Once you've bought Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies through an exchange, you'll need a place to store it. The best Bitcoin wallets are easy to use, feature-rich, and highly secure. In this guide, we'll explore five of the best Bitcoin wallets available today to store your digital wealth. Each of these Bitcoin wallets allows you to generate private keys, which you can store securely, instead of trusting an online exchange to hold your cryptocurrency for you. All of these clients are known as hot wallets, since they are connected to the Internet by default at all times. If you are moving large amounts of Bitcoin, consider creating a cold (or offline) wallet to store your assets (see our guide to creating a secure Bitcoin cold storage wallet). So here's our roundup of the best Bitcoin wallets right now:
What are the best crypto wallets?
Here is a list of the five best Bitcoin wallets:
![Bitcoin Core]()
1.BitcoinCore
The original and definitive Bitcoin client
Reasons to buy + Original Bitcoin client + Offers better fraud protection Reasons to avoid -Requires large amounts of space and bandwidth Bitcoin Core is the original BTC client and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Core is a ``full node'' Bitcoin client, which means that on first run it will download the current version of the blockchain (currently around 160 GB) when connecting to other nodes. It will then continue to download and process data about Bitcoin transactions. One of the advantages of this is that it is much more difficult to link a specific BTC payment address to your identity because Core downloads data on all Bitcoin transactions everywhere. It also protects you from certain types of fraud, such as someone trying to spend the same BTC twice or tricking you into thinking you've received funds that you don't actually have. Core is preconfigured to work through the Tor anonymization network. This makes it very difficult for anyone to link sending or receiving BTC to your home IP address, ensuring your privacy. All of this requires a large amount of bandwidth: Core needs to be connected to the Internet every day to stay in sync with the network. During first launch, Core will create a wallet file (wallet.dat) containing your private keys. By default, anyone can access it, but you can encrypt the wallet with a password if you want. (We have a how-to guide on how to set up Bitcoin Core.)
![Electrum]()
2. Electrum
A popular 'thin' wallet client worthy of your attention
Reasons to buy + Lightweight and easy to install + Collect your BTC using a seed wallet Reasons to avoid - Relies on servers to verify transactions Electrum has been around since 2011 and works with Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. It is one of the most popular ``thin'' wallet clients, as instead of downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain, it securely connects to other servers to check your balance. BTC and process payments. This means you can set it up in minutes and take up very little space on your hard drive. Electrum uses a ``hierarchical deterministic wallet,'' in that when you first run the program, it generates a random 12-word dictionary ``seed,'' from which it derives the keys needed to spend and receive BTC. Electrum shows the seed when creating your wallet and asks you to write it down. This means that if you lose access to this version of Electrum, you can easily reinstall it on another machine and use the seed to restore your BTC. Unlike the Bitcoin Core client, Electrum gives you the option to encrypt your wallet file during setup, although you can choose to leave it unencrypted if you wish. You can also use Electrum in “cold storage” mode to create a “watch only” wallet. This allows you to receive Bitcoin payments and view your balance, but not spend the coins, which can be useful if you're buying BTC as a long-term investment. As a ``thin'' client, Electrum depends on other servers for payment information, making it more vulnerable to certain types of hacking than ``full nodes'' like Bitcoin Core. See here for more information on how Electrum tries to protect you from this.
![Jaxx]()
3. Jaxx
Store multiple cryptocurrencies with an easy-to-use interface
Reasons to Buy + Very Simple Interface + Supports Multiple Cryptocurrencies Reasons to Avoid -Potentially Vulnerable Jaxx (in September 2018 named Jaxx Liberty) was first developed in 2014 and serves not only as a Bitcoin wallet, but also as an application that you can store multiple cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Dash, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash. Ripple is currently not supported, but the Jaxx team has hinted that they may support this feature in the future. (For a full list of supported currencies, see here.) On first run, Jaxx displays an Electrum-like 12-word "master seed" that you can write and use to restore your wallets if you lose access to the original program. The interface is deceptively simple, as you can quickly and easily switch between wallet balances. Jaxx has also integrated Shapeshift support. It works like a built-in currency exchange, allowing you to quickly exchange crypto balances, for example converting DASH to BTC. You can view your updated balances as soon as processing is complete. Since the new upgraded version called Jaxx Liberty has just been released, it is only available as a Chrome extension and as an Android app. The company said that the desktop and iOS version will be released soon. However, the software is closed source, so the community can't review it for security bugs. Please note that such a bug was discovered in June 2017, allowing someone with access to your machine to extract your main seed and steal your coins. Until this is fixed, we recommend using Jaxx only for storing and exchanging small amounts, although since the release of Jaxx Liberty, the bug might be fixed.
![éxodo]()
4. Exodus
Multi-currency wallet offers customization with different skins
Reasons to buy + Store and trade multiple currencies + Great visual interface Reasons to avoid -Not open source Exodus is a multi-currency wallet and can hold different types of currencies and assets. The setup process is very simple. As Jaxx, you create a 12-word “master seed” that you can write and use to restore your wallet if you can no longer access the original. (By the way, if you've already created a Master Seed with Jaxx, Exodus can restore that too.) Once setup is complete, Exodus will also ask you to choose a password to protect your wallet. Your digital assets are displayed in an easy-to-use pie chart. Unlike the other wallets we have discussed here, you can also choose different ``skins'' to make your client easier to see. Use the location settings to change the default currency (USD) to your local currency if necessary. The wallet software also supports trading crypto assets and coins using Shapeshift, and even lists the percentages of assets you hold as part of your ''wallet''. Unfortunately, Dogecoin is no longer supported. Exodus is also not 100% open source. The company claims on its website that this would reveal trade secrets and make it easier for hackers to create hacked versions of their wallets. In view of this, if you are using Exodus, you will need to ensure that there are no undisclosed security bugs or backdoors built into the software.