What is Air-gapped Hardware Cold Wallet?

The air-gapped cold wallets are hardware wallets that can be controlled offline, disconnected from the web, mobile, WIFI, USB, NFC, Bluetooth, as a consequence providing increased safety as compared to hot wallets, which have to be online all of the time. 

Air-gapped is a technical term for a device (usually a computer) that does not have any connection to a network or another device. It is a device that is 100% isolated from the outside world; It is fully protected from unauthorized access, cyber hacks, malware, and any online threats.

Nowadays, where everything is interconnected through the internet and with the widespread of hackers and malware, the concept of "Air-Gapped" is ever more significant in terms of security. This is why cold wallets accept air-gapped technology to stay isolated at all times and keep your cryptocurrency secure.

Learn more about the best air-gapped hardware cold wallets.

Content

1. What is Cold Wallet

1.1 Hot Wallets

1.2 Hardware Wallets

1.3 Cold Wallets

2. What is "Air-Gapped"?

3. Newest Generation of Air-gapped Cold Wallets: ELLIPAL Titan

3.1 Anti-Tamper Security 

3.2 Anti-Disassembly Security 

4. How Does ELLIPAL Work?

5. Air-gapped Cold Wallets

6. The most popular air-gapped hardware wallets in 2023


1. What is Cold Wallet

The majority of cryptocurrencies are kept inside wallets. When a user wants to create a wallet, they will first generate a pair of unique numbers and letters called private keys and public keys. 

The private key is like the identity of the wallet. It allows access to the wallet and allows transactions away from the wallet. Whoever holds the private key is the owner of the wallet.

On the other hand, the public key generates the wallet's address that you can give to other people to send you cryptocurrency.

Wallets help you create private keys, and public keys, keep track of your cryptocurrency, allow transactions, and keep your private keys secure.

There are three types of wallets: 

  • Hot wallets
  • Hardware wallets
  • and Cold wallets.

1.1 Hot Wallets: these are wallets based on a mobile/PC App. They are readily accessible for free on the App store etc. When you create a wallet on these Apps, the mobile phone or the PC will store the private keys and try to keep them safe. Nonetheless, mobile phones or PCs are not secure because they always connect to the internet or other networks. The internet is full of hackers and malware that can target private keys at any time. 

1.2 Hardware Wallets: these are specially made devices just for keeping cryptocurrency. These devices are isolated from networks most of the time, reducing the risk of getting hacked or touched by malware. However, to make a transaction, it must be directly connected to another online device. Therefore, the hardware wallet will not stay isolated when it needs to complete a transaction, which poses risks to remote hacking or having malware installed through the connection.  

1.3 Cold Wallets: Cold wallets are similar devices to hardware wallets. The main difference is that cold wallets can complete transactions without needing any direct connection to online devices. This means a cold wallet does not require any hardware or software that lets it connect to the internet or another device. Therefore, the cold wallet can be isolated at all times and protect the private key inside from every type of online attack (Air-gapped). 

2. What is "Air-Gapped"?

Air-gapped is a technical term for a device (usually a computer) that does not have any connection to a network or another device. It is a device that is 100% isolated from the outside world; It is fully protected from unauthorized access, cyber hacks, malware, and any online threats.

Nowadays, where everything is interconnected through the internet and with the widespread of hackers and malware, the concept of "Air-Gapped" is ever more significant in terms of security. This is why cold wallets accept air-gapped technology to stay isolated at all times and keep your cryptocurrency secure. 

3. Newest Generation of Air-gapped Cold Wallets: ELLIPAL Titan

Newest Generation of Air-gapped Cold Wallets: ELLIPAL Titan

As explained above, cold wallets are the most secure place to store your private keys because it is air-gapped. And by keeping the keys secure, your cryptocurrency will be safe.  

Nonetheless, cold wallets may still have one weakness. Although it can protect the keys from all online threats, physical threats like theft and physically altering the hardware/software still exist. It might be less common to see someone break into your house to steal your cold wallet than to meet an online hacker, but it is still dangerous. 

Cold Wallet makers like ELLIPAL understand this issue well and added safety features to prevent such attacks on its ELLIPAL Titan Cold Wallet.  

3.1 Anti-Tamper Security: The best way to secure private keys is to delete them when the (physical) hacker gets their hand on the device. Without any private keys to salvage, the stealing attempt is futile. The ELLIPAL Titan does this by having a sensor that detects any physical hacking on the hardware. Once the sensor detects that someone is trying to crack open the device, the wallet will self-destruct. Every data on the device will be deleted. If the wallet owner has the recovery key, their assets can be recovered easily on a new wallet. 

3.2 Anti-Disassembly Security: Another threat is that some hackers may install malware into the device before giving it to you. They intercept the delivery of your device, install malware, and ship it to you as if nothing happens. What you'll get is an infected device that is ready to cause you many troubles. (This is called a supply-chain attack). As scary as it sounds, ELLIPAL has a simple way to counter it. The ELLIPAL Titan is made from a very strong metal frame, and the screen is sealed tightly onto the metal. It is not possible to open up the ELLIPAL Titan without leaving serious marks on it. Do not use an ELLIPAL with marks on it because it shows that it has been tampered with.  

The ELLIPAL Titan cold wallet is one of the most secure wallets you can ever store your cryptocurrency in. Not only does it protects you from all kinds of online attacks by being air-gapped, but it also protects you from offline attacks. The ELLIPAL Titan will keep your crypto secure for a very long time.  

4. How Does ELLIPAL Work?

How Does ELLIPAL Work?

As mentioned, cold wallets are air-gapped, so by themselves, they cannot connect to the blockchain and complete transactions. Without USB ports or Bluetooth connections, how does information transfer between a cold wallet and the blockchain? The answer is a QR code.  

QR codes are visual information, they travel through light and cannot be hacked. Every cold wallet has a camera to scan the QR codes for receiving and sending information. 

The ELLIPAL Titan cold wallet is to be used alongside the ELLIPAL Mobile APP. The APP acts as a proxy for the cold wallet to connect to the blockchain. By using the APP to scan the wallet QR codes from the cold wallet, the APP can synchronize and show you all the information about the wallet. For example: how much crypto is stored, and what is the wallet's address.

To send coins, create a transaction request on the ELLIPAL APP. The APP will create a QR code. Use the ELLIPAL Titan to scan this QR code. Once scanned, the ELLIPAL Titan knows that you want to make a transaction and approve it using the private keys stored inside. What you get is another QR code saying that this transaction has been confirmed by the private key; which will be scanned by the APP again to complete the process. 

And of course, before the ELLIPAL Titan can approve this transaction for you, you must correctly input the gesture password and the account password. As you can see, the transaction process is also very secure.


5. Air-gapped Cold Wallets

Although there are many great hardware wallets out there, it is best to choose ones that are air-gapped for the best security. With connections such as USB or Bluetooth, it provides attack vectors that hackers can exploit. 

Currently, every cold wallet depends on QR-code technology instead of USB or Bluetooth to keep its air-gapped state. The cold wallet will have a camera and it will be used to scan QR codes to perform set up and sign transactions. As using a camera to scan requires no physical or wireless connection, it allows the wallet to stay air-gapped. 

The most popular air-gapped hardware wallets in 2023-2024

ELLIPAL Titan Cold Wallet was one of the first wallet brands in the market that embraced QR code technology and educated its users on why air-gapped is a very important feature. It is fully built from metal which makes it very sturdy and gives a high-end feel. It is very suitable for long-term use. It has a large touch screen and doesn't have any USB port for charging. It also has anti-disassembly and anti-tamper features, on top of being air-gapped. Overall, a very secure device. It pairs with its smartphone App for transactions and setup.

ELLIPAL Titan is the best cold wallet

The ELLIPAL has one of the highest numbers of coins supported among all the wallets in the market. It also supports importing accounts from other wallets. It supports buying, trading, DAPPs, and staking. It is a very useful wallet. 

ELLIPAL Titan is the best cold wallet

Use the Coupon Code "178490" and get $ 5 OFF when buying an ELLIPAL Titan Cold hardware wallet in the official ELLIPAL online store >>>


Details: about the new product line of ELLIPAL in 2023-2024:


Cryptotag

Learn more about the best TOP 30 hardware cryptocurrency wallets

You can see this list here.


TOP 29 Hardware Wallets, the Official Online Stores

1
Trezor hardware wallet, the official online store
2
Ledger hardware wallet, the official online store
3
KeepKey hardware wallet, the  official online store
4
BitBox02 hardware wallet, the official online store
5
CoolWallet hardware wallet, the official online store
6
ELLIPAL hardware wallet, the official online store
7
D'CENT hardware wallet, the official online store.
8
SafePal hardware wallet, the official online store
9
SecuX hardware wallet, the official online store
10
BC Vault hardware wallet, the official online store
11
BitLox hardware wallet, the official online store
12

Keystone hardware wallet, the official online store

13
ProKey hardware wallet, the official online store
14
NGRAVE hardware wallet, the official online store
15
Keevo hardware wallet, the official online store
16
GridPlus hardware wallet, the official online store
17
Ballet hardware wallet, the official online store
18
OPOLO hardware wallet, the official online store
19
Foundation (Passport) hardware wallet, the official online store
20
ImKey hardware wallet, the official online store
21
Tangem hardware wallet, the official online store
22
HashWallet hardware wallet, the official online store
23
Material Bitcoin hardware wallet, the official online store
24
ShieldFolio hardware wallet, the official online store
25
OneKey hardware wallet, the official online store
26
Blockstream Jade hardware wallet, the official online store
27
Cypherock hardware wallet, the official online store
28
Keepser hardware wallet, the official online store
29
NEXA hardware wallet, the official online store
ELLIPAL Titan is the best cold wallet

TOP 20 Best Metal Cold Storage Seed Phrase Backups, the Official Online Stores

Coinplate metal seed phrase backup