BitBox02 review

The BitBox02 is the one to look at if you want fully open source firmware, a genuine Bitcoin-only edition and a vendor that is neither Ledger nor Trezor. There are two models. The original BitBox02 is USB only and works with Windows, macOS, Linux and Android. The newer BitBox02 Nova adds an EAL6+ certified secure chip, a scratch resistant glass display and Bluetooth, which is what lets it work with an iPhone and iPad.

Both run a dual chip design, so the secret is split rather than trusted to one part, and both come in a Multi edition and a Bitcoin-only edition whose firmware carries no other chains. Backup and recovery run off a microSD card, with writing down the recovery words optional rather than required, which is unusual and genuinely quicker to set up. There is no touchscreen: you confirm on a small OLED using touch sliders on the case.

The BitBoxApp has a buy feature with three on-ramps, and the choice between them is the useful part. Pocket Bitcoin is a Swiss non-custodial broker that takes SEPA and CHF bank transfers and runs its own identity checks in house rather than handing them to a third party. MoonPay covers cards in most of the world. BTC Direct adds the European rails people actually use, iDEAL, Bancontact and SOFORT. In all three cases the coins land on your own device rather than in an exchange balance.

On delivery, BitBox publishes tiers rather than a country list: Switzerland and Liechtenstein and Germany from local warehouses, the rest of the EU from Germany, and the USA and everywhere else from Switzerland. Import duties are prepaid for most destinations, the checkout tells you whether yours qualifies, and where they are not prepaid the shop cuts its prices by 20 percent to compensate. No list of countries it will or will not serve is published either way.