Hardware wallets are increasingly in demand. In the wake of the Celsius bankruptcy, the hacking of thousands of Solana wallets and several bridges, investors are massively turning to storage solutions from Ledger, SafePal or Trezor.
Hardware wallets are becoming increasingly popular with crypto-investors
Last June, Ledger, the French manufacturer of hardware wallets, organized Op3n, a conference in New York. At the event, the startup lifted the veil on the sales figures of its physical wallets. 5 million wallets have been sold since the beginning of the year.
Subsequently, the sales of hardware wallets started to increase. When asked by Decrypt, a Ledger representative said that shipments have jumped 4.5 times since June. He attributes the explosion in sales to the turbulence experienced by the ecosystem over the summer:
“Recent issues with lending platforms, bridge hacks, Solana wallet attacks, etc. have only increased demand and sales.”
Other harware wallet manufacturers are sounding the same note. SafePal, a Singapore-based brand, says it has seen “substantial growth” following the “collapse of centralized financial institutions and liquidity crises affecting the cryptocurrency industry.”
Mirroring Ledger and SafePal, builder Trezor tempers and says it has noticed “increased interest in self-storage solutions in recent months, although the effects of the ongoing bear market are also being felt.” Trezor is apparently not immune to the bear market.
Security above all
After the pharaonic losses caused by the Luna crash, Celsius Network, a lending platform, resolved to freeze withdrawals and transfers last June. A few weeks later, the company filed for bankruptcy, creating panic in the crypto-currency industry.
Several other lending platforms have run into financial difficulties. This is the case of CoinFlex, which blocked withdrawals before filing for restructuring with a court in Seychelles, or Hodlnaut. There is also the case of the German platform Nuri, which claims to be insolvent.
At the same time, the increase in hacking targeting decentralized finance services (DeFi) has also contributed to the renewed popularity of hardware wallets. This summer has indeed been marked by the hack of several bridges, including Nomad, Curve Finance or Cbridge, and thousands of Solana wallets (SOL).
Simply put, crypto asset holders realized that the tokens stored on platforms were not really in their possession. For Ledger, this realization was inevitable:
“While it’s really disappointing and sad that a lot of people lost money, something like this had to happen. I think people now realize why they need to focus more on security, and I think that’s reflected in sales.
