Why SafePal’s hardware approach defies crypto’s software culture

Software scales through replication. Hardware scales through repetition. That difference, between copying and building, is what separates convenience from durability.

It’s this tangible reality that drives Veronica Wong, co-founder and CEO of SafePal, one of the world’s leading hardware-wallet companies. Her story isn’t about scaling software; it’s about building discipline in an ecosystem that celebrates speed.

“When I entered crypto, there were very few affordable ways to keep assets secure,” Wong said. “We wanted to make sure storing crypto safely wasn’t a privilege.”

Choosing hardware in a software world

Back in 2018, most of crypto’s security debates lived on-chain: consensus, finality, or layer-two throughput. Wong saw a simpler, overlooked truth: trust begins at the point of storage.

“Hardware wallets were expensive and complex,” she recalled. “But people need something tangible, something they can hold and verify themselves.”

That conviction led to SafePal’s founding, supported by Binance Labs and guided by a philosophy rarely seen in the web3 startup scene: treat hardware as infrastructure, not merchandise.

Where software can pivot overnight, hardware demands foresight, manufacturing precision, and time. The first SafePal S1 wallet took 18 months to design from scratch, including industrial casing, circuit design, and firmware integration, followed by six months of third-party audits before release.

“It’s not enough for us to say the product is secure,” Wong said. “It has to be verified independently.”

Building from scratch

The S1 launched at Binance Blockchain Week in 2019, a modest debut for what would become one of the most-distributed hardware wallets in the world.

Early on, Wong’s challenge wasn’t adoption; it was iteration. Each new blockchain integration required a firmware update; every update had to pass an audit. It was, by design, the opposite of “move fast and break things.”

“At one point, during DeFi summer, we were releasing new versions almost monthly,” she said. “But nothing could compromise security.”

That patience paid off. After years in circulation, the S1 maintains a perfect record: zero breaches, zero critical vulnerabilities. In an industry plagued by exploits and rushed launches, SafePal’s longevity is its quiet advantage.

“Hardware isn’t glamorous,” Wong said. “It’s small decisions repeated thousands of times, how you audit, how you ship, how you patch.”

Scaling the unscalable

Crypto companies scale through APIs; SafePal scales through distribution lines. The team built logistics infrastructure similar to that of a global electronics brand, opening official stores on Shopify and Amazon, and then expanding to 4,000 affiliates and 50 regional distributors.

“We’re not just shipping devices; we’re building local support systems,” Wong said. “Each region has its own partners handling customer service in their native language. That’s how you build trust.”

That operational rigor turned SafePal into something more than a wallet; it became a case study in how web3 companies can build real infrastructure. While others chased token metrics, SafePal built inventory control, post-sales support, and multilingual compliance documentation.

“Hardware doesn’t scale like code,” Wong said. “It compounds.”

Each product cycle adds trust, certification, and track record, assets that can’t be forked or cloned.

The economics of safety

SafePal’s business isn’t about fat margins or token speculation; it’s about compounding credibility. A hardware wallet has to be boring to be trusted, Wong often jokes. But in that consistency lies SafePal’s differentiation.

“It’s been seven years, and the S1 has never been hacked,” she said. “That’s our most valuable achievement.”

The company’s philosophy, outlined in its mission statements and partner materials, centers on proactive security: protecting users before problems emerge. Every firmware update, supply-chain review, and compliance check follows the same idea: safety by design, not reaction.

“Safety is proactive,” Wong said. “Security is in the code, but safety is what we do.”

For executives, that approach is instructive: it reframes security as a governance process, not a feature. In volatile markets, that kind of predictability is a rare strategic advantage.

From wallet to gateway

As SafePal matures, its ambitions move beyond cold storage. The company now integrates trading, earning, and fiat on-ramp/off-ramp services within its app, evolving from a device to what Wong calls a financial super-app.

“The wallet has become the center where your two worlds meet,” she said. “It’s not just storage, it’s identity, transaction, and verification.”

This next phase requires a blend of hardware integrity and software flexibility, bridging the physical trust users already have with the liquidity and access they expect from modern finance.

SafePal’s roadmap envisions a world where self-custody isn’t a niche for experts but a mainstream practice built on verified, affordable devices.

For founders and executives, that’s the deeper story: trust scales differently when it’s built, not coded.

Wong’s vision doesn’t romanticize decentralization; it operationalizes it.

In an industry defined by abstractions, SafePal’s approach feels tangible, disciplined, and refreshingly human. The future of crypto security, it seems, may still be something you can hold in your hand.