If you have a hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger and would like to store your P2PG tokens there, you can also accomplish this comfortably by connecting your hardware wallet with your Metamask / MyEtherWallet software wallet that we have created in our previous guides.
Note: This guide assumes that you have already created a Metamask or MEW wallet (or both) and follows on our previous guides. Please refer to these guides if you do not know how to create a software wallet with Metamask or MyEtherWallet or want to learn more about these wallets:
- How to create a wallet w/ Metamask
- How to create a wallet w/ MyEtherWallet
Why a hardware wallet?
There is a well-known saying in the crypto community: Not your keys, not your coins.
Software wallets that can be installed on your desktop or browser provide great functionality and interface. Your private keys are stored locally which gives you full control but also complete responsibility for the security of your wallet and funds. The problem may occur when you lose your seed phrase or your device is infected by a virus.
This is where a hardware wallet comes in to deliver another layer of security by storing your funds completely offline. A hardware wallet stores your private key offline just like if you would write it on a piece of paper.
This means that unlike with online or software wallets, your hardware wallet cannot be infected or hacked. Besides, you may also use a strong passphrase that would protect your hardware wallet from being accessed by anyone else but you.
The problem with hardware wallets is that with the higher level of security comes a lower level of functionality and less convenient user interface. To solve this, you can, however, connect your hardware wallet with your software Metamask or MEW wallet and combine advantages of both — functionality and interface of Ethereum software wallet with the security and protection of a hardware wallet.
1. Connecting your hardware wallet with Metamask
Both Metamask and MEW allow you to connect your hardware wallet with their software wallets so you can keep your funds safe and sign transactions with the private key stored on your hardware wallet so it is not be exposed anywhere else.
Connecting a hardware wallet is simple and can be achieved in a few small steps:
First of all, open the Metamask extension in your browser and log in to your wallet using your password.
After you have successfully logged-in to your wallet, click on the icon on the top-right corner and then select “Choose Hardware Wallet”.
You can now insert your hardware wallet into your computer and select the brand of your wallet — whether you have Ledger or Trezor wallet.
PS. If you are using an older version of the Ledger wallet, you might need to enable Browser support manually on your Ledger wallet before you proceed.
After you have selected your wallet, click “Connect”.
When your specific hardware wallet is selected, you can now choose the Ethereum address from your Trezor or Ledger wallet that you would like to connect with Metamask.
Keep in mind that there is no designated address specifically for ERC-20 tokens but all these tokens are Ethereum-based and thus compatible with all ETH addresses. You can choose any ETH address from your wallet.
You have multiple ETH addresses available and it is up to you how you decide to organize your addresses. You can use one ETH address for only one specific ERC-20 token but also use one address for multiple ERC-20 tokens.
Once the address that you want to attach is selected, click “Unlock” and your hardware wallet is successfully connected to Metamask.
The convenient advantage is that you don’t need to keep your Trezor or Ledger wallet connected to your computer all the time. Your balances are still available to you unless you decide to remove the address of your hardware wallet from Metamask.
However, you will need to connect your HW wallet to sign transactions with your private key. This might seem like unnecessary extra work but is a great security practice as your private key is stored only on your hardware wallet and not anywhere else.
2. Connecting your hardware wallet with MyEtherWallet (MEW)
Just like Metamask, MyEtherWallet has also a very easy way to connect your hardware wallet with your MEW software wallet.
You can start by entering the MEW official website www.myetherwallet.com.
Once again, make sure that you are on the official website and not on any fake phishing site.
On the homepage, proceed by clicking on “Access my wallet”.
You can now decide to access your wallet with the MEWconnect smartphone app, your hardware wallet, browser extension (such as Metamask) or software access using a Keystore file or your private key (like we did in our previous guide when we were creating the software MEW wallet).
Since we are aiming to connect a hardware wallet with our MEW software wallet, select this option.
In the following step, we can see that it is possible to connect not just Ledger and Trezor as our hardware wallets but also other HW wallets like XWallet, Bitbox, Secalot and more.
You can select your particular hardware wallet and click “Continue” to proceed.
You will be then prompted to export your public key. Click export to confirm.
Now you have to select the ETH address that you would like to interact with.
Again, it is completely up to you which address you choose as long as it is an ETH address. The organization of addresses that are generated from your hardware wallet is completely up to your consideration.
When you complete this final step and click on “Unlock” and your hardware wallet is successfully connected to your MEW wallet.
Now if you send transactions, you need to sign them with the private key from your hardware wallet and then confirm it once again on your MEW wallet.
Just like with Metamask, this grants you another level of protection in a safe environment by keeping your funds and private keys offline.
Conclusion
In this guide, we have not only covered the benefits of protecting your tokens with hardware wallets but also the step by step manual on how to connect your hardware wallet with your Metamask and MyEtherWallet software wallets.
In this way, you can now achieve a higher level of security in storing and transferring your P2PG tokens and keeping your private keys stored safely.
P2PG token is Ethereum based ERC-20 token that can be stored or transferred to any ETH address. Whether you have Ledger, Trezor or any other supported hardware wallet, integration with these software wallets is a very easy process that could be completed in just a few clicks.
By going through all of our guides, you are now able to receive and safely store your P2PG tokens on both — Ethereum compatible software and hardware wallets.
P2P Guru: https://p2pguru.com/
P2PG Token on Etherscan: https://etherscan.io/token/0x0669f97be1948804FdA3CDD745F9eAd2356aECef
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