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REVIEW: CoolWallet Pro – crypto cold storage that fits in your less cool trad wallet
Coinhead
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Using exchanges as your go-to for crypto storage is about as sensible as diversifying your life savings into DOGE, Shiba Inu and C*mRocket.
As any true HODLer knows, hardware wallets are where the most secure action’s at. Stockhead got hold of one of the latest – the CoolWallet Pro – to see how it stacks up.
Grab a cold one
The CoolWallet Pro is Taiwanese tech company CoolBitX’s new, enhanced iteration of its predecessor, the CoolWallet S. The Pro comes with a higher industry-approved security rating than the S, supports more cryptos and has more memory to facilitate a handful of slick new features.
Its main purpose, though, is still the same as any other hardware wallet – to securely hold your cryptos’ private keys (alphanumeric password strings) in ‘cold storage’.
In other words, it keeps the means of access to your precious digital assets offline, in your hands, and as safe as possible from thieving hackers, desperate freelance journos and other undesirables.
Plastic fantastic
The CoolWallet Pro’s appearance is nothing like crypto hardware wallets you may or may not be used to. Made from durable, bendy plastic, it looks more like a credit card sporting a pic of a moon. Slip it into your regular, non-digital wallet or purse, let it shake up the stuffy TradFi party going on in there, and take it comfortably wherever you go.
How’s it work?
Some pretty impressive tech is cleverly pancaked within the Pro’s 0.8mm frame, providing the wallet with a flat, pressure-sensitive button on its surface that you use to interact with an e-ink display right there on the back of the card.
Using an encrypted Bluetooth connection, the card pairs with the CoolBitX app, which you can download on your iOS or Android phone or tablet.
The app is where you can best view your crypto and control the wallet’s array of features, and the card is used for confirming and sending transactions.
Together, your device’s app and the card act as two-factor authentication security, meaning you can’t send any crypto anywhere without physical access to both simultaneously.
What about those new features?
The wallet really lives up to the ‘cool’ part of its name with its capabilities for DeFi (decentralised finance) interaction.
These include the ability to earn at least 8% APY on the USDT stablecoin, as well as staking Polkadot, Cosmos and TRON to earn various amounts of yield.
The CoolWallet Pro also helps you make crypto-to-crypto swaps and purchases, and can connect to DApps (decentralised apps) through the WalletConnect function.
It’s all easily done in-app, straight from cold storage, and further upgrades with more functionality, including NFT-platform support, are planned for the second half of this year.
It is secure, right?
There’s always the possibility of a $5 wrench attack if you go flashing the card around while you bang on about Lambos. But cold storage is your best bet, and this is a perfectly functional hardware wallet, endorsed by Charlie Lee of Litecoin-creation fame, and buddied up with the likes of MyEtherWallet, Binance, Huobi, OKex. It’s also tamper-proof, and heat and water resistant.
As with other hardware wallets, you need to generate a seed phrase at setup, which is your back-up insurance in case you ever lose the device. Write it down on one of the included recovery cards and then it’s up to you to keep it somewhere safe.
One thing, though, the setup process gives you the less-secure option to generate the seed phrase on the app – effectively online.
In fact, it’s the default option, which is bizarre. Be sure to choose the seed-generation option that only shows on the card’s display, instead.
Thoughts overall
The CoolWallet Pro is all about secure, crypto asset management and storage for the HODLer on the go, and its portability, usability, and DeFi-ability make it a versatile option.
Loading it with what you think you’ll need in the short term, for day-to-day usage, seems like its perfect use case.
That said, the idea of taking it, along with your phone as 2FA, everywhere you go, might not be for everyone.
As with investing, it’s probably not a bad idea to diversify your security and storage with at least one or two other options if you can afford to do so.
Box contents:
• CoolWallet Pro card wallet
• Charging dock and USB cable (one full charge lasts at least two weeks)
• Simple manual and 2 recovery cards
Supports:
BTC, ETH (and all ERC-20s) LTC, XRP, XLM, DOT, TRON, ATOM, BNB, and TRC20 tokens USDT, USDJ, JUST, WBTT and WIN. (There are plans for more, including ADA and XTZ, and ETH 2.0 down the track.)
Price:
US$149
Get it here.
