A common complaint about crypto is that it is still relatively inaccessible, and can be intimidating and unintuitive for newcomers.

This can refer to the underlying product itself, in the sense that prices are volatile. It can refer to exchanges and centralized crypto platforms, with the now-disgraced FTX having led the way in defrauding its users and undermining adoption. And, it can refer to the user experience, meaning the tools and applications through which we interact with crypto.

Directly addressing the latter two of those issues (and from there, indirectly, the remaining issue as well), is a new product from the leading cold wallet maker, Ledger, which could, potentially, go down as a significant and influential piece of crypto hardware.

Ledger Stax Revealed

The Ledger Stax is the newest hardware wallet from French company Ledger, unveiled at the Ledger Op3n conference in Paris and scheduled for release by the end of March 2023.

Ledger’s devices up to now have a perfect track record when it comes to security, but where the Stax makes a significant departure is on the surface. It was designed by Tony Fadell, who is known for having designed the Apple iPod, and it looks every bit as sleek and attractive as any Apple product.

It’s small, utilizes a curved, E Ink touchscreen, and several devices can lock together using magnets, so you can carry a handheld stack of crypto and NFTs just as you might bundle together a stack of banknotes.

NFTs can be displayed on the wallet’s surface, QR codes can be generated to quickly carry out transactions, and NFC technology is included in the very smooth minimal-looking package.

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What Issues Are Addressed by Ledger Stax?

Self-Custody

The end of 2022 has seen an outflow of bitcoin from centralized exchanges, triggered by the collapses of FTX, and, earlier in the year, Celsius and Three Arrows Capital.

Many bitcoin veterans, who have a deep understanding of the leading cryptocurrency’s potential utility, have, in fact, greeted this as a long-term positive development. A common refrain from bitcoiners has always been not your keys, not your coins, with keys referring to the cryptographic keys to your wallet, something you only possess if you self-custody your assets.

In contrast, if you keep your coins on an exchange, then what you actually have is nothing other than a claim on the coins in the exchange’s wallets.

Utilize an honest platform, and you should be fine, or so the thinking went. But then, in the case of FTX, which was widely considered to be the most secure exchange, the company’s wallets abruptly stopped paying out.

It’s a harsh lesson by which to be taught, but if monumental levels of fraud and recklessness are what it takes to shift crypto holders towards actually holding their own crypto, then there is ultimately, arguably, a long-term bright side to the platform collapses that have characterized the bear market of 2022.

And, as self-custody leads to hardware wallets, that equates to a bright side for Ledger, as it goes about manufacturing physical solutions to the problem of unreliable, centralized crypto platforms.

User Experience

To be an early adopter, one must be comfortable with navigating technology that has not yet prioritized user experience, and for over a decade, this has been the case with bitcoin and crypto.

However, we are now reaching the stage at which, for crypto to take further strides, ease of use is an increasingly pressing issue. This can be achieved by centralized intermediaries, but as we’ve seen, centralized exchanges have proven hazardous, and they steer us away from the core premises around which crypto is built: decentralization and self-reliance.

Hardware wallets provide us with the capacity to look after our own crypto, but the user experience around this tech has been distant from the glossy interfaces we’re accustomed to when, for example, tapping at the touchscreen of a shiny new Samsung smartphone.

When it comes to wallets, Ledger may be the market leader in its niche, but the reality is that its current hardware is difficult to use, with fiddly analogue controls, and tiny, throwback displays that are reminiscent of micro-sized Casio calculators.

In a high-fidelity AI-augmented era, it’s incongruous that the blockchain tech touted as cutting-edge currency for the metaverse requires us to poke at gadgets that feel somewhere between a Tamagotchi and a 1990s pager, even as they purport to reassure users that this is, in fact, a pathway to financial security.

And, this is where the new Ledger Stax distinguishes itself. Although we only have the company’s own promotional material to go on, it is the first hardware wallet and, in fact, the first physical crypto product, that looks like it was designed for tech-savvy mass consumption in the 2020s.

Critically, it seems like the kind of item that might demystify cryptocurrencies, and assist in syncing up blockchain-based decentralized money with the existing world of smartphones and cashless payments.

Crypto for the Real World with Ledger Stax

If cryptocurrencies are to achieve real-world, working status, then they must find a way to combine decentralization and self-custody with easy utility and, when it comes down to it, a higher degree of surface aesthetic quality.

Ledger looks like it’s about to take a meaningful step in this direction, and may now set the standard for competitors to emulate.

As for that third issue mentioned earlier, the problem of price volatility, it’s through adoption, expansion and everyday use that this factor will begin to resolve, and so, indirectly but importantly, Ledger’s improved hardware can contribute in this respect too.

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