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Best Ethereum Wallet


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Since the other tutorial on how to buy Ethereum I have been looking for a reliable wallet so I decided to test drive a few Ethereum wallets to see which one is the best in my opinion.

 

The first wallet I used was the official Ethereum wallet - Ethereum + Mist I like the wallet is has all the bells and whistles and for that reason I do not recommend this wallet if you just want to own some Ether right now. Ethereum is very different to bitcoin. The first thing about Ethereum is that it is not just a digital currency. It is a blockchain-based platform with many aspects. It features smart contracts, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and it uses its currency called Ether for peer-to-peer contracts.

 

Ethereum’s smart contracts use blockchain stored applications for contract negotiation and facilitation. The benefit of these contracts is that the blockchain provides a decentralized way to verify and enforce them. Thus enabling you to create applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. Ethereum’s smart contracts aim to provide greater security than traditional contracts and bring down the associated costs.

 

The smart contract applications are powered by ether, Ethereum’s blockchain based cryptocurrency. Ether, as well as other crypto-assets, are held in the Ethereum Wallet, which allows you to create and use smart contracts. 

 

You as Joe Public just want an easy way to buy, store and send Ether.

 

Enter the world of Jaxx, I ended up using this wallet for my Ethereum storage. It is incredibly easy to set up on your phone, tablet, desktop or Apple device. I installed it on my phone first and then paired it with the desktop app and it worked seamlessly. 

 

All keys are created on your local device and never sent to any servers. This means you have full control of your wallet and Jaxx neither holds nor has access to your funds.

 

Before I ended up with Jaxx I tested Coinbase as well. Coinbase supplies an Ethereum wallet as well as a Bitcoin wallet. Coinbase’s wallet is simple to set up and very easy to use, however it has a few limitations you’ll need to be aware of:

 

  • The company holds the private key of the wallet for you. This means you’re not in control of your funds and Coinbase can decide to shut down your account if they want to. There were cases in the past that Coinbase shut down user accounts do to illegal activity.
  • The Coinbase ETH wallet doesn’t support ETC (Ethereum Classic).

The Coinbase wallet was easy to use, but the risk is too much I would not recommend it.

 

Another wallet that I tested was the Exodus wallet, Exodus is a Bitcoin and Altcoin desktop wallet with a beautiful design and an intuitive interface. When it comes to limitations for exodus keep in mind that it’s not 100% open source.  Many components inside Exodus are open source, but not all of them. This means that the code doesn’t get reviewed in full by the community.

 

Also the wallet is currently available only in a desktop version (no mobile version yet). Like Coinbase, Exodus does not support ETC only ETH. However, unlike Coinbase, Exodus is an independent wallet that stores the private key on your machine and not on any external sever. This means you have full control (and full responsibility) for your coins.

 

Even though Ethereum has been around for a few years, as you can see from the variety above it’s not as popular as Bitcoin (yet). However, since Ethereum’s price is on the rise lately I guess we will be seeing more Ethereum wallets and exchange support for this currency soon.

 

I am sure @BitcoinZAR will be able to give some feedback on what hardware wallets to use for storing Ethereum.

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Thanks for your informative review Ranger. I'm drawn towards Jaxx but I would like to nibble into Ripple and I see it doesn't have that. I see you have tried the Blockchain.info wallet, where can I find a list of its altcoins? Also how do you rate Electrum (offline wallet) in this equation?

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Thanks for your informative review Ranger. I'm drawn towards Jaxx but I would like to nibble into Ripple and I see it doesn't have that. I see you have tried the Blockchain.info wallet, where can I find a list of its altcoins? Also how do you rate Electrum (offline wallet) in this equation?

 

For ripple you will need to follow this guide that ranger made, I can't seem to find a reliable ripple wallet other than the one that comes with that platform they used in the tutorial.

 

https://platinumwealth.co.za/forum/showthread.php?tid=365

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Jaxx mobile app on Android gets stuck on launch screen.

 

Just double check, it takes around 49 seconds to load up. That might appear as if it's stuck, but in actual fact it's merely connecting to all the nodes on the backend. 

 

They should look at it or at least give some indication on the loading screen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm still a bit two minded about going the hardware wallet route.

 

Currently using Jaxx on pc which is paired with my cell that I backup daily to stick

 

Not really sure what will happen when someone hacks Jaxx, or my pc for that matter.

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I am also using Jaxx and have been impressed with the way it works.

 

Done a lot of research into the security of it. The app information is decentralized meaning all you public and private key are stored locally on you device(s). Therefore your information is as secure as you device is.

 

There are a lot of ongoing discussions around HOT and COLD storage and majority of people refuse to store any amount over R 5000.00 of a HOT wallet. The ledger Nano and Trezor seem to be the favourites.

 

I am currently using an old phone with Jaxx installed but keep it off unless using it for crypto. Minimises the risk of anyone gaining access to my keys, but COLD storage is something I really want to move to.

 

Sent from my SM-A520F using the Platinum Wealth app

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  • 5 weeks later...

So I have tested and reviewed a lot of ethereum wallets including exchange wallets some of which are horrible. The best one that is most easy to use is cex.io. It has excellent 2 level security where one needs their cellphone to login and easiest UI. Love it every bit.

 

Second alternative is myetherwallet https://myetherwallet.com/ . It is great for the paranoid ones since you store your own private key. So even if the website goes offline, you can get the package from github and run it on your computer. The only thing you would need is your private key. That is it.

 

Avoid poloneix because they keep disabling the withdraw and deposit feature on their website – especially when the price is fluctuating a lot. I lost quite a bit due to this problem. I had to convert ETH -> XRP and then do the transfer.

 

You can find the best ethereum wallets of 2017 here http://ethereumfaq.org/best-ethereum-wallet-eth-0653/

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  • 3 months later...

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