Glossary
What is a hardware wallet?
In one sentence
A hardware wallet is a small dedicated device that keeps your private keys offline, so malware on your computer cannot reach them.
A hardware wallet stores the private key inside a purpose-built device and never lets it out. When you want to send crypto, the unsigned transaction goes to the device, you approve it on the device’s own screen and buttons, and only the signature comes back. The key itself never touches your computer or phone.
That design defeats a whole class of attack. Malware that reads your files, logs your keystrokes or swaps addresses in your clipboard cannot extract a key that never leaves the device — and because you confirm the destination on the device’s screen, address-swapping malware is visible before you approve.
Buy direct from the manufacturer. Never buy a hardware wallet second-hand or from a marketplace listing. A tampered device, or one supplied with a pre-printed seed phrase, hands your funds to the seller. A genuine device always generates the seed itself, in front of you, on first use.
The device is not the backup. If it breaks or is lost, you restore from the seed phrase, which still needs to be written down and stored securely.
For example
A hardware wallet protects against remote attackers, not against writing your seed phrase into a phishing site.