Which wallets are the safest and what can go wrong?

[95Bolu]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

[1714139932]

1714139932

[Charles-Tim]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

Safest wallets are paper wallet, hardware wallets and multisig wallet. To make hardware wallet safer, you can get two and use it to setup 2-of-2 multisig wallets, it makes it more secure.

Yet, be careful of clipboard malware that can change recipient's address to a hacker's address. Check and recheck the inputted address before sending. Make sure you are also careful malware completely.

You can also set up Electrum on airgapped device too. And also using Electrum as a multisig wallet.

[josephdd1]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

The safest wallets are certainly cold wallets that don't have a connection to the internet. The examples are Ledger and Trezor.
Some good hot wallets are Metamask and Trust wallet. Metamask is connectible to almost all projects on Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, Ethereum etc. Trust wallet has a big range of coins. The main risk of using these wallets is that they can be hacked, so the main thing is to keep your keys in private.

[dkbit98]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

Safest wallets for Bitcoin are one that are open source and reviewed by security experts for bugs.
Electrum is probably most used light desktop wallet for Bitcoin, but Wasabi is also interesting option for privacy and Bitcoin Core is best if you run full node.
Best way is if you run cold wallet that is not connected with internet, and hardware wallets are most convenient cold wallets, but you can also run cold wallet on offline computer.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Trust wallet

Trust wallet is closed source and is therefore a terrible choice of wallet. You have no way whatsoever of saying that it is a safe wallet since you have no idea what is going on under the hood.

The safest wallet is an open source one which is permanently airgapped and never connected to the internet. A good hardware wallet is the safest wallet for newbies or anyone who does not have the technical knowledge or spare hardware to properly set up an airgapped device or securely print a paper wallet.

[LoyceV]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

The safest wallet depends on your understanding of that wallet, and your intended purpose.
Since you're asking such a generic (and lazy) question, it can't be answered Why don't you start with how you want to use the wallet? It's also good to realize "safe" means 2 things: ensuring someone else doesn't get your Bitcoin, while at the same time making sure you don't lose access by yourself.

[hugeblack]

"safest wallet" is a general term and the answer depends on your knowledge and experiences. Whatever wallet you use, if you do not use it well, you will lose your coins.

Hardware wallets are the best because they generate your PVT keys in a secure environment, have not been connected to the Internet and will not be connected, and therefore as long as you know how to use them, hide your wallet seed or physical access to those devices, you will be safe.
other wallets first need to read each line of code while ensuring keys are generated in a secure environment that has not and will not be connected to the Internet.

Closed-source wallets include an additional challenge of trusting the developer.

[stompix]

Some good hot wallets are Metamask and Trust wallet.

Trust wallet claims to be open source but there have always been hiccups with that claim, besides it is owned by Binance and that would itself be negative. Metamask is the riskiest choice for a hot wallet, if your browser is compromised so will the wallet, it's one of the main targets of clipboard hijacking, but on top of that, it's not a bitcoin wallet!

So, basically, you've recommended two of the worst choice for safety, maybe good for convenience but that's another discussion.

The main risk of using these wallets is that they can be hacked, so the main thing is to keep your keys in private.

You realize that once your wallet has been "hacked", the other thing is either impossible or almost useless.

[ABCbits]

Without any details, everyone will say Hardware Wallet which offer good balance between security and ease of use. But if you're intermediate/advance users who don't mind some inconvenience, you could use Tails (https://tails.boum.org/doc/anonymous_internet/electrum/index.en.html) or Qubes (https://github.com/Qubes-Community/Contents/blob/master/docs/security/split-bitcoin.md).

[Lucius]

The safest wallets are certainly cold wallets that don't have a connection to the internet. The examples are Ledger and Trezor.

But people mostly use hardware wallets in a way to connect them to the internet, at least in case they need to upgrade firmware or install any coin app they need. This by no means falls into the category of cold crypto wallets, and anyone who thinks so lives in false security. Buying such devices does not mean that someone should completely relax and not worry about anything anymore, on the contrary, you should still be careful not to do something stupid, such as saving your backup on cloud or email, and one day discovering that someone has emptied all hardware wallet accounts.

[libert19]

Safety depends on user, and it can go wrong despite how technicalities you may be aware of.

Here is case of ledger+ malicious metamask: https://medium.com/@hugh_karp/nxm-hack-update-72c5c017b48

[Pmalek]

Do you also consider your privacy an important element of the "safest wallet" dilemma? For example, you can use a hardware wallet (considered a cold wallet) in connection with Electrum (an open-source non-custodial wallet), and you will have a good amount of security. But Electrum doesn't offer you privacy. The servers you connect to can see your IP, balance and the addresses that are part of your wallet. Another option is to run your own Electrum server and only connect through that. That way you can prevent potentially malicious parties from finding out how much Bitcoin you have and where.   

[NeuroticFish]

* If you know how to safely generate and store it, paper wallet may be the safest option.
* Generating safely a seed and storing it, keeping one or more addresses at hand is another similarly safe option.
* If one wants to also spend and can safely handle cold storage, that's again very safe. Using multisig is even safer, but a bit more advanced too.
* If one wants a good mix of safety and convenience, also not a tech person, hardware wallet is the way to go (the seed still needs careful safe storing, offline)
* Then stand alone wallets come - Bitcoin Core, Electrum, Sparrow and so on.
* Then closed source stand alone wallets.
* Then web wallets, from non-custodial ones to custodial services (including exchanges).


It may worth mentioning that in theory a reputed custodial service may be seen safe by some, but it's far too easy to blame the user for any mistake, hack or inside job, it's also so easy to make mistakes (weak mail password, phishing, lack of 2FA) so I will not see it as a safe option at all.

[sir_danny]

Can anyone share their experiences with wallets. Which ones are the safest and what can go wrong?

1. Which ones are the safest?

This is precisely what the WalletScrutiny.com project aims to address.

For instance, somebody said "Trust Wallet" in this thread.




It depends on your threat profile. Do you live in a third-world impoverished slum, with a very secure air-gapped highly secure bitcoin wallet? Somebody could come up to you, and make you give up your seed phrases.

2. What can go wrong?

a. You do not continue learning, buy an expensive air-gapped cold wallet, put 100 BTC in it, do some drugs in a party, show off your hardware wallet, and divulge your seed phrases or private key to a hot chick or hot dude, once you're wasted.

[NeuroticFish]

buy an expensive air-gapped cold wallet, put 100 BTC in it, do some drugs in a party, show off your hardware wallet, and divulge your seed phrases or private key to a hot chick or hot dude, once you're wasted.

Telling here and there you own 100BTC would probably just be enough.
Sooner or later somebody may come after you with the 5$ wrench and you will give him the seed sooner or later.
Keeping your mouth shut is a must as soon as you have a meaningful amount of BTC. That's no longer wallet related.

[suzanne5223]

The safest wallet is the Open source wallet which code is already reviewed for backlog or other error but for the wallet not to go wrong, that depends on your knowledge of taking the right security measures and avoiding human error that could expose your wallet to danger. Besides, downloading an open source wallet like electrum which is highly the recommended desktop wallet requires you to verify it before using it.

[BitMaxz]

Actually, there is no safest wallet it all depends on how you protect your wallet. Hardware wallets like ledger nano still need to connect or bridge through a USB cable to authenticate your online public wallet. So there are still possibilities that it can be hacked compared to the offline wallet(Never connected to the internet).

For me, if you want the safest wallet offline wallet is the best, and never connect it to the internet or even a USB drive. Only use a QR code scanner if you want to transfer unsigned raw transactions generate a QR code and scan it with your offline laptop/PC. That's what I think would be safe and far from any viruses and malware.

[Stalker22]

The level of risk you're willing to take with your crypto will depend on many factors, so you need to understand how to identify when your cryptocurrency is being held in the safest way possible. Furthermore, it is important to know that you have control over your keys and that you can retrieve them in case anything goes wrong.

To decide which wallet to use, you need to think about a number of factors: what type of cryptocurrencies you plan to store with that wallet, how much control you want over the keys, and what security measures the wallet takes to ensure the keys are kept safe. If you don't understand these things, then you're likely to make decisions that you may regret later.

If you store most of your crypto in one wallet, you might want to consider investing in a wallet that provides multi-signature security, which is an especially attractive security feature for crypto enthusiasts.

[sir_danny]

The safest wallet is the Open source wallet which code is already reviewed for backlog or other error but for the wallet not to go wrong, that depends on your knowledge of taking the right security measures and avoiding human error that could expose your wallet to danger. Besides, downloading an open source wallet like electrum which is highly the recommended desktop wallet requires you to verify it before using it.

Indeed, but lately, I've been seeing "security is in obscurity" model.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Another option is to run your own Electrum server and only connect through that.

Alternatively, pair your hardware wallet with a piece of software which does provide better privacy than Electrum, such as Wasabi.

Indeed, but lately, I've been seeing "security is in obscurity" model.

Care to elaborate? Obviously you should keep the details of how much bitcoin you are holding, how you are holding it, where your backs up are, etc., secret, but that is not what security through obscurity refers to. Rather, it refers to the security of the entire system, and it is a very poor way to secure a system.