Every cryptocurrency in the world has its own set of wallet solutions. Whether one wants to use paper storage, a desktop client, or a web wallet, all of these tools can be found for all cryptocurrencies which take themselves somewhat seriously. In the case of Monero, there are a few different solutions to choose from, although there was still no hardware wallet support at the time of writing. That situation may soon come to change, though, with three potential hardware wallets in the pipeline.
3. The Monero Paper Wallet Option
Although it seems paper wallets are less popular than they were a few years ago, they are still a more than viable way to store funds for the long term. In the case of Monero, a paper wallet solution can be found on the MoneroAddress website. It is entirely possible to use this solution in one’s browser, with or without the use of prefixes. Moreover, the paper wallet solution supports English, Japanese, and Spanish, which is great to see. It also works on devices not connected to the network for added security.
2. The Monero Web Wallet Option
Even though web wallets are always a security risk when storing large amounts of currency, the MyMonero platform is well-respected within the Monero community. It is also operated by Riccardo Spagni, one of the lead Monero developers as of right now. Wallet keys and data are encrypted, and the service itself never has access to one’s funds directly. It is a good intermediary solution for keeping XMR on the side for spending purposes. However, when storing thousands of coins, a paper wallet or the desktop client may prove to be a better option.
1. The Monero Desktop Client
Unlike most other cryptocurrencies, the Monero GUI client is the best desktop option on the market right now. It also serves as a full node for the users willing to explore that option. Syncing with the Monero blockchain is a bit slow, but using remote nodes should speed up the process significantly. Desktop clients for all cryptocurrencies take a long while to sync up initially, and thus it is only normal that the Monero client would follow that same path. Future development updates may help speed up this process a bit.
But why no Hardware Wallets?
Monero certainly deserves a hardware wallet at this point in time. Even though no solution exists in a working fashion as of right now, a few such efforts are underway. First of all, there’s the community-funded Monero hardware wallet, which seems to be progressing rather nicely. It is unclear when this product will become available, but the demand for this solution is more present now than ever before.
Secondly, we have the impending Monero integration for the Ledger Nano S hardware wallet. Although this software update has been in development for some time now, the process is slow going. The developer working on this integration also has had to keep up with regular Ledger tasks for the currencies which are already supported. It is still expected that XMR functionality will come to the Ledger Nano S in Q1 of this year, but that may be pushed back by a few weeks or even months. For now, there’s no official timeline as of yet, but steady progress has been made so far.
Last but not least, we may still see Trezor integrate Monero at some point. It will not be a venture undertaken by the hardware developers themselves, although they are more than willing to integrate working code if anyone submits it to them. While it may not happen in the immediate future, this option was still on the table at the time of writing. One of these three solutions will come to market eventually, at which point Monero holders will finally be able to use a hardware wallet for added security.
