Guide: Bitcoin wallets - What's the best for you?

[Decoded]

BTW, is there a limit to how many wallets you can use? Do you use a minimum of 2 wallets or just one to hold all bitcoins, eth, dash, ripple etc?

A "wallet" is simply a concept. An application which holds and generates addresses to receive and send Bitcoin, as I said, is what most of us call wallets.

One wallet can generate an infinite amount of addresses, and if you really want, you can have multiple wallets. Some wallets conflict with themselves when they are installed on top of each other (Not a Bitcoin limitation, it's just that that's how the application was made)

For each altcoin (dash, ripple, litecoin, etc), you will need a different wallet, since these connect to different networks, and may run on modified protocols.

I'd recommend keeping all your Bitcoin in one wallet, until you have a large sum (over a couple of thousand dollars), then moving to either a hardware wallet solution (like a Trezor or Ledger wallet, as in the title post), or using a paper wallet to store the majority of your coins.

[nandibear]

Hi Decoded.. I didn't see this when you posted it (appears to be from Oct. 2016).. just wanted to say thank you for the time and energy you put into writing this thoroughly helpful article/post.

[DREWILLIAM]

Another benefit of web wallets are those that offer the service of linking to a Visa or Mastercard Debit card. You chose your currency and they convert bitcoin to whatever you chose for you (at their rate, how they make money). But it's convenient for places that don't take bitcoin. This way you can have one (or several) wallets for savings, like a physical wallet, and then a web wallet as a kind of checking account. When you need to spend money, you can transfer from your savings to checking wallets easily. Then you can go to an ATM or pay card anywhere that takes card.

[Decoded]

Another benefit of web wallets are those that offer the service of linking to a Visa or Mastercard Debit card. You chose your currency and they convert bitcoin to whatever you chose for you (at their rate, how they make money). But it's convenient for places that don't take bitcoin. This way you can have one (or several) wallets for savings, like a physical wallet, and then a web wallet as a kind of checking account. When you need to spend money, you can transfer from your savings to checking wallets easily. Then you can go to an ATM or pay card anywhere that takes card.

I've always been unsure about this. If you wanted to spend money at a store that doesn't accept Bitcoin, don't you use your normal credit card? Using a service like Xapo or Spectrocoin will bring you higher fees, the danger of sending over your ID over to them online (If you want to spend substantial amounts of Bitcoin), and inconvenience to top it off. Look at it this way. Using these services, you are basically selling your bit pin for fiat to spend on a debit card. You should have your own card with fiat already. It would be horribly dumb to have all your money in Bitcoin.

Another problem is that if you want to spend $10000 on a new computer or something, and you send in 5 Bitcoin, as I said that's the equivalent of selling it. It's the same as dumping 5 bitcoin onto an exchange. You could drive the price down.

[Bonpay]

Hi all!
I would like to add one more wallet - Bonpay.
Despite all hesitations about safe web wallets, it is worth to review. Bonpay specialists work hard to implement in their product all preferences and expectations of bitcoin users.
If you are interested, you can find more information at https://bonpay.com

[Baranoff]

The best "bitcoin" wallet is the one that is most convenient for you. My choice of web purse, because - convenience and Accessible from anywhere in the network

[Crixus]

Awesome guide! I prefer Electrum, it works best for me. Also I'm looking for another online wallet.

[Possum577]

Then you! If you have the budget, get a Trezor. It's well documented and lots of people own one.

If you have any problems, you can simply post a question here, on bitcointalk The Bitcoin.com Forum and you will get your question solved.

Great, great summary! Everyone is uber helpful, supportive, and friendly on The Forum!

[Decoded]

Then you! If you have the budget, get a Trezor. It's well documented and lots of people own one.

If you have any problems, you can simply post a question here, on bitcointalk The Bitcoin.com Forum and you will get your question solved.

Great, great summary! Everyone is uber helpful, supportive, and friendly on The Forum!

Same old, Same old

[davidmccoy]

Very nice breakdown of all the storage options. Nice work I must say.

[Siddiquemagan]

MAking money way to take maney make money i love it bitcoin

ABBC3_OFFTOPIC

[Neoclassical]

Hardware wallets all the way baby.

[Donlegato]

I have to start somewhere, this is my first post Great informations, I am happy to be here.

[rogerver]

Don't forget to install the Bitcoin.com wallet!

[Decoded]

Don't forget to install the Bitcoin.com wallet!

Was just about to install it to test it out

[patrickcoin]

a paper wallet is safe according to me. They are offline and risk of hack is very low.

[rogerver]

a paper wallet is safe according to me. They are offline and risk of hack is very low.

Yes, but they aren't very convenient to use for shopping online or paying your friends.
The Bitcoin.com wallet is excellent at those things.

[patrickcoin]

a paper wallet is safe according to me. They are offline and risk of hack is very low.

Yes, but they aren't very convenient to use for shopping online or paying your friends.
The Bitcoin.com wallet is excellent at those things.

you can transfer them using scan QR code on it.

[Decoded]

a paper wallet is safe according to me. They are offline and risk of hack is very low.

Yes, but they aren't very convenient to use for shopping online or paying your friends.
The Bitcoin.com wallet is excellent at those things.

you can transfer them using scan QR code on it.

What if you want to keep the private key? Then you'll have to input the private key into your device. If it's a PC, it's hard to do without a camera. Then you will have to wait for your wallet to load it's transactions, which will take near a minute, then you will be able to spend them. Why not use a different wallet that is just as secure, like multisig?

[patrickcoin]

a paper wallet is safe according to me. They are offline and risk of hack is very low.

Yes, but they aren't very convenient to use for shopping online or paying your friends.
The Bitcoin.com wallet is excellent at those things.

yes, this is quite a problem with paper wallet

[aj1]

I am new to Bitcoin and I am confused about the wallet. Is the downloadable wallet from bitcoin.com safe? It is not password protected. If someone gets hold of my device or hacks it, they can easily find the wallet and steal my bitcoins or am I missing something?

[Windowly]

Don't forget to install the Bitcoin.com wallet!

I've been testing it out on my ipad and iphone and they so far work very well there. (The ipad app is way prettier than the Blockchain.info app!)

Quite a smooth slick interface. Only complaint so far would be the default wallet seems to be BTC. Perhaps the user can be prompted to choose in the beginning which currency they want to use?

It would also be great if the desktop versions could incorporate hardware wallet support.

[marc27]

You seem to have missed out the KeepKey hardware wallet. I don't have it myself but it's a very good looking wallet and priced as much as a Trezor at $99.

https://www.keepkey.com/

I am fully aware of the KeepKey, however I don't recommend it as much as I do the trezor.

The Trezor has more support across multiple wallets, is much more sturdy, has a bigger name, and another fact is that the Trezor 2.0 is coming out very soon.

However will add. It's more fashional, but the Trezor is more functional.

Also didn't know the price was reduced so drastically, from almost $250!

Yes I wouldn't have mentioned it if it costed the same as initially. Maaan that was a lot of dosh.
I think it looks the best than all of them and I think there will be a version 2 for keepKey as well seen that Ledger has already a new device and Trezor is working on one too. Glad to see competition coming up which hopefully means more and better products to chose from and maybe even better prices.

I am using keepkey for some time and for now didn't have any problems...

[EM1982]

Hello, I read through the guide but I have just noticed its nearly a year old... What's the most secure way for holding off your bitcoins for a long period of time (let's say 10-15 years)?

[shegzs]

Currently in thoughts of getting myself an early Christmas gift. Looks right now that I'm leaning towards the Trezor. Yay or Nay, what do you think?

Should I wait for Trezor 2 if I actually can wait, or should I go ahead and order the available Trezor and be happy with it?

It would be a great idea to wait for the Trezor 2, as long as its in your price range. If it's nothing more than the current price, waiting a couple of months will be a huge benefit to you.

But if you really want something now, the Trezor is still a good option. But then again, if you want you could also get a Ledger Nano S.[/quote

hi. please am new here . How do i get started. please i need help. thanks

[shegzs]

Hi, please i need someone to guide me, am really new here. please how am i going to start.
thanks.

[Decoded]

Hi, please i need someone to guide me, am really new here. please how am i going to start.
thanks.

Use a multisig wallet, like the one linked in the OP. They're really safe, and basically all you need unless you are going to start holding bitcoin for other people, or are holding tons of money yourself.

If you really want a hardware wallet, get an inexpensive one like a Ledger HW.1.

[OneChain]

Hardware wallets are GOAT

[Decoded]

Hardware wallets are GOAT

I'm so sad. I had to search that up.

[BredNelon]

I use this one https://www.keepkey.com/