Which bitcoin wallet would you advice me to have ?

[Peacemaker1994]

I tried downloading a bitcoin wallet and many options pop up. But to my knowledge about cryptocurrency there are a lot of scam wallet around so in other to avoid falling a victim I am seeking an advice on a legit bitcoin wallet to download.

[1714952380]

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[1714952380]

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[1714952380]

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[1714952380]

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[OmegaStarScream]

Electrum for Desktop, Mycelium for a phone. If you're holding any amount above 500$, I highly suggest investing in a hardware wallet.

[Peacemaker1994]

Electrum for Desktop, Mycelium for a phone. If you're holding any amount above 500$, I highly suggest investing in a hardware wallet.

Thanks for your wonderful response, is really interesting. can you elaborate my mind more on hàrdware wallet. Nevertheless,  is there any specific hardware wallet you would recommend or hardware wallet is just one and how do I identify the original one if probably there are options.

[aplistir]

I tried downloading a bitcoin wallet and many options pop up. But to my knowledge about cryptocurrency there are a lot of scam wallet around so in other to avoid falling a victim I am seeking an advice on a legit bitcoin wallet to download.

I also recommend Electrum. It is probably the best. Just be careful where you download it. There are many scamsites where you can download an unsafe version of Electrum.
Actually I would go as far as in addition to being very careful where to download it, also to move to the wallet just a small amount of coins at first. And trust the wallet only if the coins are still there after 2 days.   (Paranoid. I know.) 
Most scam versions of wallets move coins out almost instantly when coins are moved to them 

About buying a hardware wallet:
If you plan to move your coins a lot, then hardware wallet is a good idea.

On the other hand if you just want to store the coins long term, then HD-wallet doesn't give you ANY additional security. Actually the opposite, because your HD wallet could break and you could lose your coins. And if you save your HD wallets seed phrase, how does that differ from paper wallet?
And of course you could get a HD wallet that has been tampered with.

Some people love their HD wallets. And they are indeed one of the safest option if you DO move your coins often. 

[Lucius]

Peacemaker1994, most of people will advice you to download some lightweight desktop wallet, and Electrum is such wallet. It is free, very small in size, you do not need to download whole blockchain, and it is very user friendly. But what you have to pay special attention to is that you always download any crypto wallet from official site and to learn how to verify signature of files before install.

I would not agree that hardware wallet makes sense only if you hold coins above $500, and I would advised to any beginner who wants to seriously invest in bitcoin to first buy hardware wallet, and then to buy bitcoin. It is wrong to do the opposite, first learn, invest in safe storage, then buy.

I will save you some time, on this link you can see all bitcoin wallets and you have direct link to them.

Choose your Bitcoin wallet

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> On the other hand if you just want to store the coins long term, then HD-wallet doesn't give you ANY additional security. Actually the opposite, because your HD wallet could break and you could lose your coins. And if you save your HD wallets seed phrase, how does that differ from paper wallet?
And of course you could get a HD wallet that has been tampered with. <…>

I find it does. For example, I could keep a hardware wallet offsite (i.e. a vault, or someone’s house), whilst having peace of mind knowing that it is protected by the pin code (and the three bad consecutive attempts -> reset feature). I’d prefer storing long term crypto in a physical hardware wallet that a paper wallet, although ultimately the weakest point will be the safety one sets around the 24 recovery phrase itself.

If you purchase the hardware wallet from the official seller’s store (i.e. Ledger, Trezor), chances of pre-tampering should be close to cero. It’s when you go outside the official channel that chances increase (i.e. purchase at eBay, unofficial resellers, etc.).

Paper wallets can also be tampered with (even more so) ,depending on the software you use to print it with, and data is easier to retrieve in it falls into the wrong hands than a hardware wallet.

As to when to purchase a hardware wallet, I’d say as soon as possible, since it currently is the safest storing method. I bought mine before making any crypto purchases.

[baundul]

If you have a laptop or a desktop, I would definitely recommended it to use the Electrum wallet. Because the hardware wallet from the online wallet is much safer, better, control. You can handle a small and big amount of money very easily. Lucius You have tried to show the right path.

Here you can see the details of the Electrum. If you have any question you can make effortlessly. Bitcointalk, Electrum

[mk4]

Thanks for your wonderful response, is really interesting. can you elaborate my mind more on hàrdware wallet. Nevertheless,  is there any specific hardware wallet you would recommend or hardware wallet is just one and how do I identify the original one if probably there are options.

Grab either a Trezor[1] or a Ledger Nano[2]. Remember to buy it from their official websites, not on Amazon, eBay, etc.

But of course, first do some reading:

• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0
• https://cryptosec.info/cryptocurrency-wallets/

[1] https://trezor.io/
[2] https://ledger.com/

[bob123]

Grab either a Trezor[1] or a Ledger Nano[2]. Remember to buy it from their official websites, not on Amazon, eBay, etc.

I'd also suggest to buy a hardware wallet from either ledger or trezor.

However, buying from amazon is fine as long as you are buying it from an official reseller. You can find them on their website (at least that's the case for ledger, don't know about trezor).

Still, buying them directly from the official store is probably the best solution. However, the delivery charges might get expensive if you are not located in the area of the company (ledger is located in france, for example).
But you get the option to pay with BTC, which is a plus compared to amazon IMO.

[gentlemand]

Maybe I'm missing something but why would anyone recommend a desktop wallet of any sort? It's not something I've ever considered for a second. Your online computer is a gaping hole waiting to be plundered. A Bitcoin wallet is just another program sitting on there ready to be ravaged.

They make sense if you're using a fully offline machine which most newcomers would never consider. And if you actually figured out how to do Bitcoin transactions fully offline you may have to buy a junk laptop which'll cost the same or more than a proper hardware wallet.

[NeuroticFish]

OP, if you are on the technical side with the computers, a pretty good option could also be Tails OS with an updated (and verified) Electrum.

Two very important points:
1. Always keep your seeds and wallet file secure. If somebody can steal them, he can steal your money without further access to your wallet (the Bitcoins are on the blockchain, not inside the wallet).
2. Always keep a safety backup for your seed; anything happens, you can always get access to your funds.

[gentlemand]

Then what would you recommend which fit for new user?
1. Hardware Wallet? Best option, but it costs some money where new users usually avoid extra costs
2. Paper Wallet? Only fit as cold-wallet
3. Mobile Wallet? Good option since Android/iOS have better security compared with Windows, but there are risks with malicious virtual keyboard & data-collection by phone manufacture.

If they don't want to spend a penny then a quality phone wallet being actively developed such as Mycelium for Android, but definitely not Mycelium for iOS, if you're going to be actively transferring things around fairly regularly, paper wallet for long term storing. In all my years I've yet to hear of a phone wallet itself being hacked. The options for a Windows computer being compromised aren't too far off infinite.

[boyptc]

If you can purchase a hardware wallet, go for it. I see that everyone has been suggesting electrum.

There's also greenaddress.it

[Velkro]

I tried downloading a bitcoin wallet and many options pop up. But to my knowledge about cryptocurrency there are a lot of scam wallet around so in other to avoid falling a victim I am seeking an advice on a legit bitcoin wallet to download.

Electrum as someone mentioned here, is currently most popular one. Its for desktop tho.
You can use also mobile wallet or paper wallet. It all depends on what amounts you want to keep in them and how many transactions you will be sending.

[squatter]

Maybe I'm missing something but why would anyone recommend a desktop wallet of any sort? It's not something I've ever considered for a second. Your online computer is a gaping hole waiting to be plundered. A Bitcoin wallet is just another program sitting on there ready to be ravaged.

With proper security practices and encryption, it's not that insecure. The biggest problem is that people don't practice security through isolation. They're downloading torrents and email attachments and visiting porn sites on the same computer they hold bitcoins.

Electrum's offline signing setup is actually super easy, and if you use QR codes to export transactions it's extremely secure. I'd recommend it to newbies over hardware wallets.

Maybe I'm just old school, but I really don't think the attack surface of hardware wallets is fully known. Plus centralized firmware, potential supply chain attacks, etc.

[Pmalek]

Maybe I'm missing something but why would anyone recommend a desktop wallet of any sort? It's not something I've ever considered for a second. Your online computer is a gaping hole waiting to be plundered. A Bitcoin wallet is just another program sitting on there ready to be ravaged.

Using Electrum together with a Ledger or Trezor device is one reason. Electrum is much more user friendly compared to Leger Live for example. It has options that Ledger Live lacks such as RBF. And when you connect the two there is no need to input your seed so you are as safe as when using Ledger Live with your device.

[gentlemand]

With proper security practices and encryption, it's not that insecure.

As in using it fully offline or with a temporary Linux installation? Both are valid. Hardly any newcomer is going to use it like that. They're going to download it to their live machine and then wait for someone to spirit it away.

Best security practices are a bit like health advice. It's easy enough to find out what you should be doing. Most people can't be bothered to keep doing it after the second or third time and slip back into their normal ways.

A phone wallet is rather more fire and forget.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Maybe I'm missing something but why would anyone recommend a desktop wallet of any sort?

They have their place, provided you understand the drawbacks associated with them and that you appreciate your coins within are at a much higher risk of being stolen. I use hot wallets on both my laptop and and phone to store small amounts of bitcoin for when I'm on the move, and top them up as required from my cold storage at home.

As you say, though, most newbies don't know what constitutes good security practices, and so them using desktop wallets is even riskier, and the number of possible attack vectors is huge. I generally recommend either a Ledger or a Trezor for most newbies; they are easy to use, have clear to follow instructions, and are the best level of security you can obtain with minimal technical knowledge. The next step up - a fully airgapped machine, and transferring transactions using QR codes - although a good place to aim for, is too much of an entry barrier for most first time users.

[instabtc_eth]

Hardware wallets and paper wallets are the safest wallets. Trezor and Ledgers are among them. If you do not want to invest in buying an hardware wallet then you can use wallets like

Exodus:

Exodus is a desktop supported cryptocurrency wallet which deserves to be included in the bitcoin wallet list. Exodus supports nearly three dozen cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Zcash, Ethereum among the popular ones.

Electrum Wallet:

Electrum was mainly known for supporting Bitcoin and is widely considered to be a trusted software wallet in the bitcoin community. Electrum Wallet is a lightweight and easy platform to store your BTC holdings securely, where the bitcoin wallet sign up is convenient and easy.

Jaxx

Jaxx is becoming increasingly popular day by day as it provides a seamless user experience. Jaxx is available on different platforms like Windows, Linux and OS X desktops.

[Harlot]

Aside from the answers already given if you are using your cryptocurrencies in terms of payment and not for storing I would go for a local wallet provider if you have one in your country because you'll find it easier for you to cash it out on several of their options including bank deposits. They are really handy for other things such as paying bills, and buying on their associated websites/companies. What I wouldn't suggest though is to use them to buy/sell cryptocurrencies are their rates simply sucks.