Ledger Blue Wallet

 


The following is a review of a product of which I am genuinely very supportive. I have bought the Ledger products and have no hesitation in buying more. However, I may receive compensation if you click on any of the Ledger Blue or Nano links.


Just a quick lesson as to what the ledger blue wallet does: 

  • you access your particular crypto currency through a private key (an extra long encrypted password)
  • accessing means being able to withdraw the cryptocurrency and determine how much is in storage on the block chain
  • this key needs to be protected but easily accessed
  • the Ledger Blue protects and  stores your private keys so that only you can access them 
  • the Ledger Blue has it own password chosen by you
  • the Ledger Blue storage information is recoverable as long as you have the original generated seed phrases

The quality of Ledger products is well known through their most famous product the Ledger Nano. The Ledger Blue wallet is the lesser known of the two. The Ledger Nano is a simple USB sized tiny screened protector of keys. It's more than adequate for protecting keys and crypto transactions but is not as stylish nor as functional as the Blue.

The Ledger Blue Wallet is a wallet used to store cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. The Blue is a battery-powered hardware wallet that can be used with iPhones, Androids, and computers.

It has its own touchscreen, and it's fair sized:

6.9 x 3.7 x 1.8 inches

It also has a fair amount of apps on it which can now be accessed through the newly released "Ledger Live" There are many currencies offered to keep track of along with the total worth of one's account.

What does the Ledger Blue Wallet Do?


  

Good and the Bad

The Good
  • excellent level of security
  • usable with portable devices including smartphones 
  • easy to use
  • good sized smart screen 
  • supports hundreds of cryptocurrencies
The Bad
  • the high price
  • it's relatively big
  • there are other cheaper wallets
This article should not be interpreted as advice to purchase cryptocurrencies or trade. It is merely educational material.


 

What is the Ledger Blue Wallet Compatible With?

Be aware that Ledger has stated that the last 10,000 leger blue wallets were released in the summer of 2018. No more will be released once this batch is distributed. However, the Ledger Blue will be supported indefinitely.

The Ledger Blue is a pocket-size crypto wallet. It doesn't store your crypto. Like all hardware wallets, It stores your private keys that give you access to your crypto. It consists of a 3 1/2 inch touchscreen that allows for USB or Bluetooth connectivity. It holds the private keys for hundreds of crypto listed in the tab above.

It is usable with any PC or smartphone and even offers 2-factor authorization. Your crypto assets are always safe since if you lose the Blue a set of key seed phrases backs up your device.

 

It's usable with the following  operating systems:

Windows (7+), Mac (10.9+), Linux. Requires one USB port to plug your Ledger Blue

And the following software wallets:

Copay, Electrum, Mycelium, MyEtherWallet, GreenBits, and BitGo.

It has several compatible apps, the newest being Ledger Live. It is recommended that you use Windows 10 when operating Ledger Live Ledger Live is all comprehensive and allows the storage of many of the coins mentioned above plus a running total of all assets. It doesn't keep tally of erc20 tokens at this time.

How to Use the Ledger Blue Wallet

Instructions for how to use the blue are found here

Security of the Ledger Blue Wallet

Your private keys, which allows accessing your crypto coins, are never revealed. There protected by a secure chip in the "wallet" and is locked by a pin code. It's the same protection chip used by governments documents and credit cards.

The wallet prevents anyone from accessing your cryptos via the internet. You could just write you private key down and access the coins through this method, but the "wallet" is a quick, secure and simple solution.

Again, you can restore everything on to a new  Blue with the 24-word recovery password phrases that's kept in a safe location.

Let's review all of these security measures in detail so you feel more secure and are able to sleep at night:

Ledger does not have access to your private keys at any time

The private keys are randomly created and stored within your secure chip of your particular device when you first initialize. This occurs during the generation of the seed phrases which allow you access to the private key.

Only the secure chip holds the private keys

Again, your private keys are held only on the secure chip and nowhere else. Whenever a transaction is made, the private keys are never made available to the computer or phone to which the Ledger Blue is connected. A computer with malware will not be able to read the secure chip nor the private keys.

Secure personally chosen PIN 

Each time you attach the Ledger Blue to a computer or phone, you open the Ledger Blue App using your own personal PIN. You choose this pin at the beginning of the Ledger Blue initial configuration as seen here. If you enter the wrong pin three times, the Ledger Blue will reset and erase all the contents. You can still access your cryptos as long as you have the seed phrases generated at the initial configuration.

Verification

Each time a transaction is made your Ledger Blue will prompt you with message clearly showing the address where the crypto is to be sent. The address should obviously match the one intended, otherwise you can cancel the withdrawal. Even if the computer or phone you were using was compromised with malware, the verified address displayed on the Ledger Blue would not be. Always take your time with all transactions to verify the destined address.

Retrievable

At the beginning of the configuration process of the Ledger Blue wallet a seed phrases are randomly created and displayed to you ( a list of 24 words). These seed phrases guarantees retrieval of you cryptos in the case of your Ledger Blue being stolen or lost.

Random Generated Seed Phrases

The Ledger Blue creates the seed phrases randomly using a ST RNG chip. The ST RNG chip has been certified by a well respected laboratory under a variety of different conditions including voltage, temperatures, possible defects and attacks. The chips are AIS31 certified, the best RNG certification in the world.

And If Ledger fails?

If Ledger the company fails at some time in the future your crypto is retrievable as long as you have the 24 recovery words. You can restore access to your cryptos with any other crypto wallet.

  

Good and the Bad

The Good
  • Very secure and easily accessible
  •  Usable with Mac, PC, iPhones, and Androids
  • Good sized easy to use interface
  • good sized smart screen 
  • Supports many currencies and provides the total balance of coins with Ledger Live
  • Supports more apps at any time than the Ledger Nano S. With the Ledger Nano the number of visible apps is more limited. 
The Bad
  • It's on the expensive side, around $270 USD
  • The much cheaper Ledger Nano, although having a much smaller interface, also allows the use of Ledger Live. It's available below :
Ledger Nano S - The secure hardware wallet

Where to Buy?

 

You can buy the Ledger Blue wallet directly from Ledger through the following link below:

Or the Ledger Nano S here:

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