Choosing the right bitcoin wallet to store your coins in is one of the most important choices a bitcoin investor must make. A good wallet not only provides the user with extra features, but what’s most important, guarantees a maximum level of security.
Using an unproven wallet from an untrusted source can be as dangerous as keeping your bitcoins on a shady exchange, so choosing a wallet that assures optimal security is essential.
From this article you will learn what are the 10 best bitcoin wallets available as of 2022. The list includes both software and hardware wallets, as well as both desktop and mobile wallets, so that you will be able to choose the solution that suits your needs the most.
1. Electrum Bitcoin Wallet
Electrum is one of the most popular and most time-tested software bitcoin wallets, and has been around since 2011.
It is a multi-platform wallet, which means that you can use it on almost any system, as there are versions available for Windows, OSX, Android and Linux. Electrum is a minimalistic, light-weight wallet with no extra features, but due to being a fully Open Source solution it provides a very high level of security.
It can also be easily integrated with hardware wallets such as Trezor and Ledger.
2. Ledger
Hardware wallets such as Ledger are the most popular solutions for dedicated bitcoin enthusiasts and serious investors storing large amounts of coins.
A hardware wallet can be plugged to a computer or laptop and used to sign transactions – since the private keys aren’t kept on a device used for browsing the Internet, an excellent level of security is guaranteed.
Both Ledger and Trezor provide superb safety of your funds, however Ledger is both smaller and cheaper.
3. Trezor Hardware Wallet
Trezor is a hardware wallet that has very similar functionalities to Ledger. As with most hardware wallets, it provides a phenomenal level of safety. Even though Trezor devices are bigger and more expensive than the Ledger cryptocurrency wallets, many people still favor them over the competition.
One of the reasons for this is the fact that Trezor was the first company to ever develop a hardware bitcoin wallet, making them a pioneer and an extremely time-proven solution.
4. Samourai Wallet – Home
Samurai is one of the newest wallets on the list, however it has quickly gained a significant renown, especially among experienced bitcoin users.
Samurai is a wallet built around a clearly defined vision: making bitcoin transactions as private as transactions made with privacy coins such as Monero or Zcash.
Unlike more traditional wallets, Samurai comes with many extra features such as STONEWALL, PayNym, Ricochet and Whirlpool, all designed to greatly increase the privacy and anonymity of using bitcoin.
5. Mycelium
Mycelium is one of the most popular mobile bitcoin wallets, available for both Android and iPhone. Thanks to a very user-friendly design, it is a popular wallet choice among bitcoin beginners, or people who simply prefer a good-looking, easy-to-use wallet.
One of the downsides of Mycelium is the fact that it is not a 100% Open Source solution.
6. Bitcoinarmory
Armory has for a very long time been considered one of the most secure software wallets available. It’s a completely Open Source solution that has been in development since 2012.
Although it offers a superb level of security, Armory has one major downside: it requires you to download, store and update the entire bitcoin blockchain, which at the time is over 285GB and keeps growing.
7. Coinkite
Coldcard is an interesting alternative to more popular hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor. Coldcard is a fully Open Source solution with a very high level of security.
A big advantage of Coldcard is the fact that it can be used in a 100% offline mode, and without connecting to a computer. Transactions can even be signed and exported to an SD card, and later finalized from a computer with the wallet unplugged.
8. Bitcoin
Bitcoin Core (also known as Bitcoin-Qt) is not just a wallet – it’s the original bitcoin software developed in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin Core allows you not only to send and receive transactions, but enables you to run a fully operational bitcoin node.
Many people believe that running your own node is the best way to assure maximum security, however it requires downloading the entire bitcoin blockchain (285GB and growing) to your disk.
9. Wasabi Wallet
Wasabi is a wallet built on similar principles to Samourai – it provides extra features designed to enhance the privacy of bitcoin transactions. Main privacy-improving functionalities of Wasabi are CoinJoin and TOR network support.
Wasabi doesn’t come with a mobile application yet, but provides clients for all the popular desktop systems: MacOS, Linux and Windows.
10. Edge
Edge is a relatively new mobile wallet that has quickly been gaining popularity among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Edge is available for both Android and MacOS, and combines an easy-to-use, attractive design with a high level of security, making it a great choice for beginner bitcoin users.
Conclusion
Choosing the right bitcoin wallet is not always easy. While looking for the perfect solution for you, you should first decide whether you prefer to use bitcoin with your desktop or mobile device, and whether a software or hardware solution is better for you.
All of the wallets listed in this article provide an excellent level of security, so the main issue is finding a wallet that is the most convenient for you. If you want to use bitcoin wherever you go, a mobile solution will be better than a desktop wallet.
If you prefer enhanced privacy, a wallet like Samurai or Wasabi will be perfect for you, however most people would find simple, minimalistic solutions like Electrum or Mycelium sufficient.