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How To Store Your Tezos (XTZ) On The Ledger Nano S (2020)
In this article, I will tell you how to store your Tezos on the Ledger Nano S. As an investor in Tezos since the ICO, I have really studied what makes this a true market differentiator. This has a true consensus and a self-amending ledger, which is really powerful.
This means that no matter what, there will not be a “fork” of the network and will not have to worry about a network split. The downside is, you cannot split off and have people follow you and start a new version of this blockchain. What is built here will be verified by a true democracy and will always stay in tact. However, people will always have the power to leave if they do not like it.
I believe the that being able to contribute to secure a POS blockchain that will allow EVERYONE to participate is very interesting and also pretty powerful. I think they have cracked the code and this may very well become the platform that people will build new dApps on, as it is more scalable than Ethereum in this way.
No matter your use case, if you are going to participate in Tezos it is wise to store your keys securely. The absolute best solution for securely storing Tezos is to use a hardware wallet.
.When you use a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano S, the private keys used to access your tokens never leave the device. Ledger hardware wallet owners can manage their tezzies using the Tezos Wallet application within Ledger Live. With Tezos Wallet, you can:
- Store your Tezos securely
- Transfer Tezos to others via secure transaction
- Delegate your Tezos for use in baking and voting
This guide provides a step-by-step guide on how to install Tezos Wallet on your Ledger Nano S and create a wallet with three different Tezos wallet providers: Galleon, Magnum Wallet, and TezBox. Although you technically have 3 options to do this, I recommend using TezBox as it’s the easiest one to use in my opinion. The user interface is very easy to use and I highly recommend it for baking.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
To secure Tezos with a Ledger Nano S, you will need:
- An initialized Ledger Nano S with the latest firmware installed — currently 1.5.5 (as of May 2019)
- Ledger Live installed on your machine and ready to use
That’s it!
How To Store Your Tezos: INSTALLING TEZOS WALLET THROUGH LEDGER LIVE
To install Tezos Wallet on your Ledger Nano S:
- Open Manager in Ledger Live using the Manager button in the left sidebar.
- Connect your Ledger Nano S and unlock it using your PIN.
- Your Ledger Nano S will prompt you to Allow Ledger Manager? To connect, press the right button on your Ledger device.
- Find Tezos Wallet in the app catalog, either by searching for ‘Tezos Wallet’ or scrolling through the available apps.
- Click Install on Tezos Wallet’s icon to install the application. Your hardware wallet will display Processing… and Ledger Live will show an installation window.This may take up to 1-2 minutes. Successful installation will be confirmed in Ledger Live when complete.
CREATING A WALLET
Now that you have Tezos Wallet installed on your Ledger Nano S, you are ready to create a wallet. There are several wallet great providers you can use! Below are the steps to get started with three of them: Galleon, Magnum Wallet, and TezBox.
GALLEON (LEAST RECOMMENDED)
- Visit Galleon’s Website, where you can download a version of the wallet for Windows, MacOS, or Linux.
- Open Galleon. You’ll be asked to choose a language, and agree to their Terms of Service.
- Connect Galleon to your Ledger device. Plug your Ledger device into your computer, enter your PIN, and open Tezos Wallet. Then, select Connect with Ledger in Galleon.
- Create Your Wallet. After clicking Connect with Ledger, Galleon will wait for you to confirm this action on your hardware wallet. This is done by clicking the top-right button on your Ledger device with the green checkmark. Your Ledger device’s screen should alternate between Provide Public Key? and the Public Key Hash you will be using to create your wallet in Galleon. Press the right button on your Ledger device to create it!
You’re Done! For more information on how to use Galleon, see their tutorials!
MAGNUM WALLET (MODERATELY RECOMMENDED)
- Visit Magnum Wallet’s Website using a U2F compatible browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Brave. Click Create Wallet to visit their wallet website, where you should click Create a New Wallet to get started.
- Create a Password. Magnum Wallet will prompt you to create a password for securing your funds. Once you have entered and confirmed your password, click Next.
- Link your Ledger Nano S. After you have created a password, you’ll be brought to Magnum Wallet’s main dashboard, which gives you information of on all the tokens supported. In the top left, click to Link Your Device (outlined in green below).
A modal (pop-up) will appear over the screen with the option to import a wallet. In this case, we want to create a new wallet. Select Create at the top of the modal. Select the token you’d like to create a wallet for (Tezos), that you’d like to Link Hardware Wallet, and that the device you’re using is a Ledger Nano S. Your screen should now look like this:
Click Create to make your wallet!
- Verify your address. Now, you’ll be prompted on your Ledger device to Provide Public Key?. You’ll also be shown the Public Key Hash of your wallet. Press the right button on your Ledger Nano S to verify your address and continue.
You’re done! You’ll now be at your wallet’s dashboard within Magnum Wallet, where you can send and receive Tezos or delegate them to a baker!
TEZBOX (MOST RECOMMENDED)
You can download TezBox for Mac or Windows, use their Chrome Plugin, or use their wallet in the browser! We’ll demonstrate the in-browser application in this guide.
- Visit the Tezbox Web Wallet using a U2F (Universal two-factor) compatible browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, or Opera. Here, you’ll be greeted with the option to create a wallet, restore one, or link TezBox to a hardware wallet. Click Link your TezBox.
- Link your Ledger device to TezBox by clicking Link TexBox in the as seen in the user interface below.
- Verify your address. On your Ledger device, you will be prompted to Provide Public Key? and the screen will also show the Public Key Hash with which you are creating the wallet. Press the right button on your hardware wallet to verify. TezBox will confirm a successful linking after this step.
- Create a Password. Next, you’ll be asked to create a password to secure your wallet. Enter and re-enter a password, then choose Encrypt Wallet.
That’s It! After entering a password, you’ll be on your wallet’s page, where you can send and delegate Tezos.
CONCLUSION
As of the time of this writing, only the Ledger Nano S is the only hardware wallet that supports offline Tezos and not even the Ledger Nano X works at this time. It should be noted that there is no “native” app for Tezos via Ledger Live. What does that mean? It essentially means that you are required to use one of the above 3rd party wallets in order to properly secure your Tezos and manage your balances, send, receive, and the ability to manage baking and delegation.
So why would you go through these steps? Because you control the private keys and that is what is important. When a hardware wallet starts supporting this functionality natively, it will have a huge edge over the competition (I’m looking at you KeepKey). Additionally, there has been an influx of more exchanges getting hacked, with no signs of stopping. It is CRUCIAL, that you always maintain control of your private keys at all times. When you send them to an exchange, you technically do not own them anymore, until they decide to send them back to you.
Bottomline: If you own any Tezos, or plan on acquiring any in the near future, I would strongly recommend that you get a Ledger Nano S. At the time of this writing it is only $59, which is the cheapest hardware wallet of the primary market leaders. Tezos is sure to move it’s way into the top 10 market cap very soon and I expect the price to do something similar to what Ethereum did in 2017.
CLICK HERE TO BUY A LEDGER NANO S FROM THEIR OFFICIAL SITE
What do you think? Would you keep your Tezos keys on a Hot Wallet? Please let me know below in the comments!
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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Ellipal TITAN Review (2020) | Best Air-Gapped Crypto Hardware Wallet?
Is the new Ellipal Titan crypto hardware wallet all hype? Or is it the real deal? How secure is it? Why is it different than the Ledger Nano X or the Trezor Model T? Well, buckle up, because this wallet is far different than anyone I’ve used in a while and in a very good way. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this is probably my favorite hardware wallet of 2019. But why? What makes is so special? I am going to dive into that below in detail and what makes it so securely different than the original and most popular wallets out there today.
Before I jump into the nitty-gritty details of this wallet, I want to point out that in the week or so that I’ve used this wallet, I have actively moved over a handful of my larger holdings from other hardware wallets over to this one. This is for the obvious security advantages and wireless method in which you manage it, which I will explain below. With this cold wallet, you no longer need a computer to manage your offline holdings, and in a predominantly wireless world, this is becoming more and more important. Details will follow below, you will NOT be disappointed.
Let’s get right into the Ellipal Titan Review!
ELLIPAL TITAN: WHATS IN THE BOX?
The Ellipal Titan device comes with the same items in the box as the Ellipal 2.0, with the only difference being that there is a magnetic adapter that connects to the bottom of the device. This adapter includes the charging port and SD card slot port for updating firmware and signing offline transactions. The Ellipal 2.0 device has these on the device itself, whereas the Titan has no ports or openings on it whatsoever, making it stronger and more secure.
Box includes:
- ELLIPAL Titan Cold Wallet
- Rechargeable battery
- Charging cable
- Mnemonics card
- Warranty card
- User manual
HOW DO YOU SET UP THIS AIR-GAPPED DEVICE?
This is very simple. It pairs with a mobile app that is available for iOS and Android. This helps you initialize and setup the device and generate all QR codes needed to transfer your funds from the hot wallet app, onto the cold storage device. This process is identical to the Ellipal 2.0 process, however, you now have access to longer PIN’s and extra security features. Additionally, since the device has a camera, transferring funds off of the device and back onto a mobile wallet is very secure and convenient as well.
The entire process only took me about 7-10 minutes from start to finish, including writing down your mnemonic phrase.
There is a full step-by-step setup guide for both Ellipal devices HERE.
WHAT COINS ARE SUPPORTED?
This is always the section I check the most when reviewing hardware wallets, because although functionality and security are important, none of that matters unless it supports the coins you want to store offline. So here is the current list of supported coins and the one that are currently in development listed in the below picture.
This is the only wallet that supports over 26 different blockchains. With multiple tokens on the EOS, TRX, BNB, and of course ETH blockchain, there is plenty of room for expansion. Some of the unique coins that are supported on this hardware wallet NATIVELY that you won’t find on any other hardware wallet out there include: Cardano (ADA), Decred (DCR), Cyber Miles (CMT), and Smart Cash (SMART).
There are some oldies, but goodies (coins) that are currently in development that technically will work with 3rd party integration with wallets like Ledger and Trezor. I can’t express enough how important (and convenient) having native coin support on a hardware wallet is, especially a wallet as secure as this one. Some of my favorite coins that are coming soon are: Monero (XMR), Tezos (XTZ), SiaCoin (SC), and Nano (NANO). As I mentioned, some of these have 3rd party wallet integration currently elsewhere, but I’m personally waiting for these to be released here to move them over for easier management.
According to their website, they are also adding new coins every month and have consistent firmware upgrades, which is administered from a magnetic puck that is completely disconnected and attaches to the bottom and also has an SD card slot for signing transactions offline. This attachment is also how the device is charged as well. I have used this device for a little over a week now and I have yet to charge it yet.
DECENTRALIZED EXCHANGE + FEATURES
I will briefly touch on this as it’s definitely worth mentioning. This feature allows you to not only have direct coin to coin conversion, but it also allows for staking, for instance on the upcoming Tezos support and other POS coins. This is all done in the app and you can swap them offline once you authenticate. Additionally, you can now earn interest on your USDT, for up to 7% annualized when you cold stake it your wallet. You never give up your private keys, so there is no risk. It’s honestly a win-win situation if you have USDT if you have it sitting on your cold wallet.
It connects to Binance DEX, which is a decentralized exchange and looks very promising. Additionally, you will be able to earn interest and manage your staking rewards offline in future firmware upgrades, which is a HUGE selling point for me.
ELLIPAL TITAN – CONCLUSION
Overall, after using this wallet for only about a week, it’s been my favorite and most secure wallet I’ve used EVER. Now, I still use the KeepKey for trading and offline portfolio management for day to day transactions, and I still love that device (you can read the in-depth review HERE, if you haven’t already). However, I’ve moved a lot of my private keys over to this wallet due to it’s more secure secure nature and bull-proof form factor. The user experience is done exceptionally well, and supports some really unique coins and blockchains that you won’t find anywhere else.
The closest wallet to this in terms of security and form factor is the Cobo Vault, but this is 3X cheaper and holds a lot more coins. The outer shell is IP65 rated and can withstand drops and even getting wet via a splash or even the rain. It’d constructed in a VERY durable way, and feels extremely solid and well built when you hold it in your hand. It’s very satisfying.
Don’t get my wrong, convenience is also important, but Ellipal really brought a unique form of security to the table here by having a very rugged and durable device that has ZERO online connections. You can transfer your crypto funds between its companion hot wallet and vice versa anytime, but the cold wallet never goes online, which is really nice and gives me peace of mind.
For a limited time, you can also get their mnemonic metal recovery seed (a $49 value) for only $29 when you bundle it with the Ellipal Titan. That means you can secure your crypto and your recovery seed backup for under $200 all in. This is a STEAL, as this is something I practice myself and believe it is absolutely NECESSARY for any person who takes their crypto seriously.
I also wrote a review recently on the Ellipal Mnemonic Metal recovery seed backup device HERE, if you want to educate yourself on why they are so important. I will leave the special referral link below to get this device, and I for one am VERY excited to use it and see how “durable” it really is.
What do you guys think? Have you ever used a device more secure than this for your crypto? Let me know 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.
