I wanted to take the time to explain to the average user or inexperienced user what the different types of Wallets are when using cryptocurrencies. Also just because I state that one particular wallet is more secure than another doesn't mean you need to get the most secure wallet. For one these are my opinions and two each wallet will have pros and cons depending on each individual person.
1st type: Hardware Wallets
These bad boys are physical devices like a USB stick or USB HD looking device. They are built with the sole purpose of handling your private keys and your public address. They usually have a little screen and buttons on them to navigate the built in software and some of them can store over 1,000 different currencies.
The most popular are the Ledger Nano series and the Trezor devices. If you want the most secure way to store your Cryptocurrency get one of these. They are the safest way to store your money. They can cost over $100 though.
2nd type: Paper Wallet
These are not just writing down your address on a piece of paper. These are a type of wallet that you create OFFLINE and as such it keeps your private keys offline. But you do end up with a piece of paper. Bitaddress.org is one way to create a Paper Wallet. At the end of the process you will get a PDF type document that you can print out and keep on you. This is the 2nd most secure Wallet there is.
3rd type: Desktop Software Wallet
These are a piece of software that is usually launched alongside a currency. It is like the Lynx Wallet, Monero Wallet, Exodus, Bitcoin Core. Depending on the wallet they can hold just 1 type of currency or multiple currencies. These are the 3rd most secure wallet there is and what I would wager a few average crypto users use.
4th type: Mobile/App Wallets
I get it guys, I use these because we all have smartphones and with fingerprint sensors now its just easy to use these and to login to check our crypto. These types of wallets are always connected to the internet which makes them more prone to attack and are commonly referred to as "Hot Wallets". There are a million Mobile wallets out there so if you are going to pick one please do your research on them and make sure they are legit and easy to use and that you control the keys. A good example of a good/reliable mobile wallet is Coinbase Wallet (Not Coinbase the website, that is in the next section.
5th type: non-Hosted Web Wallet
I could have combined #5 and #6 but felt it was better to separate them to explain them better. A Web Wallet is basically a website or Browser extension that holds the private keys to the wallet and are accessible 24/7 as long as you have internet. MetaMask is a non-hosted Web Wallet and a little better than a hosted-web wallet.
6th type: Hosted Web Wallet
These are very similar the non-Hosted Web Wallet as stated in type 5. But these are used a super easy intro to Crypto wallets and very great for beginners. But I wouldn't recommend keeping a lot of money in these and if you start to amass a little crypto that you seriously think about moving to a more secure wallet. The best example of a Hosted Web Wallet is Coinbase.com. Coinbase is great as letting you store some crypto and also buying and selling others or even just exchanges for different ones. But you do not Hold the keys to your 'wallet' here, Coinbase does. And if Coinbase gets attacked you lose access to your funds. Example: if you wanted to send some BTC from your CoinBase account to a friend's CoinBase account and Coinbase was under a DDOS attack you couldn't. However if you had your funds in a Hardware Wallet you could send it to you buddies Hardware Wallet no problem.
There are risks with every wallet listed above. Don't get me wrong no 1 Wallet is the best and end all be all. Every wallet has pros and cons depending on the person who will be using it. But my personal opinion is always to diversify. That way if 1 thing goes down you don't lose everything. Or if 1 currency tanks you don't lose all your money. I use 4 types of the Wallets and that might be overkill or might not be enough. It all depends on the user.
If you take nothing away from this article except 1 thing please heed this warning. Write down your seed phrases when you create a wallet. Put it on a piece of paper and store it in your safe. Or export it to a text file and put it on a USB device and store that securely. Somehow save your Seed Phrases safely. If you lose those you are screwed!
