8 Best Crypto Wallets

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If you plan on accumulating or trading a substantial amount of crypto, it’s time to think about getting a crypto wallet — the safest place to store your digital assets. It might be surprising that only about 8% of Bitcoin owners are estimated to keep their coins in complete safety and privacy, but given the increasing number and sophistication of hacks, now’s the time to play it safe.

What Is a Crypto Wallet?

A crypto wallet keeps users’ public and private keys while providing an easy-to-use interface to manage crypto balances.

Wallets can come in several forms, including hardware wallets such as Ledger, which looks like a USB stick, or mobile apps.

There are two types of crypto wallets: software-based — the so-called hot wallets — and physical cold wallets, with the main difference being whether they are connected to the Internet. Hot wallets are connected, while cold wallets are kept offline. This means that funds stored in hot wallets are more accessible, but are easier for hackers to gain access to, according to Crypto.com.

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Depending on your needs and your level of crypto-fluency, some wallets might be better suited for you.

Best Crypto Wallets

The 8 best crypto wallets are:

• Best for Beginners: Coinbase Wallet
• Best for Bitcoin: Electrum
• Best for Mobile: Mycelium
• Best for Desktop: Exodus
• Best DeFi Wallet: Crypto.com
• Best for Bluetooth: Ledger Nano X
• Best for Android: Trezor One
• Easiest To Use: ZenGo

Best for Beginners — Coinbase Wallet

Coinbase Wallet is a self-custody wallet, giving you complete control of your crypto. It enables users to store all of their crypto and NFTs in one place and supports “hundreds of thousands of tokens and a whole world of dapps.”

In addition, if you’re already a Coinbase customer, you can link your Coinbase account to your wallet to easily access your crypto. However, you don’t need a Coinbase account to open a Coinbase wallet.

Online wallets offered by exchanges such as Coinbase are the simplest way to get started in crypto as they offer a balance of security and easy access and are easy to navigate.

Pros

• Easy access
• Easy navigation
• Can link to your Coinbase account

Cons

• Only available on mobile and tablet devices except for Chrome extension

Best for Bitcoin — Electrum

Electrum was created by Thomas Voegtlin in November 2011, and since then, various developers have contributed to its source code. It deems itself one of the most popular Bitcoin wallets.

Another of its advantages is that Electrum has various user interfaces, as it can be used on mobile, desktop or with the command line interface. In addition, it has a  two-factor authentication by Electrum and Trustedcoin and an integration with hardware wallets — KeepKey, Ledger, Trezor — for cold storage.

The wallet is a lightweight wallet, meaning it does not download the entire blockchain, making for faster transactions by using simple payment verification (SPV).

Pros

• Fast transactions through SPV
• Two-factor authentication
• Integrates with cold storage

Cons

• Only supports Bitcoin
• No customer support via chat, email or phone

Best for Mobile — Mycelium

Mycelium is well-established — it was started by a team of hardware engineers in 2008 and deems itself “one of the oldest of the currently popular bitcoin wallets.”

It has long been a mobile-only software wallet and continues to be one of the best options for Android and iOS users.

Mycelium prides itself about its enhanced security, including the fact that the app is reproducible — so there’s no fatal dependence on the development team. In addition, there is no ID required and no other data collection procedures.

Another advantage is that it supports hardware wallets including Trezor, Ledger and KeepKey.

However, it’s a mobile-only app, available for iOS and Android, a probable deterrent for users who are not comfortable navigating some of the advanced features only on a mobile device.

Pros

• Well-established
• Enhanced security
• No ID required
• Supports hardware wallets

Cons

Best for Desktop — Exodus

Exodus, founded in 2015 by JP Richardson and Daniel Castagnoli, enables users to send, receive and exchange Bitcoin as well as 200 other cryptocurrencies with ease. Additional advantages are that it has 24/7 customer support and lets you manage your digital assets while you’re on the move with Exodus for iOS and Android.

It is also compatible with Trezor wallets. Its design is sleek, making it easy to navigate and use, while being very secure. 

According to some industry insiders, one big con is that it can be easily hacked and that it lacks some important security features, such as two-factor authentication.

Pros

• Easy to navigate
• 24/7 customer support
• Mobile app available

Cons

• No two-factor authentication

Best DeFi Wallet — Crypto.com

Crypto.com wallet is a non-custodial wallet that gives you access to a full suite of DeFi services in one place. This wallet enables users to explore the most popular DApps without having to leave the DeFi Wallet App, as well as letting users seamlessly connect to swap, farm and mine on DeFi protocols.

If you’re into NFTs, the wallet lets you easily view your NFTs and share them on social media. It is also very secure as your private keys are encrypted locally on your device with Secure Enclave and protected with biometric and two-factor authentication.

Another advantage is that it lets you seamlessly connect your DeFi Wallet  App to a desktop browser and it provides 24/7 live customer support.

Pros

• Local encryption of your private keys
• Full suite of DeFi services

Cons

• Losing your private key and recovery phrase renders your funds inaccessible

Best Hardware & Cold Storage Crypto Wallets

As explained earlier, cold wallets are not connected to the internet at all times and as such face much less risk of hacking. Here are some of the best ones.

Best for Bluetooth — Ledger Nano X

Ledger is one of the most well-known brands of hardware wallets available, and its Ledger Nano X is secure. Users can buy, exchange and grow their crypto and NFTs with this Bluetooth-enabled hardware wallet.

It enables users to manage more than 5,500 coins and tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. Ledger supports up to 100 simultaneously-installed apps.

Pros

• Bluetooth-enabled
• Supports up to 100 apps

Cons

Best for Android — Trezor One

Trezor One is another option for a hardware — or cold — wallet. According to the company, online exchanges and wallet providers can disappear, go offline or be hacked, and hence are not reliable. That’s why a hardware wallet is the safest way to manage and trade your cryptocurrencies.

The company behind Trezor One, Satoshi Labs, was founded in 2013 and is an active participant in the Bitcoin community. It is highly respected among veteran Bitcoiners. Another advantage is that it has a strong customer support platform.

Pros

• Company is active in the Bitcoin community
• Strong customer support

Cons

• No support for iOS devices

Easiest to Use — ZenGo

ZenGo says its mission is to end financial exclusion and break the barriers of complexity by building the most accessible and safest wallet service that enables anyone to thrive in the digital economy.

One of the key differentiators is that ZenGo says its security is better than other wallets — it doesn’t use complex passwords or long phrases to store, browser extensions or special hardware. Instead, your account is secured by private facial biometrics and industry-leading encryption to keep you safe from account takeover attacks and phishing.

“In a world where passwords have made our digital lives less safe, ZenGo is passwordless, so hacks will be much harder and human errors near impossible,” according to its website.

It is also a bridge to Web3, as it allows users to discover NFTs, DeFI, crypto gaming and thousands of Dapps. ZenGo adds that it has  integrated with the WalletConnect protocol to facilitate a simple and secure connection to the world of Web3 quickly and instantaneously.

The ZenGo wallet is easy and fast to set up, and it is available on the App Store and Google Play Store. It also has 24/7 customer service. 

While ZenGo is available in 188 countries, some features are available only in certain locations.

Pros

• Easy to set up and use
• Secured by facial biometrics and encryption, not passwords
• Access to Web3
• 24/7 customer service

Cons

• Some features not available everywhere

Final Take

When considering a crypto wallet, the first question you should ask yourself is what matters the most to you, in terms of ease of use, frequency of trades and the functionality you are looking for.

Additional questions to ask yourself are which coins are supported, whether the wallet has a strong customer support, and of course, the reputation of the company behind it.