Friday, March 29, 2024

How to choose your crypto wallet

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Cryptocurrencies are fast-becoming one of the most eagerly watched and tracked assets in financial markets all over the world. The huge rise in price of various crypto assets over the last year or so has led to more and more new people showing interest in the space, and then also wanting to invest in the markets, which means that there is a need for people to have online crypto wallets to hold their tokens. There are many such wallets which are now available, with new ones also being created quite frequently. You can find a rating of the best crypto wallets on the Winz.io gambling blog, and also check out our opinion of the most effective crypto wallets.

Before getting into a list of crypto wallets, it is also important to understand what they are and how they work. Despite the name, crypto wallets do not actually hold cryptocurrency tokens. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, which means that they are not held in any one central location, but rather are recorded on the blockchain. Crypto wallets store your keys, both public and private, to your crypto balances. Keys are what allow users to access their cryptocurrency balances and make transactions. Most wallets are free, but some of them may have a small fee attached, especially hardware wallets. These are wallets which store your information on a hardware device, such as a USB stick, which make them extremely safe from online hacking and fraud attempts, hence the price. There are paper wallets as well, which basically function through printed QR codes. These are considered somewhat safer than the completely online wallets that you can use on your phones, laptops and other online devices. Another factor to consider, especially if you transact in multiple currencies, is whether the wallet has multi-currency support, while if you are planning to only transact in one crypto, it may be worth checking out the coin’s website itself to see if they have their own dedicated wallet.

With the basics out of the way, let us now look at some of the best crypto wallets out there –

Coinbase

Coinbase are best positioned to create a crypto wallet, since they are a crypto exchange, and this has made their wallet one of the most popular ones. It is also covered by FDIC insurance for up to $250,000 of deposits. The wallet has apps for Android and iOS devices, while you can also access it through a web browser on your desktop or laptop computers. An added layer of protection is provided through 2-factor authentication, via Google Authenticator or other services.

Copay

Copay is the best mobile wallet out there, as it is backed by one of the world’s leading Bitcoin payment firms. While it can be accessed on iOS and Android devices, it can also be used on the web, making it possible to be used on computers as well. It supports Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, and is free to use, while it is one of the easiest wallets for beginners to pick up, and is extremely secure, using the full Bitcoin Payment protocol to secure transactions.

Ledger Nano S

This one is the best hardware wallet available, and is also one of the most successful. It supports over 700 tokens and coins, and is extremely secure. The wallet comes in the form of a USB stick, but it also has a small LCD screen along with two buttons, for verifying transactions and confirming details, making it easy to use and practical as well.

Electrum

Electrum is an extremely fast wallet, designed for desktop and laptop usage but also available on mobile. It has various features which make it one of the most flexible wallets out there, including options for cold storage, as well as integration with hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano S and others. It also integrates with Tor, the most popular open-source browser for privacy, and its own encryption means that you are protected and anonymous. However, one drawback is that Electrum only supports Bitcoin.

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