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Vex Block Nano

🔍 Last analysed 19th May 2022 . Bad Interface Not functioning anymore

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Try out searching for "lost bitcoins", "stole my money" or "scammers" together with the wallet's name, even if you think the wallet is generally trustworthy. For all the bigger wallets you will find accusations. Make sure you understand why they were made and if you are comfortable with the provider's reaction.

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The Analysis 

⚠️ Warning: This project has been described as a scam online. It has an associated token (VBO).

Product Description

This wallet has the form factor of a USB EMV card. It has a similar appearance with BitFreezer Development Defunct! .

It has a related Android app that is still available via Google Play, although we don’t know if it is a companion app to the hardware wallet.

One of the reviews for the mobile app is this:

Johnny Begood
★☆☆☆☆ October 8, 2019
Scam App. Avoid at all costs. Transactions are not recorded on the Blockchain! Huge red flag. Plus you don’t get the private keys. Remember not your keys = not your crypto. Fair better and safer apps out there. Use this at your peril!

Vex Capital and Technologies’ websites vexblock.co and vexnano.tech are no longer online. The last tweet made on its Twitter account was in October 4, 2019. Its claimed features included:

  • Cold-storage
  • Multicurrency support
  • Bluetooth support
  • Stores private keys on the device

Analysis

We believe that this project was discontinued. The absence of any further activity leads us to believe that this device along with the project is no longer available. If it were, it does not possess any form of display that would allow users to confirm transactions.

(dg)

Verdict Explained

The design of the device does not allow to verify what is being signed!

As part of our Methodology, we ask:

Bad Interface!

Can the user verify and approve transactions on the device?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Bad Interface".

These are devices that might generate secure private key material, outside the reach of the provider but that do not have the means to let the user verify transactions on the device itself. This verdict includes screen-less smart cards or USB-dongles.

The wallet lacks either an output device such as a screen, an input device such as touch or physical buttons or both. In consequence, crucial elements of approving transactions is being delegated to other hardware such as a general purpose PC or phone which defeats the purpose of a hardware wallet.

Another consquence of a missing screen is that the user is faced with the dilemma of either not making a backup or having to pass the backup through an insecure device for display or storage.

The software of the device might be perfect but this device cannot be recommended due to this fundamental flaw.

But we also ask:

Defunct!

Is the product still supported by the still existing provider?

If the answer is "no", we mark it as "Not functioning anymore".

Discontinued products or worse, products of providers that are not active anymore, are problematic, especially if they were not formerly reproducible and well audited to be self-custodial following open standards. If the provider hasn’t answered inquiries for a year but their server is still running or similar circumstances might get this verdict, too.