When I first got into cryptocurrency, I didn't know much about wallets; let alone hardware wallets. I would just buy my coins on Coinbase and hold them there. I would just send and receive from Coinbase. Honestly, I was afraid of sending coins anywhere else because I didn't know much at the time, and thought there was a chance my coins would get lost. Now that I've been in this for a little while now, I understand the importance of having full control over your investment. This means having control over your private keys. There are a couple of people who I have gotten into crypto that are still only using Coinbase as I did a while back. I have been trying to tell them about how important it is to get your coins off the exchange and into a hardware wallet.
For me, going straight from using Coinbase to a hardware wallet was instant. First, I started using software wallets such as the Exodus wallet. I love the Exodus wallet and still use it for alt coins to this day (wish they had ETC though). However, as the transaction fees started to climb, the cost of sending Bitcoin from the Exodus wallet became insane. Exodus claims to use only fast transaction times to avoid trouble calls with missing funds. Without the option to select my transaction speed, I was paying outrageous transaction fees. Sometimes the transaction fee was more than the value of the coins I was trying to send. So I decided that if I am going to be using a wallet, I need to have one that gives me full control and has more security.
After looking around on the internet at different hardware wallets, I decided to go with the Ledger wallet. At first, I purchased the Ledger Nano and had it shipped to my house. I've been using ever since and have been nothing but pleased with it. I started having my mining payout sent to the Ledger Nano and started seeing the micro-transactions in all the incoming payments. The ledger support site recommends to not sending mining and faucet payouts to the ledger because the chip within the wallet needs to verify all those small inputs when building an out going transaction. This could cause the chip to be over worked and burn out. I didn't want to accumulate hundreds, thousands, and even millions of micro-transactions on my wallet and have it burn up. So I decided to get a second wallet; the Ledger Nano S.
Today, I have both the Ledger Nano and the Ledger Nano S. The Ledger Nano is collecting my mining payouts and the Ledger Nano S is holding my coins for long term storage. I let a few day or so pass and collect some payments on my Nano. Then I send all the Bitcoin on it over the Nano S. This gets rid of the micro-transactions and puts larger inputs on my Nano S. When I do this, I am able to send using a slow confirmation time to reduce the transaction fees. It doesn't matter when the coins get there because I don't plan on spending the coins on my Nano S. I just need them to show up at some point before I die. By using 2 hardware wallets in tandem, I am always in control of my coins and I am always securing them the best I can.
It is now more important than ever to invest in a hardware wallet. There are viruses and malware that are ready and waiting for and vulnerability to steal your wealth. Plus, with the BIP 148 UASF coming up soon, it is important to have your coins on a wallet that supports Segwit. Ledger is one of those wallets.
I have been very pleased with my Ledger Nano and Ledger Nano S since day 1. If you are keeping your coins on a software wallet or worse, an exchange; it is in your best interest to make the switch and use a hardware wallet. The coins you are buying for fairly cheap today, could be worth a hell of a lot more in the future. You wouldn't put your life savings and precious metals in a wooden safe, right?
Ledger Wallet: https://www.ledgerwallet.com/r/b877
