This rating describes our personal assessment of the user-friendliness of the product. How easy is the onboarding process? How modern is the user interface and is it easy to use? Are all the important functions quick and easy to find? We ask ourselves all these questions in order to give a personal rating from 1 to 10 points.
For products or services in the crypto space, trust and security should be the biggest factors in the selection process. Since we could not seriously evaluate the technical security of a platform or product, we analyze publicly available factors such as security features, location, regulation, certifications, audits, team/company, general reputation and, of course, track record.
Crypto doesn't have to be cryptic. Especially for beginners, the first contact with the crypto world can be overwhelming. With this rating, we give our assessment of how easy it is for beginners to find their way around: from the onboarding process to using the most important functions.
Customer support is an important factor for many users. A long wait or no response at all in the event of problems can be frustrating, especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as finances. With this rating, we give our assessment of the quality of customer support. In order to provide as balanced an assessment as possible, we also include user opinions from other platforms in our evaluation.
Some exchanges and brokers are regulated by financial supervisory authorities in certain countries/states. This often entails strict financial regulatory requirements and compliance requirements to which the company must adhere. Regulatory clarity can contribute to greater transparency and thus also greater trustworthiness.
Do you have ideas or suggestions for changes? Then we look forward to your feedback! We make every effort to keep all metrics and information as up-to-date as possible. However, if you discover an error or outdated information, we would be delighted to hear from you.
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A wallet that is “open source” makes its software code public (e.g. on Github). Either the entire program code or at least significant parts of it are publicly accessible. This has the advantage that many parties can review the code and security gaps or other vulnerabilities are discovered and improved more quickly.
The so-called "private key" is a unique sequence of numbers and characters and the private key that gives you direct access to and control over your cryptocurrencies. The private key is used to sign transactions. In simple terms, it can be seen as a digital fingerprint that proves that you are the owner of the cryptocurrencies. If you store your cryptocurrencies on so-called "custodial wallets" (e.g. crypto exchanges), you are not the owner of your private keys.
The anonymity of “non-custodial wallets” is generally relatively high. However, there are differences between providers when it comes to collecting and storing user data. There can also be differences in the ordering process for hardware wallets as to which user data is stored and for what period of time
The so-called “secure element” is a chip (microprocessor) that stores your private key and is separated from the rest of the hardware. This special chip gives the hardware wallet significantly more protection against local, physical attacks. Depending on the chip, a different level of security can be offered. Some chips can be compromised with less effort, while with others this is only possible with special equipment and is extremely complex.
The so-called “secure element” is a chip (microprocessor) that stores your private key and is separated from the rest of the hardware. This special chip gives the hardware wallet significantly more protection against local, physical attacks. Depending on the chip, a different level of security can be offered. Some chips can be compromised with less effort, while with others this is only possible with special equipment and is extremely complex.
The overall rating is the average of our individual ratings. Our ratings do not constitute investment advice, but merely our personal opinion. You are welcome to use them as rough indicators and additional perspective. In the dynamic and fast-growing crypto sector, parameters can often change from one day to the next, so we cannot guarantee that the rating data is up to date. Therefore, please never use our ratings as an isolated basis for decision-making and not as a substitute for your own research.
Some wallets offer an integrated trading function within the wallet to buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly. This functionality is usually made possible by a connection to the web interface of an exchange. The integrated trading function in wallets offers enormous advantages: cryptocurrencies can be bought in the same place where they are to be stored. The manual transfer of cryptocurrencies from an exchange to your own wallet is therefore no longer necessary, which can save time and money.
Multisignature wallets or multisig wallets are wallets that require at least two private keys to sign a transaction. This additional process makes it possible to greatly increase security against unwanted access, for example through personal threats. This security mechanism is particularly useful when storing particularly high assets.
If the hardware wallet or the device with the corresponding software wallet is lost or damaged, there is no need to panic. As long as you have your private key or recovery seed (also called “seed phrase”) in your possession, you can restore your wallet at any time. The recovery seed is a combination of 12-24 words and is the most common backup method for wallets. Important: Keep your recovery words and private keys secret and never share them with other people!
Ledger Nano X vs SafePal in comparison
Overview
- Bluetooth pairing with iPhones and Android phones, plus USB-C for computers.
- Secure element chip certified to CC EAL5+ for your private keys.
- Room for up to 100 apps and, according to Ledger, more than 15,000 supported coins and tokens.
- Bitcoin multisig, PSBT and miniscript through the Ledger Bitcoin app.
- Small screen with Clear Signing as a multi-step process, and no Transaction Check scam warning, which Ledger offers only on its touchscreen models.
- Chip certified to CC EAL5+, while the Nano S Plus and Ledger's touchscreen models use EAL6+ chips.
- The battery lasts up to 5 hours of use, according to Ledger.
- Swap quotes in Ledger Wallet include a Ledger fee, and Ledger publishes no percentage.
- Offline signing: the S1 talks to the app only through QR codes, with no Bluetooth, WiFi or NFC.
- Secure element: SafePal's store lists a CC EAL6+ chip for the S1, S1 Pro and X1.
- Low price: $49.99 for the S1 in SafePal's store.
- Large app: more than 30,000 coins and tokens, swaps, staking, NFTs and decentralized apps.
- Self-custody: your keys stay on the device, and SafePal has no access to them.
- Only partly open source: SafePal publishes the essential parts of its code, not all of it.
- No desktop app: apps for phones and browsers only.
- Swap fee: 0.2% on each swap and bridge order, on top of the network fee.
- Ticket support: SafePal says replies take 24 to 48 hours.
- Store data incident: a flaw in SafePal's online store exposed customer order data.
Information
Hardware
Features
- Bluetooth connection
- Ledger Wallet app (formerly Ledger Live)
- Up to 100 apps
- SafePal App
- SafePal Earn
- QR-Code (air-gapped signing)
- Self-destruction function
- Hidden wallet (credible deniability)
Wallet Rating
About
Our Review
In our view, the Ledger Nano X is a good hardware wallet for people who want to approve transactions from an iPhone or an Android phone. It pairs over Bluetooth, keeps your keys on a secure element chip certified to CC EAL5+, holds up to 100 apps and, according to Ledger, can manage more than 15,000 coins and tokens. It costs $99 in Ledger's online shop. The main trade-off is its small screen, on which checking a transaction takes several steps, and it lacks the Transaction Check scam warning of Ledger's touchscreen models.
In our view, the SafePal S1 is one of the better low-cost hardware wallets for beginners: it signs offline, talks to the app only through QR codes, and the SafePal app adds swaps, staking and decentralized apps. Only parts of its code are open source, there is no desktop app, and support works by ticket. If you want fully open code or faster help, look at BitBox02 or Ledger Nano X.
About the author
At Exchange Flow, Ethan is recognized as the resident crypto expert. With 10+years of experience navigating the waters of global crypto exchanges, Ethan is a trusted voice in the ever-evolving world of digital currencies. He tests and scrutinizes exchanges so you don’t have to, offering reviews and articles that newbies and seasoned traders alike find invaluable. When he’s not coding, Ethan likes to travel and play retro games. He uses his crypto earnings to fund his trip around the globe.
