KeepKey
If you've been in crypto for any amount of time, you've likely heard people talk about hardware wallets. There's a few different kinds of wallets you can use to hold your cryptocurrency, and a hardware wallet is one of the best in terms of security. I won't go into detail as to which wallets are good for what as I feel like that's a whole separate article, but i will say that if you have any significant amount of crypto, you should consider getting one of these. KeepKey is not the only hardware wallet, of course. KeepKey is my favorite at the moment due to recent and upcoming integrations, as well as the fact that it's open source. I lost all faith in Ledger not long ago.
The Thorchain integration was a game changer. Being able to swap between native crypto apps without ever transferring your crypto off the hardware wallet is pretty sick. This means you can hold BTC on your KeepKey, and swap it with a number of other crypto assets while still staying 100% secure on the device. Obviously the swaps don't happen on the device, but it's pretty close. What really turned me off with Ledger was its new recovery option. Where you can opt to have your seed phrase stored with different 3rd parties in case you lose it. While this may sound like a great idea, it kills one of the core principles of using a hardware wallet in the first place - no online connection.
There is also support for Maya Protocol in the works, which will provide even more cross-chain liquidity routing to assets like DASH and KUJI. Hopefully they integrate Chainflip at some point as well. The more cross-chain liquidity routes to different assets and blockchains, the better. So let's take a look at how to set up your new KeepKey hardware wallet.
How to set up your KeepKey
Step 1. Go to the website on the inside of your packaging - www.keepkey.com/get-started. Download the application for your respective operating system. In my case - it was Linux.
Step 2. Launch the application and connect your KeepKey using the included USB cable. Select Create new Wallet.
Step 3. Set a PIN. The numbers are always randomized so make sure you look at the device screen for the correct number order.
Step 4. Write down your Seed Phrase. It will be shown in 3 chunks.
Remember - this is how you will recover your wallet. Write it down and put it in a very safe place.
Step 5. Wait for the device to update if it need, and you're ready to go!
You're ready to migrate your funds to your new secure crypto wallet! KeepKey is supported on tons of different dapps, so make sure to check their website for a full list of integrations. ShapeShift is also built right into the KeepKey desktop app so you can start doing DeFi stuff right away. There's support for liquidity pooling, staking, and swapping right off the bat.
Hope you found this helpful. Have a good day.