What cryptocurrency wallet to use
There are a few options to store Your cryptocurrency when you make a decision what cryptocurrency wallet to use. You may know, storing Your crypto on the crypto exchanges are not the perfect idea. They may be hacked and stolen and in fact, when your cryptos are on the exchange, you re not their owner, so there is a big danger that something happens to them. My post includes a few ways You can store the crypto, and I show pros and cons of every one of them. I have divided them into a few categories, depending on what form of wallet You want to use and where You want to store Your cryptocurrency.
Types of crypto wallets
1. Desktop wallets
Desktop wallets are regarded, as the safest among software wallets. You can find a version and download it on a Windows, MacOS, Linux. They can store the private key on your hard drive, and what is safer than storing on Your Smartphone, it's not that easy to steal from your hard drive apparently. Cons are it's easy to hack this kind of wallet from viruses or trojans installed on your computer. When You install your wallet usually you get the mnemonic phrase which helps you not to lose access to the wallet. There is a Jaxx (which make possible to convert one coin into another inside interface thanks to Shapeshift), Exodus wallet which I tested and I recommend. There is also an option to download the whole blockchain to your wallet but it isn't very practical and is annoying, You have to wait sometimes nearly 14 hours to load transactions. The important issue in any wallet is safety to lock your passphrase( which should be written on paper by hand only) inside safe environment.
2. Cloud wallets
Cloud wallets are easy to use. You have to only log in through the browser, and You gain access to your wallet very quickly. However online wallets store your private keys online, what can be problematic at some point because you don't own them.
3. Mobile wallets
You download on your mobile, and it can be the app store, google play store. Some of them are very secure has two-factor authentication and multi-signature access, the best way for two-factor authentication is google authenticator, not SMS message which can be easily cloned. A lot of them have back up feature so You can set mnemonic phrase to get back the data of your wallet. Most of the mobile wallets are much simpler than desktop wallets, what's advantage in some way and of course you can move around with those wallets in your phone. Good idea is to keep updating your wallet app to not be vulnerable to attacks.
4. Hardware wallets
Hardware wallets are hardware devices and help you store your cryptocurrency safely. If you don't want to risk losing your cryptocurrency, you should have hardware wallet. It's the most secure and firm way to store your cryptos. The rest of the wallets are near all the time connected to the internet what's make your wallets vulnerable to all kind of malware, viruses and so on. Hardware wallets are connected only in time of signing the transactions what's making them more secure. There's also kind of trust to the manufacture of the wallet. Company theoretically could give weak seed to generate addresses, but it's very unlikely to happen. Trezor and Ledger nano are examples of good hardware wallets. Highly recommend this type of keeping your crypto's.
5. Paper wallet
You can easily print your private keys on a paper. It's not recommended for the most people because it's easy for mistake doing this wallet. It's important to write down your private keys by hand, not using a printer to eliminate possibility stealing by inappropriate persons. What cryptocurrency wallet to use. I recommend diversifying your crypto portfolio on different wallets. There's always a threat of losing your crypto funds when you're not caution of traffic happening in your computer or mobile phone and some malware and viruses; trojans may participate in that traffic as well. The similar to the hardware wallets paper wallet is a good choice in case of large savings and sums of your cryptocurrency. The higher level of making transactions in that way can be a little scary for beginners. Simpler solution may be using wallet generator from this site: https://walletgenerator.net/
What cryptocurrency wallet to use, a few actual recommendations:
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- BRD wallet: Pros of this wallet is a simple interface which can be really helpful for beginners and a good start. It's an open source interface and it's free. It's for bitcoin and a few other ERC20 tokens like Ethereum. Cons are It hasn't been prepared for web or desktop. Next not as good feature can be that is a hot wallet and may be hacked more easily. brd.com
- Mycelium: Pros: In oppose to BRD, Mycelium has good privacy and it's also a free and open source. Advanced security it's also the case. Cons: Comparing to BRD, not that easy to use. Lack of web and desktop versions. Hot wallet just as in case of BRD. wallet.mycelium.com/
- Jaxx: Pros of this wallet is multiplatform. You can find mobile, desktop version. Security is also improved and you can hold many currencies on it. Cons: Code is not open- source and sometimes crashing and loading slowly. https://jaxx.io/
- Coinbase: Pros Easy to use because actually, it's exchange with the option of the wallet so we have to remember that we're not storing cryptos for a long time. Coinbase option seems to be pretty reasonable cause it has two-factor authentication. Free to store but with high fees so it's not for daily traders. https://www.coinbase.com/
- Exodus: What cryptocurrency wallet to use ? Exodus seems to be the very good option among desktop wallets. Pros Very well suited for desktop, beautiful designed multi-currency wallet. There is a possibility to set a password but no possibility to 2-factor authentication. Exodus supports 12 tokens right now plus many more ERC20 token of Ethereum. Shapeshift exchange core also help with fast transactions and lower fees. exodus.io
- Trezor is known for really good security and seems to be ideal for storing a large number of coins. Good security and privacy wallet and it is really easy to use ideal for beginners. Cold storage and open source are also advantages of this wallet. Cons of this wallet may be the price, it's 99$ pretty high.
- Ledger Nano also supports multiple currencies and is cheaper than Trezor it costs only 65$. U2F support and 3rd-Party apps support are also included. But it's really easy to use and it seems to be very persuasive to me. The easiest of it can be service of that wallet is the huge feature which can be considered to buy for absolute beginners. Cons: No ability to create hidden accounts and No password manager.
Check actual rates of cryptocurrencies and exchange them on: altcoinhero.com/exchange/