Trezor Safe 7 Review: The FOSS Self Custody Hardware Wallet

Some hardware wallets aim to create air-gapped devices that can be assembled by hand by end users, or tailored to industry professionals in a free and open-source ethos. Others close the source and aspire to become the Apple or Macintosh of hardware wallets, leading through their design of user guardrails. Trezor seems to have found a middle ground with the Safe 7.

The device feels like what you might expect from a modern iPhone, metal exterior, a wide screen that reaches the border of the device, and tactile feedback clearly designed to deliver satisfaction to the user. The Safe 7 manages to give you the impression, the experience, that Bitcoin is a real thing, a physical thing, in a way most other wallets do not. 

Trezor also navigates the divide between Bitcoin and crypto users quite well. It pulls it off by delivering two different firmware stacks and designs; the standard multi-coin version, which comes in black and green, and the Bitcoin-only orange. Users can switch back and forth at will, regardless of which one they order, but Bitcoiners who already know what they want can get the orange version and won’t have to do any off-path firmware upgrades. Both types of users can switch to the other firmware type if they are so inclined, regardless of device color.