Ethereum became the second cryptocurrency according to its market cap, its meteoric ascent proves that Vitalik Buterin’s invention is here to stay, in this article, we take a quick look at the best and most secure Ethereum wallets out there.

Bitcoin and crypto lovers all around have seen Ethereum as an interesting platform that promises scalability, reliability and growth potential. Although most of ours readers are well versed when dealing with Crypto wallets and altcoins, simplicity is not something that should be overlooked. Every decentralized project should make it easy for users to install and interact with software.

Indeed, every Cryptocurrency project has a standard implementation and a ‘default’ wallet, Ethereum is not different and the foundation who sponsors the project (The Ethereum Foundation) developed a myriad of clients and utilities. The most exciting of these programs is Mist, the Ethereum Browser.

Mist is set to become the standard way to store ether, and to find and interact with smart contracts running on top of the Blockchain. Mist is not quite ready yet to serve as an ‘app store’, however, it is expected that the next version of the protocol (codename Metropolis) will implement this feature. In the meantime, users can use Mist to store their funds, to create contract wallets, and to watch and interact with tokens and smart contracts.

Mist

The reference wallet is also integrated with ShapeShift, which allows you to deposit your first ethers using Bitcoins (the coins are automatically converted for you at a convenient rate). The biggest cons of using Mist are a result of the fact that the wallet works on top of a full client, which means that Mist has to download the full Blockchain (up to 5 GB). However, with the recent updates, the client can download faster a pruned version of the Blockchain (sync times can be as low as 20 minutes, depending on your internet connection).

Jaxx

Jaxx by Decentral is one of the most convenient ways to use and store Bitcoins, Ethers, and now (the probably useless) DAO tokens. The software is multi-platform, having binaries for all the desktop’s operating systems (Mac, Linux, and Windows), as well as mobile apps in Android and the Apple’s AppStore. Finally, Jaxx also has Firefox and Chrome extensions. Jaxx is open source and the code was audited if that brings you any comfort.

MyEtherWallet

If you don’t want to use any software at all, then you can use MyEtherWallet, a javascript client-side website that allows you to create and use an Ethereum address. According to MyEtherWallet’s team:

This is not a “web wallet”. You do not create an account or give us your Ether to hold onto. All data is created on our computer/your browser, not our servers. It’s not a website where you put your Ether and we store them for you. We just make it easy for you to save your wallet information in your browser/on your computer. Then we give you a place you to access that information and do stuff with it.

All in all, the above wallet services represents the best and most popular wallets being used by the community. However, we kindly remind you that we do not endorse any of the described companies or their products. We encourage our readers to do their own research about these topics.

Image via Shutterstock.

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