SatoshiLabs presented Trezor in the summer of 2014. It was the first hardware wallet or so-called cold storage ever which provided the unprecedented possibility to store all private keys offline. That was quite an innovation in the crypto security space. KeepKey released its wallet in September this year. Some say it is just an expensive copy of Trezor. But is that so indeed? Cointelegraph conducted a small research of the main features of both wallets to help our readers make the right choice between them.
Trezor: the First and the Safest
Back in 2014 it became a revolutionary solution, which allowed you to store all the important data off the Internet, making it impossible – or nearly impossible – to steal it. By the way, the developers state “not a single Trezor has been hacked since its launch”.
Indeed, the wallet isn’t vulnerable to stealing malware as it has no Internet connection. It means your data never leaves the wallet while conducting transactions. It’s compatible with multiple wallets and coins so your choice of currency isn’t limited just to Bitcoin. It is also compatible with Windows, OS X, Linux, Chrome OS and Android, so you’ll probably have no problems using it with any device you own. Furthermore, it was designed for an average PC user so you don’t need to be a computer genius to use Trezor.
Perhaps, simplicity of use is the most important feature of any device. The device itself can be super safe and super innovative but if it’s too difficult to use, people will probably turn to something simpler and more understandable. It’s not fun to have a device and have no idea what to do with it.
Trezor is definitely nothing of the kind. It’s so user-friendly that even a total newbie would figure out how it works. Maybe, that is precisely the reason for its popularity among Bitcoin users. Alena Vranova, Co-Founder and Director at SatoshiLabs told Cointelegraph:
“Trezor is a leading innovation in this field. While inventing the entire concept of a hardware wallet we also contributed to several standards now adopted across of Bitcoin (for example BIP39 - the vocabulary used to create a Recovery seed).
Since its launch, the number of countries where TREZOR is used has grown to almost 100; Copay has a nice multisig wallet with Trezor; we introduced an SSH login with Trezor for system administrators, and we'll be releasing a Wordpress plugin for website admins.”
KeepKey: Look and Feel
The first thing about KeepKey that stands out, it’s the fashionable and stylish design of the wallet. It looks really great! Besides, it has a larger screen than its predecessor which makes the use of KeepKey even more comfortable. It’s easier to verify transaction data on a larger screen so you have fewer chances to make a mistake.
KeepKey is easy-to-use and secure as well. Moreover, the developers state they’ve created a unique recovery mechanism which is even more secure than Trezor’s. Darin Stanchfield, the founder of KeepKey, stated to Cointelegraph:
“KeepKey employs a unique recovery mechanism that is much more secure than Trezor’s. This method lets us use 12 words for recovery sentence (Trezor needs to be 24 due to information leakage during recovery). The extra security means that KeepKey users don’t need to store their private keys on the device. They can recover their private key and transact, then wipe the device. This is the safest way to store Bitcoin at the moment, and the option is not available on any of our competitors.”
Sounds good, doesn’t it? It looks as if you’ll get a full-fledged pocket-sized Bitcoin vault. And what is more, its developers are constantly on the move, trying to make KeepKey even better than it already is. They now provide hardware optimizations that allow improving the lifespan of the device’s flash memory. Darin Stanchfield adds:
“Currently, that lifespan is 3 times over Trezor’s. We have a firmware upgrade in the pipeline that will make that 250 times”.
A Pioneer or a First-Timer?
As we see, both wallets are good enough to preserve your Bitcoins. They are much alike, with nearly the same level of security and reliability. So it’s up to you to choose which one you would like to use. Will you choose the experience and lasting good reputation of Trezor? Or are you attracted by KeepKey’s neat design and improved lifespan? Or maybe do you prefer using some other hardware wallets? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!