In May we published our guide for using the TREZOR hardware wallet with Faast, and it has been one of our most popular articles since then. While everyone liked it, one of the first questions that was asked was “can you do this with a Ledger wallet as well?” The answer is YES, you can, and today we’re proud to show how you can easily trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and over 100 different tokens from the safety of your own Ledger Nano S wallet. By the end of this post, you’ll have everything you need to start building a strong, diversified cryptocurrency portfolio in the easiest and most frictionless way possible.

Why bother doing this?

If you’re a regular visitor to the Faast blog you’ve read this before, but if you’re a first time visitor, let’s quickly summarize the benefits of using a hardware wallet with Faast.

It’s easier and more private. It’s no secret that large, centralized exchanges generally make you jump through a lot of hoops just to create an account. In order to comply with KYC/AML requirements, these companies require you to provide personal information, such as images of your photo ID, various governmental identification numbers (SSNs, etc.) and sometimes even ask for a headshot, or photos of you holding a handwritten note. Once they have that data, congratulations— it is now stored in a centralized database which can be hacked and stolen by all kinds of bad actors. If you were hoping to protect your privacy while using a centralized exchange, think again.

You won’t lose access to your funds. Centralized exchanges can sometimes close down trading of a certain coin or token due to server overloads, or hacks by third parties. This year alone, it is estimated that over $700 million of cryptocurrency has been stolen from centralized exchanges. Why take that risk?

It’s the safest way to trade and store cryptocurrency, period. Hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano S are the safest way to store cryptocurrency without resorting to locking your private keys in an underground vault. With Faast, you can not only store your coins safely, but trade them without ever having to put them on an exchange first. You trade directly from your own wallet controlled by you, not some company. It is literally the safest way possible to keep and trade cryptocurrency in the world.

Visual representation of all your holdings in one place. With Faast, you’ll get an easy to understand graph breaking down all your crypto holdings in your wallet by percentage, price, weight and more.

Make multiple trades at once. Faast is the only instant exchange that allows you to swap multiple cryptocurrencies at the same time. Using our unique click and drag slider bar interface, you could free up a certain amount of BTC/ETH and trade it directly for 10 different tokens if you wanted to. In just a few seconds, you’d have a rich, diversified portfolio- something that would be much more tedious to do with most exchanges.

What You’ll Need:

· A Ledger Nano S (with some cryptocurrency stored onto it)

· An internet connection

· 5 minutes

How to Use Your Ledger Wallet with Faast

1. Follow the directions here to set up your ledger wallet if you have not already done so. Make sure your firmware is up to date, and enable Browser Support on your Ledger device (it is not enabled by default. If you don’t know how to do this, just follow the steps in the video below). You will need to have a balance on your wallet into order to use it with Faast.

2. Go to the portfolio page on the Faast website (https://faa.st/portfolio/connect). At the top of the screen under “Select Your Wallet” you’ll see a choice of two supported hardware wallets. Click on the Ledger Wallet icon on the right.

3. A window will pop up asking which if you which cryptocurrencies you wish to add. You can do just one if you want, but to make it easy on yourself, just click the “Add all Cryptocurrencies” button and it will do them all at once.

Follow the instructions on the screen of your ledger device for both Etheruem and Bitcoin wallets. Once the wallet and the balance are identified, click the “confirm” button for each one.

Faast supports both Segwit and Legacy wallets for Bitcoin.

4. Now you’ll see the dashboard which shows the pie chart graphic representing your holdings, and all associated data. To begin swapping BTC for ETH, ETH for BTC, or either of these for tokens, click the “swap” link at the top of the screen (see red arrow below).

Note: USD price difference is due to adding more BTC to test wallet and price fluctuations on the day test trades were made.

Does this all sound a little confusing? Don’t worry— we had one of our team members put together this quick video showing this whole process in action, including the steps on your Ledger device screen:

5. Here you’ll see windows displaying how much BTC and ETH you hold in both units and USD. Use the slider bar below to start freeing up the amount of ETH or BTC you wish to swap. Click the “add assets” button on the right to select from over 100 altcoins.

Once you’ve picked the ones you want, you click and drag the slider bar to the right under each altcoin to specify how many of that token you wish to add to your portfolio. In this example, we’ll use AION.

Click the “save” button, confirm the transaction on your ledger device, and the transaction will begin!

Go back to the dashboard, and you’ll now see all your Bitcoin, Ethereum and token holdings in one place— safe and sound on your Ledger Nano S.

Let’s recap what we just did here; we just swapped BTC for an altcoin, without ever transferring it to a vulnerable exchange wallet first.

It stayed in your Ledger wallet until you were ready to trade, and then the new cryptocurrency you wanted was swapped directly into your wallet.

You didn’t need to create an account.

You didn’t need to give away personal information.

You just got your tokens, quickly and effortlessly. Along with a nice visual read out of your portfolio.

And no third party could stop you (or even realize you did it).

Safe, private, and simple. Isn’t this how cryptocurrency trading should be?

Further reading:

MetaMask + Faast: The Easiest Way to Diversify Your Cryptocurrency Portfolio

How to Make Effortless Cross-Chain Trades with a TREZOR Wallet