In times like these, we’re reminded of how precious the invention of Bitcoin is to our modern society. With new money being created on a daily basis, the term inflation is now an understatement. Meanwhile, Bitcoin recently underwent a block reward reduction known under the name of the halving. That means, for every block that’s produced the reward is now half of what it used to be. On top of that, there will only be 21 million Bitcoins ever produced, take that in comparison to the trillions of dollars that the central banks created out of thin air the past couple of months. Let’s have a look at all the different types of Bitcoin wallets there are, and what the best ways are to safely store your Bitcoin.
What is a Bitcoin wallet?
Bitcoin wallet is a place where you store your bitcoin. When you purchase Bitcoin, it’s important to store it in a secure place where only you have access. With regular banks, you’re not a hundred percent in control of the currency you have stored in your account. The bank itself can go in and make deposits and withdrawals, even without your consent. With a Bitcoin wallet, you can take matters into your own hands and take full control over your wealth. Thus, we want to show you which wallets are the best and how you should approach setting up your own wallet.
What is a Bitcoin wallet address?
With each Bitcoin wallet, there’s an address that comes along with it. Bitcoin wallet address is a unique string of numbers and letters that forms your public and private keys. You can use this bitcoin wallet address to share with folks that want to transfer money to you, or if you want to access your own money. When you’re creating a wallet, it automatically generates a Bitcoin wallet address for you. Keep in mind that when you do not own your private keys of the wallet, you’re not the only person that has access to your Bitcoin wallet. With just a private key, people can get into your account and take your funds.
What are the types of Bitcoin wallets?
When we start searching for the best place to store your precious currencies, it’s important to have a look at all the different forms and shapes a wallet can have. Similar to a bank account, there are multiple options. With Bitcoin wallets, there are even more options than with a regular account. The options we will explore are the following:
- Online wallet
- Mobile wallet
- Paper wallet
- Hardware wallet
Online Bitcoin wallet
When you are trying to figure out how to get a Bitcoin wallet, you will first stumble upon online wallets. These are the most accessible types of Bitcoin wallets that require a very short amount of time to set up. There are lots of different online Bitcoin wallets with all sorts of different tricks and possibilities. Some are just for storage, others are fully integrated with exchanges that allow you to swap your Bitcoin for thousands of other tokens. If you asked us what the best online Bitcoin wallet was, we could share one example – the blockchain.com wallet – as one of the oldest wallets out there. It’s a trusted party that has been around for many years, has solid security, and lets you take complete ownership of your own online Bitcoin wallet. That means you own your private keys, they don’t. On top of that, you have the opportunity to exchange funds directly in your blockchain.info dashboard when you feel like trading within your online Bitcoin wallet.
Mobile Bitcoin wallet
With Bitcoin becoming more popular and gaining in adoption in the entire world, the necessity for a mobile version of a wallet came quickly. The danger, however, was that mobile Bitcoin wallets were less secure than the web-based ones. These days, there are plenty of Bitcoin wallets made for mobiles that you can use without any hesitation. With mobile phones, we have to make a distinction between the iPhone and Android devices. Nevertheless, when we choose the best crypto wallet for Android and the best crypto wallet for iPhone, we come down to the same option – Atomic Wallet. It’s a friendly mobile Bitcoin wallet that’s available for both Android and iOS devices. It lets you take full ownership as you own your private key and as an extra bonus it’s completely anonymous. You do not need to leave any personal information nor do you have to go through any difficult sign-up processes. The major reason why Atomic Wallet is such a success is that you can watch not just your Bitcoin, but your entire portfolio in the application. You can trade with thousands of other currencies, and manage everything with just a couple of clicks without leaving your mobile Bitcoin wallet.
Paper Bitcoin wallet
The web-wallets and mobile wallets are both online wallets. They are in the air all the time and thus more vulnerable to access from intruders – hackers. When you want to take full control you can choose an offline Bitcoin wallet. There are two ways to do so: a paper Bitcoin wallet or a hardware Bitcoin wallet. You can store your Bitcoin in a self-created wallet and write down the public and private keys on a piece of paper. This piece of paper is now your access to your wallet — your paper Bitcoin wallet. Thus, you can lock it into a safe and physically protect your wealth. Read more on paper Bitcoin wallets by heading over to the official Bitcoin wiki.
Hardware Bitcoin wallet
The safest option for many Bitcoin holders is the purchase of a hardware Bitcoin wallet. A hardware Bitcoin wallet is a little device that you connect to your PC that holds wallet addresses of many different coins. The most popular hardware Bitcoin wallets are Ledger and Trezor. They have the ability to store your currencies in a safe manner and allow you to take your wealth offline whenever you want to. It only connects to the internet when you plug it into your computer to deposit and transfer funds. Besides that, a hardware bitcoin wallet is offline and open for you to lock it wherever you want! It’s safe and completely in your own control!Bitcoin wallets can be a complicated subject, but it’s pretty easy to understand. You can dive into all the technical aspects, or you can simply read some documentation and find a Bitcoin wallet you can trust. Don’t store your funds on an exchange, get yourself a Bitcoin wallet that you can trust. Search for any previous hacks and read the security policy. When you feel confident, store your currencies and hold comfortably!
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