Help me getting the right wallet

[BTC_Bae]

I have been reading this thread for quite a while [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?.

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets; if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets. A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

[LuckyCrypto777]

I have been reading this thread for quite a while [General] Bitcoin Wallets - Which, what, why?.

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets, if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets.
A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

You've correctly identified Electrum as the best cold wallet for you. It's open-source and time-tested. Its interface is a bit complex, but that's the price you pay for its reliability. Don't trust the beautiful and user-friendly Trust Wallet, which is often installed by beginners. Download Electrum from Google Play, never from third-party sites.
Discussion:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=98.0

Wallet types: I've distinguished between hot and cold wallets. Hot wallets are the ones on exchanges, they're not secure, and you don't have the keys to them. Use them only for exchanging small amounts and never for storing your bitcoins.

Cold wallets are divided into hardware wallets and those stored on your own devices, like Electrum, which I mentioned above.
Unfortunately, hardware wallets are currently in crisis; they were previously considered extremely reliable, so approach this issue carefully, reading the latest information from trusted sources.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=261.0

[The Cryptovator]

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

Are you aware of the recent hack of the Ledger hardware wallet? If yes, then you should get a lot of answers from there on how hard it is to choose a hardware wallet. If not yet noticed, then read the news on top of the forum; it’s been reflecting on the left side of the search button.

However, I have also been using the Trezor wallet besides the Ledger Nano. I am not going to trust any more Ledger wallets. So if you want to buy a multi-currency hardware wallet, then you may keep Trezor at your choice. Wait for other users advise as well, but you have to take the right decision. Just make sure you are choosing an open-source hardware wallet and secure your seed phrase safely.

[hd49728]

As a beginner, these are some things I understand about wallets; if anything is wrong or I missed something, let me know so it helps me learn more about Bitcoin wallets.

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets. A software wallet is used on our regular devices like mobile and desktop, and this kind of wallet is suitable for our daily transactions and small amounts, and the other three are used for long-term storage, while each one of them is unique in its own way.

Hot and cold wallets.
Non custodial and custodial wallets.
Open source and close source wallets.

To have good wallets, you need to filter and choose from wallets that are non custodial and open source. Hot or cold wallets will be another factor but two first factors are very important, especially non custodial because only non custodial wallets give you private keys.

Open source means the code is available and reproducible so that community can review the wallet scrutiny.
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
https://walletscrutiny.com/
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/wallets/#best-wallets

[Nathrixxx]

So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?.

If you see electrum not being a complicated wallet for you to easily grab on the usage, then I will recommend it for any newbie to use, they have both their mobile and desktop version and you have to download it from the official electrum website.

Alternatively, some newbie may find exodus wallet as more easy to understand and if this applies to your own case as well, I may suggest you also consider it and later advance to electrum wallet.

[internetional]

I agree about Electrum. But I don't see the need for a dedicated cold storage device. Just take Ian Coleman's BIP39 tool; generate a seed with it on a device disconnected from the internet; write down both the seed and its corresponding address on paper; transfer whatever you plan to hold long-term to that address - and just like that, you have a cold wallet whose keys have never been exposed on any network-connected device. When you need to withdraw your bitcoins from cold storage - just import that seed into Electrum to access your coins. As for the change, you can generate a new seed phrase in Ian Coleman, grab an address there, and send the remainder to it - right back into cold storage.

[hosemary]

Generally, there are four types of wallets: software wallets, hardware wallets, paper wallets, and cold wallets.

This isn't a proper classification of wallets.
For example, a software wallet can be used for cold storage, if it's run on an airgapped device. A paper wallet is also a type of cold wallet.

Alternatively, some newbie may find exodus wallet as more easy to understand and if this applies to your own case as well, I may suggest you also consider it and later advance to electrum wallet.

Exodus is close-source, and I would never recommend it.

I agree about Electrum. But I don't see the need for a dedicated cold storage device. Just take Ian Coleman's BIP39 tool; generate a seed with it on a device disconnected from the internet; write down both the seed and its corresponding address on paper; transfer whatever you plan to hold long-term to that address - and just like that, you have a cold wallet whose keys have never been exposed on any network-connected device.

This doesn't make your wallet a cold wallet.
To have a cold wallet, you should generate your keys on an airgapped device. You don't really make your wallet more secure just by disconnecting your device from the internet before generating the keys.

[internetional]

You don't really make your wallet more secure just by disconnecting your device from the internet before generating the keys.

Yeah, I didn't elaborate on what I meant by a device not connected to the network.

Ideally, I think you should take a desktop computer, disconnect all network adapters and hard drives from it, and boot it from a clean portable OS distribution. If you don't have a desktop, you can take a laptop or tablet without cellular connectivity, do a factory reset, and head out somewhere outside the city where there's no Wi-Fi. And only if even that isn't an option could you try a laptop, tablet, or smartphone in airplane mode (also factory reset). Plus, it's better to generate the seed phrase yourself: flip a coin 128 times and feed the results into Ian Coleman's tool.

I didn't write all of that in my last post, though yeah, these details are probably important.

[Lucius]

~snip~
So help me in finding the right wallet for my needs . For now, I'm going to need to a wallet for my android and upon reading many replies in this forum, Electrum seems to be the best for it, right?. And for my long-term storage, I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

I don't know which manufacturer of hardware devices delivers to India, and even if there are official resellers, I would be very careful due to current events with modified Ledger hardware wallets. The only thing I can recommend is Trezor, but again, it all depends on whether you really need something like that at this moment.

Electrum is a good choice for an Android smartphone, maybe you should also look at BlueWallet, which is also a good mobile wallet for Bitcoin.

Be careful when searching the internet for crypto wallets, especially if you use Chrome or another browser without an adblocker. Scammers often use paid ads to position themselves at the top of the search, so the chances that you will download a fake wallet if you are not careful are very high.

[osasshem]

Electrum is the best wallet to use for storage of your Bitcoin, both for the long and short term, and large or small quantity of your holdings. Since this year, there has been different hacks and security breach of cold wallet storage, which has broken the trust people has had on those wallet. They are expensive to purchase and yet it got hacked, but Electrum for the time being has proven to be fast, secured and easy to use by any of its user. Electrum is a Multi-Signature wallet, that requires more than one private key to authorize a transaction.
It is the best to use for both long/short term holding, large/small amount that is being held.

[hosemary]

Electrum is a Multi-Signature wallet, that requires more than one private key to authorize a transaction.

I think your post could be misleading to someone who isn't very familiar with Electrum.
Electrum allows creating multi-signture wallets, but it's not necessarily a multi-signature wallet. You can create both single-signature and multi-signature wallets in Electrum.

[DireWolfM14]

Be very careful, following some of the advice in this thread.  I'm noticing way too much missing information (or belligerent misinformation) for my comfort level.  It highlights the importance of doing your own research.

Electrum is a great software wallet, and should only be used for small amounts (like cash in your pocket) if used on an online device such as your main PC or phone.  Often this is referred to as a hot wallet when used this way.

Electrum can also be used as a cold wallet if use exclusively on an off-line machine.  You must create the seed off-line and never introduce it to an online environment if it's to be used as a cold wallet.  You'll be able to extract the master public key (xpub) which can be used to create a "watch only" wallet on an online machine.  With a watch only wallet you can access all your addresses and watch them for incoming transactions.  The watch only wallet can also build outgoing transactions which can be saved as a PSBT (partially signed bitcoin transaction).  The PSBT can be transferred to the off-line device to be signed, then returned to the online device for broadcasting.

Make sure to only download Electrum from the official source: https://electrum.org/
And learn how verify the download: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.0
For android, follow the link from the official website.  Electrum is not available for iOS.

A note about Electrum seed phrases; they differ from the industry standard (bip39).  If you generate a seed using Electrum you will not be able to restore it using any hardware wallet, and most other software wallets.  If that's an issue for you, these are good alternatives:

For desktop: https://sparrowwallet.com/
For mobile devices: https://bluewallet.io/

Hardware wallets can be a good alternative to an off-line PC, but never buy one from a reseller.  Not even the official resellers can be trusted.  If you can get a Trezor or a Foundation Devices hardware wallet shipped directly to you from the manufacture, then that's what I suggest you do.  If not, save up a little cash and buy an old, cheap laptop to use an an offline machine.

https://trezor.io/
https://foundation.xyz/

The best cold wallet is one that doesn't rely on any device to generate it's entropy, and the whole process is verifiable by the one person it matters to the most; you.  Learn to generate a bip39 seed using coin-flips or dice-rolls, verify it on an off-line machine, and never let it touch another electronic device until you're ready to cash out.

As a side note, if you don't have the money for a dedicated offline machine, you can use a bootable USB with a secure open-source OS to temporarily use your main PC offline.  I suggest physically disconnecting any networking hardware to the extent practical.  Unplug LAN cables, and turn off or remove WiFi receivers.

Tails OS is a good one for beginners.  It's meant to be use offline, and won't automatically connect to any networking service available to the PC, even if they are still plugged in.  It has Electrum preinstalled, as well.

https://tails.net/

[hosemary]

For desktop: https://sparrowwallet.com/

It may be worth mentioning that Sparrow doesn't allow you to import an Electrum's seed phrase directly.
To import your Electrum wallet into Sparrow, you have to import your wallet file. Therefore, you still need Electrum so that you can generate that file.

[DireWolfM14]

For desktop: https://sparrowwallet.com/

It may be worth mentioning that Sparrow doesn't allow you to import an Electrum's seed phrase directly.
To import your Electrum wallet into Sparrow, you have to import your wallet file. Therefore, you still need Electrum so that you can generate that file.

My intent was that Sparrow would generate a standard Bip39 seed, not as a means to import an Electrum seed.

[NeuroticFish]

Electrum is the wallet I'm using for far too many years and it's great: not overly complicated and full featured. But this is on PC.
On Android I use something else, especially because Electrum on Android does not work with hardware wallet. And despite the current issues, hardware wallet is - imho - still safer than keeping your coins in hot wallet.
Also as already mentioned, Electrum seed - although it contains the same words - doesn't work on HW.

So some advises:
- if you (also) have PC, Electrum is an interesting choice (PS. you can also run the PC Electrum on Testnet to get the feeling without real money).
- don't store meaningful amount of money on hot wallet
- if you are knowledgeable on PC, you can consider setting up a cold storage for yourself (keep in mind that it never have to go online. never. If you need details, ask separately)
- meaningful amounts of money have to stay on HW, cold storage or safely generated and stored paper wallet (again, if you need details, ask separately, else this thread may get polluted unnecesarily)
- seed backups have to be hand-written, never touch internet, not stored on email, cloud, desktop, name it...

Be paranoid, it helps.
Enjoy the ride!

[Bitcoin Smith]

I'm thinking about going with a hardware wallet because I don't have multiple desktops to use one of them completely offline, so help me find a good hardware wallet as well. Basically, I'm from India. I'm not that aware of this technology and gadget-related stuff, so please give me a purchase link from an official store only.

Trezor send the HW to India when we order it on their own website but just to warn you the price of the actual product might be higher than what you see on the price because tax and delivery cost isn't included in that. FYI, delivery alone will cost 1800 to 4800, depending on which one you choose, and the fastest one gets the wallet to you in 4 business days.

My recommendation is to buy a used laptop and remove the network driver, which is better.

BTW, you are welcome to join into our local board community too, we have a dedicated board here: India