Wallets that hold the keys to your coins. For each of the 6 we reviewed, we look at who holds the keys, how the seed phrase works and whether it can be restored elsewhere, what the wallet tells servers about your addresses, whether an independent audit exists, and what it costs. This is not investment advice: we do not say which coins to buy.
Craig Raw · South Africa
Craig Raw · South Africa
Shift Crypto AG · Switzerland
Shift Crypto AG · Switzerland
Electrum Technologies GmbH · Germany
Electrum Technologies GmbH · Germany
Cake Labs LLC · Nevis
Cake Labs LLC · Nevis
Binance · Bahrain
Binance · Bahrain
SkyGenesis Holdings Limited · Not stated
SkyGenesis Holdings Limited · Not stated
Every wallet is scored out of 10 against five weighted categories. Who holds the keys carries the most weight, what the wallet tells servers about you has its own category, and the number of supported coins is not scored.
Who holds the keys, whether the seed phrase is a standard one that restores in other wallets, and what happens if you lose it. A wallet where the provider holds the keys cannot score high here.
Which server sees your addresses and balance by default, whether you can use your own node or Tor, coin control, ID checks for in-app buying, and how a hardware wallet can be bought. Transactions on public blockchains are visible to everyone with any wallet, so this scores only what the wallet adds.
Whether the code is open, whether builds can be reproduced, whether an independent audit exists and who paid for it, a bug bounty, past incidents, and for hardware wallets the secure element, firmware and supply chain.
Quality of the apps, platform coverage, and how well the wallet covers the networks it names as its purpose. The number of coins listed is not counted.
The price of the device or the renewal price of a subscription, fees for built-in exchange or purchase, and whether the wallet is free to use.
"Self-custody" is the claim every wallet makes, and it says little until you know who can move the funds. The rubric therefore starts there. Key Custody & Recovery asks who holds the keys, whether the seed phrase is a standard one you can restore in another wallet, and what happens if you lose it. Network & Metadata Privacy asks what the wallet tells servers about your addresses and balance. Security & Transparency asks whether the code is open and whether an audit exists and who paid for it.
No. Transactions on public blockchains are visible to everyone whichever wallet you use. A wallet can only avoid adding leaks: by not sending your addresses to the vendor's servers, by working through Tor or your own node, and by letting you choose which coins to spend. Privacy of the transactions themselves exists only on the networks and features that provide it, and each review names them.
A wallet that lists hundreds of coins is not better for it, and a wallet built for one network can be the more private choice. Usability & Chain Support scores how well a wallet covers the networks it names as its purpose.
Some wallets, especially community projects, have none. A missing audit is not scored anywhere else: it only limits how much Security & Transparency can earn, and the review says plainly that none exists.