My first hardware wallet - Ledger Nano X overview

The recent events involving the crypto exchange FTX were the final push I needed to get a hardware wallet. Here are my first impressions

If you are involved at any level with cryptocurrency, chances are you know about the recent events involving FTX, which was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. I didn't lose anything on that, but it was an eye-opener for sure.

I had been contemplating getting a hardware wallet for some time but never got to actually do it, but after the recent events, I finally decided to pull the trigger, so I started looking for recommendations and reviews on the various options out there.

Based on price, availability and recommendations, I chose the Ledger Nano X. Ironically, a few days after I made the purchase, Ledger announced a new fancy model, the Stax, and I felt a bit silly for a moment, but that is ok because I don't think I would have gone for that one either way, even though it looks great.

Everything went well with the purchase, and my new Ledger was delivered a few days later.

My experience with the Ledger Nano X

Because this was my first experience setting up a hardware wallet, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was ready to spend hours watching YouTube videos to learn what to do and ensure I didn't mess up. However, as the engineer I am, I decided to check the manual first to see what kind of instructions the manufacturer provides.

As expected - because that is the norm today - I didn't find a printed manual but instead an instruction to access a website that would supposedly guide me on how to get started, so I went there, and the website instructed me to download the Ledger app, which I did.

At this point, I was preparing myself to find some sort of extensive documentation on the steps I would need to take to ensure my wallet was properly set up, but, to my surprise, that was not the case at all.

What happened instead was one of the smoothest user journeys I've seen so far. The app basically told me to plug my wallet, guided me step by step and, before I knew it, my wallet was ready to go. No YouTube video needed. No desperate call to customer support. I'm not even going to take a stab at writing a tutorial because I don't feel I could make it any easier than Ledger already did.

As a project manager with over a decade of experience, I have been involved in my fair share of product development projects, so I know a thing or two about user experience. Because crypto is such a niche thing, I was not expecting this level of refinement on user journey and overall experience but Ledger really did a great job there.

The only part that was, justifiably, a little time-consuming was writing down the seed phrase that was generated by my Ledger because, since this is probably the most critical step in the whole process, I took my time and made sure everything was correct but once that was done and the apps for the coins I hold were installed I was finally able to move my assets out of exchanges and into the safety of my new hardware wallet.

Final thoughts

I don't know if that is just the industry standard or if they are really one step ahead in that area and also, I did get the Nano X, which has a display on the device itself that helps the user navigate through the process. I don't know if the experience is as smooth on the cheaper models but I believe this wallet was really worth the investment and I'm very satisfied with it so far.

The motto "not your keys, not your crypto" has never made as much sense as it does now. I know that sometimes we are tempted to think that the odds of something serious happening to our assets are low, but I bet many of the FTX users felt the same so why take the risk?

As I said, this is my first experience with hardware wallets and I don't know how good are other models compared to the Ledger Nano X but I can say that I'm very happy with it so far and I would recommend it to anyone looking to getting a hardware wallet themselves.

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