The blockchain has made the world of possibilities truly endless. Where we were once bound to physical and digital worlds and unable to live in both, now we can experience both at the same time. Just as you would secure your house with a lock, you must secure your NFTs according to its value.
First off, consider what makes it valuable. For example, think of artwork that is rare and hard to come by such as an original Picasso painting or Messi’s autograph.
There are very few copies available and because there are so few out there the price tag will be high – this makes them attractive targets for thieves who wish to gain monetarily from something that was not gained fairly or invested into thus stealing away the work and effort of the original owner.
Do you have to do anything extra for your NFTs?
So, NFTs are all unique snowflakes, but there’s millions of them.
If you are just collecting NFT airdrops to flip the jpeg as soon as possible, don’t bother buying a hardware wallet for it.
You can receive NFTs in free software wallets just fine - they are only tokens.
Free crypto wallets that support NFTs:
- Exodus supports ETH, SOL and other NFTs.
- A new feature called Exodus Gallery now gives you a nice UI to view, receive and send SOL NFTs.
- You can store other NFTs in Exodus too, as tokens. They just won’t render in the pretty UI.
- MyEtherWallet supports ETH NFTs, look for a tab called “NFT manager”
Expensive NFTs may be worth it
On the other hand, consider what makes your NFT valuable to you.
Maybe you are an NFT art collector who bought from one of the premium NFT marketplaces. Maybe you are a business-minded trader who is developing NFT in-game characters.
NFT game characters have a well defined set of character properties that will make the price of the NFT soar on the market. The profit on NFT games is somewhat predictable, which makes in-game character trading a good business. But it also means that NFT game traders are in more danger of a heist.
If you have a NFT that is extremely rare and valuable, like the original art mentioned earlier, it will be better to be more diligent with your precautions than with any generic Pepe the frog artwork.
Ledger wallet is the standard
Best hardware wallet that supports NFTs natively is the Ledger wallet nano X.
- Ledger even provides an official guide on how to store NFTs on their wallets
NFT game players or regular NFT traders will probably gravitate to the Ledger Nano X to make sure their trading is kept safe, but at the same time that moving their NFTs around isn’t a major clusterfuck.
So, Ledger hardware wallet has the native capability of storing non-fungible ERC-721 tokens. Furthermore, all updates, transactions and monitoring are now managed through the native Ledger Live app. This is better for the security of your NFTs, because you never have to worry about phishing emails with malicious updates. Simply update always via Ledger Live and ignore any wallet-related emails. It’s pretty secure.
Don’t forget you need your seed
The standard of good security means storing your NFT in a hardware wallet in a secure location with no easily accessed areas. If somebody were to break into the house they should need at least an extra set of keys to get through all the locks on your door.
Even better, the private key to the hardware wallet should be hidden in a different location. This is overkill for most traders and hodlers, but with life-changing amounts of money, it pays off to use a fire-proof and impact-proof steal metal sheet plates to store your seed phrase. You never know.
- Billfodl gives 10% off on first order
- Ledger now sells bundles of Nano X with Billfodls at a good price.
The extremely secure nature of this setup would make it highly unlikely that hackers will ever successfully gain access into your wallet.
Third party for exotic blockchains
Ledger wallet has support of other types of wallets including MyEtherWallet (MEW) or MetaMask, which you can use to receive more exotic tokens.
Wallets like MetaMask are connected to Google Chrome, making them more easily accessible but also less secure.
It is a common practice to use browser-based wallets for smaller amounts of money, for tokens you send back and forth daily, but not for long-term storage of anything too valuable.
- If you simply have a few airdropped NFTs, you’re fine using MyEtherWallet or MetaMask as your wallet for simpler tasks.
- If you think you have something maybe worth hodling, use Exodus.
- If you are sure you have a treasure, use Ledger and Billfodl.
Additional best practices when using MEW or MetaMask
If you are using browser-based wallets, always check for the green lock in your address bar. If that appears, then you know that you are connecting to the real site and it is safe to send your tokens there.
When importing your wallet into MyEtherWallet, do not save any of your private keys anywhere online at all ever again. Save offline only on paper by typing out the seed phrase (12 words), writing them down and storing them somewhere safe.
- It is safer to write the seed down than to print it out.
- Use a pencil or a pen that won’t get ruined through water.
- Best of all, use steel metal plates for seed storage - fire-proof, water-proof.
Also, obviously do not share your seed phrase with anyone.
By keeping you seed phrase offline, you are doing what’s best practice for keeping your wallet data secure.
Bottom line
If you are an experienced crypto trader or developer who has valuable NFTs laying around and/or plans on creating valuable NFTs - it might be worth investing in a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano X to keep your valuable assets safe from hacks and thefts while still being able to easily access and trade them.