With the Bitcoin Cash hard fork looming on August 1st, lots of users will be looking for ways to move their funds off exchange platforms. This also means they will be looking for secure solutions that put them in full control over their money. Luckily, there are plenty of Bitcoin wallets which do that. Below are some examples of Bitcoin wallets that will keep your funds safe and in your full control at all times.
4. Airbitz
Even though the Airbitz wallet has been around for some time now, it still appears this solution is vastly underappreciated. Airbitz is one of those software wallets for mobile users which puts the user in full control of his or her private keys. Although one might assume their key would be controlled by the company, it is created and stored on the mobile device only. Moreover, if the Airbitz servers were to go down, one could still access funds by exporting the private key. It is a very convenient solution, especially for those who do not wish to use a desktop wallet.
3. Exodus
People who prefer a desktop solution have many different options. One such wallet is Exodus, which is available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows. It is an SPV wallet, which means there is no need to synchronize with the blockchain by downloading it to a hard drive. Users can fire up the wallet and be connected to the Bitcoin network in mere seconds, which is how any wallet should work.
Generating an Exodus wallet and its associated private keys involves your computer only, without any information being sent to third parties. Users can also access their private keys through the Developer menu if they prefer to do so. Exodus is a convenient wallet solution which gets a lot of praise from the Bitcoin and altcoin communities. Even though the wallet has a built-in backup feature, it only reads transaction data which is later on encrypted. In fact, any Exodus backup is pretty much useless to anyone else.
2. Electrum
Another “light” Bitcoin wallet that users should consider is the Electrum project. The wallet focuses on speed and using as few resources as possible. The private key associated with your addresses is never communicated to any of the project’s servers. Users generate a wallet by using a mnemonic seed, removing the need for traditional passwords. This seed has the same level of security as any Bitcoin private key.
One of the main reasons why so many people like Electrum is because it works across different platforms. Electrum works on Linux, Windows, OSX and Android. Additionally, it provides two-factor authentication, cold storage, and multisignature storage solutions. There is no reason not to like Electrum.
1. Bitcoin Core / Bitcoin ABC
The best solution — other than hardware wallets — is the native client designed by the developers responsible for maintaining the version of Bitcoin you care about the most. For a lot of people, that means the Bitcoin Core wallet is their preferred choice even though it requires downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin Cash users may want to check out the Bitcoin ABC client, although it is unclear if there are any lingering bugs. Native desktop clients put users in full control at all times, making them a perfect solution to maintaining one’s Bitcoin wealth.
