Overview
The Ledger Nano S can store Bitcoin, Ethereum and a selection of altcoins. It’s built well with fully sealed plastic casing that doesn’t flex and is about the size of an old USB flash drive. It features two physical buttons and small LCD screen with a clear, crisp display that gives the Nano S a range of security improvements from it’s screenless friend the Ledger Nano.
In the box you will find:
- Ledger Nano S
- 1 micro-USB cable
- Lanyard for wearing device around neck
- One keychain and key ring
- Recovery sheet for writing down your passphrase seed
Price
The Nano S comes in at around $85 AUD (€58.00) and is the cheapest available hardware wallet with a screen, which I will explain the need for in the next section.
Ledger, the company that makes the Nano S is based in France but they have a factory that they ship from in Australia, which gives you a quick and cheap shipping option for your order.
**SmartBitcoin recommends you buy your wallet directly from Ledger, as hardware wallets purchased from eBay or bought second hand could be compromised.**
Why use a hardware wallet?
A paper wallet can be quite secure, until you want to use any of your bitcoins, as this requires entering your private key directly into your unsecured computer.
The main reason for using a hardware wallet is to keep your private keys fully isolated from your computer or smartphone (which can be compromised by malware or attacks by hackers) because you never actually have to type in your private keys when using a hardware wallet.
The Nano S is convenient, affordable, portable and totally secure. If you are holding onto a significant amount of Bitcoins, we highly recommend using a hardware wallet.
How does the screen help protect your Bitcoins?
The screen on the Ledger Nano S provides you with an extra layer of protection for storing your Bitcoins. There are two main ways that it can help with security.
The first is during the setup of your Nano S, it will provide you with a recovery phrase as a backup of your wallet in case of theft or loss. The phrase will be generated and displayed completely offline on the screen of your device, keeping it separate from your potentially compromised computer.
The second is the screen provides an extra layer of verification when sending payments, allowing you to confirm that the payment amount and recipient address are correct.
Privacy Features
The Open Bitcoin Privacy Project’s 2016 Annual report ranked Ledger’s wallets as the most private Bitcoin wallet on the market. The Nano S comes with a number of privacy features that make it the right choice for your bitcoins. They are as follows:
- Personal PIN code: When you set up your Ledger Nano S you enter you own 4 digit pin to keep you wallet safe if your device falls into the wrong hands.
- Physical Buttons: The buttons allow you to do certain operations directly from the device, like entering your PIN and confirming transactions.
- Secure Setup: The Nano S can be completely set up with a PIN and with your recovery phrase recorded before you ever connect it to a computer, meaning there is no chance of anyone getting at that information during setup.
- Advanced Passphrase Features: Since the firmware 1.3 update the Nano S can now manage multiple passphrases in same wallet. This means you can set up a secondary PIN that’s linked to a separate passphrase, so your larger Bitcoin wallets can be hidden if you are coerced or forced to access your device.
All of these added security measures mean that your bitcoins stay safe and secure even if you connect your Nano S to a computer or phone that is infected with malware.
Weaknesses
The only real issue with the Nano S is that many of features that I love about it can only be accessed after a manual firmware update which wipes your information from the device. This isn’t really an issue if your device is brand new and you update your firmware before setup, however it nullifies the secure offline setup feature.
This is being extremely picky with the product, but that’s why I’m writing this review.
**If you want to know more about process of updating the firmware on your Nano S, click here.**
Ledger Nano S Currency Compatibility
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum / Ethereum Classic
- Litecoin
- Dogecoin
- Dash
- Zcash
- Stratis
Conclusions
In my opinion the Ledger Nano S is the new standard of hardware wallets. It has all the features of other popular devices (like the Trezor and KeepKey) but it comes in at a considerably smaller price tag, which for me is enough to say it is my choice.