Five alternatives to hardware wallets for storing Bitcoin, from ETFs to multisig
Cointelegraph has outlined five alternatives to hardware wallets for storing Bitcoin and other crypto assets, arguing that recent incidents tied to Ledger and Coldcard have pushed more holders to reassess how they manage custody. The report says more than $200 million in crypto was stolen in recent months from tampered Ledger devices and from Coldcards where the generated seed was not truly random, raising questions about risks that can exist even when users buy from official sources and store seed phrases correctly. The piece also points to a rise in physical attacks on crypto holders, citing a so-called "$5 wrench attack" in France every 2.5 days this year. Against that backdrop, it reviews five storage routes: crypto ETFs, passkey-based wallets, multisignature wallets, centralized exchanges and paper wallets. Each option removes some burdens while introducing different trade-offs around custody, recovery, privacy, fees, code risk or reliance on third parties. Comments cited in the article include 21Shares co-founder Ophelia Snyder, who said exchange-traded products make sense for most people most of the time for tax, estate planning and security reasons, and PlanB, who said he had "zero regrets" about moving BTC to ETFs in 2025. The report’s core conclusion is that there is no single ideal storage method, and that users may reduce damage by spreading holdings across different addresses and custody models.
