WALLET FOR CRYPTOWEALTH: HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST ONE
By: Clos Belmont
Tags: Cryptocurrency Investment, Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Blockchain, Bitcoin Wallet

You finally bought your first coin and now you are proud owner of crypto!

But…. Do you know that a wallet is the first step to using cryptocurrencies?

Why?

Without a wallet, you can’t receive, store or spend your assets.

Wallets contain private keys: secret codes that allow you to spend your bitcoins. It’s not coins that need to be stored and secured, but the private keys that give you access to them.

Another words — a wallet is simply an app, website, or device that manages private keys for you.

What types of wallets are there?

Online — Web-wallet. Accessed via web-browser. Access to money gained through username or password.

Offline — Desktop (access gained via physical access to computer), Mobile (Access gained via physical access to phone) and Hardware (Cold Storage). Hardware wallets delimit access of your funds to the hardware device alone. The coins are stored in a microcontroller, and are to be transferred only when authorized.

A hardware wallet is a physical electronic device, built for the sole purpose of securing bitcoins. The core innovation is that the hardware wallet must be connected to your computer, phone, or tablet before bitcoins may be spent.

But Hardware wallets aren’t free. The most popular hardware wallets are KeepKey, Ledger Nano S, and Trezor. Also we can mention Ledger HW.1 and Opendime.

TREZOR launched in August 2014 as the first Bitcoin hardware wallet. TREZOR is a small, thumb-sized device. The Trezor customer service has been very good, the communication is outstanding and it supports many different currencies: Bitcoin, Dash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, ZCash, Litecoin and Dogecoin.

KeepKey was released in September 2015 and was the second hardware Bitcoin wallet to offer a screen. The KeepKey’s larger screen gives it some extra security features that the Nano S and Trezor lack.

The Ledger Nano S is the cheapest of the three hardware wallets with a screen; it costs about $95. Ledger, one of the most well-known Bitcoin security companies, released the device in August 2016. The Ledger Nano may be used on any computer, or Android phones with Mycelium or GreenBits.

The Ledger HW.1 can be considered a budget hardware wallet. It doesn’t have a screen, so it isn’t quite as secure as the three options mentioned above.

The Ledger Unplugged is a credit card-size wireless hardware wallet. Private keys are generated offline. The Ledger Unplugged is ideal for everyday use, since the device fits perfectly into wallets and no OTG cable is required.

Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Works with any computer, laptop, and phone. The private key is generated inside the device, and is never known to any human, not even you!

Ledger Nano S, KeepKey and TREZOR all work with:

· Mycelium (Android version only)

· Electrum for Mac, Windows and Linux

· Multibit HD

· GreenAddress

Mycelium, Cryptolabs and BitStash currently have a hardware wallets in development, but none of these had delivered finished products.

HOT WALLETS AND MORE

Hot wallets run on internet connected devices like a computer, mobile phone, or tablet or even at smartwathces. Have you heard about the unusual wallet is the Aegis Bitcoin Wallet, which supports Android smartwatches?

Hot wallets are great if you make frequent payments, but not a good choice for the secure storage of bitcoins.

Online Wallets (Web Wallets)

Web wallets store your private keys online, where they are encrypted with a user-selected password. Although they offer the lowest level of security, online bitcoin wallets have the advantage of being accessible from any internet connected device.

GreenAddress

GreenAddress is a multi-signature Bitcoin wallet available on the web, desktop, Android, and iOS. “Multi-signature” in this context means that the site requires a manual confirmation from you for your coins to be moved; this greatly improves security.

SpectroCoin

SpectroCoin is an all-in-one solution for Bitcoin. Services offered include a wide range of Bitcoin solutions, from exchange to Bitcoin e-wallet.

If you have an account within digital asset exchanges like Poloniex and Bittrex are considered hot wallets because these companies hold your funds in their infrastructure and servers. If a hacker drains them and you have an account with them, then probably you will lose your money. It’s is worth to mention that If you have hot wallet on one of these accounts you can’t buy ICO token.

Coinbase

Coinbase, an integrated wallet/bitcoin exchange operates its online wallet worldwide. Users in the US and Europe can buy bitcoin through its exchange services.

Circle

Circle offers users worldwide the chance to store, send, receive and buy bitcoins. Currently only US citizens are able to link bank accounts to deposit funds, but credit and debit cards are also an option for users in other countries.

Xapo

Xapo aims to provide the convenience of an simple bitcoin wallet with the added security of a cold-storage vault.

Blockchain also hosts a popular web-based wallet, and Strongcoin offers what it calls a hybrid wallet, which lets you encrypt your private address keys before sending them to its servers — encryption is carried out in the browser.

Bitcoin Wallets for Android and IOS iPhone

There is a large selection of Android wallets. Apple banned Bitcoin wallets from the App Store in February 2014, but reversed its decision a few months later. Luckily, there are now plenty of options for iOS users.

Mycelium

Mycelium is the most popular Bitcoin wallet on Android. It’s very easy to use for sending and receiving payments. Backing up your wallet is also simple, since Mycelium makes it very clear with setup and backup instructions. Mycelium is a favorite among experienced Bitcoin users. It’s an HD wallet with many advanced features, like support for hardware wallets TREZOR and Ledger, watch-only accounts, cold storage spending, and Tor.

Breadwallet

Breadwallet, the great iPhone Bitcoin wallet, recently released an Android wallet. It offers the user control of private keys, an easy to use interface, and passcode support. Breadwallet started out as the most popular wallet for iPhone, and now it is also available for Adroid devices running Android 6.0 or higher. The simplicity and easy-to-use security makes it a great place to start for users who are new to bitcoin.

Breadwallet’s combination of simplicity and security has made it the most popular iOS wallet. iPhone users in search of their first Bitcoin wallet should find Breadwallet easy to understand.

Airbitz

Airbitz is an easy to use Bitcoin wallet for iPhone and Android. Its familiar login feature makes using the app a breeze for people new to bitcoin. The wallet also creates automatic backups, so you don’t have to worry about the technicalities of performing manual wallet backups.

It’s integrated with Fold, meaning you can get 20% discounts at Starbucks from within the wallet. Airbitz manages account with usernames and passwords, but doesn’t have access to your funds. This type of account creation is easier for less technical users who may have trouble backing up or understanding HD seeds.

GreenBits

GreenBits is the native Android version of GreenAddress. It’s a multi-signature wallet that also supports hardware wallets like TREZOR and Ledger. It’s fast, simple, and supports hardware wallets TREZOR and Ledger Nano/HW.1.

Bitcoin Wallet

Bitcoin Wallet, or “Schildbach Wallet”, was the first Bitcoin wallet for Android. Bitcoin Wallet is more secure than most mobile Bitcoin wallets, because it connects directly to the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin Wallet has a simple interface and just the right amount of features, making it a great wallet and a great educational tool for Bitcoin beginners.

Coinomi

Coinomi is a free secure multi-coin multi-asset wallet for altcoins and tokens for Android.

Desktop Wallets

Desktop wallets are downloaded and installed on your computer. If privacy is your main concern, the Bitcoin core wallet is a good option since it does not rely on third parties for data.

Desktop wallets are software wallets that are downloaded and installed on your computer. The desktop wallets below are available on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux.

Electrum

Electrum is a light weight Bitcoin wallet for Mac, Linux, and Windows. Electrum was created in November 2011. The main features of Electrum are: support for hardware wallets (such as TREZOR, Ledger Nano and KeepKey), and secure Bitcoin storage using an offline computer. Electrum is a good option for both beginners and advanced users.

Electrum may be the most popular desktop wallet, due to its speed and ease of use. Electrum can also be used as cold storage if you have an extra computer that can be used offline. Additonaly, Electrum offers other features like connecting through Tor, multisiganture wallets, integration with hardware wallets, and more.

Exodus Wallet

Exodus wallet is also a desktop wallet having a multi-asset wallet capability with ShapeShift built in. It encrypts private keys and transaction data locally for your eyes only. Your data remains private — no account setup required. Like other wallets, Exodus gives blockchain asset investors a platform to secure, exchange and manage wealth inside one beautiful application. Exodus currently supports Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin and other altcoins including Aragon, Augur, BATCivic, Dash, Decred, District0x, EOS, Ethereum, ETH Classic, FunFair, Gnosis, Golem, Litecoin, OmiseGo, Qtum (ERC20) and SALT.

Armory

Armory is the most mature, secure and full featured Bitcoin wallet but it can be technologically intimidating for users. Whether you are an individual storing $1,000 or institution storing $1,000,000,000 this is the most secure option available. Users are in complete control all Bitcoin private keys and can setup a secure offline-signing process in Armory.

Bitcoin Core

Bitcoin Core is the “official” Bitcoin client and wallet, though isn’t used by many due to slow speeds and a lack of features. Bitcoin Core, however, is a full node, meaning it helps verify and transmit other Bitcoin transactions across the network and stores a copy of the entire blockchain. This offers better privacy since Core doesn’t have to rely on data from external servers or other peers on the network. Bitcoin Core routed through Tor is considered one of the best ways to use Bitcoin privately.

MultiBit HD

Multibit HD is a fast and straightforward desktop wallet with support for hardware wallets TREZOR and KeepKey.MultiBit runs on Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. Hive is an OS X-based wallet with some unique features, including an app store that connects directly to bitcoin services.

DarkWallet

DarkWallet focused on anonymity — uses a lightweight browser plug-in to provide services including coin ‘mixing’ in which users’ coins are exchanged for others’, to prevent people tracking them.

Universal Wallets

Copay

Copay is a Bitcoin wallet by Bitpay and available on iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Linux, Max OS X, and Windows. Because Copay is available on multiple platforms, it’s easy to use the same wallet or accounts across multiple devices.

Copay’s simple, clean user interface makes it a good choice for new Bitcoin users. Copay is also a good option for businesses due to a shared account feature, which requires a certain number of users to sign each transaction. Two co-founders, for example, could create a 2 of 2 wallet where both will be required to sign each transaction.

The Bitcoin Wallet supports Android, iOS, Windows, OSX, and Linux operating systems.

Jax

The digital wallet, Jax, runs on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux and other platforms. It has been in existence since 2004 and it supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies. The Jaxx wallet is secure, and simple to use. The Jaxx wallet is also a cold wallet.

Conclusions

By the end of this article you’ll understand crypto wallets and have a better idea about which type is right for you. Here are some factors to consider:

· If you are making payments in person and not online then a mobile wallet like Copay (iOS & Android), breadwallet (iOS) or Mycelium (Android) is a must.

· If you will need to make frequent payments then it will be best to keep your funds in wallet that is easy to use and accessible. Mobile wallets and desktop wallets are good options.

· If you are dealing with large amounts of bitcoins you will need a secure wallet.

· Use a mobile wallet as your checking account, and a hardware or secure offline wallet as your savings account. Mix and match to find a combination that provides both security and accessibility.

References

https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/wallets/

https://medium.com/dash-for-newbies/cold-wallet-vs-hot-wallet-whats-the-difference-a00d872aa6b1

https://www.weusecoins.com/en/find-the-best-bitcoin-wallet/

https://themerkle.com/bitcoin-hot-wallet-vs-cold-wallet/

https://www.coindesk.com/information/how-to-store-your-bitcoins/

https://99bitcoins.com/best-bitcoin-wallet-comparison-review/

https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/best-bitcoin-cash-wallets/