Those who begin to approach the world of cryptocurrencies first need a physical or virtual place to hold them. In fact, when you make a purchase of cryptocurrency, it is never safe to hold it on an exchange because unpleasant facts can occur and you could incur the loss of the entire sum.
Not your keys, not your coins.
For this reason, in my opinion, if you do not plan to trade it is very important to move and hold your cryptocurrencies on a wallet outside the exchanges. There are many types of wallets, let's see the main subdivisions in a simple way that everyone can understand :
- Hardware wallets: these are physical devices, often made in the shape of USB sticks and disconnected from the internet. They are only connected when cryptocurrencies need to be moved and then brought offline. They are among the safest for holding cryptocurrencies.
- Software wallets: these are computer programs, they are not physical but digital. They are slightly less secure than hardware wallets but are still fine for holding a modest sum.
Software wallets, in turn, are divided into:
- Custodial Wallets: software that keeps private keys in our place, it is always (or almost) possible to recover them and there is no risk of loss.
- Non-Custodial Wallets: They don't keep our private keys but we have to do it. Once lost, the funds that the wallet contains are also lost as we are solely responsible for our keys.
As for me, I have always used non-custodial software wallets for mobile phone and in this article I will tell you about the main ones that I have tested. I state that I have used these wallets during 2020 to date and that I preferred software wallets for two reasons: ease of use and economy. In fact, they are all downloadable in their mobile or desktop versions for free and have features that can be easily understood even by a novice.
In any case, hardware wallets are always the safest and I do not recommend using custodial wallets.
Atomic Wallet
AW was the first wallet I used, mainly due to the fact that it had an agreement with Publish0x and was recommended when withdrawing the funds. I initially downloaded it as a test but soon started using it due to the staking opportunities it offers. In fact, there are numerous possibilities to stake a dozen cryptocurrencies, with yields of up to 20% per year. In addition, it has an integrated exchange function and it is possible to buy cryptocurrencies directly from the wallet with a credit card. Finally, until recently a referral program was active that provided a reward in Atomic Wallet Coin (AWC) for those who were invited and for those who invited. At the moment this program is suspended like the AWC airdrops that occurred periodically.
Pros: simple to use, direct purchase and staking.
Cons: It does not have an integrated browser and therefore it is not possible to easily interact with the Dapps.
Coinbase Wallet
This is the wallet of the famous Coinbase exchange and for this reason the cryptocurrency transfer is made very easy from the exchange to the wallet. You can link profiles and transfer currency with one click. Like Atomic Wallet it has the ability to rent our holdings and supports more than 25 coins, but the returns are below 10%. Finally, it has an integrated browser with which you can easily interact with the Defi, but it does not support some blockchains such as the BSC, which excludes Pancakeswap for example.
Pros: Easy to buy and transfer, supports many staking coins.
Cons: Doesn't support BS, low staking returns.
Metamask
The best known open source Ethereum wallet, supports all ERC20 tokens and it is possible to add other networks such as BSC or MATIC manually. It has a browser with which it is possible to interface and connect to the main Dapps in a fluid and fast way. In its desktop version, however, it can be integrated with browsers such as Chrome, Firefox or Brave. Its use is very simple, the interface is user-friendly and the only thing I found slightly complicated is the manual addition of networks which it does not natively support. Despite this, on the net there are many tutorials on how to do it and I must say that it was enough for me to follow one of them to make no mistake.
Pros: Very easy to use, even from desktop. It supports all ERC20 tokens.
Cons: There is no possibility of staking, manual addition of unsupported networks.
Trust Wallet
TW is the multicoin-wallet that I use at the moment and with which I am certainly better. It integrates all the positives of the previous ones and almost none of the negatives. In particular, it has both a browser that does not envy anything to that of Metamask, and the possibility of staking some coins with decent returns. It supports major networks such as BSC and ETH, and new ones will be integrated shortly. Also, it has a section devoted to NFT detention that I haven't experienced yet. Finally, it is possible to convert your tokens and trade directly from the application thanks to an integrated decentralized exchange. In this article I have shared my experience with Trust Wallet and DeFi on Pancakeswap.
Pros: Browser, staking, exchange and easy to use.
Cons: the staking possibilities are not so many.
Conclusions and thoughts
A wallet is a very important accessory in the hands of a hodler and also a trader. Moreover, a wallet that supports multiple coins is very convenient to use because it allows you to hold all the assets in the same application and those who invest or use DeFi cannot do without it. The integrated browser is also very important and very convenient, otherwise it would be very difficult to connect to decentralized applications. If you are hodlers, however, all this does not interest you and what you will look at will be only the possibilities of staking to receive a passive income on your cryptocurrencies. In my opinion, Trust Wallet represents a good compromise that has all these characteristics and I see it also suitable for those who have just started and have entered the crypto-world recently.
Finally, I must tell you that have used many more than the ones I have described, such as Valora, Kalium, Maiar and Polkawallet, but I have omitted to describe them as almost all of them are single-coin-wallets. In the future I plan to review one in particular: Blue Wallet, a lightning network wallet.
And which wallet do you use? Do you have one that you recommend because in your opinion it is better?
Write it in the comments.
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