Top Linux Distros for Crypto
Here are three Linux distros designed to keep your crypto safe, having a cold wallet is advisable for storing crypto, here are three distros designed for improving the security around web connected hot wallets using hardened open source operating systems to attain digital autonomy
NixOS – Is popular in the crypto community and used by the Cardano (ADA) community, the Nix package manager is designed to manage software updates to roll back and highly reproducible software environments. When working with smart contracts, distributed legders and blockchain technologies, having cryptographically managed dependencies which run the program
QubesOS – Is designed to be reasonably secure and still highly useable. One feature is to manage multiple browsers that cannot interact with each other. It allows to have have a browser with Metamask compartmentalized away from phishing attempts from dodgy emails and compromised websites
Lockbox – A easy to install Linux distro that provides a secure by default environment to browse the Internet and monitor all connections leaving with an easier to use GUI
NixOS - Reproducible builds and deployments
For people with common sense and reasonable opsec then the operating of choice would be NixOS, which is designed to build and maintain packages and crypto wallets in isolation from other applications running on the same box. This package manager can be installed on other Linux based systems, although for stability and airgap potential can be installed on a reasonably spec machine. NixOS contains a number of tools for rolling back updates should something fail and provides an additional layer recoverability.
Nix - Cryptographic Packet Manager
NixOS is also a packet manager that can be installed on other distros, it has an underlying philosophy around building reproducibility in applications, for example crypto wallets, the package manager uses cryptographic systems to track how packages are built. This works great for managing software for Cryptocurrencies and is also a great way for Linux to manage its packages in general. This is a distro that stands apart when looking for an OS for engineers and developers, the consistency and reproducibility found in the Nix package manager is a great asset when working with web3 application and cryptocurrency wallets
Who is NixOS for? Those who want additional insurance from losing crypto based on their own technical abilities failing them, for anyone developing tools and web3 applications and want uniformity between builds. Most linux users would benefit from learning the NixOS methodology and utilising the power tools included in the Nix package manager
NixOS as a concept looks to be well-thought well-engineered and beneficial to how all GNU applications are maintained, much like other power tools built into the Linux command line to manage data and applications, the reproducibility in Nix is a philosophy unto itself
QubesOS - A reasonably secure operating system
Currently the most secure operating system is QubesOS, it compartmentalises computational processes, so when an email is opened and the pixel element attempts to call home it finds port 80 and 443 are not open. When using cryptocurrencies having air gaps between applications means that web browsers cannot compromise wallets and password managers. There are Qubes for personal information, password managers, keys and seed phrases. Web browsers can include those with access to saved passwords to disposable cookie negating browsers providing virtual amnesia similar to Tails
Securely Compartentalized
Currently the most secure operating system is QubesOS, it compartmentalizes computational processes, so when an email is opened and the pixel element attempts to call home it finds port 80 and 443 are not open. When using cryptocurrencies having air gaps between applications means that web browsers cannot compromise wallets and password managers. There are Qubes for personal information, password managers, keys and seed phrases. Web browsers can include those with access to saved passwords to disposable cookie negating browsers, effectively providing virtual amnesia similar to Tails
QubesOS uses for crypto include, offline qubes for compartmentalised cold storage of crypto assets and currencies, being able to download a wide range of wallets without compromising other parts of the operating system, it can be used to browse anonymously, limiting finger printing and it can mitigate a number of attack vectors used by malicious threat actors to steal crypto currencies
Who is Qubes for? Those who can already install and use Linux, in many ways QubesOS is a perfect base for all other distros to run on, it runs both Debian and Fedora by default and could be adapted to run other distros with community support. QubesOS does require a high spec machine and the hardware requirements should be checked before trying to install
LockBox - Secure By Default
Having an operating system that is secure out of the box is always comforting for those just wanting to use something without having to deal with exponential levels of complexity. Secure by default is a way to describe LockBox, it is accessible and has a friendlier learning curve when coming from other operating systems. This distro allows anyone with a laptop and usb to install a securer environment to store their tokens and assets. It has reasonable system requirements and can be installed on a wide range of laptops and swapping out the SSD for a fresh install would provide the most straight forward experience
LockBox makes it to the list because of the power tools it brings to a much wider audience, it has opensnitch which monitors all outbound and inbound connections, ever wondered what a program is doing both on your private subnets and the wider internet? Open snitch provide a detailed desktop environment. LockBox has cherry picked a great selection of applications and it would be great to see a slightly upstream second release
Who is Lockbox for? Those who want a simple and secure way to store crypto, if you’ve never used Linux before, this is the distro to go for and use it airgapped from the rest of your digital life. Having a hot wallet on a phone and LockBox on a laptop would be an optimal setup based accessibility
TLDR; Three Linux Distros that are good for storing cryptographic assets, developing smart contracts and promoting digital autonomy: QubesOS, NixOS and LockBox
