Shapeshift’s New Platform Launches Today! (July 2020)

By Zach — 5 years ago

It’s finally here! Shapeshift’s New Platform launches today! I have been using their beta platform for several months now reporting bugs and helping add some user friendly features by reporting feedback and ways to improve this brand new non custodial platform. I wrote a pretty in-depth review of the beta a few weeks back, so I won’t rehash the entire user experience here, so I will link that review so you can get the nitty-gritty details HERE.

This is an exciting time for cryptocurrency in general. Facebook is launching a controversial new coin called “Libra”. The government has sent a request to have the development of it stopped so they can review it and “approve” it before it’s released. The audacity of this, as if they have any say in what private organizations can and cannot work on is baffling, but I digress.

I will briefly detail below some of the key features and benefits of using this platform and non custodial exchange for all your crypto asset management.

Trade Assets Offline

The cornerstone feature here (in my opinion) is the fact that we can perform trading assets while having our private keys kept completely offline via the KeepKey (Or Trezor). They are also planning to add Ledger support soon as well, but the easiest hardware wallet to use is by far the KeepKey, as it was the primary wallet used during beta.

As you can see above, the dashboard is very streamlined and easy to view and manage the assets you can trade, view the balance and the price, view market cap, and so much more. The ability to have all the information I need in one place is very convenient. additionally, I can view my portfolio without having my hardware wallet present. In fact, I only need it to sign a transaction. Once you sign, you can disconnected it and it will be transferred to your wallet balance immediately and be reflected next time you connect.

Shapeshift has really thought of the user experience and making it easy for anyone of any skill level and knowledge of crypto to safely manage their private keys and learn how to trade using this platform. Now that the platform is out of beta, they will be focusing on adding more assets being added to the platform for trade and asset management. As this is also a trade engine, as well as a portfolio manager, incorporating more detailed analytics will only improve upon this foundation.

Manage Your Portfolio In One Location

Here are some of the touted features of this platform, and why you should sign up for free HERE:

1.) Shapeshift Trading – You can seamlessly buy, sell, or trade dozens or crypto assets directly in the platform. Trading is non-custodial, so there is no need to trust a third party. This is a MASSIVE plus and a differentiator from any other exchange out there.

2.) Hardware Security – Utilize the best practice of offline security. Retain control of your private keys while enjoying an intuitive web interface. This is the best of both worlds and I will add that this is not currently possible on any other hardware wallet platform currently.

3.) Real Time Market Data – Get real-time market prices and historical data without ever having to leave the interface. This means no extra tabs or historical charts from any other 3rd-party site that you have to toggle between to get the data you need. This allows you to enjoy a beautiful ad-free experience.

4.) Portfolio Performance – Visualize your portfolio performance through graphs, sparklines, and real-time value movement. View your dashboard balances at anytime, anywhere. Your hardware wallet only needs to be connected for signing transactions.

The video below gives you a quick demo of how this works. It truly is a unique hardware wallet experience.

Shapeshift’s New Platform: Conclusion

After personally testing this platform and providing feedback and improvements for several months, I am very proud of what the Shapeshift team has accomplished. I am also excited to see how it expands with other hardware and new features and coins that will be added. There is NO other exchange that offers non-custodial trading, and to me that is a HUGE deal.

Part of “Becoming Your Own Bank” means maintaining full control over your funds at all times and not having to put trust in anyone but yourself. Self sovereign finance is the way of the future, and that is very exciting to see how this will continue to play out as adoption continues to snowball.

***CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FOR 50% OFF FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY***

Just click the above link and use code “GENESISFOX” at checkout

What do you guys think? Are you excited for the revolutionary change in asset management? Let me know in the comments below!

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links. This adds no cost to you but it helps me focus on giving as much value as possible in every single post by being compensated for recommending products that help people succeed.

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KeepKey Review: Is It Better Than Ledger? (2020)

By Zach — 5 years ago

In this article, I will give you a deep dive into the KeepKey wallet and provide you a review of my personal experience thus far with a keepkey review. I started using KeepKey about 3 years ago and boy has it come a long way. At first it was the simple bitcoin wallet that only supported about 6 coins, and was the easiest wallet to use at the time (including Trezor and Ledger). It’s selling edge was the physical wallet itself which is a nicer aluminum finish and clean and upscale look and significantly differed from the flimsy plastic Trezor and Ledger presented you out of the box.

As a result, it was priced as such, and many people would not pay more for a device that only supported 6 coins. In 2018, it started adding 3rd party wallet support, like MyEtherWallet and MyCrypto.com and ERC-20 tokens. In this review, I will go over what has changed since then and ultimately if this wallet is the best choice for you or not.

I also recommend you download my free e-book that I just wrote that gives you some expert tips on how to secure your cryptocurrency and ensure you are protected for the next bull run. You can click the link above to gain access now, and it will only help you on this crypto journey. Addtionally, I recently wrote a detailed review on the new ShapeShift platform, that will have elements of it woven into this review as they both utilize the KeepKey wallet to operate. Let’s get started!

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY REVIEW: WHAT COMES IN THE KEEPKEY BOX?

First off, they have a really solid presentation. The box is a quality box and is sealed by an anti-tamper sticker to indicate if the box has attempted misuse or access to it. Secondly, it comes with the following items in the rectangular apple-esque box:

-Nylon Woven USB to Micro USB cable

-2 Recovery Seed Cards

–KeepKey Hardware

-Getting Started Guide

The device itself is rectangular and only has one singular button on the top right used for signing and authorizing transactions. This is why it can be defined as the simple bitcoin wallet and is mechanical in design. Overall, this is a non-nonsense wallet that is made up of solid, sturdy construction and is physically larger than the Ledger and Trezor wallets.

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY REVIEW: WHAT COINS ARE SUPPORTED?

Natively, this wallet in the current beta form supports over 40 assets with more on the way! Here is a current list of assets that are supported right now. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty. For years, KeepKey only supported: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Namecoin, Dogecoin, and Dash. For a hardware wallet that needs to compete in this market place, that needed a serious upgrade.

Luckily, they have been making some AMAZING changes and not only added a ton of ERC-20 Support, but more importantly, they are revamping their entire platform to have one fluid, seamless application that integrates all of their core services (See my previous post for details on this). This is extremely powerful, and a decision that I believe will catapult them ahead of the competition. They are currently in a closed beta, and it is expected that they will be releasing this later in 2019. Stay tuned for news on this.

Some of the notable coins that have been added are:

-DigixDAO (DGD)

-Binance Coin (BNB)

-Dai (DAI)

-Maker (MKR)

-TrueUSD (TUSD)

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY REVIEW: HOW TO SETUP THE DEVICE

This information will be outdated soon, but I will leave a link to the current setup and initialization of the device as of June 2019 for most people here. I am more interested in talking about my experience with their new unified platform that will be released to the public shortly. Essentially, once you take the KeepKey out of the box and plug in the USB, it will prompt you to download the firmware updater and initialization steps once you login to your account. Currently, this is done on beta.shapeshift.com.

Once you have updated the firmware by plugging it in and holding down the single mechanical button as you disconnect and re-connect, it will process the update for you very quickly, usually within about 30 seconds. From here it will connect your KeepKey and there will be an animation in the top right of the dashboard letting you know it’s current status and then prompt you for the pin that is randomized every time it’s plugged in to ensure you have proper access to the device.

Once you’re validated, you can trade, view your accounts, and send/receive from your existing accounts and it’s a seamless process that will prompt for your PIN again to make any changes. I will leave a photo below for you to see the dashboard layout and it is very clean.

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY REVIEW: SECURITY

KeepKey has a true random number generator (TRNG) for it’s PIN interface for extra physical security. In addition to offline storage, KeepKey’s PIN code and number randomization makes sure that

1) Your wallet is secure from physical theft.

2) That a hacker couldn’t steal bitcoins from your wallet with malware.

KeepKey is an HD wallet, meaning your entire wallet can be backed up with the 12 words generated on setup. 12 words is the default setting, although KeepKey supports seed lengths of 18 and 24.

The seed is generated using entropy from both the device itself and the computer used for setup. The seed is generated offline on the KeepKey and displayed on the device’s screen. The device’s offline screen makes sure the seed is never displayed on an internet-connected device.

You can recover your wallet using the backup seed if your device is lost, stolen, or damaged. Recovery can be done in this new beta platform, but it has yet to be released on the current version. Make sure to keep multiple backups of your seed and use a metal recovery seed backup for extra protection.

The wallet’s screen allows you to sign and confirm the transaction on the device itself, so you can verify the address matches when sending on the web app and the device to prevent unauthorized bait and switches, but does not prevent phishing attacks.

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY AND SHAPESHIFT: USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

As you can see in the interface, besides the assets list on the left, most people like to trade within the app. All this is done within the app, so your private keys are never exposed online or to a 3rd party, which again, makes this new platform EXTREMELY compelling.

Additionally, unlike most exchanges you do not need pre-designated trading pairs that are usually defaulted to BTC. This means you can trade from altcoin to altcoin without having to trade back into BTC first, which will save you a ton on trading fees.

You can also buy crypto directly in the app via Wyre and can do a bank transfer that takes only 1-3 days and with only minimal fees. This is a huge advantage over Binance or other exchanges that charge exorbitant fees to have it done via a credit card and pay a lot more for that instant gratification. Again, when you do this, the private keys will go directly on your KeepKey so they are never exposed to the internet , even for a second.

Finally, here is a glimpse of the assets list. At the time of this screenshot, I only had 2 assets for testing and I haven’t tested this with bitcoin directly and dealt with DOGE and SNT at the time. I have since distributed that between about 9 different assets and have had a good experience with seamless trades that all end up on my hardware wallet, instantly after signing and authorizing a trade.

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

KEEPKEY REVIEW – CONCLUSION

In the end, I still would take the KeepKey over the Ledger if I had to choose. The Ledger Nano S only holds 3 or 4 apps at the same time, and if you plan to expand or add more, you will have to remove and uninstall what you have to make room. KeepKey does not have this storage issue.

As mentioned above, with KeepKey will not give you this issue and you can trade assets very seamlessly and without the need to give up your private keys over top an exchange. This is a HUGE advantage and not one that any other hardware wallet can compete with. Having a non-custodial wallet is key and having one that is designed to never expose the private keys is even better.

The UX has been greatly improved and you can actually initiate a trade, sign the transaction on the device, and then unplug and off you go. You do not need to wait for the trade to take place, which is super convenient. Right now it costs $79 and is only 20 bucks more than the Ledger. It feels like it should be worth twice that since the quality you get is superior. Honestly, if you asked me which wallet should I choose a year ago, and is KeepKey is better than Ledger?

I would’ve said “No”. But, this new user interface and overall experience managing your assets all in one place and one screen, and not needing to install and uninstall several applications is unbeatable. Using their beta and testing their new platform has been a great experience and one that I would recommend to my closest friends and family at this point. Even if you are brand new and don’t have much experience. KeepKey is the best choice for a hardware wallet right now in 2019.

CLICK HERE TO BUY KEEPKEY FROM SHAPESHIFT’S OFFICIAL SITE DIRECTLY

***Leave a comment below and I will message you a coupon for 50% off for a limited time only!***

What do you think? Which hardware wallet is your favorite and why? Sound off in the comments below!

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

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ShapeShift’s Brand New Platform – Review (2020)

By Zach — 5 years ago

In this article, I will review Shapeshift’s brand new platform! I’ve always been a fan of ShapeShift, and in fact, Erik Voorhees is one of the inspiring figures that helped get me into the crypto space to begin with, as we share a lot of the same fundamental philosophies on freedom and liberty. That’s why I was thrilled and honored when I was asked to join the private beta to test out the new platform, especially since I have a KeepKey and I use it frequently to manage my crypto on a regular basis.

It did not disappoint.

**Keep in mind that this is currently in BETA, and is not finalized in terms of design, complete look and feel, or full functionality**

This is a complete overhaul that includes all of their services including: Instant Trades, Real-Time Market Data via CoinCap, In-App Crypto Purchases, and KeepKey Integration. That last part is of particular interest to me because I’ve wanted to find a way to execute purchases and trades while having my KeepKey connected, while ensuring that my private keys are protected throughout the entire process.

This is a very important detail, especially if you want to make purchases online with that extra protection and also ensure that my private keys are never compromised in a trade. This truly is the ultimate non-custodial hardware wallet solution. Here’s a few screenshots and user flows based on my experience using this web app.

When first gaining access to beta.shapeshift.com, you will be asked to register for a trading account (if you haven’t already), so that you can seamlessly use the trade feature in the dashboard when your KeepKey is connected. Second, you will plug in your KeepKey and it will notice you will need a new firmware update to “Pair” your KeepKey to the new platform.

This will require a few steps of plugging in the device and unplugging it a few times to confirm this upgrade. Additionally, it will pull up the random number generator here so you can enter the PIN that is listed on the device screen to sync and authenticate your device and session.

This where the fun begins.

Shapeshift Beta

(PRO-TIP: You can view all of your transaction history, assets, current prices of assets and contents of your KeepKey WITHOUT having it plugged in. This can provide you a quick snapshot of where everything stands, even if your device is not present)

As you can see below, this a very clean, simple, and easy to user interface. You have all the key information at a glance that you need to manage your portfolio. It show’s your asset allocations, any losses or gains of your combined assets in real time, and the most recent transaction history below the chart. In the top right, it will show if your device is synced and connected, and will show your current fiat value of each individual asset if you drill down, or the combined asset value as a whole. At a glance, this is the information most people need to decide what action they need to take next.

ASSETS

The assets you see here are just a handful of the assets that are supported. If you would like to see the full asset support list, click here. At the top, you will see the 2 assets I have been using to test this software in order from the most USD value, to the least on my KeepKey at the time. The assets that you see below that are greyed out will show you what’s supported and available for you to receive on your KeepKey when ready. Each asset breaks down the charts over time in terms of price and you have a toggle view with the balance. Pretty slick.

TRADE

The trade feature is super easy to use and automatically calculates any minimums or fees needed in order to execute a trade, almost instantly. One thing I will point out is that some assets that are supported on the KeepKey itself, may not be available to trade via the ShapeShift platform, like SPANK for example.

If your particular coin is not showing in the drop down menu when swapping assets, it simply means it’s not supported on the ShapeShift trade engine. Another key feature is that all trades are executed on the KeepKey device directly, so you don’t have to risk exposing your private keys while they are in transit. This is a mix of the classic ShapeShift trade engine, but is simplified and integrates with your hardware wallet very seamlessly.

PURCHASE

This is done via a new feature they have been testing out with a button “Buy Crypto $” at the top, next to “Send” and “Receive”. This is facilitated through Wyre, which is a 3rd party platform that you can purchase crypto with your bank account or credit card. I have not tried this feature yet, but I plan to shortly. This is just another great design decision where you have a platform with both on and off-ramp needed for users or all levels.

As you can see in the screenshot, you can buy Bitcoin, Ether, or DAI to get started and you will have an array of options to trade with directly on the platform once you’ve completed this process. Now, you can easily receive any amount of crypto with any of the supported assets on this list directly to your KeepKey (or without) that you have at another address. You also can receive any amount to the platform and once you connect the KeepKey, your private keys will automatically be transferred onto your device, and will update the dashboard when it syncs.

One thing that really makes this trading platform special is the fact that you are not restricted to trading pairs. for instance, when you are wanting to trade multiple coins and you’re on Binance for example, you need to first get BTC, then from there you can trade into any altcoin they support. Here, if you have a supported coin, you can directly swap it for another and not have to default back to BTC in order to pull the trigger. That’s a game changer for me.

STABLE COINS (EASTER EGG)

This was a pleasant surprise to find that assets are able to be converted into various stable coins directly in the system. This is especially helpful if you are trying to lock in profits on a recent trade and have it stand idle until you either decide to invest your profits into another asset or simply wait for another trade.

Unlike the Ledger Nano S that only lets you hold a handful of apps on your device at one time, this allows you to have any assets private keys on a single device at any given time. As seen above, they also feature DAI (Ethereum’s Stable Coin) as well that is a very welcome addition to the stable coin list.

Below are some caveats and things that will hopefully be added over time. I am already thrilled by how my beta experience has been so far and I know that it will only continue to get better and better.

[One Caveat: You cannot complete any trades unless your device is there to sign and confirm the transaction.]

WISH LIST:

It would be nice to facilitate a trade from the ShapeShift mobile app to lock in a trade price on the go and then sync the private keys when I logged in via the web app

Support multiple browsers: Currently the WebUSB function in the beta only supports Chrome as a browser. I hope they widen this to Firefox (No pun intended), and hopefully Brave soon. I understand they do not currently support WebUSB yet, but the request has been put in.

Allow me to view my balance with “Satoshis” instead of fiat. At very least you should be able to toggle between the denominations and should support us looking at pricing in those terms.

The ability to label certain accounts on transactions. For instance, if I receive a transaction from another exchange or wallet to my KeepKey as in coming transaction, it would be nice to customize and label the transaction for my records. (i.e. savings/day-to-day spending/groceries, etc….)

At this point, these are just nice-to-have’s and with that said, this is just the first iteration of the beta. I am sure there are many new features and integrations planned for the future to make this even better, but that takes time and developer resources to properly implement them.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE KEEPKEY DIRECTLY FROM SHAPESHIFT!

CONCLUSION:

I don’t think I’ve been this excited when using my hardware wallet, since I first discovered them in 2016. There is no doubt that I have a new favorite user experience and I plan on helping improve this process in any way that I can to help inform people the best and easiest way to manage their portfolio and private keys.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE ACCESS TO THE NEW SHAPESHIFT

You will be BLOWN away.

(PRO-TIP: Once you sign up via my link, you will get your own referral link. If you refer 5 people via your link and they sign up for a ShapeShift account, you will be given a code for a FREE KeepKey, in case you don’t already have one.)

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

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KeepKey Vs. Trezor Vs. Ledger: Which One Should I Buy? (2020)

By Zach — 5 years ago

In this review, I will go over all 3 primary hardware wallets and see the show down of KeepKey Vs. Trezor Vs. Ledger. People always ask me when they realize they need to start taking their private key security seriously is “Which hardware wallet should I buy?“ This questions has been presented to me hundreds, if not thousands of time, and there is no one real “clear” answer.

It ultimately depends on which coins you want to store and how you want to access them. Do you plan on trading your coins often? Are you simply just trying to “buy and hold” for several months and several years, like a set and forget situation? Are you planning on using the wallet to “bake” or use to contribute to the blockchain on proof-of-stake (POS) networks?

While these are all valid questions, I personally have all 3 wallets and use them regularly. Why? Well, aside from being in the industry, and needing to stay up to date on these devices and their features and capabilities, the main reason is to diversify. What do I mean by this?

Well, if you have (or plan to have) significant holdings, it is smart not to have all of your coins or private keys on one wallet, just in case. Now I’ve created a free e-book that explains how to avoid this which you can get for free HERE, but ultimately if you are in the market for a wallet for the first time, I will tell you the wallet I like to use the best right now in May of 2019.

KeepKey VS. Trezor VS. Ledger

Stay tuned below for the final result, but I go over some pros and cons of each device below. They all are very secure and safe to use, but it really just comes down to preference and really how often you decide to interact with the device. Let’s get right to it!

#1 TREZOR

The latter is a larger device with touch screen and is operated by a “Beta” wallet that supports over 1,000 coins between it’s native applications and 3rd party integration. Most recently, they added NATIVE support (which is a huge upgrade in my opinion) for Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). This means it is connected to its unique application that was custom designed by Trezor to manage your ETH accounts directly in the app. Previously, any ETH or ERC-20 based token required to use a 3rd party wallet, which was annoying and cumbersome.

I understand there is a lot of development work that goes into creating and managing any native app, but Ledger and Trezor already had native support for this, (as they should) considering it’s been in the top 3 coins by market cap consistently for years.

Trezor Model T however, is a massive upgrade and adds not only native support for multiple coins, but has added security in the form of a PIN entered in on the touch screen of the device instead of the web app used on the web application. This upgraded device was used for several new features including a password manager and multiple additional security options and ease of use for recovery options on the device itself. Very powerful. Below is the overall feeling I have about the device(s) and the overall team behind them.

Bottomline: They have upgraded some basic functionality, which is good, and to their credit they have added support for some coins that really need it, such as Monero and Tether. This is of course when their team collaborates and helps build a supported wallet to tie into their code base. They have been building a foundation for the future and that is going to work in their favor as soon as each coin’s respective development team decides to catch up.

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Binance Coin (BNB)

-Monero (XMR)

-Cardano (ADA)

-Ravencoin (RVN)

-Tether (USDT) *Stable coin*

#2 KEEPKEY

Keepkey has always been a favorite of mine, as it’s a solid design and very sleek and stable frame that just feels good when you hold it in your hands. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty. For years, Keepkey only supported: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Namecoin, Dogecoin, and Dash.

For a hardware wallet that needs to compete in this market place, that needed a serious upgrade. Luckily, they have been making some AMAZING changes and not only added a ton of ERC-20 Support, but more importantly, they are revamping their entire platform to have one fluid, seamless application that integrates all of their core services (See my previous post for details on this).

This is extremely powerful, and a decision that I believe will catapult them ahead of the competition. They are currently in a closed beta, and it is expected that they will be releasing this later in 2019. Stay tuned for news on this.

Bottomline: Keep an eye out for the newest upgrades and the new platform that is coming soon. I hope to gain access to the private beta soon, and if given access, I will ask permission to write a review for your guys. *UPDATE* I have gained access to the beta and have tested it thoroughly, please see below.

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Basic Attention Token (BAT)

-DigixDAO (DGD)

-Augur (REP)

-Polymath (POLY)

-TrueUSD (TUSD) *Stable coin*

#3 LEDGER

Ledger is considered “The most recommended hardware wallet” on the market. The simple reason for this is because it’s cheap (low barrier to entry) and they have been working on upgrading their infrastructure and recently released Ledger Live, which is their new desktop (and iOS) application for managing all of your coins. This is much better than their previous solution of using a chrome extension to access the UI, but Ledger Live is not without it’s quirks.

You will want to make sure you choose your coins wisely and perhaps get multiple devices if you want to diversify and/or use a 3rd party wallet as mentioned above to manage more coins on the same device.

This however, does not apply to the new Ledger Nano X. In addition to the new design and being able to manage this wirelessly via bluetooth, you can manage your coins anywhere on an iPhone or Android effortlessly. You also can support up to 10x the amount of apps or “coins” to be supported on the same device at once. This is huge if you want to diversify and be able to hold more than 3 or 4 at a time. The device is approximately $119 right now and it should be available to the public within the next 7 days. Very exciting.

Bottomline: It’s not perfect, but it has made some good improvements over the last year and is continually updating it’s coin support. I will list below some of the coins that are supported on Ledger currently that are not yet available on other platforms, which brings it’s edge.

I will say the best advantage (for me, anyways) that Ledger has going for itself right now is the fact you can “bake” Tezos on your hardware wallet directly, and no other hardware wallet on the market currently supports that. As a firm believer in that project and the fact I can participate in the network, while keeping my private keys offline is a HUGE plus.

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Ripple (XRP)

-EOS (EOS)

-Tezos (XTZ)

-QTUM (QTUM)

-USD Coin (USDC) *Stable coin*

KEEPKEY VS. TREZOR VS. LEDGER CONCLUSION: WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU BUY?

As I mentioned above, there is no definitive “correct” answer, as each person’s needs may differ. Now that I have that disclaimer out of the way, I will provide my personal recommendation if you are a first time hardware wallet buyer and you only need one to start out with. I will say this was NOT an easy decision, but here is what I would recommend to my mother or personal friend who is looking to secure their cryptocurrency in an easy to use way. I would recommend getting a KEEPKEY.

Why is this my answer? Well, as I updated above, I was invited to participate in their private beta (In depth review on that coming shortly) and I was blown away. ShapeShift (the company that bought KeepKey) has revamped their entire interface. This is extremely noteworthy because before, you had to download multiple applications, and chrome extensions to manage your private keys and it was not the best user experience. This has all changed.

Their new platform that will be coming out very soon and is by far the easiest to use and best hardware wallet experience I have seen yet. Not only can you easily trade coins while keeping your private keys on the device the entire time, managing your portfolio has never been easier. At the time of this writing, it is only $79, and while it is not the cheapest device, it is certainly the highest quality, and best user experience I have seen yet on their new platform.

As far I know, they have plenty of new coins and features in the pipeline, and it is so easy to use, even my grandma could use it and wouldn’t have to explain much. It really is the first plug and play hardware wallet experience I have used (and I’ve used them all). Again, it’s hard to give visualization of my experience, but with my upcoming review, you will see some screenshots and see what I’m talking about.

Overall, it has proven to be the easiest way (so far) to manage my funds safely, and the ONLY way to trade assets without handing my private keys over to an exchange or any other type of wallet or custodian. I highly recommend this hardware wallet if you are making your first purchase and trust me, you won’t regret it.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE KEEPKEY HARDWARE WALLET DIRECTLY FROM THEIR WEBSITE!

What do you think? Would you have chosen something different? Please let me know below in the comments!

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

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Hot Wallets Vs. Cold Wallets – Which One Should I Use?

By Zach — 5 years ago

In this article, I am going to dive into hot wallets vs. cold wallets – which one should I use? This is an interesting topic, and in fact, it was one of the first topics I started researching when I first discovered cryptocurrency and ultimately inspired me to create this website. As you can see, I have a bias towards cold storage wallets, but what exactly is the difference? I am going to discuss below what the pros and cons of a hot wallets vs cold wallets are and in what scenario you would need to use both. As cryptocurrency payments become ubiquitous, it’s important for your own safety and best security practices in managing your wallets and private keys on an on-going basis. Let’s begin.

WHAT IS A HOT WALLET?

In short, a “hot wallet” is a digital wallet for your cryptocurrency that is connected or is easily connected to the internet. This provides a lot of convenience for making day to day purchases as most active hot wallets are either on your smart phone or also on a desktop wallet on your computer for easy access for making online purchases. I always use the comparison of using your hot wallet like you would for a wallet in your back pocket that holds your credit cards, ID, and fiat. By a general rule of thumb, you should never hold more money on your hot wallet than you would normally keep in your leather physical wallet on a regular basis. Most people never keep any more than a couple hundred dollars in there at any given time, which is smart. The same applies to a hot wallet.

These wallets are designed for your average day to day spending. This could be at your local merchant down the street, or even if you’re browsing online at and trying to purchase gift cards at a site like bitrefill.com. This is done typically by scanning the screen’s QR code with your smartphone via your own wallet to make a quick transaction and simple transaction or even buy something off Amazon (like millions do everyday), but by using Purse.io, which is a platform that is built on top of amazon but accepts multiple cryptocurrencies as payment, and at a steep discount. Click this link to get some free BTC if you want to get started. Most purchase discounts range anywhere from 15-33% off anything at Amazon through this site.

These are just a few examples of how/when you would use your hot wallet for a simple transaction. You can also pre-load Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) on Bitpay’s visa debit card. I will link my video review of this from Youtube HERE.

WHAT IS A COLD WALLET?

A “cold wallet” is also a digital (or sometimes physical, in the form of a hardware wallet) wallet that is kept completely offline. Why? Because any funds that are kept offline cannot be hacked or tampered with. You can think of this as virtual bank vault, that is very secure, hard to access, and is designed to store your larger amounts of crypto and primarily your longer term holdings. There are many advantages to having these wallets, and even safer to implement Multi-Sig wallets. It is also recommended to diversify your holdings between multiple hardware wallets when you start to accumulate a vast sum of crypto.

I have a soft spot specifically for hardware wallets as I’ve actually designed and built one for a prominent cryptocurrency company (although due to an NDA, I cannot discuss it yet). But the reason I think it’s important is because using and owning this kind of device is like putting up a nice big middle finger to the big banks and over-reaching governments that tend to control our money supply and bank accounts whenever they see fit. No “authority” should have that kind of power. Hardware wallets are symbolic of sovereignty and self-reliance. That is why literally “becoming your own bank” is so important. One of my favorite quotes in this space is “Whoever controls the people’s means of exchange, controls the people”. This is scary, but very true. When you use cryptocurrency, you are taking personal control and responsibility of your finances, and that is SO empowering. Just writing about it send chills down my spine, but I digress.

If you are new to hardware wallets, I recommend getting a Keepkey device for beginners. Why? I have been testing their closed beta of their new platform and it is by far the easiest and most user friendly hardware wallet platform I have used (and I’ve used almost every one of them). I think I could teach my grandma how to use it, and that’s saying something. The current platform works fine, but the future platform is very exciting and if you are brand new, you will be pleasantly surprised. I will be writing a review on this platform shortly and I will update this post with a link as soon as I do, so stay tuned.

WHY WOULD I NEED EITHER ONE?

As you can see from the examples of use cases listed above, it is important to protect your cryptocurrency and make it useful and convenient when you need it. But it’s even more important to protect it and secure it when it’s required. As the user adoption begins to snow ball, it’s crucial for everyone to understand that they will need both a hot and cold wallet for their various uses. You can even make transactions online with your hardware wallet connected via USB for even more protection. Most hardware wallets never expose their private keys to the internet when making the transactions by design. This is super helpful because you want to ensure that from every point in a given transaction, you do not want your private keys to be exposed in transit and potentially have your keys copied by a 3rd party before it reaches the intended destination.

Having said that, most digital wallets on your smart phone are typically secure enough for day to day spending and you shouldn’t be too concerned, so long as you have a trusted wallet for your phone. The top 3 I use on a regular basis is Bitpay, Jaxx, and Blockchain. These are all non-custodial wallets and have security features built in and can have 2FA or (two-factor authentication) enabled to confirm each transaction and will include Touch ID and Face ID, if you enable it.

I already recommended my top hardware wallet for beginners in the previous section, but any of the wallets that I offer through this website, are all trusted and good to use, it just depends on your needs and wants out of a secure air-gapped device.

Please sound off below! What hot and cold wallets do you like? Do you have any other wallets you can recommend not listed above? Let me know in the comments!

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

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Is There A Hardware Wallet That Can Store The Top 30 Cryptocurrencies?

By Zach — 5 years ago

Is There A Hardware Wallet That Can Store All The Top Cryptocurrencies? I get this question a lot, and to be honest, there is no clear way to answer it. It ultimately depends on what you believe is the “Top Cryptocurrency”. As a newcomer into the cryptocurrency market, you start to learn the best practices for managing and storing cryptocurrencies and you will inevitably find that yes, a hardware wallet is your safest and best choice. The second question that usually follows that is, “What is the best one? Which one should I buy?”

The answer is not so simple, but I will lay out some of the pros and cons of each of the featured cryptocurrency hardware wallets being promoted and offered through this website, because they have been personally vetted by myself and my team. Each wallet will support different variations of altcoins, but all of them support 3rd party wallet integration such as MyEtherWallet and Mycelium. These are commonly used for ERC-20 token support and most upcoming STO’s will be supported as well as a lot of them are supported by the same protocol.

There is currently no hardware wallet that supports every single “Top Cryptocurrency By Market Cap”. Why? Well for one, the market cap rankings tend to shift almost everyday based on trading volume and various product releases, news events, protocol, and network upgrades. However, there have been some pretty consistent coins that, until recently, haven’t had hardware wallet support such as Monero or Ripple.

I am going to list the 3 major hardware wallets below: Trezor, Ledger, and Keepkey. With them, I will have some recent support added to each wallet and a link to each wallet’s fully supported coin list.

This should answer the general questions you have about coin support and you will be able to identify if there is a particular coin you are searching for and whether or not it’s supported. Please note that each wallet is constantly updating support for new (and old) altcoins to be supported, so this list may be outdated as soon as a few months.

#1 TREZOR

There are two versions of Trezor: Trezor One and Trezor Model T. The former is the entry level device that came out 2013 and has since received regular firmware upgrades enhancing it’s security and adding new software support for native and 3rd party applications for new coins. In 2018, they released their 2nd-gen product called the “Model T“. The latter is a larger device with touch screen and is operated by a “Beta” wallet that supports over 1,000 coins between it’s native applications and 3rd party integration.

Most recently, they added NATIVE support (which is a huge upgrade in my opinion) for Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). This means it is connected to its unique application that was custom designed by Trezor to manage your ETH accounts directly in the app. Previously, any ETH or ERC-20 based token required to use a 3rd party wallet, which was annoying and cumbersome.

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Binance Coin (BNB)

-Monero (XMR)

-Cardano (ADA)

-Ravencoin (RVN)

-Tether (USDT) *Stable coin*

#2 KEEPKEY

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Basic Attention Token (BAT)

-DigixDAO (DGD)

-Augur (REP)

-Polymath (POLY)

-TrueUSD (TUSD) *Stable coin*

#3 LEDGER

Overall, the UI is pretty clean and is pretty straight forward in terms of first time setup and detects your device when it’s plugged into the USB port and asks you to authenticate to view the app. The one thing most people don’t understand is the Ledger Nano S has very little RAM, so even though they advertise that it supports over 1,100 coins, you can only have approximately 8 or 9 coin apps installed at once on your device. You will want to make sure you choose your coins wisely and perhaps get multiple devices if you want to diversify and/or use a 3rd party wallet as mentioned above to manage more coins on the same device.

Newest Notable Coins Added:

-Ripple (XRP)

-EOS (EOS)

-Tezos (XTZ)

-QTUM (QTUM)

-USD Coin (USDC) *Stable coin*

CONCLUSION

I realize that may not answer all of your questions or solve all of your problems, but it really just comes down to preference. If you already know what coins you plan to accumulate, then I would click the links under each section that has the “Newest Notable Coins Added” to a link to each coin supported by each wallet, currently. I use every single one of these and have different coins on each depending on what my needs are and what exchange I accumulate them from.

It might be a good idea to place your wallets in terms of “buckets”. What I mean by that is if you plan to trade and hold long term, perhaps it’s best to have one wallet for each purpose. This not only allows you to diversify, but it keeps things organized based on what your short term and long term goals are for accumulating and for accessing exchanges.

If you have any questions or comments on this post, please sound off below! I’d love to hear from you! Until next time…

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

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Why I’m Excited For Shapeshift’s New Unified Platform — KeepKey Hardware Wallet Integration

By Zach — 5 years ago

In this article, I am going to tell you in detail why I’m excited for Shapeshift’s new unified platform. I remember when I decided to start this site back in 2016 and was fairly new to the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Once I spent over 100 hours researching all facets of this new technology, I knew that cryptocurrency was the future. However, I had read so many scary articles about how people were losing their Bitcoin from so many exchanges, including the infamous Mt. Gox that notoriously lost over 800,00 Bitcoin (valued at around $473 Million at the time).

As I dove down the rabbit hole even further, I came across “Cold Storage” and how it was vitally important for any person who takes their cryptocurrency holdings seriously. It made perfect sense, you need to keep your private keys in your possession at all times and have it stored offline, so it cannot be subject to an online hack or be exposed to nefarious individuals.

It was at this time that I had the bright idea that I wanted to find a way to become a reseller for these wallets, as it seemed to me that this market was going to be huge. Logically, cryptocurrency adoption was inevitable and EVERY single person who owned cryptocurrency will need one of these cold storage wallets. The mere idea of someone being able to “Become your own bank” and the concept of permissionless finance was fascinating to me. And so it was, BitcoinLockup.com was born.

As I started researching and buying these wallets to use for myself, I found the market trusted and used (at the time) only 3 hardware wallets: Trezor One, Ledger Nano S, and Keepkey. They all have their pros and cons, but there was definitely one that stood out above the rest, and it was Keepkey. Why? Well, the devices that Ledger and Trezor had available at the time were cheap, flimsy pieces of plastic that were difficult to use and had a horrible UX.

Keepkey felt like the top of the line, premium version that was being under served in the marketplace. In fairness, the altcoin support was far behind the other two when I was comparing them in October 2016. However, over time you start to realize that even with your trades and gains, that coins that have a higher market cap and network stability tend to be what you want to store longer term anyways.

That’s not to say that altcoin support is not important, (because it is) but I know first-hand that it takes incredible resources and operating capital to run nodes and support these new coins and tokens that come out seemingly everyday. Not to mention the developer resources necessary to build and maintain a quality user experience, so I completely understand Shapeshift’s strategy.

Now, onto the new Shapeshift platform! First off, I will say that they are currently in a closed beta, so I have not used it personally yet, but I’ve been researching it like crazy. If you want to gain early access to the beta before the masses, use this link to sign up.

As an avid Shapeshift user myself, I have always enjoyed the simplicity and ease of use that using an instant coin exchange offered. I am now even MORE excited that it is going to integrate with my Keepkey and make managing my cold storage assets even easier. (Watch out Ledger and Trezor)

ShapeShift’s New Platform

When your private keys are stored offline and never leaves your device, it is inherently safer. However, with security you often sacrifice convenience. This has been a trade-off that today’s society has a hard time understanding and accepting. We’ve been conditioned with really, any product or service, that we want it now!

Having said that, I am excited to gain access to the closed beta as soon as possible as I anticipate this will solve a myriad of problems that people have had so far using the device. I am very optimistic about this massive update and I will list the key advertised features below:

I’ve always been a firm believer that the quickest way to crypto mass adoption is to have a fluid, seamless, and extremely easy user experience. I have used virtually every hardware wallet currently on the market and there are always trade-offs and things you wish they had, but I personally believe that Shapeshift has cracked the code to exchanging, managing, and securing your private keys better than every other solution on the market.

If you need any personal advice on the Keepkey device, please feel free to comment below or email me at the “Contact Us” page at the top and I’d be more than happy to help!

Cheers,

The Crypto Renegade

KeepKey

Trade Assets Offline

Manage Your Portfolio In One Location

Shapeshift’s New Platform: Conclusion

KEEPKEY REVIEW: WHAT COMES IN THE KEEPKEY BOX?

KEEPKEY REVIEW: WHAT COINS ARE SUPPORTED?

KEEPKEY REVIEW: HOW TO SETUP THE DEVICE

KEEPKEY REVIEW: SECURITY

KEEPKEY AND SHAPESHIFT: USER EXPERIENCE (UX)

KEEPKEY REVIEW – CONCLUSION

Shapeshift Beta

ASSETS

TRADE

PURCHASE

STABLE COINS (EASTER EGG)

WISH LIST:

CONCLUSION:

KeepKey VS. Trezor VS. Ledger

#1 TREZOR

#2 KEEPKEY

#3 LEDGER

KEEPKEY VS. TREZOR VS. LEDGER CONCLUSION: WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU BUY?

WHAT IS A HOT WALLET?

WHAT IS A COLD WALLET?

WHY WOULD I NEED EITHER ONE?

#1 TREZOR

#2 KEEPKEY

#3 LEDGER

CONCLUSION

ShapeShift’s New Platform

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