The hardware wallet narrative has been debunked by the progress of compliance in recent years.
Think back: before the Ledger incident, how long had it been since you last heard anyone talk about hardware wallets?
By the same token, it’s been ages since we heard about pagers. The world moves on gradually. The blockchain industry used to be rife with chaos, and if your assets were stolen, there was basically no chance of getting them back—after all, there was no real-name verification on-chain.
But now, with crypto compliance taking hold around the world, on-chain tracing and freezing, and governments cracking down on crime, the blockchain is no longer a lawless frontier.
For big institutions, isn’t multisig safer than a hardware wallet? For small retail investors, don’t major exchanges offer more protection than hardware wallets? That’s the dead end hardware wallets face today: they’re not good enough for the high end, nor accessible enough for the low end. In the end, they can only become a niche hobby. And as we all know, niche hobbies rarely catch on at scale—they gradually fade away over time.
History did give wallet providers a chance: they could build their own DEXs or become genuine ToC consumer wallets (with payment cards). Sadly, judging by the situation today, they failed to seize either opportunity.
I saw someone say this morning that OneKey can still be used as a security key. It reminded me of the authentication token I bought back when I played the game Tian Long Ba Bu. It was pretty good; people just gradually stopped using it.
Of course, the core reason behind all this is the declining demand for cold wallets. Just as our lives are filled with digital payments, did cash do anything wrong? No—it’s just that people gradually stopped using it.
Add this latest security incident to the mix, and you realize the hardware wallet narrative is full of holes. Even if users can get a perfectly secure device, and the manufacturer can guarantee it had no security issues when it left the factory, who can guarantee the safety of subsequent software updates?
After going around in circles, it seems more reliable to write things down in a notebook and pair it with an old iPhone that stays offline.
Users simply can’t afford to take the gamble, because if they lose, they lose everything.
So, is there any reason left to buy a hardware wallet?
Think back: before the Ledger incident, how long had it been since you last heard anyone talk about hardware wallets?
By the same token, it’s been ages since we heard about pagers. The world moves on gradually. The blockchain industry used to be rife with chaos, and if your assets were stolen, there was basically no chance of getting them back—after all, there was no real-name verification on-chain.
But now, with crypto compliance taking hold around the world, on-chain tracing and freezing, and governments cracking down on crime, the blockchain is no longer a lawless frontier.
For big institutions, isn’t multisig safer than a hardware wallet? For small retail investors, don’t major exchanges offer more protection than hardware wallets? That’s the dead end hardware wallets face today: they’re not good enough for the high end, nor accessible enough for the low end. In the end, they can only become a niche hobby. And as we all know, niche hobbies rarely catch on at scale—they gradually fade away over time.
History did give wallet providers a chance: they could build their own DEXs or become genuine ToC consumer wallets (with payment cards). Sadly, judging by the situation today, they failed to seize either opportunity.
I saw someone say this morning that OneKey can still be used as a security key. It reminded me of the authentication token I bought back when I played the game Tian Long Ba Bu. It was pretty good; people just gradually stopped using it.
Of course, the core reason behind all this is the declining demand for cold wallets. Just as our lives are filled with digital payments, did cash do anything wrong? No—it’s just that people gradually stopped using it.
Add this latest security incident to the mix, and you realize the hardware wallet narrative is full of holes. Even if users can get a perfectly secure device, and the manufacturer can guarantee it had no security issues when it left the factory, who can guarantee the safety of subsequent software updates?
After going around in circles, it seems more reliable to write things down in a notebook and pair it with an old iPhone that stays offline.
Users simply can’t afford to take the gamble, because if they lose, they lose everything.
So, is there any reason left to buy a hardware wallet?