Ellipal Titan Cold Storage Wallet Review

Established in 2018, the Hong Kong based digital assets accessories manufacturer, Ellipal entered the market with a device known only as the Ellipal. The Ellipal Titan was released a year later, in 2019, and was a more new-age device that looked more like a smartphone, than some kind of USB thumb drive – as older cold storage wallets look.

The device is one of the more steeply-priced crypto storage devices that Bizznerd has encountered and, at first glance, the product seems to justify the price. The device features a 3.97 inch – full color – touch screen, and a single side button for powering up. It also comes in a metallic cover, which offers one a degree of ease of mind, knowing that the valuable crypto assets stored in the device are in less jeopardy than with flimsy-looming competitors, Trezor, or Ledger’s offerings.

Ellipal’s focus on product design is geared towards the modern crypto user, who would be keener to interact with their crypto assets on a smartphone, then via a bulky PC, or laptop. The Elliptical Titan is designed with this in mind, featuring an air-gapped security system which keeps one’s private keys from ever connecting – and being intercepted – via the internet.

The Ellipal Titan supports over 41 blockchains and can store a variety of digital assets, over 10 thousand in total. Moonpay and Simplex partnerships also enable users to purchase – using a credit, or debit card – crypto assets directly from the Ellipal ecosystem. Allowing crypto enthusiasts to build up their portfolios without ever needing to connect to a 3rd party crypto service.

In addition to enabling users from about 173 countries (at time of writing) to purchase crypto by payment card, Ellipal has also partnered with Changelly and Swift, to allow for the on-wallet swapping of different assets, so reveallancing one’s portfolio, directly, from the Ellipal system is a synch.

The full metal-cased, $169 device – available for purchase, exclusively, from Ellipal – also enables users to grow their funds by staking a few popular assets, Cosmos, Tezos, Polkadot, Kusama, and Cardano right on the device. This Is in addition to being connected to Decentralized Applications (Dapps) and Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) from the wallet ecosystem.

Security

The Ellipal Titan’s security relies, mostly on the fact that the device cannot connect to the internet, and only uses a microSD slot for firmware updates. The device is air-gapped, meaning that it is incapable of connecting to the internet, and only interacts with the supporting mo old app via QR codes.

Setting Up

The Ellipal Titan is quite straightforward to set up. This is, in part, owing to the device’s large – full touch – color screen, and intuitive design.

First, one has to select a language to operate the device with. Then one will be asked to scan a QR code, which will direct one to a direct download of the app. Alternatively, one can go to the Ellipal website and download the app directly.

One can create, or import a wallet, or simply import a private key. After selecting your account type, you will be asked to select which crypto assets the wallet should hold. From there, one will be required to choose an alphanumeric password.

Following this step, one will have to backup their wallet by recording the 12 phrase seed which appears on the device. Once it is properly recorded, one will be asked to confirm the seed phrase by

placing the words in the correct order that they first appeared. Then one is good to go.

Transaction confirmation, and signing – between hardware wallet and app – will require a 2-factor authentication (2FA) process. This means one will be required to scan QR codes, on either, depending on where one is sending or receiving funds.

Conclusion

The Titan’s easy-to-use design, and air-gapped security system offers an advantage over many other hardware wallet makers. The fact that it offers a complete cryptocurrency-based suite of services, from card purchases to interacting with popular Defi services like Compound Finance, or Uniswap are an added bonus.

What lets the device down is the fact that it only supports the BIP44 Bitcoin address system (making for more expensive transactions) and offers no support for privacy-focused coins. It also only generates 12 word seed phrases, which first it on the security front. It could also stand to be a little more affordable, as it’s price is on the high end, compared to other cold storage devices.