Do I need a cold wallet?

A hardware wallet isn't essential, no. You can leave the private keys for your crypto in the hands of a centralized exchange. But you risk losing access to your assets if the exchange becomes insolvent or gets hacked. You can also custody the private keys to your digital assets with a non-custodial wallet like Exodus or MetaMask .

Is a hardware wallet the same as a cold wallet?

Hardware wallets are sometimes called cold wallets, although hardware wallets are actually only a type of cold wallet. Another type of cold wallet is a paper wallet, which is a paper or metal device that stores your private keys.

Can hardware wallets store any crypto?

No. Different hardware wallets support different cryptocurrencies. For example, Ledger wallets can store the private keys to over 15,000 crypto assets, while the COLDCARD Mk4 can only store the private keys to your Bitcoin.

Which cold wallet supports the most coins?

Of the hardware wallets we reviewed, Ledger's support for more than 15,000 coins, tokens and NFTs puts its nose ahead of the competition. Popular cold wallet cryptos you can hold in Ledger wallets include bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE).

Which is the most secure hardware wallet?

Of the wallets we reviewed, Ledger wallets have a fairly strong security track record. Researchers have pointed out vulnerabilities in older versions of the COLDCARD wallet and the Trezor Model One, each of which has now been addressed by the wallets' teams.

Frank Corva, Writer at Finder

Frank Corva is business-to-business (B2B) correspondent for Bitcoin Magazine and formerly the cryptocurrency writer and analyst for digital assets at Finder. Frank has turned his hobby of studying and writing about crypto into a career with a mission of educating the world about this burgeoning sector of finance. He worked in Ghana and Venezuela before earning a degree in applied linguistics at Teachers College, Columbia University. He taught writing and entertainment business courses in Japan and worked with UNICEF in Nambia before returning to the States to teach at universities in New York City. He spent years as a publicist and graphic designer in the music industry, working for record labels like Warner Music Group and Triple Crown Records, and he's also a former music journalist whose writing and photography has been in published in Alternative Press, Spin and other outlets.