Some of the best open source crypto wallets include Electrum, Mycelium, Blockstream Green and Copay for Bitcoin or MyEtherWallet for Ethereum.
Updated Jul 11, 2023
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There are lots of factors to consider when locking up your crypto safely, from whether to keep your coins on a crypto exchange vs wallet to what type of crypto wallet to use. Once you've upgraded to keeping your crypto off of exchanges and in safe crypto wallets, it's time to start thinking about using an open-source crypto wallet. Here's why and where you can find the best ones.
A crypto wallet is a software or hardware wallet where you can store the public and private keys that give you access to your cryptocurrency. When software is open source, that means its original code is freely available for anyone to view, change, and redistribute. Therefore, an open-source crypto wallet is a crypto wallet that makes its source code that users can fork to customize and add additional layers of security.
Open-source crypto wallets are attractive to people who invest in crypto heavily because, without access to the source code running their wallet, investors can't verify for themselves that their crypto is being kept safe and secure. Open-source projects in crypto, from open-source wallets to open-source dApps and DeFi coins, offer ultimate transparency and decentralization.
Virtually all open-source crypto wallets that currently exist are designed for one specific cryptocurrency. For example, there are open-source Bitcoin wallets and open-source Ethereum wallets, but not many open-source Bitcoin wallets can hold both BTC and Ether (ETH).
AirGap Wallet was recently released as one of the first fully open-source wallets to support multiple crypto coins. It's a two-device, cold storage wallet that's completely open source and offers staking. It currently supports 8 cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Tezos (XTZ), Aeternity (AE), Polkadot (DOT), Kusama (KSM), Cosmos (ATOM), and Groestlcoin (GRS).
Exodus is a popular option, but it's not completely open-source. They publish open-source code for many but not all of their wallet's components. In particular, they keep their design and user interface code private so that scammers can't duplicate their wallet. That said, Exodus wallets support 150+ crypto coins, so it's definitely a more convenient option for folks who don't want a different wallet for each coin.
When it comes to the best fully open source crypto wallets, here are the top five, why crypto investors love them, and which coins they support.
While an open-source wallet is a great way to keep your crypto secure, it's not the only way—nor is it necessarily the best. Let's look at a few alternatives to open-source crypto wallets.
While not open-source, hardware wallets are arguably the most secure way to store your private keys. Your crypto is super safe if you use a hardware wallet because they're stored offline and can only be accessed by connecting it to another device like a computer or smartphone. The best hardware wallets are Ledger and Trezor, and they offer options for pretty much every budget.
With a hot wallet, you trade security for convenience. Hot wallets like MetaMask and Rabby are super easy to use, but there are downsides. Aside from downgraded security, these wallets only work with Ethereum and EVM chains like Polygon and Avalanche. While there are options for other blockchains, like Phantom for Solana and Keplr for Cosmos Hub, having to switch between wallet extensions when using different wallet extensions can be a hassle.
Having your own digital wallets is more secure, but it's definitely not necessary to self-store your private keys. These days, accessing DeFi applications on Coinbase, Kraken, and numerous other centralized exchanges is easy. That means you can buy Ethereum with fiat and start trading it right away on Uniswap or other popular decentralized exchanges.
Even Crypto.com and other crypto platforms have added support for NFTs, so you can invest in your favorite generative art projects like Invisible Friends or Nouns NFTs. They're custodial wallets, which means they use universal digital wallet infrastructure to let you securely access your digital assets on any device anywhere in the world.