New to the Crypto Space? Store and Manage Your Coins Offline in a Beginner-Friendly Hardware Wallet

In a Nutshell: BitBox is old news in crypto — and that’s a good thing. The first version of its elegantly simple hardware wallet hit the market in 2016, ages ago in the industry. As Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to take hold and evolve, BitBox02, introduced in 2019, still stands as the beginning crypto investor’s best friend, with unmatched ease-of-use and support features coupled with advanced capabilities as you gain experience. BitBox helps new crypto participants get up and running in a sustainable way.

If you keep track of cryptocurrency like we do, you may think it accounts for time in dog years rather than in human years — seven for one, or whatever the number is these days. What was only an idea in 2008 has grown into an industry with a total market cap of almost $4 trillion as of December 2024.

Now, it’s true that the $4 trillion figure references crypto’s “fully diluted” market capitalization, meaning it measures the value of coins not yet issued. Others put the value of the tokens in the market today at $1.2 trillion.

Either way, those are pretty impressive numbers for a technology that so far functions almost entirely as a speculative asset. But they tell a story investors are increasingly interested in.

That figure of nearly $4 trillion, for example, is up more than 125% year over year. Bitcoin — the only cryptocurrency everyone’s heard of — experienced 30% growth in 2024. As a whole, the crypto market is seeing increased institutional participation and new products like ETFs.

There have been considerable bumps and bruises on the road to today — the 2022 collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange likely tops the list for most. But we think this blockchain idea of pseudonymous transactions without the need for intermediaries like banks has staying power.

That said, crypto may still have a reputation as a space for tech nerds and characters like Bankman-Fried. One reason that’s going away is companies like BitBox make it easy for mainstreamers to join in.

If you’ve thought about diversifying your portfolio with crypto as many have, BitBox’s BitBox02 hardware wallet, introduced in 2019, gives you an essential tool to do the job.

Like its competitors, the BitBox02 securely stores your cryptocurrency private key offline. But those are table stakes in the hardware wallet space. What differentiates BitBox is that it provides a user experience that invites newcomers.

“We don’t claim security as a unique selling point because every reputable hardware wallet is secure,” said Roland Stadler, one of the founders. “Instead, we prioritize beginner friendliness, which comes with core values of simplicity and minimalism. What we do, we do right.”

The open-source BitBox02 comes in two editions, including one that works with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and about 1,500 other currencies. A Bitcoin-only version strips some software functionality away in favor of a laser focus on the crypto leader.

“In theory, the Bitcoin edition does less for the same price, but it has less code,” Stadler said. “That means less attack surface, less potential for bugs, and less external dependencies. Keeping it simple is a good thing in security.”

Simplicity is always the watchword. The BitBox02 has a USB-C connection that allows easy compatibility with modern laptops, desktops, and Android smartphones via an app. One of the biggest customer requests is an iOS app to match the already fully featured app on Android. Stadler promises it’s coming in 2025.

Via a social media competition, BitBox has established a record of under one minute to set up a BitBox. More realistically, Stadler suggests five minutes is totally doable.

Touch controls make performing simple, repetitive functions more streamlined. Tap the BitBox02 to select a character or some text. Hold both sides of the device with your thumb and index finger to confirm important actions such as signing transactions. And scroll with one finger to move horizontally through lines of text such as Bitcoin addresses.

There’s a lot more.

“We’re probably the only vendor in the space that ships delivery duty paid worldwide,” Stadler said. “Wherever possible, with only a few exotic exceptions, we prepay the taxes and import costs, so there are no surprises.”

Like other hardware wallets, the BitBox02 uses a 24-word recovery phrase to back up your private key in case you lose access to the device. For obvious reasons, crypto wallet users go to great lengths to preserve their recovery phrases, some even storing them on etched or engraved metal plates in bank safe deposit boxes.

However, during the setup process, BitBox allows new users to make that crucial first backup via an onboard microSD card reader instead of writing it down with a shaky hand.

“Of course, we still recommend you preserve it later when you have more time and less stress,” Stadler said. “But that first backup, you always take directly to the included microSD.”

By now, you’ve deduced that using a hardware wallet to “box” these critical lines of code is the way to go because it’s impervious to online threats. That’s especially true if you, like more than a few, come to hold crypto worth millions of dollars.

Stadler said most folks in the space seem to understand that intrinsically. For some, he uses a gold analogy to illustrate the point.

“If you just want the price of gold, then it’s probably okay to buy a gold ETF,” he said. “But if you want gold for when the stuff hits the fan, then you probably want to have the physical thing nearby instead of in a bank vault where you don’t have access.”

The same is true for crypto. Holding coins on an exchange (like FTX) subjects them to extreme counterparty risk, including insolvency, bankruptcy, hacking, regulatory vulnerability, and fraud. Plus, it’s only possible to move coins from one party to another if you hold them yourself, so it’s a matter of when, not if.

Once you decide to make the leap, that’s when BitBox leaps to the fore with its exemplary customer experience.

“Some people in crypto space like to call these hardware wallets signing devices, which I think misses the point,” Stadler said. “We’re not selling hardware — we’re selling a complete product that includes hardware, software, customer service, and the combined knowledge of our team.”

Minimalism is at play even during onboarding. Five discreet emails lead users from the initial verification of the device’s authenticity to essentials like sending and receiving crypto and backing up your keys.

Wizards in the app guide users through administrative tasks. Buying and selling is intuitive. Along with English, it handles most EU languages. There are even insurance features available in some markets that are on track to go global.

“We’re checking the boxes there,” Stadler said. “For those concerned with burglary, extortion, destruction of the wallet, or anything else, you can insure your coins.”

Stadler leaves room for coin holders to use so-called hot wallets to store small amounts of crypto online — similar to how folks in olden times would carry a few dollars around in their wallets and purses.

“But I wouldn’t take my life savings with me everywhere I go,” Stadler said. “That’s where a cold storage device like our BitBox02 comes in to store those keys offline.”

Lured by the promise of bigger rewards, some quickly move beyond crypto’s beginner stage into decentralized financing through smart contracts and other more arcane pursuits. Fortunately, BitBox keeps users coming back for more by not compromising on the functionality available to power users.

For example, BitBox’s advanced user section includes access to the Tor Network to minimize your online footprint. Plus, users can connect to their own Bitcoin full node and enable coin control to pick their UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs, the individual Bitcoins).

“You can have multiple subaccounts for every coin, so it makes it really easy to manage your funds,” Stadler said.

We’re willing to take Stadler’s word for it. In case that’s not enough, BitBox is also compatible with most third-party open-source wallets, including big names like Electrum, Sparrow, and Spectre, for those in the know.

Stadler said the BitBox support team prides itself on being small. To start with, retro sessions with support staff and engineering identify pain points and bottlenecks to avoid support tickets in the first place, which is good for consumers but also for the business.

Continuous chat communication connects BitBox support staff directly with the engineering team to raise potential issues to fix or ask for assistance in more complex cases. Support requests also contain feature requests, which serve as a source of continual product iteration.

The BitBox02’s longevity attests to that, whether the team counts in dog years or human ones. Almost like striking it rich with no credit history, BitBox helps those with little or no experience become confident crypto investors.

“Our open-source spirit and collaboration within the Bitcoin space creates a lot of opportunities for us,” Stadler said.