Redditor moodyrocket find his “life saving” wiped out after he transferred $34,000 of crypto on the Nano Ledger hardware wallet, which he acquired second hand from online seller. 8btc posted the Chinese translation and the news trigger questioning on the integrity of hardware wallets. Some opinion leaders said hardware wallet was not safe and should be taken with caution. With the critical flaw of Meltdown and Specure, people tend to believe that bitcoin hardware wallet is safe since it’s not related to the chips on market. However, the loss of Mr.moodyrocket reminds people that nothing is certain in the wild world of cryptocurrency.

Jiang Zhuoer, founder of multiple mining pools, said:

Hardware wallet is not safe. Seller pulled off the trick this time. What if manufacturer decides to make a quick fortune? Manufacturer could set up backdoor by generating weak private key( random number that could be easily cracked by brute force). Even if your wallet is in cold storage, the manufacturer could rip you off your entire stash by brute force. It’s difficult to do code review for hardware wallets. So far the most secure storage is to download software wallet and check the hashing of installation package.

Hu Yilin, Ph.D of Beijing University and Associate professor of Tsinghua University, believes that a bigger conspiracy is going on.

It’s easier for the producer to plant backdoor in the hardware wallet. Maybe they have already done that and they are waiting for more fish then close the door. This is not exaggeration because the benefits and risks are not in proportion. I don’t trust any hardware wallet unless it’s built by myself.

Changyong, professor of Chongqing University of Technology and Business, said:

It’s vital to understand the basics of cryptocurrency and blockchain. If you understand what private key is and you will be less likely to fall victim of such scam. This is the one of the risks using hardware wallet. I stress that hardware wallet is not completely safe and this is proof. Such problem must be fixed for any hardware wallets.

Changyong recently launched a training program for locals to learn about more about cryptocurrency and bitcoin. He believe that the lack of such program

Perhaps Wang Chuan summarized it best:

Rule #1 in Bitcoin: Trust no one!