This article is a review on the ledger nano s hardware wallet. The Ledger Nano S is a hardware wallet, designed to store multiple cryptocurrencies, using secure apps. The master seed of the device is held inside a secure element and is generated on the device and is shown on the device screen for secure writing down. This seed should be written down and secured in multiple locations. You can import the same seed onto multiple ledger wallets if you wish.
The ledger nano S Has apps for the following coins: Bitcoin, Litecoin, DASH, ZCash, DOGE, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic. Now we will discuss how to set up the wallet. Monero support is also coming soon.
First, you plug in the device, and open the ledger Bitcoin app. It will prompt you on it’s screen to do the initial set up. You are asked to set a PIN code using the buttons to select the numbers and shown the 24 word seed word by word to write down. You have then set up the ledger.
Second, you will now be able to plug the wallet into your at any time. When you plug it in, enter your PIN.
Load the ledger app manager, although you can skip this step if you use Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ether as these apps are pre-installed.
Pressing both buttons on the wallet is to do an action, and you can scroll through apps and settings using the buttons. You need to install the ledger Bitcoin and Ethereum chrome apps to use the wallet. Now you will find that most altcoins apart from ethereum are opened using the Bitcoin ledger app.
To send coins/view your wallet, you press the buttons to scroll to the app of the coin you wish to use. Once you have done this press both buttons to select it. Then open the Ledger Bitcoin chrome app. It will take you straight to your wallet. The below image shows sending a Litecoin from the wallet.
Once you send coins, the wallets screen will cycle through the address, fee, and amount sent and ask you to confirm/deny.
Once you confirm, it will sign and send the transaction back to your computer. The ledger app will then submit it. This mechanism means malware can’t secretly change the address you are sending to.
To show receiving addresses, simply open the ‘receive’ tab, it will show your address and a QR code. It will generate a new address with each TX but you can reuse the old one.
This wallet I have used for Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Litecoin. The wallet works as advertised and allows seamless storage and access to all coins. If you loose your ledger wallet, you can import the seed into any wallet that supports BIP39 seeds, but you loose the advantages of a hardware wallet when doing so.
You go to the ledger app manager and install the apps for the coins you wish to use. This in no way exposes the master seed at any time. The wallet securely derives private keys for each coin wallet from the same seed. This seed if you restore it restores all coins as they were on your wallet, so this can be very convenient.
The ledger app manager allows you to update the firmware also. WARNING: DO NOT UPDATE THE FIRMWARE UNLESS YOU HAVE A COPY OF YOUR MASTER SEED. IT WIPES THE LEDGER AND YOU WILL NEED THE SEED TO RESTORE.
I have the same seed on multiple ledger wallets for redundancy with the seeds stored securely. Unlike the Ledger HW.1, this eliminated the second factor card.
Anyone storing more than spare change as Bitcoins should use a hardware wallet as we have wrote in previous articles. To buy one direct from ledger, visit them direct here.