The Safest Way To Store Your Crypto In Nigeria (A Step-By-Step Guide)
The best way to keep your Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies 100% safe and secure.
Hello there, and welcome to HotNaija, your one-stop destination for the latest entertainment news, celebrity gossips and stories, lifestyle content, and cryptocurrency news. Today we'll be discussing one of the best and safest places to store whatever kind of cryptocurrency you own.
About a month ago on Instagram, I came across a famous Influencer promoting a device called – the "Ledger Nano X" device on his page. From the comments section below, I saw so many positive reviews of the device. At first, I thought it was just one of those products meant only for customers in the USA and European countries. Not until I roamed down to comments from Africans such as Kenyans, Ghanaians, Gabonese and finally, I see Nigerians dishing out reviews with their unique pidgin language.
So I began my research on the device, downloaded the app, surfed through it, and figured there was a need to write about this device to educate Nigerians. Without any further ado, let's dive into the complete guideline on setting up an account on the live app, the private key process, and others.
Note: HotNaija was in no way sponsored or paid to write on this device
One of my favourite things about the ledger device is that it doesn't actually store your crypto on the device itself. Instead, it communicates to the blockchains of all the different cryptocurrencies. If you ever wanted to receive Bitcoin, send it across the world, or if you wish to deposit your crypto into an exchange like Coinbase or Gemini safely – you need something like this as well.
Even if you were to lose the device, either it got stolen, or someone destroyed it unknowingly – you could still recover your crypto as long as you still have your private key details. This is something scarce to come about in the world of today.
STEP 1 – The Setup
Download the Ledger Live app from the Google Play Store or Apple iOS Store. Once you open the Ledger application, it's pretty intuitive with how it works: it has two circular buttons. Pressing one on either side will navigate the menu left or right. By pressing both, you'll confirm your selection.First, you have to set up an 8-digit pin. So whenever the Ledger goes idle, it will ask you to re-enter the pin. Try as much as possible not to forget what your pin code is. It will then ask you to re-confirm the pin for further verification.
STEP 2 – The Secret Key
After the setup stage, the next big step is to write down your unique secret crypto key phrases. Twenty-four words will appear on the screen of the Ledger Nano X device (it should be available for sale on the "Jumia" shopping website, a "Slot" sales centre, or simply order straight from "Amazon" or "Alibaba" where it's most purchased). You have to write down each of those words in the same order as you see them on the screen.Do NOT take a picture of them on your phone, and do NOT upload them online. These phrases must be kept secret and offline – otherwise, your device is 100% compromised. After successfully writing it down, it'll then ask you to confirm the allotted words for each slot.
STEP 3 – Pair The Device
The next step is to pair your Ledger Nano X device with your smartphone. It will automatically guide you through the simple process. Also, make sure your Bluetooth and WiFi are enabled. The pairing usually takes a few seconds to complete.STEP 4 – Download Crypto Apps
Once the two are paired, you have to download the apps of the cryptocurrencies you want to use. There are many to choose from, but the setup process is the same for all of them. I personally stick to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin at this point in time.If you go back to your Ledger Live app on your smartphone, under the "Accounts" tab, you'll see a plus icon – click on that, and you'll automatically see the list of all the crypto coin apps you can download.
Upon installation of the app, you need to synchronize the accounts. For Bitcoin, you may see multiple accounts. I prefer to stick with "Native Segwit" because it's the slightly cheaper network of the two. There's also just "Segwit". They both work very well, but the native option is more affordable. "So the ball is in your court" – Decide on which you want.
STEP 5 – Transfer Your Bitcoin/Crypto
Now it's time to finally transfer your Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Cardano, Polkadot (you name it) from your trusted online wallets/brokerages such as Gemini or Coinbase and into the hardware wallet. If you click on the Transfer Tab, Receive, Bitcoin Native Segwit – it will show you a wallet address you can copy.Make sure you click "copy address", and you don't copy manually in order not to make an error. Input the information yourself. This address will then be used to withdraw your cryptocurrencies from your online wallets. The process is exactly the same but reversed if you want to send your cryptocurrency from your Ledger Nano X back to the brokerages (that's if you ever wanted to sell your crypto).
If you wish to check your transaction's status, you can go to blockchain.com/explorer and copy/paste your hash address to see the status of your transaction.
EndNote: None of these is meant to be construed as investment or financial advice. These are just opinions, and we urge everyone to do more deep personal research to their satisfaction before investing their money anywhere.
Make sure you check out our other blog posts for more information about the crypto market and trending entertainment headlines. Thanks for reading!