Crypto Winter Freezes Have Turned Investors Onto Hardware Wallets

There was no shortage of victims of cryptocurrencies this summer.

August 8th in Singapore Hoddle Note Joined Fellow Lenders bold When Celsius and Singapore exchanges Zipmex About suspending users’ cryptocurrency withdrawals due to “recent market conditions”.

This measure was ostensibly taken to “stabilize liquidity”, a phrase used in Celsius’ withdrawal freeze. publication.

With little warning, investors were hit with the news that the bulk of their digital assets had been effectively seized while the companies worked out their recovery plans.Many are affected with varying degrees of severity, and the human cost is often hard to read.

The recent liquidity crisis has brought to mind many of the industry’s wisest words. neither a key nor a coinAnd now there’s new evidence that many take these words to heart.

while the crypto company files for bankruptcy, or receive relief; Coinbase, Gemini, blockchain.com announced all mass layoffs; in the meantime Solana And the nomads are unwound one after another multi-million dollar attackone subsector is thriving: hardware wallets.

Cryptographic security takes center stage

hardware wallet It is often touted as an ideal choice for long-term cryptocurrency storage.

Safely store user private keys offline. Unlike software wallets, they are largely unaffected by online attacks, but have been targeted by phishing attacks. Most recently, the Mailchimp newsletter database containing the emails of Trezor users was attacked earlier this year. compromised.

So while they’re not invincible, if you look with caution and a hawk’s eye, hardware wallets can be a much better alternative to software wallets.

of top model Data from Ledger and Trezor are also resistant to physical tampering, making them a safe bet for those looking for long-term storage of their digital assets.

exploit Slope Mobile Wallet ApplicationFor example, the Solana user’s private key isaccidentally sentAccording to Solana’s developers, to a “third party”. The attacker got him $4.5 million. SOL and USDC.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later tweeted that worried people can transfer funds to hardware wallets.

Hardware wallet sales skyrocketed amid a wave of bankruptcies, freezes and hacks.

Philip Costigan, senior account manager at Ledger, says that ultimately, security was a constant concern.and Ledger Op3n At a conference in June, the company announced it had sold over 5 million units. “Recent issues with lenders, bridge hacks, Solana wallet exploits, etc. have only increased demand and sales,” said Costigan.

He said Decryption Ledger sales jumped ‘4.5 times’ Bankruptcy of Celsius.

Ledger is not alone. Trezor and SafePal have also seen significant recent sales increases.

The user is “awake”

Decryption Email the representatives of Ledger, Trezor and Shenzhen-based hardware wallet manufacturers safe pal When asked if sales have increased in the recent crypto winter, all three unanimously affirmed it.

Safepal responded that it had seen “substantial growth” in both product and asset management scales, which it attributed to “the collapse of centralized financial institutions and the liquidity crisis impacting the cryptocurrency industry.”

SafePal did not provide specific sales information, but CEO Veronica Wong believes the company will “continue to grow” as cryptocurrencies continue to gain momentum among new entrants. said.

A representative for Trezor confirmed that “while the effects of the ongoing bear market are also being felt, interest in self-custody solutions has increased over the past few months.”

The company said that crypto users are “awakened to the fact that they can lose access to their assets at any time,” adding, “This is a good way to ensure that user losses are not as widespread and massive as they are.” I believe it is a development,” he added. It has been in the midst of a recent string of bankruptcies. ”

Costigan echoes this sentiment, Decryption “This almost had to happen for people to understand how important security is in keeping their assets,” he said.

The day the Solana wallet exploit happened, Ledger said:MOVESOL2LEDGERThe discount code is valid until August 7th and offers new buyers 10% off Nano X and Nano S Plus models.

Ledger reported a “larger increase” after the announcement and said both models “have attracted similar interest.”

“It was really disappointing and sad for a lot of people that we lost, but something like this was about to happen. I think we’ve seen that reflected in sales,” Costigan said.

An unfortunate and inevitable cost, according to experts, but clearly the spotlight is on yield farming and memecoins.