To keep your assets safe, you must use a bitcoin wallet that can protect them properly. Well, VCGamers has summarized the 5 best in 2022.
A bitcoin wallet is an essential tool for buying, trading and selling cryptocurrencies. Merchants need them to store crypto safely, as well as to protect and validate transaction information.
Be it hardware or software, also called hot and cold storage, dedicated bitcoin wallets offer traders a special solution compared to those from crypto exchanges.
Read on to learn about the different types of bitcoin wallets, how they work, and which one you should choose.
What Is a Bitcoin Wallet?
A Bitcoin wallet, or simply a crypto wallet, is a place where merchants store the secure digital code needed to interact with the blockchain. They do not actively store cryptocurrency, despite what the names might lead you to believe.
Bitcoin wallets need to find the crypto associated with your address on the blockchain, which is why they have to interact with it.
In fact, crypto wallets are less wallets than ledgers: They serve as identity and account owners on the blockchain network and provide access to transaction history.
List of Safest Bitcoin Wallets
Coinbase
Coinbase Wallet is an excellent bitcoin wallet for beginners who have little or no experience with crypto.
The app can connect to most major bank accounts and has a friendly, easy-to-navigate interface consisting of a simple three-tab layout and clearly identifiable functions.
Coinbase Wallet can store non-fungible tokens (NFT) and digital collectibles, and supports more than 500 crypto assets, the largest number of hot wallets on this list.
It is important to differentiate between the Coinbase exchange and the Coinbase wallet. Coinbase Wallet can be used without opening an account on one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
It's also non-custodial, meaning the private keys are stored on your device, not on Coinbase's servers. So you don't have to worry about the currency being locked for any reason or getting cyber-attacked on the website.
Electrum
Founded in 2011, Electrum is one of the oldest and most well-known bitcoin wallets today. Electrum is also one of the few remaining crypto wallets that only deals in Bitcoin, a currency that is uniquely equipped to be supported by Electrum.
Dompet houses a variety of powerful security features that no one else has, and users can also adjust their fee depending on how long they are willing to wait for a transaction to complete: Pay more fees, and transactions will be executed faster.
One of the wallet's greatest assets is that it uses a lightweight client. The lightweight client can be set up in minutes and takes up less space than a traditional wallet client on your computer.
By using simple payment verification (SPV), the wallet only downloads part of the blockchain, which speeds up transactions without compromising security.
Mycelium
Mycelium is another established bitcoin wallet with a heavy focus on Bitcoins. Introduced to the market in 2008, it has long been a mobile-only software wallet and continues to be one of the best options for Android and iOS users.
Mycelium's security and transaction options are the two highlights of this wallet. The app is fully reproducible, meaning the code can be duplicated and compared against the original to find potential security issues, and it has some level of pin protection.
The wallet app features custom transaction fees with four recommended levels of priority low, normal, economy, and priority and several different user account types.
Ledgers
Ledger is one such brand bitcoin wallet the most famous piece of hardware available today. Its initial popularity was sparked with its first wallet, the Ledger Nano S, a feature-packed and highly secure cool wallet.
The Ledger Nano X expands on the success of the Nano S by adding an internal battery and features such as Bluetooth connectivity and greater asset management capabilities.
The Ledger Nano X is currently priced at $ 119, comes in a matte black finish and has a 128 x 64-pixel display for cycling through apps.
This wallet supports more than 1,800 coins and tokens, the largest number and is able to manage up to 100 coins and tokens simultaneously through the application on the device.
Its Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity can be turned off at any time and allows the Nano X to be used with the Ledger Live app on Android or iOS devices to exchange crypto on the go.
Also read: How to Invest Crypto When Bearish for Beginners 2022
Exodus
Exodus is one of the most visually appealing and intuitive bitcoin wallets on the market. Originally a desktop-only wallet, Exodus now has apps for iOS and Android and is also compatible with the Trezor wallet, a popular hardware wallet brand.
Despite this, the desktop wallet app is still the core wallet offering and is updated every two weeks.
One of the main attractions of Exodus is the number of currencies it supports. This wallet supports more than 145 cryptocurrency assets, a larger number than many other hot wallets.
Also read: How to Make a Crypto Wallet on Trust Wallet
This includes established altcoins, such as Ether, Litecoin, XRP and BitcoinCash, as well as popular meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.