Review of Ledger Nano X

PROS

  • Ledger’s newest hardware wallet
  • Wide range of features for $149

CONS

  • $149 might be too high a price for some
Buy a Ledger Nano X

Overview

In this Ledger Nano X review we are going to cover everything you need to know about Ledgers top of the line device.

The Ledger Nano X is Ledger’s newest hardware wallet.

The main idea behind the device is that it is the easiest way to secure your bitcoin and cryptocurrency offline. In the case of Ledger, using something called ‘secure element’.

This allows for more secure cold offline storage of your coins. This protects the private keys from malware. This means improved security over software wallets.

Unfortunately, the secure element is not open-source.

After testing the device, “I can confirm that this cryptocurrency hardware wallet is very easy to use.

In fact:

It’s the easiest, most smooth setup I’ve ever experienced with a hardware wallet.

And I’ve tested every single hardware wallet.

What’s in the Box

The Ledger Nano X comes nicely packaged and includes the following items:

  1. Ledger Nano X
  2. 1 USB C cable
  3. Keychain strap
  4. 3 recovery sheets
  5. Ledger stickers

Price

The Ledger Nano X is priced at $149. This also includes tree shipping to almost every country.

Make sure you NEVER buy a Ledger Nano X or any other hardware wallet from eBay.

Only buy from Ledgers official website.

Here is the Nano X compared to the other three popular hardware wallets:

Device Design

Here are some pictures of the Nano X.

The device when you open the box.

The Ledger Nano X screen is much bigger than Ledger’s previous hardware wallet, the Locker Nano S. The buttons are much bigger as well and easier to click:

Background on Ledger – A Bitcoin security Company

Ledger has been creatina hardware for Bitcoin security since 2014.

Since then it has received over $85 million in funding from some of the world’s top investors. It’s most recent raise was for $75 million in January 2018.

According to Ledger’s website, they have sold over 1,100,000 Ledger Nano S devices and have clients in over 105 countries:

Ledger Nano X Supported Coins

The Ledger Nano X supports a wide range of coins and digital assets including all the major coins as well as other altcoins and ERC-20 tokens, such as:

  • Neo – NEO
  • Tron – TRX
  • Tether – USDT
  • Monero – XLM
  • EOS – EOS
  • Dash – DASH
  • Litecoin – LTC
  • Ripple – XRP

To add a new coin to your device, just go to “Manager”. From there you can tap the blue install button on any coin you want to add to your Nano X:

Ledger Nano X vs Ledger Nano S

The Ledger Nano Xis new, so what’s the difference?

The Ledger Nano X costs $149 vs $79 for the Nano S.

The Nano X connects to iOS devices, while the Nano Sonly works with desktop computers and androids.

They both support the same coins.

The Nano X also has a slightly larger screen that displays at a higher resolution. Unfortunaly, still no touch screen for the Ledger devices.

Finally, the Nano X is just a studier, more hefty device.

Ledger Live

Ledger Live is Ledger’s proprietary wallet interface software for desktop and mobile devices. It makes it simple to connect to a Nano X and send and receive a multitude of coins quickly and easily via bluetooth connection. You can use it on desktop or an a mobile app.

Disclaimer: the Ledger Live app makes it easy to send Bitcoin…but at a cost.

However, there is a cost to this simplicity. On most blockchains, transactions must be broadcast via a node on the network, be it for Bitcoin or Ethereum. When you use Ledger Live, you are using Ledger’s corporate nodes to broadcast your transactions. Because of this, Ledger will know all of your public addresses and, therefore, how much Bitcoin you own.

Ledger claims they cannot tie names to Ledger Live accounts, but in crypto its better not to trust anyone and use a wallet interface that uses a full node you run yourself. This if, however, more complicated than most users are willing to put up with and Ledger does a great job of making it simple.

Just be aware of the tradeoffs and what is important to you: privacy or ease-of­ use.

Setup

While the Nano X uses is own operating system on the device (names bolos), it is still compatible with iOS, MacOS, Android, Windows and even Linux. It also works with desktop wallets like myetherwallet as well.

In this setup example I used my iPhone XR to setup the Nano X via bluetooth, but the steps are similar for other devices.

Ledger has a new app called Ledger Live, which is what I used to setup the Nano X:

BEWARE: There have been scams involving fake versions of their hardware manager app, Ledger Live, on the google play store.

Buy a Ledger Nano X

Make sure you only download the app through the link on the Ledger Live page on Ledger’s site.