PRODUCT REVIEW: KEEPKEY
By Teddy Cleps
If you are researching cryptocurrency wallets the majority of the reviews will suggest you to purchase a Trezor or Ledger, that is mainly due to the awareness and good reputation behind the brand. Nevertheless, if you dig a little deeper you will find countless companies offering devices that are as good or even better than the current industry leaders – like the KeepKey wallet.
What I love about this wallet is simplicity.
The design is very minimalistic as its literarily a rectangular device with a glass touchscreen display and one button – that’s it. But what really impressed me is the simplicity of use, it’s extremely easy to set up and use to receive & send funds.Unlike many cryptocurrency wallets, in order to use the KeepKey you don’t have to be a cryptocurrency/tech expert. Anyone that can operate a computer will be able to safely operate this device – let’s get started with the review!
What’s inside the box?
*Make sure that your device arrives sealed in plastic! It is vital that nobody opened the package before you as that could drastically reduce the level of security and increase the chances of your wallet getting hacked.
Within the package the components that are required for the device to function are the following:
x1 USB cable that will connect your device to the computer.
x1 piece of paper that will allow you to easily write and store your 12 recovery seed words.
x1 SafeKey wallet.
Step 1
In order to set up the device you are going to need all of components above, as well as Chrome as your browser, as you will need to download a software from the Chrome Web Store: KeepKey Client.
Step 2
Once the software has been downloaded you can plug in your device to the computer through the USB cable. Upon doing so you might be asked to update the wallet, this can be done by simply unplugging the wallet to then plug it back in whilst holding the (only) button – it should take less than a minute.
Step 3
At this stage you can finally set up your device, this involves:
-
Naming your wallet
-
Choose a PIN
-
Writing down the recovery words on the piece of paper supplied within the box – make sure not to lose this!
The device in now ready to be used, all of the step above require just a couple of minutes – which is surprisingly quick when compared to other cryptocurrency wallets.
Supported Cryptocurrencies.
Upon looking at the wallet interface you may have notice that you can only send/receive Bitcoin, don’t worry as you will be able to add many more supported currencies – such as:
-
Bitcoin
-
Bitcoin Cash
-
Bitcoin Gold
-
DASH
-
Dogecoin
-
Ethereum
-
Litecoin
As well as the following ERC20 tokens:
Aragon, Augur, BAT, Binance Coin, Bancor, Civic, Digix, DAO, District0x, Edgeless, FirstBlood, FunFair, Gnosis, Golem, ICONOMI, iExec, Matchpool, Melon, Metal, Numeraire, OmiseGO, Polymath, Ripio, Credit Network, SALT, Singular, DTV, Status, Storj, SwarmCity, TenX, Tether, WeTrust, Wings and 0x
How to add altcoins to the wallet?
If you want to use this wallet to store cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin you can do so in a couple of clicks!
Simply press “Add account” on the bottom right and then select your altcoin
Additionally, if you want to add ERC20 tokens click “Add Ethereum” and will you then have a full list of supported tokens below!
Let’s use the wallet!
Now that we have set up, updated and understand the basics of the wallet it is finally time to know how to use the SafeKey to receive and send funds!
Receive Funds
-
Select the currency that you want to receive on this device.
-
Click receive, you might have to insert your PIN.
-
There it is, you will see a page with your public key both as a QR code and in the form of text.
Before using that public key, compare it with the public key appeared on your device – if they match you are ready to go; meaning that any funds send to that address will appear in your wallet!
Send Funds
-
Select the currency that you want to send from this device.
-
Paste the public key within the “Send To” field.
-
Enter the amount that you wish to send.
-
Select the fee level based on the level of urgency of this transaction (slow, medium and fast) the quicker it is, the more you will pay in fees.
5. Click send and confirm transaction with the insertion of your PIN.
Conclusions
As mentioned above i’m a big fan of the simplicity and ease of use of this device, it makes the process of sending, receiving and storing cryptocurrencies very intuitive. Therefore I will certainly suggest it to someone that is new to this space as other popular wallets may be overwhelming.
You can buy this wallet for $79 from KeepKey’s official website and Amazon
Disclaimer: this article is not a paid partnership.
Article written by @TeddyCleps
