Best Crypto Wallet

If you own crypto or plan to do so, then it’s time to explore your storage options. Cryptocurrency has been around for over a decade, and that time was enough for developers to offer different solutions with certain features and varying levels of security.Our article will provide basic information about crypto wallets and how they work. It will also provide a list of the best cold and hot storage wallets and the criteria we used to select them.

What’s a Crypto Wallet?

Essentially, a cryptocurrency wallet is an online, digital, or physical solution that stores private keys in a secure manner. The keys are the main means to access your crypto assets on the blockchain. The wallets also give you the ability to send, receive, and make other manipulations with your assets, often acting similarly to bank software.

Why Would You Need a Cryptocurrency Wallet?

The most obvious way to use a wallet is to interact with your funds. The wallets also provide a certain level of security, although the effectiveness of that might differ significantly. You have to understand your risks and select a wallet based on this aspect, among others.

What’s a Hot Wallet?

A hot wallet is a storage device that has access to the Internet. This makes it more vulnerable, but there’s also more convenience. After all, being connected to the Internet makes it possible to enjoy fast access to various features. Essentially acting like web interfaces, such wallets offer a lot of usability at the cost of some protection.

What’s a Cold Wallet?

A cold storage wallet, or simply a cold wallet, is the solution that allows you to store your private keys offline. This usually means using a special device that doesn’t have an Internet connection. Being essentially “air gapped” from the online world is a limitation in itself, but that comes with a level of security that’s mostly superior to what hot wallet options provide.Cold storage wallet comes in different shapes and sizes. The simplest of them all, yet a very effective form, is just a piece of paper that has your public key (or an address) and a private one written or printed on it. Another way is to have an offline software solution that will store the keys. This comes with risks, such as your PC or mobile device getting compromised even without software having online access.

Probably the most effective cold storage option is a hardware wallet. In this case, there’s a dedicated encrypted device that safely and securely keeps the keys. The device usually comes in the form of a small and portable USB drive.

Hot vs. Cold Storage: The Comparison

So let’s check the obvious differences between hot and cold storage options and find out which would be a better solution. Both have their own advantages and downsides. Let’s start with the hot storage. 

Hot Storage Pros and Cons
Pros	Cons
Very convenient	Can be vulnerable to some attacks
Reasonably safe	Will never be as safe as cold storage
Usually has nice interface	Custodial ones don’t offer a lot of control
Easy to set up and use

 As you can see, the hot storage options have reasonable balance between convenience and security. Surely, they won’t reach the levels of safety that cold hardware options provide, but they can be pretty well-protected, while being easy and enjoyable to use and allowing one to interact with their funds without the issues.But what about existing cold storage options? Let’s check them out. 

Cold Storage Pros and Cons
Pros	Cons
Extremely secure	A bit more difficult to set up and use
Can be used together with hot wallets	Hardware solutions have some initial costs
An owner has a full control over their funds

 A Picture-1 below shows the main differences between hot and cold wallets.

How Do Crypto Wallets Work?

Essentially, the wallets store your public and private keys. The former are also known as addresses, they are designed to be known.A wallet stores your private key securely. It can do so online or offline, and we already explained the differences earlier in this article. A wallet doesn’t store a cryptocurrency: it exists on blockchain, so the solution only allows you to access it.

How to Set up a Wallet

If you want to start using a cryptocurrency wallet, then you have to go through certain steps before setting it up. Let’s check them out:

1. Decide on the type of a wallet and store you need: hot or cold.
2. Download software or buy a physical device.
3. Register an account, there are usually enough wallet-specific guides on the matter.
4. Transfer the funds into your account.

The Things to Look for in a Crypto Wallet

If you’re planning to use a crypto wallet, then there are certain things to consider. They depend on what you value, how big your assets are, your level of risk tolerance, and a threat model if you’re afraid that the wallet may be way too vulnerable. In the next few sections we will provide the information that can help you make a wise choice.

How to Choose the Best Crypto Wallet

Let’s check out what you have to keep in mind when looking for the wallet that would be the most suitable for your needs:

1. Security. By far the most important aspect of any crypto wallet. We will explain it in more detail in the “Security” section later in this article.
2. Hot vs. cold. Depending on the level of security needed, as well as how much convenience you require, you should decide whether the cold or hot storage solutions will be preferable.
3. Supported currencies. This one is easy: you must check whether the wallet can store the currency you’re owning or planning to buy.
4. Intuitive user interface. It’s always great when the wallet is easy to operate. Thankfully, in 2023 there are plenty of options, so selecting a wallet with a great user interface shouldn’t be difficult.
5. Backup options. The recovery features and ability to backup a wallet can go a long way. Research the available functions before you start using a solution.
6. Reputation. Choose the solution from a well-known and trusted firm. And don’t forget to read the reviews about the wallet.
7. Support. It’s easy to ignore this when shopping for a wallet, but it’s actually an important thing you should keep in mind. First, you may run into some issues. The workers can also help you deal with the setup process if you find it difficult.

Security: The Essential Feature of a Cryptocurrency Wallet

Obviously, the most important feature of a crypto wallet is the level of security it provides. There’s no doubt about it, but what are the things to consider and look for?Secondly, advanced encryption options can be very important depending on your threat model and how much safety you need. After all, it adds another layer of protection. Finally, you have to consider additional features, such as a multisignature support that will ask you for multiple passwords or keys when trying to access the funds.

How We Chose the Best Wallets: Our Criteria

We compiled the lists of wallets that we consider the best. There are two of them, one for hot storage options and another for cold wallets. We looked at those that are easy to use, have reasonable prices (the hot ones had to be free, while the cold hardware solutions had to be affordable). We also checked the levels of security, including the number of safety features and whether the source code is open.

Best Hot Storage Wallets

Let’s take a look at the best hot storage options on the market. All of them met our criteria and have a good reputation. In the next few sections, we will provide quick overviews of each of them.

Coinbase Wallet

With Coinbase being the second most popular cryptocurrency exchange (with the first place taken by Binance), it’s not surprising that the company offers plenty of features, services, and tries actively to meet the needs of its users. The platform’s hot wallet is a pretty reliable and secure solution: it’s extremely intuitive and you can easily use it on your mobile device.

Crypto.com DeFi Wallet

This solution is one of the safest hot wallets out there. It’s a non-custodial solution, which means that the user has full control of funds. In the right hands, this can make it a much more secure solution compared to the wallets that depend on a centralized entity.

SafePal

SafePal offers a pretty capable software solution for interacting with your funds. While it’s quite user-friendly, it might lack some of the most advanced features, so some of the most experienced users might find it disappointing. The company also offers a hardware solution.

Exodus

Exodus is a great multifunctional hot wallet. It’s extremely easy to use and is full of features: it supports a long list of currencies and makes managing them quite straightforward. Moreover, it’s a non-custodial wallet, so the owner has full control of their funds.

Coinbase dApp

This wallet is designed for working with dApps and is pretty good at it. It’s easy to use and has a nice interface. There are also plenty of security features.This isn’t the same software as Coinbase Wallet that we placed at the beginning of our list: it’s a regular hot wallet of the platform, and is also worth using.

MetaMask

MetaMask is one of the most popular options in the world of hot wallets. It’s a non-custodial one, so you have an impressive level of control over your funds, even though it won’t reach the level of security offered by hardware wallets. MetaMask has a good reputation and thousands of happy users.

TrustWallet

TrustWallet is another multifunctional hot storage solution. You can use it to store your tokens, NFTs, and make some transactions. The platform is quite safe and has a good reputation, but there are plenty of scammers online attacking its users due to the app’s popularity.

Electrum

Electrum is one of the safest hot wallets out there. It’s fully open-source, has a great reputation, plenty of security features, and you can use it together with a cold wallet. What’s not to like?

BlueWallet

BlueWallet is a user-friendly solution that’s perfect for beginners and monitoring your funds. It has a lot of other features as well and has a nice interface. Some consider it one of the best mobile options.

Best Cold Storage Wallets

And now it’s time to provide a list of the best cold wallets. All of the solutions below offer impressive levels of security and have a great well-deserved reputation.

Ledger

Ledger is probably the most popular and well-researched cold storage solution. It’s a relatively affordable device that boasts an impressive number of security features, such as:

1. BOLOS. It’s a name for Ledger devices’ operation system or a framework. It’s designed with a great level of security in mind.
2. Passphrase. This adds another layer of protection by introducing another word to a recovery phrase. Those usually have 24 words by default, allowing the owners of a wallet to easily remember how to access their account. By adding a 25th word, the level of security is improved even further.
3. Trusted Display. You can verify the transactions directly by checking the device screen. This allows you to make sure that it’s not compromised.

The picture-2 below shows a comparison between two of the popular Ledger devices: Nano S Plus and Nano X.

Trezor

Trezor is another popular and highly trusted hardware wallet. It’s similar in many ways to Ledger products, but features fully open-source software and impressive security features. Its number of supported cryptocurrencies is smaller but it’s still enough for the majority of traders, since it includes the most popular ones.You can check out how the Trezor One model looks on the picture-3 below.

Ellipal Titan

A relatively new player in the world of cold storage solutions, Ellipal is a firm that takes user’s security seriously. Its Titan devices offer plenty of features to ensure that the funds are stored safely. It supports an impressive number of tokens and is also compatible with NFTs.Check out how Ellipal Titan 2.0 looks like on the picture-4 below.

KeepKey

KeepKey is another hardware wallet. It’s not as popular as Trezor and Ledger, but there are reasons for that: using it might seem a bit difficult for a beginner. But those with experience with cold storage, will likely find the hardware quite capable.If you’re interested in how the device works, check out the picture-5 here.

SafePal Cold Wallet

We already mentioned SafePal in our hot storage list, but they also offer a hardware solution. The SafePal wallet is an extremely easy to use device that has all of the needed features. Offering a good level of security, the platform is a great and accessible option, although the lack of open-source software and responsive customer support might be worrying for some users, although their recent addition, the Bluetooth Wallet X1 is fully open-source.

The SafePal S1 device features a minimalist, yet quite interesting design.

Frequently Asked Questions about Crypto Wallets

• How do cryptocurrency wallets work?

The wallets store your public and private keys, essentially providing an access to the funds you have on blockchain. In the case of hot storage solutions, they can also act as an online user interface.

• What wallet is the best one?

This depends entirely on your needs. If you want a hot storage solution, then MetaMask and CoinBase Wallet are pretty good to go. For cold wallets, the best-known solutions are Ledger and Trezor.

• How to open a new wallet?

Simply download software or buy a cold storage device. Then set it up and transfer your funds into your account.

• What’s a fiat wallet?

These wallets are designed to store fiat money: mostly regular currencies.

• What wallet should I use?

This depends entirely on your preference and needs. In our article, we provided the lists of best hot and cold storage wallets.

• What wallet is the most secure?

Cold storage wallets tend to be more secure than the hot storage ones.