In the world of crypto, having your digital currency safely tucked away for quick transactions, purchases, or market trading is very important. Many cryptocurrency wallets use smartphone apps in conjunction with their desktop versions. In this article, let’s lay out the three top crypto desktop wallets.
“What is a digital wallet and why should I have one?”
Believe it or not, I have friends and family members who are still not on board with cryptocurrency and I get asked that question all the time.
A digital or cryptocurrency wallet is software that allows you to store and transact with your digital assets. Many cryptocurrencies have their own native blockchain and wallet app, but more and more wallets support cross-chain tokens.
There are five types of cryptocurrency wallets available:
Online, which is often run on a cloud and has a history of being insecure and often hacked.
Mobile wallets, probably one of the most popular types because of its ease of use and right there on your phone.
Hardware wallets, which works like a flashdrive, saving your information and tokens offline.
Paper wallets, which are the safest way to keep your public and private keys. It is physical print out of the keys and often a QR code to easily scan.
Finally, our main topic, the desktop wallet. Safer than the online options, desktop wallets are downloaded and installed on your computer, however, if you are hacked, get a virus, or if your device becomes damaged, having a paper wallet backup is a very good idea to secure your funds.
3 popular desktop wallets
Atomic Wallet
https://atomicwallet.io/
Atomic wallet allows you to manage over 300 coins and tokens. The top tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, XLM are available for ease of access. Their list of assets is updated daily with many tokens having the ability to easily send, receive, use Changelly and ShapeShift exchanges, or Atomic Swap, an in-house, cross-chain exchange.
If you are so inclined, Atomic is an open-source wallet so anyone can check the code for bugs or security issues. Critical data is locally stored and secure as long as you follow the safety protocols, like never share your private keys… ever, but equally important, your computer must be free of viruses and malware.
Atomic wallet also has a really appealing UI.
Exodus
https://www.exodus.io/
Launched in 2016, Exodus wallet has a great reputation for on-boarding newbies into cryptocurrency. They’ve only just deployed the mobile app, which supports 20+ cryptocurrencies, however, the desktop version currently supports 102 assets.
While not open-sourced, the founders, JP Richardson and Daniel Castagnoli have a solid reputation in the crypto community, and part of their strategy to remain relevant and competitive is to keep some of their critical components as “trade secrets” in order to stop hacking or phishing attempts.
Free to download and launch, Exodus has a very nice UI but they are not so focused on anonymity because your wallet transactions are visible on the blockchain. That being said, if transparency of your transaction history is going to be an issue, you might consider a different desktop (and now mobile) wallet.
Jaxx Liberty
https://jaxx.io/
Proclaiming themselves as the gateway to all things cryptocurrency, Jaxx Liberty helps manage 80+ cryptocurrencies and is also integrated to use third-party exchanges like ShapeShift. Viewing and tracking your assets is easy with their user-friendly site and mobile app.
Jaxx Liberty is available for desktop download, compatible with Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and it has a Google Chrome extension. While not completely open-sourced, they do state on their intellectual property page that they use 303 open-source JavaScript libraries.
Wallet Safety
There is a reason why wallet safety is often repeated; because people keep making the same mistakes like sharing their private keys and failing to create a backup.
Untold amounts of crypto has been lost, stolen, or accidentally given to bad actors because the average person, like many of my friends and family, still thinks cryptocurrency is that “funny, fake, internet money.” I’m telling you, it’s the next generation of money. Leave a crypto legacy and making smart choices on where to house your digital assets. Desktop versions like Jaxx Liberty, Exodus, and Atomic are a great place to start.
Disclaimer
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