Hardware wallet

What it may indicate

A hardware wallet stores private keys on a separate device that is not connected to the internet. This makes it harder for fraudsters to reach them remotely. In investigations a hardware wallet often comes up around the question of how securely assets were kept and at what point access was lost.

What is a hardware wallet?

A hardware wallet is a physical device, often the size of a usb stick, that stores your keys offline. Transactions are confirmed on the device itself, so the key never leaves it. This is also known as cold storage and is considered one of the safer ways to keep crypto.

Is a hardware wallet safer than a wallet on my phone?

A hardware wallet keeps the keys offline, which makes it harder for malicious software on your phone or computer to reach them. It remains important to keep the matching recovery words safe and secret, because anyone who has them can still restore the wallet.