially offers the same functionality. It feels like a more expensive product, and it is. The only downside is that, for now, it lacks support for currencies such as Ripple.

Pros: Higher production values, both in terms of software and hardware.

Cons: Fewer currencies supported.

76, trezor.io

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So, you've bought Bitcoin. Now what? - GQ.com