New ledger owners: you can have a "main" wallet and a hidden one on your Ledger Nano S.

With your 24 word seed, and with the PIN, you unlock your main wallet.

But you can add a 25th word, what they call a passphrase, and that is another wallet entirely. You can set a secondary PIN that unlocks it. It is not a "password" that encrypts your wallet, it's more like a hidden wallet derived from your 24 word seed.

It's an entire new wallet, that works for all your coins, not only Bitcoin.

Benefits: 1) 25th word is a security that protects your entire wallet. You should not memorize 24 words, but you can memorize one and write the other 24.

2) your main wallet, the one accessed by the 24 words and main PIN should have money, but not a lot, in case someone forces you to transfer it to them.

3) in case you are afraid of forgetting the 25th word, split your recovery seed form into two, write the first 12 on one form, and the other 12+1 on the other one, and store it at two separate locations, like aunt or parents house. Have a Full 24 word recovery form at home, just so you can "prove" to a robber that that is your wallet.

You can have as many wallets as you want, just use a different 25th word for each. You can even have a single ledger on your family, with each family member having a secret passphrase and sharing the nano S security features. Going to the menu you can access these other wallets by inputting the passphrase, and It Will be unlocked until it is turned off.

Official Ledger support article: http://ift.tt/2BuGlPI

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Sometimes drawing stuff makes it easier:

Edit: Very happy about the gilding!! Thanks /u/CanaryInTheMine!!!

Edit2: Tried to clarify that the passphrase is not a password that encrypts your wallet, but another wallet entirely.

Edit3: I was going to post a live example of a wallet, but I encourage that everyone reads the ledger support page so you fully understand it. Also, on ledger manager, install the bitcoin testnet app, then search for a bitcoin testnet faucet on google so that you can receive some testnet coins on your main wallet. Then, access your hidden passphrase wallet (either using the temporary option or the second PIN one) and you will see that you have entirely different addresses and balances for all your coins (don`t worry, this does not alter your main 24word wallet).

Edit4: I repeat: Do try this out on the bitcoin testnet before you send your coins. If you mess it up, not me nor Ledger can help you. This is as important as understanding your 24 word backup.

Edit5: If you would like to buy a Ledger Nano S, you can use my affiliate link so that I earn a little bit from each sale. They are not allowed here, but if you are interested, send me a private message and I will provide you with the link, Thanks.

Submitted December 27, 2017 at 01:10AM by cryptosnake http://ift.tt/2DVeIlg