Best Bitcoin Wallets of 2024: Secure Your Crypto Assets
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Bitcoin wallets are worth it if the crypto exchange or investment platform doesn’t offer in-built storage. Crypto wallets were created to protect your private key and crypto assets against security breaches. While most wallets give you complete custody of your assets, not all exchanges and investment platforms do.
Best Bitcoin Wallets
- Exodus: Best Overall
- BitBox02: Best for Bitcoin-Only Storage
- Electrum: Best for Desktop
- BlueWallet: Best for Mobile
- Crypto.com Wallet: Best DeFi Wallet
- Coinbase Wallet: Best for Beginners
Compare the Top Bitcoin Wallets
Crypto wallets keep your private keys (the passwords that give you access to your owned cryptocurrencies) secure. The best cryptocurrency wallets offer secure storage, accessible user interfaces, mobile access, and low trading fees.
Here are the best Bitcoin wallets as picked by Business Insider Editors in 2024.
Best Overall
Exodus
Exodus is a multichain web3 wallet for desktop and mobile. Exodus’ account features include live charts and portfolio data, 24/7 customer support, a built-in exchange, and trading between thousands of digital assets, including NFTs.
Exodus’ hot wallet offers commission-free cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Solana and other trading opportunities with fiat money like USD, EUR, and GBP. You can manage your assets using Exodus and Trezor, another popular bitcoin wallet. You don’t need to use multiple wallets, but some users might prefer having them as an additional security measure.
Exodus and Trezor’s partnership caters to those who prefer hardware security since you can securely manage your assets offline while simultaneously using the Exodus platform.
Exodus mainly caters to hot wallet (software) users. It may not be suitable for hardware-minded traders unless you plan to use a Trezor device with the app.
Best for Bitcoin-Only Storage
BitBox02
With BitBox’s BitBox02 hardware wallet, you can store your crypto private keys and manage any assets offline through an external chip. It offers interactive touch features and an OLED screen for transaction details. BitBox supports multiple digital coins and tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
BitBox also provides a Bitcoin-only edition, which could be a great fit if you only want to store Bitcoin assets. It relies on Bitcoin-only firmware and offers compatibility with the BitBoxApp, Electrum, Specter, Sparrow, and Wasabi.
The BitBoxApp also gives you desktop access. If you like mobile access, you can only use BitBox on Android devices.
Best for Desktop
Electrum
Launched just two years after bitcoin was created, Electrum specializes in private key encryption and two-factor authentication. Electrum supports the Bitcoin Lightning Network and cold storage wallets with private keys. It has an open-source application structure and can be connected to hardware wallets like Trezor or Ledger.
Electrum is a great option for desktop traders as it is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux. The desktop app offers an abundance of customizable features suitable for sophisticated crypto traders with programming experience.
Electrum doesn’t offer traditional phone customer support. However, the company provides helpful information in its documentation and FAQ sections, plus a Reddit support page and an inquiry page on bitcointalk.org. Another thing to note is that while Electrum supports other wallets, but only for bitcoin transactions. This may be a downside for those interested in exploring other cryptocurrencies.
Best Mobile Bitcoin Wallet
BlueWallet
BlueWallet is a robust, mobile Bitcoin wallet with a user-friendly interface and straightforward integrations with the Lightning Network. Using open-source code, It is accessible to virtually anyone.
Beginner and advanced bitcoin traders can use BlueWallet’s simplified batch storing, sending, and receiving features. BlueWallet is a self-custodial wallet that provides private keys to individual investors in addition to multi-signature security measures. You can even set up a decoy pin.
This cold wallet storage is similar to Electrum in that it’s bitcoin-focused. So, BlueWallet isn’t a good option if you’re looking to store other cryptocurrencies. Also, it should be noted that you can’t buy or sell bitcoin assets with Blue Wallet.
Best DeFi Wallet
Crypto.com
Crypto.com is a global exchange headquartered in Hong Kong and one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges. The exchange offers hundreds of coins and tokens, in addition to its powerful crypto wallet storage. Crypto.com’s DeFi wallet can be opened as a custodial or non-custodial wallet.
Newbie crypto investors can benefit from a Crypto.com Wallet’s accessible trading and easy sign-up process. It offers decentralized finance tools like day-to-day crypto activities, access to other decentralized apps, and one-to-one crypto swap features.
Crypto.com DeFi wallet lets you view, share, and deposit NFTs across multiple blockchains. Another feature is that you can swap more than 1000 tokens over multiple blockchains, such as Ethereum, Cosmos, and Cronos. Security features include two-factor authentication, Secure Enclave technology, and biometric authentication.
However, you won’t be able to recover your funds if you lose your private key with Crypto.com, and there are relatively high fees.
Best for Beginners
Coinbase Wallet
Coinbase is the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, offering robust trading features and a large selection of digital coins and tokens. In addition to its exchange, Coinbase offers an intuitive, self-custody hot wallet with desktop and mobile access to DeFi applications.
Coinbase Wallet partnered with Ledger so you can easily transfer assets into offline cold storage for increased protection. You don’t have to have a Coinbase trading account to use Coinbase Wallet, which is easy to set up and supports thousands of digital coins and tokens.
However, Coinbase Wallet’s software is not entirely open-source, so you can’t test the security of the code. Instead, investors have to trust Coinbase as a secure platform.
What is a Bitcoin Wallet?
A bitcoin wallet is essentially a digital wallet for storing, sending, and receiving bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The assets in your crypto wallet are securely stored with a unique private key, similar to a password, to ensure that no one else can access the wallet.
Bitcoin wallets are worth it if the crypto exchange or investment platform doesn’t offer in-built storage. Crypto wallets were created to protect your private key and crypto assets against security breaches. While most wallets give you complete custody of your assets, not all exchanges and investment platforms do.
Types of Bitcoin Wallets
There are two main types of crypto wallets for traders to securely store bitcoin, ethereum, and other digital assets.
- Hot wallets: A software wallet that provides easy access and accessible transactions by being connected to the internet. But this convenience has a price. Since hot wallets are connected to the internet, they are generally considered less secure due to online vulnerability.
- Cold wallets: A hardware wallet that stores private keys offline for enhanced security. Since cold wallets aren’t connected to the internet, they are not susceptible to internet hackers or spyware. However, cold wallets are not as easily accessible. In many cases, there is only one key to access the wallet and no way to recover it if lost.
How to Choose the Best Bitcoin Wallet
Some of the best investment apps also offer cryptocurrency trading and market access to the crypto market. Many of the best cryptocurrency exchanges offer an internal crypto wallet to store your digital assets, including bitcoin. But if your platform doesn’t provide secure storage, or you prefer to keep your crypto separate, you can open an external wallet.
To secure your cryptocurrencies with a bitcoin wallet, you must create an account with your desired platform first. Most non-custodial wallets (wallets that you hold complete custody over) offer downloadable software that you can use to secure your private key and crypto assets.
However, if you’re using a hardware wallet, you’ll likely need a USB cable to connect to your platform’s external storage chip. Once you’ve created your account, connected the necessary devices or downloaded any required software, you can transfer over any existing crypto assets.
Best Practices for Bitcoin Wallet Security
- Use strong passwords: Create strong and unique passwords for your wallet and enable two-factor authentication for increased security.
- Keep updated software: Regularly update your wallet software to protect against potential security hacks, malware, and phishing attacks.
- Backup your wallet: Create secure backups of your wallet’s seed phrase or private keys and store them offline safely.
- Be wary of potential scams: Be cautious of suspicious emails or links that could compromise your wallet security. Don’t give out your private keys, make sure you have a unique password and notification alerts.
Best Bitcoin Wallets FAQs
You need a crypto wallet to securely store the private keys that hold digital assets like cryptocurrencies and NFTs. You need private keys to access your digital assets and ensure they are safe from hacks and phishing attacks. Hot wallets (software wallets) and cold wallets (hardware wallets) are the two types of secure bitcoin wallets.
If you lose your bitcoin wallet, you may be able to recover your funds through a backup of your seed phrase or private keys. Without a backup, you won’t be able to recover your wallet.
To send and receive bitcoin using a wallet, you’ll need to use your wallet’s public address (to receive) and private key (to send). Without those things, you won’t be able to send or receive bitcoin through a secure wallet.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed The Best Bitcoin Wallets
Business Insider rating methodology for investing platforms is based on several factors, including customer support access, bitcoin features, wallet custody, educational resources, and wallet compatibility. Some crypto wallets are compatible with other storage platforms. For instance, Mycelium currently supports Trezor, Ledger, and KeepKey hardware wallets. Investment platforms are given a rating between 0 and 5.
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