Bitcoin Wallet

‘Yes, You’ Need a Bitcoin Hardware Wallet: Ledger Reveals 1.3 Million Units Sold

Wilma Woo | Oct 17, 2018 | 17:00

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Cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has sold over 1.3 million units as of this month, the company revealed in a blog post October 10.

Wallet Manufacturers Target The Millions

Discussing whether or not cryptocurrency investors “need” hardware wallets, CEO Eric Larchevêque disclosed the figure, which potentially makes Ledger the biggest-selling hardware wallet on the market.

Competition in the sector remains limited to a handful of manufacturers, with other well-known names such as TREZOR and KeepKey yet to publish current public figures about their total sales. 

Unofficial statistics for TREZOR from January suggest the number being around 800,000.

For its part, TREZOR regularly sells out of its offerings, earlier this year instigating a waiting list for eager consumers wanting to buy their latest Model T device.

Ledger meanwhile has taken its Nano S wallet beyond the realms of the cryptocurrency industry with Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport beginning to carry the product in a duty-free store in April.

Larchevêque: Market Is ‘Booming’

Discussing current market trends, Larchevêque unsurprisingly pointed to a combination of security and affordability to explain the rising demand for hardware wallets.

“Hardware wallets are convenient, affordable, portable and backed up by a paper wallet allowing easy recovery in case of loss,” he wrote.

This is why hardware wallets are booming in popularity and becoming the new standard bearer for crypto security.

Indeed, newcomers are entering the hardware wallet industry fast. The CoolWallet S, which was recently reviewed by Bitcoinist, for example, provides an interesting credit-card form factor worth checking out.

The industry has not always had a smooth run with publicity. Earlier in summer, controversy broke out over claims from a newcomer manufacturer BitFi, endorsed by John McAfee, which claimed to have produced an “unhackable” wallet.

After daring the community to attempt to hack into it, which 15-year-old Saleem Rashid subsequently did, a social media storm ensued, with BitFi ultimately withdrawing its claims.

Going forward, however, Larchevêque outlined forthcoming security updates which would serve to increase the solidity of Ledger’s offering.

This, he says, will take the form of “a chip designed specifically to resist highly skilled attackers and a custom OS designed specifically to protect crypto assets.”

The company’s president Pascal Gauthier further called 2019 the “year of custodianship” in an interview this week.

What do you think about Ledger and TREZOR’s hardware wallet sales? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, reddit.com