Cryptocurrencies have the potential to disrupt traditional finance, by allowing people to retain full control over their assets at all times — without relying on centralized intermediaries like banks and governments.
But despite their potential, many users struggle to choose a wallet to hold and manage their assets with, since there is no one size fits all wallet solution for cryptocurrency users. But despite this, there are several that stand apart from the rest since they cater perfectly to specific user demographics. Here, we look at three of the best and most secure.
For Beginners and Traders: Coin Wallet
Beginner cryptocurrency users often struggle to choose a cryptocurrency wallet, for no other reason than because they are simply inundated with options. With literally hundreds of wallets to choose from, it can be a daunting task to select the one that offers the best combination of features, asset support, and security.
Despite this, there is one wallet that stands heads and shoulders above the competition, due to its impressive security combined with its strong array of user-friendly features. That’s Coin Wallet — a multi-asset wallet available for both desktop and mobile operating systems, or as a simple web app.
Coin Wallet has a simple interface, with a wide array of additional features. (Image: Coin Wallet)
Coin Wallet is ideal for both beginners and traders since it supports a wide variety of cryptocurrencies: including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and ERC20 tokens, Litecoin (LTC), and XRP. It also offers some of the lowest fees around, ensuring newer users don’t get scalped by extortionate fees while giving traders the flexibility to move their assets around while keeping fees to an absolute minimum.
But arguably its most important feature is its uncompromising security. Not only are users able to protect their wallet using a PIN and their biometric information, such as their fingerprint or face (e.g. Windows Hello and Apple FaceID), but Coin Wallet is one of the only wallets to support FIDO two-factor authentication (2FA) — allows users to use one of multiple supported hardware security keys, such as the Yubikey to authorize transactions.
With all of these security features enabled, Coin Wallet is essentially impenetrable.
For DApp Users: MetaMask
While many cryptocurrency holders simply use their assets for making purchases, trading, and long-term holding, the increasing scope and utility of blockchain technology has led to the development of a wide array of decentralized applications (DApps) which can be used for a huge range of purposes — including games, exchange platforms, casinos, and NFT marketplaces.
However, just a handful of popular wallets allow users to easily interact with the rapidly growing variety of DApps, and one, in particular, has emerged as by far the most popular — MetaMask.
Image: MetaMask
MetaMask allows users to run Ethereum DApps directly in their browser without needing to run a full Ethereum node. This makes accessing DApps both easier and more convenient — making them accessible to beginners and experts alike. Although MetaMask is most commonly used with Ethereum assets, it is also compatible with Binance Smart Chain (BSC) with a few tweaks.
It isn’t just its simplicity that makes MetaMask great for DApp users. It’s also incredibly secure. With open-source publicly auditable code and password protection, MetaMask is secure from the outset. But for those that want to add an additional layer of security, MetaMask also supports Trezor and Ledger hardware wallets, allowing users to directly interact with DApps using accounts stored on their hardware device.
For Institutions: Ledger Vault
Institutional cryptocurrency users, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, hedge funds, financial institutions, and custodians, have unique needs when it comes to managing their assets.
For one, because they often hold tens to potentially hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets, they need a solution that offers extreme security, including resilience to a huge range of known and unknown attack vectors, while still allowing these firms to securely recover their assets in an emergency — such as if their wallet provider is rendered unavailable.
Beyond this, they also need fine, granular controls over who can access these funds and under which conditions, and need to be able to manage a wide array of assets while using the same, simple access flow.
Image: Ledger
Ledger Vault is arguably the best solution for the job. As a digital asset management solution designed for growing businesses, Ledger Vault allows firms to process potentially thousands of transactions per day while benefiting from industry-leading security, thanks to a wide array of defense layers.
With Ledger Vault, institutional users store their assets as an encrypted and wrapped master key secured by a bank-grade hardware security module (HSM) in Ledger’s datacenter. Authorized users can then access their funds through the Vault web interface using their Ledger Personal Security Device (PSD), which is used to authenticate users, while finely controlled governance rules restrict how these funds can be used.
In terms of absolute security, Ledger Vault is at the top of the game.