Coldcard Review: Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Safety?

The hardware wallet our Coldcard review introduces is considered to be one of the safest on the market and a fair competitor to the most widely preferred hard wallets like Ledger and Trezor. 

The company that has developed it describes it as secure enough for you to sleep like a baby. Is the era of worrying about hard wallets being hacked over? Or is the paranoia level just too high? Let’s find out. 

Who Has Developed Coldcard?

Coinkite Inc has been in the crypto solutions business since 2011, pioneering some of the most used cold wallet products today. The company was established in Toronto, Canada by Rodolfo Novak who is currently also the CEO, and Peter Gray, CTO and co-founder. 

As of now, the company has remained a smaller business which employs less than 10 employees, but their success is undeniable. Also, fairly transparent about their legal status, the company is far more honest than unregulated financial services providers like BigMO Fx.

Coldcard Hardware Storage – What is it?

It’s one of the earliest and most secure hardware Bitcoin signing devices, or simply put, a Bitcoin cold wallet. The thing that differentiates this hardware wallet from an entire sea of other similar devices out there is the unparalleled approach to security.

Safety solutions include dual secure elements, complete offline operation, and verifiable source code – but more on that later. All of the products integrate with exchanges seamlessly – no Coldcard app required.

Coldcard MK4

The company’s current flagship product, Coldcard MK4 wallet comes complete with a numeric keyboard, bright LED display and standardized USB-C connector. Additional features include NFC tap, and unlimited external storage on industry-grade Micro SD cards.

Coldcard Q

The newly developed Coldcard Q is not yet readily available for purchase, and interested clients may currently only queue. It includes all MK4 features, and doubles down on device support, including QR reader, larger screen, alphanumeric keyboard, and multi-SD card support. This one can also run on 3xAAA batteries, for that extra layer of protection.

Other Products

A whole slew of additional products and paraphernalia is available on the manufacturer’s website. The most popular of these are BLOCLOCK Mini – an eInk screen that showcases exchange prices, and newly mined blocks.

Another popular product, opendime is a miniature carry & spend USB device. It is fully MK4 compatible, and can be used in conjunction with BLOCLOCK Mini.

Security – How are Your Assets Protected?

If you believe that having multiple parallel advanced security solutions integrated into your cold wallet is unnecessary, then maybe cryptocurrencies are not for you. Jokes aside, the quality of Coldcard hardware storage safety implements is peerless, and borders on paranoia.

We’d need a full page to describe all of these, so we’ll make a couple of lists. Yes, a couple:

• Hardware security solutions
  • Key storage on dual secure elements integrated into the device itself, separate from the removable Bitcoin storage media; These are even clearly marked “Shoot These” to allow for quick device destruction in an emergency
  • Self diagnostic feature that indicates any firmware tampering through caution lights
  • “AirGap” operation – the device can operate without ever being connected to a computer during its lifetime; all integrated wireless devices are disabled by default
  • Transparent case makes physical device tampering easy to spot
  • Product is delivered in a factory sealed transparent bag with unique ID

• Software security solutions
  • Trick-PIN allows setting up separate PINs with different purposes. These include access to the actual wallet (PIN), a dummy wallet (Duress PIN), or giving the device a command to self-destruct (Brick PIN and Countdown To Brick PIN)
  • Anti-Phishing PIN prefix comes pre-set from the factory, and features two separate keywords that allow diagnosing software tampering by means of cross-referencing
  • Support for automatic or manual (Dice Throw) seed generation
  • External storage media encryption with a backup function

Prices – Affordable or Not?

All of the currently available products are listed in the webshop. Although not all are currently available, you can, however, make a reservation. The company provides free shipping on orders of $499 and more. Here are some of the Coldcard price tags on the most popular products:

• Coldcard Mk4 – $154.94
• Coldcard Q – $199.99
• Blockclock Mini – $429 ($399 on discount)
• Blockclock Micro – $189
• Satslink – $189.99

Besides the official products, merch and gift cards are also available but that depends on the company solely.

Marketing Campaign and Support

Although the Coldcard reviews aren’t present as of yet, it is evident that the company has set up the profile on X that serves to promote the Coldcard wallet. The page has nearly 50 thousand followers, you can see that quite a number of people have either bought or intend to buy the products. 

Contacting the customer service is exclusively done over Telegram and email (

[email protected]). Company reviews on Trustpilot all criticize the poorly organized customer support that is said not to care enough about the buyers of their goods. 

Reddit users have opposing opinions on the particular products. There are several threads going into details about the user experience with the devices and comparing them to main competitors like Ledger. 

Conclusion

If you’re feeling especially paranoid about securing your Bitcoins, then look no further than Coldcard crypto wallet solutions. The ecosystem of devices offers unrivaled safety and security, with no connection requirements and even multiple self-destruct mechanisms. If you’re looking to make a long-term BTC investment, then this wallet is a must have!

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