If you are a beginner in cryptocurrency and curious to know about cryptocurrency wallets, then you’ve come to the right place. Cryptocurrencies are prone to hacks because of its increasing demand in the world. Whether you want to trade in crypto, HODL it for long term investment, it’s necessary to have a crypto wallet to keep it safe and secure. Undoubtedly, you can also keep them in crypto exchanges, but as you’ve seen even big exchanges like Mt Gox and Binance get hacked.
Moreover, it’s not the only thing you need worth considering; you should also choose your crypto wallet very carefully. The first point being, it should be safe in every possible way and includes all the necessary features to enable your smooth experience. In this article, we are going to enlighten you with all the facts about crypto software wallets and why do you need it when investing in cryptocurrencies. Let’s get started with a little introduction about what’s a cryptocurrency wallet.
If put in simple words, a cryptocurrency wallet is a software that stores your currencies and lets you have total control over them. But in reality, the wallet does not store your coins but its private and public keys instead. When you make a transaction and send your currencies to anyone, you need to enter the private keys to accomplish your payment. It’s like a PIN to which if anyone would have access, they could steal your coins. The public key of your coins is like the Bank account number. Through a crypto wallet, you can not only store your private keys secure but keep an eye on your balance and transactions.
That’s a question that strikes every mind in crypto space and makes them curious to know why. Well, most of the exchanges indeed provide their own wallets and you can keep your cryptocurrencies there if you want to. But after knowing the risks associated with it, no one actually does. Exchange hosted wallets do not allow you to have complete control over your assets. Even if your private keys are secure in these wallets, there are always risks of bankruptcy and shutting down of the platforms after which you’ll lose access to all your currencies. It’s like trusting a third-party to keep your coins safely, but it does not always end well. You can take the example of the industry’s largest hack, including Mt Gox, Binance, Bithumb and many more. Do you still want to trust these exchanges for keeping your assets safe? We suggest you not to take any risks and have your own wallet. After all, most of the crypto software wallets come at no expense.
Another reason to store cryptocurrencies in private wallets is ICOs. Those planning to invest in ICO cannot do so using exchange hosted wallets as it is mandatory for them to have a private wallet.
Now that you’ve made your mind to have a private crypto wallet let’s discuss the top cryptocurrency wallet apps in the market. There are various factors you need to consider while choosing the best crypto software wallet for your coins that includes security, features, compatibility, as well as the reputation of the brand. We’ve listed the top crypto software wallets that you can trust right below. Have a look at them and choose the one wallet that best suits your needs.
These were just some of the best crypto software wallets that you can trust for keeping your cryptocurrencies. There are plenty of others that provide pretty decent features such as BRD wallet, Metamask wallet, Mycelium, Jaxx Liberty wallet, etc. You can also use hardware wallets such as Ledger Nano S and Trezor One. Hardware wallets are considered as the most secure wallets, although they are a little bit expensive. Before you start using any of the wallets mentioned above, make sure you research about them individually and compare all the features.