BC Vault Review: Your Next Hardware Crypto Wallet
Your Keys, Your Crypto.
Having succumbed to the raging crypto craze, the following line of action and, of course, your top priority, should be exploring viable options to protect your acquired digital assets. In this regard, hardware wallets are arguably the safest and the most recommended storage medium for most crypto-asset holders. However, while several crypto wallets, saturated within the ecosystem, could offer you security, only a handful of them can guarantee a crystal-clear record when it comes to malicious invasions and hacks.
Besides this, considering the predominant demand for all-around and on-ramp functionality, only a few service providers could stay afloat. One player that would still undoubtedly be in the game is BC Vault. With a fine blend of unmatched security coupled with a vast range of user-centric functionalities, this is what the blockchain ecosystem has been waiting for. With BC Vault, now more than ever, you can stay assured that your funds are in safe hands as it is handled by a team focusing primarily on security.
With that said, this review focuses on everything BC vault has to offer you, and as such, you can make better-informed decisions in this regard at the end of this guide.
BC Vault — The Basics
The foundational notion behind this relatively stronger hardware crypto wallet emanates from the intention of offering users a more robust, reliable, functional, and independent device. It isn’t yet another clone of open sources wallets that saturate the market today. Rather, it is an innovation birthed from extensive market analysis, product tests, and considerations of potential benefits to their users. Without a doubt, the most demanding concerns for most hardware wallets today are security and protection, and fortunately, this is the mainstay of BC Vault.
What’s even more intriguing about this innovation is that the manufacturer preloads each device with a 1 BTC bounty wallet. Essentially, this is a private key, encrypted as each wallet is present on the device—the key tallies with a public address that contains 1 BTC. Suppose you can break it, kaboom! 1 BTC is all yours.
Approach to Solving Theft Attempts and Cyber Attacks
One primary setback to most wallets available today is security, and this is predominantly attributable to the use of Flash memory. However, not only is a flash memory inconvenient, considering a hardware perspective, it also impedes the optimal functioning of various write operation thresholds, which ultimately reduces the wallet lifespan significantly. Thus, this led to the emergence of an innovation — Ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM). This offers an array of benefits extending from overall security to greater control over device storage. The aforementioned remains an incredible value for money framework.
The FeRAM with the wallet itself can be stored safely without the fear of data loss from empowering. It could last 200 years under 30 degrees Celcius. However, keeping in a hot place may be pretty detrimental to its lifespan and functionality. All in all, this offers you more lengthy storage than SSD, Flash, magnetic taps, and even hard drives. And best of all, it is free. Yout assets are saved offline in cold storage to prevent attacks. Also, the manufacture adopts a state of art encryption strategy to ensure maximum security of your keys. If you like, you can decide to leave your BC Vault in a safe for several years, and the integrity of your private keys would still be maintained. It also retains your data even without using a backup battery.
Layers of Security
The innovative approach to security present on BC Vault features five distinct layers — Global Password, Global pin, The device itself or a backup, wallet password, wallet PIN. Primarily, the first three layers target specific physical devices, while the remaining revolves around protecting a particular wallet. These security layers make ut almost impossible for intruders to reach your funds — they need to bypass each of these layers. Undoubtedly, this seems like a dead-end for anyone.
Conversely, this prompted BC Vault as an incredibly comfortable and unconditionally secure platform for joint utilization. For instance, two distinct individuals can know both the devices' global password and global pin while securing their personal funds with isolation on different individually secured wallets. Even more insane, this wallet allows you to create about 2000 of these.
BC Vault Application
This wallet’s use case and framework are not limited to just hardware, but it also features software available for multiple operating systems. The app renders support for roughly 461.000 ERC-20 tokens as well as 23 top coins by market cap, which are available for cold storage on the wallet. Thus, this presents you with almost no reason to browse various apps or utilize a third-party software option. Besides the impeccable array of integrated assets, the native BC Vault-app provides functionality that extends significantly above the mere cold storage notion. As such, around last year, the team behind this innovation announced purchase solutions as well as crypto exchange obtained via API by industry heavyweights.
BC Vault v1.6.0
Here is the latest version of the wallet released, embodying truckloads of intuitive functionalities. In this version, there is an included support for Blockbank (BBANK) Kusama (KSM) Polkadot (DOT) Token. Add to that, it now features even more comprehensive currency information powered by IntoTheBlock. Note that the staking feature highlighted below is only available for this version and the higher version of the wallet. Essentially, it is not attainable in versions less than 1.6.0. Lastly, there are various bug fixes and improvements to facilitate a more robust user experience further.
Cardano Staking With BC Vault v1.6.0 and Higher
BC Vault now features a staking functionality, allowing both beginners and advanced users to stake Cardano and delegate their digital assets. Here, Cardano investors holding their $ADA on the network are eligible for a stake in the entire network, proportional to the amount of token they hold. As an owner, anytime you delegate your token to a token pool, you can take an active part in both the governance and security of the Cardano Proof Of Stake Blockchain Network. This is achieved by processing transactions as well as validating new blocks.
As you contribute to the network, you become eligible for a staking reward or ROI. The entire process is called Staking Cardano, and it adopts a similar framework to crypto mining and lending to access free digital tokens. You can download the BC Vault application with just a single click on a vast range of operating systems. On installing, you can use the app to receive as well as send $ADA tokens, plus delegate your tokens into a staking pool. With this wallet, you can always scroll through a list of several staking pools, filtering them by various criteria as you deem fit.
According to Cardano Staking regulations, it requires a 20-day grace day for approval of delegated coins on the network to prevent overloading of the framework. Following this period, your coins begin to generate rewards that you can access every five days. Note this layout doesn’t include the staking fee.
As opposed to what is attainable on the conventional exchange, the private keys offering access to funds aren’t saved on a third-party hosted server or exchange. You get to retain maximum custody of your Cardano private keys as they remain on BC Vault. As such, Cardano token holders staking with BC Vault crypto remain unaffected by the fraudulent invasions or attacks on exchanges.
To claim your rewards, all you need is to visit your Cardano Wallet on the downloaded app. Under the appropriate wallet, you can see the staking rewards if available. Now, you can “use rewards” to spend your entitlements.
BC Vault Vs Trezor Vs Ledger
Again, most popular crypto wallets around today, for instance, Trezor and Ledger, are not primarily focusing on the issues militating against them — security. Day after day, we keep seeing publications and news articles cementing this fact. While these wallets responded in their own way, their responses weren’t up to the expectations of the crypto ecosystem. As such, the emergence of BC Vault. BC Vault has an edge over others when it comes to security. This is predominantly because it doesn’t use the prevalent BIP 39/44 security framework, rather, it saves private keys using the Ferroelectric RAM, offering a better writing cycle than what is attainable in conventional flash storage. Besides this, you can secure backups either using the printable QR code format or Encrypted MicroSD formats.
Examining their user interface and design, the three wallets are pretty similar — with small and compact devices. You could easily carry them around in your pocket and use them with one hand. However, the larger screen size present on BC Vault offers it an even greater advantage over other options as it eases the stress of reading wallet addresses and you can easily confirm transactions than what you could get using a Trezor or Ledger. Besides, using a USB Type-C cable, you can always connect your BC Vault to your computer, and best of all, you also get to enjoy an additional micro SD slot.
Considering the ease of use of each device, you can use Trezor and Ledger on a range of operating systems, including almost every android device. Trezor also features multiple intuitive extensions that facilitate its ease of use — this is also attainable with BC Vault. The latest crypto vault features Windows and Linux applications, extending across several other operating systems and browsers. Besides, following the launch of Vault 1.2.1–3rd parties can now also incorporate the device's functionalities on web pages. Essentially, the project divided users into two basic classes- the novices and knowledgeable users. The wallet aims to cater to both types of users from the outset, making it easy to use for beginners and featuring advanced features that experts may desire.
Unlike other solutions, you don’t need a browser to use BC Vault. Considering the potential security implications attributable to the browser-based crypto interface, the device decided to opt-in for the traditional approach. It renders support for unified API for every platform, including payment processors as well as exchanges. Ultimately, this makes it significantly more approachable to integrate secure payment processing as well as prevent fraudulent intents in your service consumption.
BC Vault, as opposed to Trezor and Ledger, did not tread the path of deterministic wallet. Since public keys can be mathematically related, this intuition stems from the need to prevent a user's tracing of public keys. If this occurs, for instance, in a case of a malicious actor stealing your backup, they can access every future and current wallet created using the subject device. However, this wallet actively prevents this. Thus, you can store well over 2000 wallets, each featuring encryption with varying passcodes. In a quest to achieve an even more secure platform for all, BC Vault One features a gyro sensor, responsible for generating a distinct pair of keys, offering users even more anonymity as it is devoid of a deterministic structure.
How Much Does the Wallet Cost?
You could get the basic BC Vault one device at roughly $132 (the cheapest option there is). With this perfect security wallet, you can access a state-of-the-art tech delivery significantly above what is attainable in most wallets out there. It comes complete with a microSD card as well as a USB cable. Essentially, you have all you need throughout the time of using the device. Irrespective of your choice, you can always access some unique designs with additional positions and unlimited modification tendencies.
Bottomline
Unarguably, the BC Vault wallet option remains a front runner in the hardware crypto wallet outfit. And as highlighted in this review, both in security and functionality, it poses a significant threat to popular devices such as Ledger as well as Trezor. With its innovative techs and as one of the most comfortable apps to use, this wallet is definitely one you would want to give a trial.
*BC Vault has the highest rating on TRUST PILOT for any cold wallet.
Images credit: BC Vault
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