Trezor One Review 2024: Trusted Wallet for Safe Crypto Storage

I don’t know of many crypto users who have escaped the past couple of years unscathed. Whether it was the insolvency of Celsius, BlockFi, VAULD, or Voyager that burned us, the collapse of Terra Luna, or the historic and seemingly impossible implosion of FTX, yes, it has been a tough time and crypto investors have lost billions.

Though, if last year has taught us all an important lesson, it is that the need for DeFi and self-custody are more important than ever. Crypto hardware wallet sales are at all-time-highs as trust and faith in centralized entities have been lost and many folks are looking to take responsibility for their own assets, which, let’s be honest, is what we all should have been doing all along and all of this would have been avoided.

Decentralization and self-sovereignty are what brought many of us into crypto in the first place, if you are looking to take responsibility and full ownership over your funds, you have done well to consider using a Trezor device. This Trezor One review will help you determine if this is the hardware wallet that is right for you.

Why Hardware Wallets are Important

The main benefit of using a hardware wallet is that the user remains in full control over their funds at all times. There is no centralized entity that can block access to your crypto or go bankrupt and lose customer funds.

Hardware wallets are analogous to keeping your cash in a safe that is owned by you and can always and only be accessed by you, versus leaving it in a bank account where the bank ultimately has custodianship of the funds and control over your account access.

Hardware wallets also have a major security benefit and that is that they are simple devices that store the private keys needed to access a user’s crypto in an offline environment, well outside the reach of hackers, viruses and malware. The three main ways that users store their crypto are:

On a centralized platform or exchange - The most risky

This is very convenient which is why it is very common, but the events of 2022 taught us why this is a bad idea. When crypto companies go under, user funds are locked on the platform. There is a good chance that the millions of users who trusted Celsius, FTX, Voyager, and others may never have their funds returned to them.

Centralized entities make enticing targets for hackers, and multiple exchange hacks have resulted in customers losing millions in assets. Between hacks and insolvent companies, keeping funds on an exchange is simply a bad idea.

Software/Mobile crypto wallets - Mid risk

Using a software wallet that can be downloaded onto a mobile or computer is leagues better than keeping crypto on an exchange. This is a very popular method for storing crypto as software wallets are convenient, easy to use, and most of them are completely free.

The biggest benefit here is that the user is in full control over their own crypto. Self-custody refers to users having 100% liability and responsibility over their own funds. With the vast majority of self-custodial wallets, there is no company that can help users recover their funds if they lose access to their device or forget a password or recovery phrase.

There is also no need to trust the companies that create reputable software wallets as they have no insight or access to user funds and if the company goes bankrupt, the wallet can still be used, or the recovery phrase can be used to recover the funds into any other wallet that supports the same recovery format, which is nearly all of them.

Here is a great image from Crypto.com highlighting the differences between software (hot) wallets, and hardware (cold) wallets:

The biggest drawbacks here are the responsibility of self-custody, but more importantly, software wallets are installed on devices with internet connectivity. Internet connectivity is the #1 threat to crypto as this provides hackers with an exploitable point of entry into the device that stores your private keys. There are also a plethora of known viruses and malware that can expose a wallet’s private keys to hackers, giving them full control over user funds.

Many users have lost funds through viruses and malware that unknowingly infected their computers and mobile devices. If you are going to be diving into the world of crypto, following safe online hygiene is very important!

Software wallets are not a suitable place to store large amounts of funds and are mainly used for DeFi and DApp access, and crypto use on the go. If you are going to use a software wallet, I recommend checking out our article on the Top Mobile Wallets.

But this brings us to the most optimal and secure solution for crypto storage:

Hardware wallets - Most secure

Hardware wallets (cold wallets) provide the most secure way to store crypto safety. These devices are a must for anyone serious about crypto security, as they store private keys offline, unlike software wallets. Most hardware wallets have no internet access, NPC, or Bluetooth access. Basically, there are no exploitable ports of entry that can be accessed by hackers and no way these devices can be infected with viruses or malware.

Being impervious to hacks, viruses and malware are the key reasons why hardware wallets are the holy grail of crypto security.

We go into far greater detail about the differences in crypto storage solutions in our article on How to Keep Crypto Safe if you want a deeper dive.

There are also paper wallets that can be used, but these are not as common as they are quite fragile and inconvenient, so we won’t go into details about those here. We discuss those in our article on crypto safety as well if you want to learn about them.

Hardware wallets strike a good balance between convenience and security, and users who trust their crypto with these devices can rest easy knowing their crypto is safe. Hardware wallets also verify and sign transactions on behalf of a user, adding another layer of security against unauthorized transactions. We cover this and much more in our article on How Hardware Wallets Work.

Popular hardware wallets include Trezor, BC Vault, Ledger, ELLIPAL, and NGRAVE. Feel free to explore other hardware wallets in our article on the Top 5 hardware wallets, or alternatively, you can find Guy’s picks on the best hardware wallets below and find out why Trezor is one of his top picks:

The Trezor Team

Trezor wallets are created by Satoshi Labs, a company based in the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic. Satoshi Labs was founded in 2013, but its founders, Pavol Rusnak, Marek Palatinus and Alena Vránová, had been working on secure solutions for safely storing private keys for some time before that and have been blockchain enthusiasts since the release of Bitcoin.

Development work from the team continued until 2014, when the Trezor One was first released to the public, marking the first cryptocurrency hardware wallet to hit the market. Its release is considered a major milestone in crypto security and like a gift from above, sparked a revolution in crypto security by finally providing users with a safe haven against hackers. The work of Satoshi Labs has significantly contributed to the advancement of the entire crypto industry.

The Trezor team are also highly respected within the tech community and praised for fully open-sourcing all the code for the Trezor devices, firmware, and Trezor Suite. Open-sourcing code is a good step in transparency and enhancing trust as anyone can go in and verify the source code for themselves to ensure there is no malicious or error-ridden code in the software.

Trezor One Review: Features

The Trezor One is a beautifully simplistic little piece of kit that takes on a big job. Starting from the outside, the Model One is protected by a casing made of impact-resistant ABS plastic that can help protect against minor physical damage.

Under the hood is an ARM Cortex-M3 processor running at 120 MHz embedded on an STM32 F2 microcontroller. This is a similar setup used by many manufacturers as it provides seamless and secure access to a user’s crypto assets.

There is no battery in Trezor products, they must be connected to a PC or Android phone via a USB cable to be used.

Upon purchasing a Trezor One, users will find the following items in the box:

• Trezor One
• USB cable
• 2x Recovery seed card
• Trezor stickers
• Getting started guide

The 128x64 pixel OLED display screen is clear, but understandably small so you may need to bust out the reading glasses or magnifying glass. The device is not touchscreen like the upgraded Trezor Model T, so device navigation is performed via two buttons on the front of the device.

Mere millimetres in size and weighing just 12 grams, the Trezor One is super compact and light, making it easy to store, hide, and carry.

Trezor Specs:

• Size: 60x30x6 mm
• Weight: 12g
• CPU: 120 MHz embedded ARM processor (Cortex-M3) running Trezor Core
• Connectivity: USB cable to connect to computer and mobile
• OLED 128x64 pixel screen

Supports over 1,200 cryptocurrencies

The Trezor One supports over 9,000 coins and tokens either natively within Trezor Suiteor through one of the third-party integrated wallets.

It is good to note that the Trezor One supports slightly fewer assets than the premium Trezor Model T, which supports over 1,400, but still has many of the major coins covered. Take a look at the Trezor One Supported Coins page for a full list. Cardano is one notable exclusion that is supported on the Model T but not the Trezor One.

NFT Storage

NFTs on any network that is supported by Trezor can be safely stored on Trezor devices. The largest downside to storing NFTs on Trezor devices is that for now, the Trezor Suite app cannot manage NFTs, so NFT transactions will need to be done by connecting your Trezor to a third-party app like Metamask.

Trezor Suite

Trezor Suite is the program that provides the interface needed to interact with the assets on the device. Trezor devices connect to a computer using a USB cable, then the Trezor Suite program is opened either from the downloaded program or via the web browser version of Trezor Suite when the device is connected to actively manage the funds.

Trezor Suite is one of my favourite interfaces for interacting with crypto as it is very beginner and user-friendly, easy to navigate, ultra clean and a simple platform which makes holding and using crypto incredibly convenient.

Trezor Suite continues to update and add functionality, making Trezor devices capable of keeping current with advancements in the industry. Trezor devices support additional features like Tor, RBF, Locktime, Sign & Verify, Taproot accounts and more.

When a Trezor is purchased and first plugged in, the user will be prompted to download Trezor Suite directly on their Windows, Mac or Linux machine, or alternatively, the program can also be found and downloaded via the Trezor Suite page.

**Important Notice** Trezor does not have a mobile app! Trezor devices are used by being plugged into a computer or an Android phone with Trezor Suite being accessed via a web browser on the phone. There have been fake Trezor apps floating around in the Google Play and Apple App Store, resulting in hackers stealing funds.

Trezor Suite features a built-in portfolio tracker showing your funds’ value and performance and users can access their full transaction history and export files for tax and auditing purposes.

The Trezor Suite is highly secure and functional, providing options for users to buy and sell crypto peer-to-peer or via various third-party payment processors, and even swap crypto.

There are really no negative criticisms that can be said about Trezor Suite, as it is quite an intuitive and brilliant UI/UX.

Trezor has become one of the most popular crypto wallets within the crypto community, sold to hundreds of thousands of customers in over 150 countries. Thanks to its proven secure track record, ease of use and low price, the Trezor One is pound for pound, one of the best choices anyone can make when taking steps to secure their crypto.

The ability to purchase crypto with fiat and exchange within the wallet only enhances its popularity, making the device multi-functional and able to meet the needs of most crypto users.

Privacy Tip: While there is no KYC or account creation needed to use a Trezor wallet, using the buy and sell features in Trezor Suite is conducted via third-party companies, many of which do require KYC and account creation. If you want to keep your Trezor wallet addresses as private and anonymous as possible, it is best to avoid using these features and use the device strictly for crypto storage.

Trezor One Price

The Trezor One comes in at a steal of a price at just $59 before taxes. The Trezor One is one of the lower-priced wallets on the market and is an especially good option with the reputation of the Trezor brand behind it. There may be cheaper wallets out there, but none with as strong of a reputation as Trezor, except for arguably the Ledger Nano S Plus, which is also a strong and solid competitor to the Trezor One for a similar price point.

The Trezor One is considerably cheaper than Trezor’s flagship product, the Trezor Model T, which features a stronger processor, touchscreen and better asset support, and rings in at $179 before taxes. Feel free to check out our Trezor Model T review to decide if the Model T is worth the extra money for your needs.

We also have a head-to-head article comparing Trezor One vs Trezor Model T if you'd like to see how these two stack up.

If you are after a touchscreen hardware wallet but don’t want to shell out for the Trezor Model T, you may also be interested in our ELLIPAL Titan Mini review. The Titan Mini is one of the best value-for-money hardware wallets featuring a touch screen.

Trezor Products

Trezor offers more than just hardware wallets. While their two hardware wallets are what they are best known for, the Trezor store also offers products to instil confidence in crypto holders.

Most hardware wallets come with pieces of paper to write down the seed phrase that is needed to recover a user’s funds should anything happen to the wallet. This is the most important step to taking self-custody over your crypto whether you use a hardware or a software wallet as this recovery phrase will be the ONLY way fund recovery is possible.

You can learn more about this “most important step in crypto” in our article How to Keep your Crypto Safe.

Personally, I feel that writing down something as important as a recovery phrase on something as fragile as a piece of paper doesn’t quite cut it, which is why Trezor offers these metal seed phrase storage products:

Products like these are fantastic as users can store their recovery/seed phrases on metal that is fire and waterproof to survive whatever hurdles life throws their way.

We are such big advocates of metal seed phrase protection here at the Coin Bureau that we also offer a Coin Bureau branded metal seed wallet in the Coin Bureau Merch Store.

As the Trezor One is made from plastic and is not the most durable wallet on the market, unlike the NGRAVE and ELLIPAL which are made of metal, Trezor also sells covers, cases, screen protectors and lanyards which are a good idea if you plan on taking these devices out of their hiding places and handling them often.

Trezor One Security

The main reason to invest in a hardware wallet is for security, and Trezor products are about as secure as they come. You don’t become one of the most reputable and trusted brands in the industry without exceeding security expectations.

The device itself can be pin protected against unauthorized access and the wallets can be passphrase protected, protecting your assets even in the event someone somehow manages to acquire your recovery phrase.

As a company, Trezor does not collect any personal data, there is no account sign-up or KYC and the device packaging is tamper-proof. All Trezor devices arrive without firmware pre-installed to ensure they were not compromised during transit. All Trezor devices come with security seals that look like this:

If your device arrives without this seal or if it has been damaged, be sure not to use it and send it back to Trezor, which brings us to the next important point; be sure to only purchase your Trezor devices directly from the Trezor website.

Never purchase any hardware wallet from unofficial sources and don’t buy them second-hand. This goes for all hardware wallets. A common scam is that people will sell their hardware wallets after writing down the recovery phrase. As soon as a new user loads their crypto onto the device, the previous owner steals the funds.

The Model One is sealed with ultrasonic welding, so there are no connective bolts, nails, soldering materials or adhesives holding the case together.

This helps ensure that the device cannot be forced open by hackers without damaging and rendering the inner components useless.

Trezor devices hold CE and RoHS security certifications, meeting security, reliability, and environmental safety standards. Trezor devices are highly secure, you can’t go wrong in trusting one of the best names in crypto storage security.

For the privacy-minded, Tezor's Coinjoin feature lets you protect your identity with transaction anonymization.

Trezor Support

Trezor has well-built FAQs and self-help sections full of articles and tutorials to help customers learn how to use the product. The Trezor blog is also full of great educational content about all things crypto-related.

The Trezor help center will be able to resolve most questions and issues, which is useful as the Trezor team doesn’t have a great reputation for fast customer support.

**Important** It is worth stressing this point again: If you lose your 12 or 24-word recovery phrase, not even the Trezor support team can help you recover your funds if the device is lost or broken. Be sure to practice safe crypto practices and consider using a metal seed phrase protector.

If the self-help articles are unable to resolve your issue, the Trezor support team can be reached by email or by submitting a ticket. There is also the Trezor Forum for community members full of helpful discussions where users can post questions and answers.

You can also try posting your question to the active Trezor community on Reddit where helpful members may be able to help resolve your issue faster than the Trezor support team.

Just be careful when reaching out for help for anything crypto-related on any chat site as a common scam is for scammers to pretend to work for customer support and ask for your recovery phrase. No member of any support team for any crypto company will ever ask for your recovery phrase, you can see this highlighted by the multiple warnings from multiple different crypto companies below:

Trezor One Pros

Trezor devices are top-of-the-line hardware wallets responsible for the safe and trusted crypto storage for hundreds of thousands of users and security experts around the world. Their sterling security reputation dates back to 2014, which is ancient in crypto terms, and the fact there have been no major security vulnerabilities in all that time is a huge testament to how secure these devices are.

Satoshi Labs, the team behind Trezor, has been a dominant player in crypto security, being highly respected, trustworthy, and praised for their ongoing commitment to advancing the crypto industry.

The Trezor One has decent asset support, a user-friendly interface that supports buying, selling and swapping crypto, and the device itself is small, sleek and does exactly what it was created for.

The Trezor One is the best-selling hardware wallet in the world and is a natural choice in wallet security by many crypto professionals including many of us here at the Coin Bureau.

Trezor One: What Could be Improved?

While it is easy to sing the praises for Trezor, there is no beating around the bush in highlighting that there are some things that could be improved. A couple of these could be a deal breaker for those looking for the right crypto storage solution to meet their needs.

One of the criticisms against Trezor wallets in general is that they are made of plastic and feel fragile. I can’t disagree with this point, I have been using a Trezor Model T for years and handle it as delicately as an egg as the device feels like it could break if I look at it the wrong way.

This is in comparison to Ledger devices which have a metal protective sleeve or the NGRAVE which is made of military-grade metal and materials or the ELLIPAL which is also made from metal.

Another disappointing thing about Trezor is that they are very slow to add new asset support, which can be frustrating for users if their wallet cannot store their favourite altcoins. For example, at the time of writing, Trezor still does not natively support major coins like Polkadot, NEAR, or Avalanche, I’m not sure why they drag their feet in this department.

Some of these assets are supported through integrations with third-party wallets, but it would be nice to see them supported natively in Trezor Suite. If you are an altcoin collector and looking for a secure hardware wallet that has the best asset support, you may want to check out our review on the ELLIPAL Titan, which holds an impressive 46 different blockchains and over 10,000 assets.

Trezor One Review: Conclusion

As the first hardware wallet to hit mainstream markets, the Trezor One set the gold standard for crypto security and set the bar incredibly high. Trezor products are industry-leading and trusted by the pros for good reason.

Folks who choose Trezor rest easy, knowing they can safely store their digital assets without worrying about hacks, viruses or malware that can result in having their crypto stolen. The level of security that the Trezor One provides along with a very user-friendly and convenient interface makes the Trezor One suitable for both new and experienced crypto users looking for a seamless and simple way to store, manage, buy, sell, and exchange assets.

👉 Secure your crypto with Trezor!

If you are happy to spend a bit more, the flagship Trezor Model T is worth checking out and considering, but if you want the best security available for the lowest price, the Trezor One is an incredible product that will never let you down.

Not sure how to set up your Trezor? Watch Guy's step-by-step video guide below!

👉 How to Set up a Trezor!