What Bitcoin Wallet To Use

If you're thinking about investing in bitcoin or another digital currency, we recommend storing your cryptocurrency in a crypto wallet. Acryptocurrency wallet offers aprophylactic place to store your proof of buying and can have the grade of concrete hardware or computer software. Non only are crypto wallets secure, they besides offer more than control over your digital currency than nearly substitution services.

Well-known services similarRobinhood,PayPal andVenmo allow you lot to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrency quickly and with fiddling technical know-how. All the same, most of these online services and their integrated cryptocurrency wallets are "custodial," which means you're trusting the company to secure, protect and concord your cryptocurrency. Ultimately, they have command -- and your crypto is in their proverbial hands.

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Unless you're making a daily crypto transaction or accept only a modest amount of coin involved, we recommend you non store your cryptocurrency in an commutation business relationship. The best exercise is to invest in a hardware wallet for offline storage. The next best selection is a "noncustodial" software wallet or wallet app, which give you lot more command over your digital assets. We'll expect at both hither in our quest to find the best crypto wallet.

In either case, greater independence comes with more responsibleness: You'll have to go along track of your own private key -- the crypto equivalent of a super secure password. You'll also need to make up one's mind which is a higher priority -- accessibility or security. A hot wallet stores cryptocurrency online; a common cold wallet is disconnected from the internet, offering additional insulation from hackers, but likewise requiring a few additional steps every fourth dimension you lot want to make a crypto transaction. Read on to notice out which wallet is best for you lot.

Best bitcoin and crypto wallets

Coinbase Wallet

Best for beginners

James Martin/CNET

Coinbase, which went public in April, is the best known cryptocurrency exchange in the Us. The company makes it easy to trade well-known cryptocurrencies from bitcoin to dogecoin, and has its own Visa-backed debit card that integrates with Apple tree Pay and Google.

If you're new to cryptocurrency, the Coinbase Wallet is a expert place to kickoff. It can be downloaded as an app for Android or iOS, the interface is intuitive and the wallet is fully integrated with the company's exchange, which makes information technology easy to conduct transactions -- including purchasing coins and tokens with traditional currency.

Unlike the visitor's exchange, the Coinbase Wallet is noncustodial; that ways that only you have admission to your wallet'due south private key, which is generated with a 12-word recovery phrase when y'all sign up. Note that there's a difference between storing your cryptocurrency on Coinbase's exchange, which is custodial, and the wallet, which is not. But the integration betwixt them makes information technology adequately simple to transfer funds back and forth.

Trezor Model T

Best security features

Trezor via Amazon

Trezor's new user interface, Trezor Suite, just came out before this month, replacing the company'due south Wallet Spider web app. This assay reflects our initial impression of a new production, therefore. Merely Trezor has been around for quite some time, established dorsum in 2011 as a subsidiary of Czech-based SatoshiLabs.

The $221 Model T is Trezor's second-generation hardware wallet, and it comes with many of the same features as the Ledger Nano X, detailed below. One major difference is that Trezor's software is completely open-source, which affords some additional protection -- theoretically, at to the lowest degree: The lawmaking that powers the wallet is bachelor for scrutiny, and, the thinking goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Trezor Suite is designed to run natively on your desktop, which by and large provides greater security than a web-based app, though you lot can besides access Trezor Suite through the company'south website. Trezor wallets currently support more 1,600 coins and tokens, and you lot tin can make transactions directly in Trezor Suite with the company's integrated exchange.

Shaped like an erstwhile-school stopwatch, the Model T comes with a touchscreen and a USB cable to connect to your estimator; it also features a microSD card if you want to add together encrypted storage direct to your hardware wallet. It does non characteristic Bluetooth back up, however -- an omission that some security advocates prefer, as Bluetooth connectivity could exist an attack vector for hackers to exploit.

Ledger Nano X

Good balance between accessibility and security

Ledger

The Nano Ten is Ledger'due south second-generation cold storage wallet. The integrated Ledger Live platform, which is easy to larn and employ, supports more one,800 coins and tokens including bitcoin, ether and XRP. The wallet can exist connected to your estimator via a USB cable and Android and iOS mobile devices via Bluetooth -- a connection the Model T lacks.

The device is sturdy and features a small LED screen. To start, you'll set upwardly a Pin, and then a 24-word seed phrase. The seed phrase acts every bit your wallet's private primal. Simply like other wallets, as long as you proceed the private key prophylactic, you won't lose your crypto assets -- even if you lose your wallet.

It's important to note that Ledger suffered a information breach in July 2020, which resulted in the theft of some customers' personal data -- but, significantly, not their crypto assets. No private keys to wallets were taken, simply there were reports of customers receiving phishing emails and other scamming threats afterwards. That noted, Ledger has long been a trusted proper noun in the crypto world, but the information breach is a good reminder to be conscientious online -- especially when it comes to dealing in crypto assets.

Exodus

All-time for desktop users

Exodus

Exodus is a hot wallet, which ways information technology'southward a software wallet that'due south continued to the internet; just it's noncustodial, which means that only you have access to your private key -- a 12-word password phrase that protects access to your crypto avails.

The Exodus wallet is designed to run on Mac, Windows and Linux computers, though at that place's a companion app available for Android and iOS devices. The desktop user interface is slick and easy to learn. Your wallet is seamlessly integrated into the Exodus substitution, and so it'due south like shooting fish in a barrel to make transactions.

Exodus supports more than 130 types of cryptocurrency including bitcoin, ether, tether USD and dogecoin. But the exchange has some noteworthy limits: If you want to purchase crypto with US dollars and store information technology in the Exodus wallet, you'll need to first purchase the asset on a centralized crypto exchange, such as Coinbase, and then transfer the assets to Exodus. The app version allows purchases of bitcoin with The states dollars. And one time you have an asset in your wallet, it can be easily exchanged for other supported avails. While the wallet itself is free to use, Exodus charges a fee for transactions made via its exchange.

Hot storage wallets are by and large considered less secure than common cold storage wallets, and some Exodus users may somewhen want to upgrade to cold storage. The expert news: Exodus is fully compatible with Trezor's One and Model T hardware.

Mycelium

Best for mobile users

Mycelium

Mycelium has been around since the outset of the crypto era, and the Mycelium wallet is i of the oldest and best-known bitcoin wallets. This is a mobile-only wallet -- in that location is currently no desktop version -- that supports both Android and iOS.

The Mycelium wallet has an appealingly simple interface but it supports fewer kinds of crypto than others profiled hither: Y'all can ship and receive bitcoin, ether and ERC-twenty tokens such every bit tether USD, USD money and binance USD -- just not the hundreds of esoteric coins that have been developed over the by few years. You can purchase and sell bitcoin straight in the app, and Mycelium lets you buy bitcoin with regular fiat currency.

The Mycelium wallet is noncustodial, so you'll have sole access to your private central and PIN. This wallet is besides the only hot storage wallet on our list that'southward completely open up-source. Though there are security advantages in that, it besides comes with express tech support options; basically, if y'all get stuck, you lot can submit a help ticket to the email address listed at the bottom of the webpage.

For more advanced users, Mycelium supports QR codes, allows you to fix custom transaction fees and offers compatibility with hardware wallets from Trezor, Ledger and KeepKey.

Best bitcoin and crypto wallets, compared

	All-time for beginners	Best for security	Best balance betwixt accessibility and security	Best for desktop	Best for mobile users
Wallet	Coinbase wallet	Trezor Model T	Ledger Nano X	Exodus	Mycelium
Wallet cost	Complimentary	$221	$119	Free	Free
Offline storage	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Custodial	No	No	No	No	No
Mobile version	Yep	Compatible with mobile app	Compatible with mobile app	Compatible with mobile app	Yes
How many supported coins and tokens	eleven+	i,800+	1,800+	140+	10+

FAQs

Exercise I need a crypto wallet?

If you lot want to invest in cryptocurrency, you should invest in a wallet. That noted, if you lot're just dipping a toe, services such as PayPal and Robinhood allow yous to purchase a coin or fractions of a coin and store it on their servers. These are custodial wallets, still, where you don't hold the private key. We recommend noncustodial wallets for long-term cryptocurrency users and investors.

How much coin do I need to open up a crypto wallet?

It depends. Hardware-based wallets generally cost betwixt $100 and $200, though many software-based wallets are free. Most don't require you to really own any cryptocurrency.

Which wallet is best for beginners?

If you've never used cryptocurrency before, we recommend Coinbase Wallet. Coinbase is a well-known, U.s.a.-based crypto commutation that'south easy to use, and it works well with Coinbase Wallet.

Which wallet is best for advanced users?

Today'south cold storage wallets can be quickly and hands connected to the internet for fast transactions, so most advanced users nowadays are probably most interested in a cold storage wallet. The hardware wallets sold past Ledger and Trezor are both skillful options.

What are the risks?

Cryptocurrency is field of study to far less regulation than conventional investments and securities. While the lack of oversight is an bonny feature to some investors, it'south important to know that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, experience dramatic cost swings on a daily or even hourly basis and lack many of the protections of other forms of investment. The risks are pregnant.

Are assets in crypto wallets insured?

While the companies offering crypto wallets may offer some guarantees to customers and users, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation does not currently insure digital assets like cryptocurrency. That noted, the surroundings is evolving and many government agencies, including the FDIC, are gathering information and considering legislation for the future.

What's the safest crypto wallet?

Cold storage wallets are generally thought of as a more than secure manner to store cryptocurrency when compared to a hot storage wallet. If you plan to store a large amount of coins or tokens for whatever length of time, nosotros recommend using a cold wallet.

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