On wallets, what your fav cold storage is...

IT SHOULDNT MATTTER.

A wallet can perform 2 functions.

1 - create a key pair.

2 - sign a transaction.

Once you've generated the key pair, and have your seed phrase stored, as well as any added passphrases, derivation path info, etc...

Your wallet only performs 1 function - signing a transaction.

When it comes to sats that are in cold storage, that you are holding onto for the long term,

There is no need to sign a transaction, and therefore no need for a hardware wallet.

This is why brain wallets. Why you don't want to be caught with hardware shoved up your ass.

You don't need to sign inbound transactions.

But what if your life changes, and you absolutely need to sign an outbound transaction?

Well, get your seed phrase and load up that wallet on whichever hot or cold platform you want. You can go buy whatever hardware you want at that time if you don't want to load to a soft platform. You can load tails, or nix, on an airgapped system and load your seed phrase and wallet there long enough to sign a transaction.

If you're paranoid about burning your cold storage, than generate a fresh wallet before you start, and sweep your burned wallet into it, through a coinjoin or however you want. You could just send the change from your transaction (one transaction that sweeps the old wallet, sends sats to wherever you need for your off-ramp, and sends the change to your new cold storage address)

None of this requires a fancy hardware device. All of this can be done, air-gapped, on an old laptop that is never connected to anything, or probably old cell phone.

So, what is my favorite cold storage wallet? Whatever one is handy to perform the needed function at the time and place I need it.

Any signing device that has been used to create an address or sign for life-changing amounts of money should be fully wiped immediately after doing so.

For everything that is NOT life changing money, like for paying your bills on a bitcoin standard, or accepting your paychecks in bitcoin, you can use a soft wallet (pick your platform - I like Sparrow on desktop). Use whatever signing device(s) you want, if you want added steps. If you need lightning, there are options with varying amounts of custodial reach, from purely non-custodial (your own lightning node) to WOS, Alby or Strike that are fully custodial.

Then for fa/fo, zapping, whatever, fully custodial lightning is just fine. Just don't keep amounts of money you aren't prepared to loose there.

You can have more layers of security, based on appropriate loss profiles. My zaps wallet is like the spare change in my desk drawer - anyone could come by and take some, or just ask and I'd probably hand it over. My strike account is like my wallet, maybe a few bills in it, but if I lost it, more annoyance than pain. Sparrow wallet might be more like a bank savings account (strike for me handles more like a checking account).

But the cold storage? The generational wealth? There is no piece of hardware on this planet that knows where that is buried, or how to get to it. No piece of software either. Good fucking luck. I can use something you would have thrown away if I want to access it or move it. My geographical location doesn't really matter.

This is Fuck You Money.

So I hope you like your calculators and key fobs. Have fun with those. Hope you don't feel the need to shove them in your body for any reason other than your own pleasure, and I won't judge you for that.

Stack harder.