What kinds of wallets are there?











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Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?



Are there more kinds?










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    up vote
    2
    down vote

    favorite












    Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?



    Are there more kinds?










    share|improve this question









    New contributor




    karlito is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
    Check out our Code of Conduct.






















      up vote
      2
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      2
      down vote

      favorite











      Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?



      Are there more kinds?










      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      karlito is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?



      Are there more kinds?







      wallet bitcoin-wallet-app






      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      karlito is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.











      share|improve this question









      New contributor




      karlito is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
      Check out our Code of Conduct.









      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited yesterday









      RedGrittyBrick

      2,145620




      2,145620






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      asked yesterday









      karlito

      132




      132




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      New contributor





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      Check out our Code of Conduct.






















          3 Answers
          3






          active

          oldest

          votes

















          up vote
          0
          down vote



          accepted










          Hi karlos.



          Hot wallet mostly looks like app or software,
          they mostly not 100% open source so its not top secured..



          Cold wallet mostly looks like USB driver.
          When they not connected ,bitcoins/crypto currency safe.



          There have also an exchange wallet .
          Exchange wallet functioned like your hot wallet but that's some third party wallet that supply you the API for visual preview of your money and actually store your bitcoins/crypto currency in there private exchange wallet.




          Hope that its short enough and helpful for you.




          Thank you in advance, Sadikov.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 1




            Thank you for the short and clear explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday










          • Your welcome, good luck..
            – Sadikov
            yesterday


















          up vote
          6
          down vote













          Hot and cold in this case refer to if the private key is stored on a system connected to the internet or not. Hot wallets are stored on system connected directly to the internet. This can be on the client machine or on a centralized server. A cold wallet can be a HW wallet, an offline wallet or a paper wallet. You kind of create an air-gap that drastically reduce the attack surface on the wallet.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • Thank you for the explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday


















          up vote
          3
          down vote














          Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?




          Hot wallets



          These are any kind of wallet that has a network connection and so is vulnerable to attack and is relatively unsafe. Many people prefer to keep their savings in a cold-wallet and only transfer money to a hot-wallet when they need to spend the money.



          You need a hot-wallet to send a payment

          You don't need a hot-wallet to receive payments.



          synonyms: online-wallet (confusingly - don't use this term)



          Cold wallets



          These are wallets that are not connected to the Internet, or any local network, and so are relatively safe from network-based attack by thieves.



          A cold-wallet can receive payments.



          Synonyms: offline-wallet.



          Varieties: paper-wallet, hardware-wallet (at least when not plugged in). Desktop wallet on isolated or turned-off PC, ...






          Are there more kinds?




          There are lots of ways of classifying wallets. Here's the main other kinds I know of:



          Desktop wallet



          A wallet that runs on a normal PC.



          Mobile Wallet



          A wallet that runs on a mobile phone. Almost always these are lightweight wallets.





          Custodial wallet



          A wallet where the private-keys are held by an online service, not by the customer.



          Typically access to the wallet is by a web-browser but sometimes with an app or using a custom desktop-client.



          Advantages: easy and fast to set up, transfers to other customers of the same service can be instant (no wait for confirmations) and cheaper.



          This is the least safe way to hold crytocurrency (see MtGox etc etc etc)



          Key point to remember: "No private-key = no Bitcoins" or "not your private-key means not your Bitcoins".



          Synonyms: web-wallet, hosted-wallet, online-wallet (rarely and confusingly)



          Paper wallet



          Wallets don't contain crytocurrency coins, the only important thing they contain are private-keys - anything else in them is disposable.



          Therefore printing your seed-phrase or private key onto paper as a QR-code, other barcode or as a hex or base64 string etc, can act as a wallet.



          A paper wallet can receive payments but cannot make them.



          A properly-managed paper-wallet is one of the most secure types of wallet.



          Hardware wallet



          A hardware device that safely holds your private key and which can connect to a PC, usually using a USB port, to sign transactions (without divulging the private key to the PC)



          This is arguably the most secure form of wallet.



          They typically need software on the PC which knows how to talk to them. Several desktop-wallets can interface with one or other hardware wallets.



          Brain wallet



          You don't hear this very often but it is an interesting form of wallet. There are standards for generating private-keys from a seed-phrase. Many wallets support this. If you can remember a seed phrase you can destroy your wallet and later re-create it using only the seed-phrase.



          If your wallet is only stored as a memorised phrase in your brain, it can still receive payments - so long as you have your payment address(es) noted down somewhere. Payment addresses need not be kept secret.



          Unfortunately people are pretty bad at remembering stuff.





          Full-node Wallet



          A wallet that keeps a copy of the whole blockchain. E.g. bitcoin-core.



          The trade-off is that the wallet takes days or weeks to synchronise when first installed. It will use up more of your network bandwidth (at least initially)



          This is the type of wallet that was first invented and is in many ways, one of the best types of wallet.



          Lightweight wallet



          A wallet that does not keep a copy of the whole blockchain and which trusts some other nodes to give it truthful blocks.



          The advantage is they don't need lots of storage space and can start-up much faster.



          Synonym: SPV wallet.





          Watch-only wallet



          This is not really a type of wallet but a way of using a wallet.



          A watch-only wallet is one that has had a public-key / address imported into it but which does not have the corresponding private-key.



          It can show the "balance" for an address but cannot be used to spend that balance.



          Often used by scammers to trick people but also useful as a safe type of hot-wallet to monitor your balance without any risk of theft.



          A wallet can usually have several sets of, erm, subwallets. A wallet could have both a private key for a hot-wallet with a small amount of money in it and an imported watch-only address for a cold-wallet so you can monitor balances for both "hot" and "cold" subwallets in one place.





          Things to remember ...



          (... about wallets and their use)




          • Wallets don't contain money.

          • Money is not sent to wallets.

          • The only important thing in a wallet is the private-key(s).

          • Never share a wallet-password - even if you change it afterwards, you've lost control of any money that has been, or might later be sent to addresses in that wallet.

          • Never share your private-key. Never.

          • Backup your private key or seed-phrase safely in several places.

          • Share overlapping parts of your private-key or seed phrase with several family members with instructions on what to do if you are hit by a bus this afternoon. (see several questions here from desperate bereaved relatives of people who made no provision for this)

          • What do you want to happen if your house burns down to ash with all your pcs, laptops, notebooks, phones, paper etc destroyed. (see questions here from people who lost their phone or overwrote their PC or mistyped their seed-phrase or forgot a password and don't know what a backup is or why they should have made several, in several places, in fireproof boxes, and tested recovery)




          Other lists



          Other places that have lists of different types of wallet:




          • https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

          • https://medium.com/@fastinvest/the-most-comprehensive-cryptocurrency-wallet-guide-5e820a26ed44

          • https://coinsutra.com/types-of-crypto-wallets/






          share|improve this answer























          • Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
            – karlito
            yesterday











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          3 Answers
          3






          active

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          3 Answers
          3






          active

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          active

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          up vote
          0
          down vote



          accepted










          Hi karlos.



          Hot wallet mostly looks like app or software,
          they mostly not 100% open source so its not top secured..



          Cold wallet mostly looks like USB driver.
          When they not connected ,bitcoins/crypto currency safe.



          There have also an exchange wallet .
          Exchange wallet functioned like your hot wallet but that's some third party wallet that supply you the API for visual preview of your money and actually store your bitcoins/crypto currency in there private exchange wallet.




          Hope that its short enough and helpful for you.




          Thank you in advance, Sadikov.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 1




            Thank you for the short and clear explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday










          • Your welcome, good luck..
            – Sadikov
            yesterday















          up vote
          0
          down vote



          accepted










          Hi karlos.



          Hot wallet mostly looks like app or software,
          they mostly not 100% open source so its not top secured..



          Cold wallet mostly looks like USB driver.
          When they not connected ,bitcoins/crypto currency safe.



          There have also an exchange wallet .
          Exchange wallet functioned like your hot wallet but that's some third party wallet that supply you the API for visual preview of your money and actually store your bitcoins/crypto currency in there private exchange wallet.




          Hope that its short enough and helpful for you.




          Thank you in advance, Sadikov.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 1




            Thank you for the short and clear explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday










          • Your welcome, good luck..
            – Sadikov
            yesterday













          up vote
          0
          down vote



          accepted







          up vote
          0
          down vote



          accepted






          Hi karlos.



          Hot wallet mostly looks like app or software,
          they mostly not 100% open source so its not top secured..



          Cold wallet mostly looks like USB driver.
          When they not connected ,bitcoins/crypto currency safe.



          There have also an exchange wallet .
          Exchange wallet functioned like your hot wallet but that's some third party wallet that supply you the API for visual preview of your money and actually store your bitcoins/crypto currency in there private exchange wallet.




          Hope that its short enough and helpful for you.




          Thank you in advance, Sadikov.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          Hi karlos.



          Hot wallet mostly looks like app or software,
          they mostly not 100% open source so its not top secured..



          Cold wallet mostly looks like USB driver.
          When they not connected ,bitcoins/crypto currency safe.



          There have also an exchange wallet .
          Exchange wallet functioned like your hot wallet but that's some third party wallet that supply you the API for visual preview of your money and actually store your bitcoins/crypto currency in there private exchange wallet.




          Hope that its short enough and helpful for you.




          Thank you in advance, Sadikov.







          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer






          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered yesterday









          Sadikov

          255




          255




          New contributor




          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





          New contributor





          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          Sadikov is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.








          • 1




            Thank you for the short and clear explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday










          • Your welcome, good luck..
            – Sadikov
            yesterday














          • 1




            Thank you for the short and clear explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday










          • Your welcome, good luck..
            – Sadikov
            yesterday








          1




          1




          Thank you for the short and clear explanation
          – karlito
          yesterday




          Thank you for the short and clear explanation
          – karlito
          yesterday












          Your welcome, good luck..
          – Sadikov
          yesterday




          Your welcome, good luck..
          – Sadikov
          yesterday










          up vote
          6
          down vote













          Hot and cold in this case refer to if the private key is stored on a system connected to the internet or not. Hot wallets are stored on system connected directly to the internet. This can be on the client machine or on a centralized server. A cold wallet can be a HW wallet, an offline wallet or a paper wallet. You kind of create an air-gap that drastically reduce the attack surface on the wallet.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • Thank you for the explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday















          up vote
          6
          down vote













          Hot and cold in this case refer to if the private key is stored on a system connected to the internet or not. Hot wallets are stored on system connected directly to the internet. This can be on the client machine or on a centralized server. A cold wallet can be a HW wallet, an offline wallet or a paper wallet. You kind of create an air-gap that drastically reduce the attack surface on the wallet.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • Thank you for the explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday













          up vote
          6
          down vote










          up vote
          6
          down vote









          Hot and cold in this case refer to if the private key is stored on a system connected to the internet or not. Hot wallets are stored on system connected directly to the internet. This can be on the client machine or on a centralized server. A cold wallet can be a HW wallet, an offline wallet or a paper wallet. You kind of create an air-gap that drastically reduce the attack surface on the wallet.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          Hot and cold in this case refer to if the private key is stored on a system connected to the internet or not. Hot wallets are stored on system connected directly to the internet. This can be on the client machine or on a centralized server. A cold wallet can be a HW wallet, an offline wallet or a paper wallet. You kind of create an air-gap that drastically reduce the attack surface on the wallet.







          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer






          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered yesterday









          Klassare

          1262




          1262




          New contributor




          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





          New contributor





          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          Klassare is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.












          • Thank you for the explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday


















          • Thank you for the explanation
            – karlito
            yesterday
















          Thank you for the explanation
          – karlito
          yesterday




          Thank you for the explanation
          – karlito
          yesterday










          up vote
          3
          down vote














          Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?




          Hot wallets



          These are any kind of wallet that has a network connection and so is vulnerable to attack and is relatively unsafe. Many people prefer to keep their savings in a cold-wallet and only transfer money to a hot-wallet when they need to spend the money.



          You need a hot-wallet to send a payment

          You don't need a hot-wallet to receive payments.



          synonyms: online-wallet (confusingly - don't use this term)



          Cold wallets



          These are wallets that are not connected to the Internet, or any local network, and so are relatively safe from network-based attack by thieves.



          A cold-wallet can receive payments.



          Synonyms: offline-wallet.



          Varieties: paper-wallet, hardware-wallet (at least when not plugged in). Desktop wallet on isolated or turned-off PC, ...






          Are there more kinds?




          There are lots of ways of classifying wallets. Here's the main other kinds I know of:



          Desktop wallet



          A wallet that runs on a normal PC.



          Mobile Wallet



          A wallet that runs on a mobile phone. Almost always these are lightweight wallets.





          Custodial wallet



          A wallet where the private-keys are held by an online service, not by the customer.



          Typically access to the wallet is by a web-browser but sometimes with an app or using a custom desktop-client.



          Advantages: easy and fast to set up, transfers to other customers of the same service can be instant (no wait for confirmations) and cheaper.



          This is the least safe way to hold crytocurrency (see MtGox etc etc etc)



          Key point to remember: "No private-key = no Bitcoins" or "not your private-key means not your Bitcoins".



          Synonyms: web-wallet, hosted-wallet, online-wallet (rarely and confusingly)



          Paper wallet



          Wallets don't contain crytocurrency coins, the only important thing they contain are private-keys - anything else in them is disposable.



          Therefore printing your seed-phrase or private key onto paper as a QR-code, other barcode or as a hex or base64 string etc, can act as a wallet.



          A paper wallet can receive payments but cannot make them.



          A properly-managed paper-wallet is one of the most secure types of wallet.



          Hardware wallet



          A hardware device that safely holds your private key and which can connect to a PC, usually using a USB port, to sign transactions (without divulging the private key to the PC)



          This is arguably the most secure form of wallet.



          They typically need software on the PC which knows how to talk to them. Several desktop-wallets can interface with one or other hardware wallets.



          Brain wallet



          You don't hear this very often but it is an interesting form of wallet. There are standards for generating private-keys from a seed-phrase. Many wallets support this. If you can remember a seed phrase you can destroy your wallet and later re-create it using only the seed-phrase.



          If your wallet is only stored as a memorised phrase in your brain, it can still receive payments - so long as you have your payment address(es) noted down somewhere. Payment addresses need not be kept secret.



          Unfortunately people are pretty bad at remembering stuff.





          Full-node Wallet



          A wallet that keeps a copy of the whole blockchain. E.g. bitcoin-core.



          The trade-off is that the wallet takes days or weeks to synchronise when first installed. It will use up more of your network bandwidth (at least initially)



          This is the type of wallet that was first invented and is in many ways, one of the best types of wallet.



          Lightweight wallet



          A wallet that does not keep a copy of the whole blockchain and which trusts some other nodes to give it truthful blocks.



          The advantage is they don't need lots of storage space and can start-up much faster.



          Synonym: SPV wallet.





          Watch-only wallet



          This is not really a type of wallet but a way of using a wallet.



          A watch-only wallet is one that has had a public-key / address imported into it but which does not have the corresponding private-key.



          It can show the "balance" for an address but cannot be used to spend that balance.



          Often used by scammers to trick people but also useful as a safe type of hot-wallet to monitor your balance without any risk of theft.



          A wallet can usually have several sets of, erm, subwallets. A wallet could have both a private key for a hot-wallet with a small amount of money in it and an imported watch-only address for a cold-wallet so you can monitor balances for both "hot" and "cold" subwallets in one place.





          Things to remember ...



          (... about wallets and their use)




          • Wallets don't contain money.

          • Money is not sent to wallets.

          • The only important thing in a wallet is the private-key(s).

          • Never share a wallet-password - even if you change it afterwards, you've lost control of any money that has been, or might later be sent to addresses in that wallet.

          • Never share your private-key. Never.

          • Backup your private key or seed-phrase safely in several places.

          • Share overlapping parts of your private-key or seed phrase with several family members with instructions on what to do if you are hit by a bus this afternoon. (see several questions here from desperate bereaved relatives of people who made no provision for this)

          • What do you want to happen if your house burns down to ash with all your pcs, laptops, notebooks, phones, paper etc destroyed. (see questions here from people who lost their phone or overwrote their PC or mistyped their seed-phrase or forgot a password and don't know what a backup is or why they should have made several, in several places, in fireproof boxes, and tested recovery)




          Other lists



          Other places that have lists of different types of wallet:




          • https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

          • https://medium.com/@fastinvest/the-most-comprehensive-cryptocurrency-wallet-guide-5e820a26ed44

          • https://coinsutra.com/types-of-crypto-wallets/






          share|improve this answer























          • Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
            – karlito
            yesterday















          up vote
          3
          down vote














          Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?




          Hot wallets



          These are any kind of wallet that has a network connection and so is vulnerable to attack and is relatively unsafe. Many people prefer to keep their savings in a cold-wallet and only transfer money to a hot-wallet when they need to spend the money.



          You need a hot-wallet to send a payment

          You don't need a hot-wallet to receive payments.



          synonyms: online-wallet (confusingly - don't use this term)



          Cold wallets



          These are wallets that are not connected to the Internet, or any local network, and so are relatively safe from network-based attack by thieves.



          A cold-wallet can receive payments.



          Synonyms: offline-wallet.



          Varieties: paper-wallet, hardware-wallet (at least when not plugged in). Desktop wallet on isolated or turned-off PC, ...






          Are there more kinds?




          There are lots of ways of classifying wallets. Here's the main other kinds I know of:



          Desktop wallet



          A wallet that runs on a normal PC.



          Mobile Wallet



          A wallet that runs on a mobile phone. Almost always these are lightweight wallets.





          Custodial wallet



          A wallet where the private-keys are held by an online service, not by the customer.



          Typically access to the wallet is by a web-browser but sometimes with an app or using a custom desktop-client.



          Advantages: easy and fast to set up, transfers to other customers of the same service can be instant (no wait for confirmations) and cheaper.



          This is the least safe way to hold crytocurrency (see MtGox etc etc etc)



          Key point to remember: "No private-key = no Bitcoins" or "not your private-key means not your Bitcoins".



          Synonyms: web-wallet, hosted-wallet, online-wallet (rarely and confusingly)



          Paper wallet



          Wallets don't contain crytocurrency coins, the only important thing they contain are private-keys - anything else in them is disposable.



          Therefore printing your seed-phrase or private key onto paper as a QR-code, other barcode or as a hex or base64 string etc, can act as a wallet.



          A paper wallet can receive payments but cannot make them.



          A properly-managed paper-wallet is one of the most secure types of wallet.



          Hardware wallet



          A hardware device that safely holds your private key and which can connect to a PC, usually using a USB port, to sign transactions (without divulging the private key to the PC)



          This is arguably the most secure form of wallet.



          They typically need software on the PC which knows how to talk to them. Several desktop-wallets can interface with one or other hardware wallets.



          Brain wallet



          You don't hear this very often but it is an interesting form of wallet. There are standards for generating private-keys from a seed-phrase. Many wallets support this. If you can remember a seed phrase you can destroy your wallet and later re-create it using only the seed-phrase.



          If your wallet is only stored as a memorised phrase in your brain, it can still receive payments - so long as you have your payment address(es) noted down somewhere. Payment addresses need not be kept secret.



          Unfortunately people are pretty bad at remembering stuff.





          Full-node Wallet



          A wallet that keeps a copy of the whole blockchain. E.g. bitcoin-core.



          The trade-off is that the wallet takes days or weeks to synchronise when first installed. It will use up more of your network bandwidth (at least initially)



          This is the type of wallet that was first invented and is in many ways, one of the best types of wallet.



          Lightweight wallet



          A wallet that does not keep a copy of the whole blockchain and which trusts some other nodes to give it truthful blocks.



          The advantage is they don't need lots of storage space and can start-up much faster.



          Synonym: SPV wallet.





          Watch-only wallet



          This is not really a type of wallet but a way of using a wallet.



          A watch-only wallet is one that has had a public-key / address imported into it but which does not have the corresponding private-key.



          It can show the "balance" for an address but cannot be used to spend that balance.



          Often used by scammers to trick people but also useful as a safe type of hot-wallet to monitor your balance without any risk of theft.



          A wallet can usually have several sets of, erm, subwallets. A wallet could have both a private key for a hot-wallet with a small amount of money in it and an imported watch-only address for a cold-wallet so you can monitor balances for both "hot" and "cold" subwallets in one place.





          Things to remember ...



          (... about wallets and their use)




          • Wallets don't contain money.

          • Money is not sent to wallets.

          • The only important thing in a wallet is the private-key(s).

          • Never share a wallet-password - even if you change it afterwards, you've lost control of any money that has been, or might later be sent to addresses in that wallet.

          • Never share your private-key. Never.

          • Backup your private key or seed-phrase safely in several places.

          • Share overlapping parts of your private-key or seed phrase with several family members with instructions on what to do if you are hit by a bus this afternoon. (see several questions here from desperate bereaved relatives of people who made no provision for this)

          • What do you want to happen if your house burns down to ash with all your pcs, laptops, notebooks, phones, paper etc destroyed. (see questions here from people who lost their phone or overwrote their PC or mistyped their seed-phrase or forgot a password and don't know what a backup is or why they should have made several, in several places, in fireproof boxes, and tested recovery)




          Other lists



          Other places that have lists of different types of wallet:




          • https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

          • https://medium.com/@fastinvest/the-most-comprehensive-cryptocurrency-wallet-guide-5e820a26ed44

          • https://coinsutra.com/types-of-crypto-wallets/






          share|improve this answer























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            yesterday













          up vote
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          Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?




          Hot wallets



          These are any kind of wallet that has a network connection and so is vulnerable to attack and is relatively unsafe. Many people prefer to keep their savings in a cold-wallet and only transfer money to a hot-wallet when they need to spend the money.



          You need a hot-wallet to send a payment

          You don't need a hot-wallet to receive payments.



          synonyms: online-wallet (confusingly - don't use this term)



          Cold wallets



          These are wallets that are not connected to the Internet, or any local network, and so are relatively safe from network-based attack by thieves.



          A cold-wallet can receive payments.



          Synonyms: offline-wallet.



          Varieties: paper-wallet, hardware-wallet (at least when not plugged in). Desktop wallet on isolated or turned-off PC, ...






          Are there more kinds?




          There are lots of ways of classifying wallets. Here's the main other kinds I know of:



          Desktop wallet



          A wallet that runs on a normal PC.



          Mobile Wallet



          A wallet that runs on a mobile phone. Almost always these are lightweight wallets.





          Custodial wallet



          A wallet where the private-keys are held by an online service, not by the customer.



          Typically access to the wallet is by a web-browser but sometimes with an app or using a custom desktop-client.



          Advantages: easy and fast to set up, transfers to other customers of the same service can be instant (no wait for confirmations) and cheaper.



          This is the least safe way to hold crytocurrency (see MtGox etc etc etc)



          Key point to remember: "No private-key = no Bitcoins" or "not your private-key means not your Bitcoins".



          Synonyms: web-wallet, hosted-wallet, online-wallet (rarely and confusingly)



          Paper wallet



          Wallets don't contain crytocurrency coins, the only important thing they contain are private-keys - anything else in them is disposable.



          Therefore printing your seed-phrase or private key onto paper as a QR-code, other barcode or as a hex or base64 string etc, can act as a wallet.



          A paper wallet can receive payments but cannot make them.



          A properly-managed paper-wallet is one of the most secure types of wallet.



          Hardware wallet



          A hardware device that safely holds your private key and which can connect to a PC, usually using a USB port, to sign transactions (without divulging the private key to the PC)



          This is arguably the most secure form of wallet.



          They typically need software on the PC which knows how to talk to them. Several desktop-wallets can interface with one or other hardware wallets.



          Brain wallet



          You don't hear this very often but it is an interesting form of wallet. There are standards for generating private-keys from a seed-phrase. Many wallets support this. If you can remember a seed phrase you can destroy your wallet and later re-create it using only the seed-phrase.



          If your wallet is only stored as a memorised phrase in your brain, it can still receive payments - so long as you have your payment address(es) noted down somewhere. Payment addresses need not be kept secret.



          Unfortunately people are pretty bad at remembering stuff.





          Full-node Wallet



          A wallet that keeps a copy of the whole blockchain. E.g. bitcoin-core.



          The trade-off is that the wallet takes days or weeks to synchronise when first installed. It will use up more of your network bandwidth (at least initially)



          This is the type of wallet that was first invented and is in many ways, one of the best types of wallet.



          Lightweight wallet



          A wallet that does not keep a copy of the whole blockchain and which trusts some other nodes to give it truthful blocks.



          The advantage is they don't need lots of storage space and can start-up much faster.



          Synonym: SPV wallet.





          Watch-only wallet



          This is not really a type of wallet but a way of using a wallet.



          A watch-only wallet is one that has had a public-key / address imported into it but which does not have the corresponding private-key.



          It can show the "balance" for an address but cannot be used to spend that balance.



          Often used by scammers to trick people but also useful as a safe type of hot-wallet to monitor your balance without any risk of theft.



          A wallet can usually have several sets of, erm, subwallets. A wallet could have both a private key for a hot-wallet with a small amount of money in it and an imported watch-only address for a cold-wallet so you can monitor balances for both "hot" and "cold" subwallets in one place.





          Things to remember ...



          (... about wallets and their use)




          • Wallets don't contain money.

          • Money is not sent to wallets.

          • The only important thing in a wallet is the private-key(s).

          • Never share a wallet-password - even if you change it afterwards, you've lost control of any money that has been, or might later be sent to addresses in that wallet.

          • Never share your private-key. Never.

          • Backup your private key or seed-phrase safely in several places.

          • Share overlapping parts of your private-key or seed phrase with several family members with instructions on what to do if you are hit by a bus this afternoon. (see several questions here from desperate bereaved relatives of people who made no provision for this)

          • What do you want to happen if your house burns down to ash with all your pcs, laptops, notebooks, phones, paper etc destroyed. (see questions here from people who lost their phone or overwrote their PC or mistyped their seed-phrase or forgot a password and don't know what a backup is or why they should have made several, in several places, in fireproof boxes, and tested recovery)




          Other lists



          Other places that have lists of different types of wallet:




          • https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

          • https://medium.com/@fastinvest/the-most-comprehensive-cryptocurrency-wallet-guide-5e820a26ed44

          • https://coinsutra.com/types-of-crypto-wallets/






          share|improve this answer















          Can I get short a explanation about cryptocurrency cold/hot wallets?




          Hot wallets



          These are any kind of wallet that has a network connection and so is vulnerable to attack and is relatively unsafe. Many people prefer to keep their savings in a cold-wallet and only transfer money to a hot-wallet when they need to spend the money.



          You need a hot-wallet to send a payment

          You don't need a hot-wallet to receive payments.



          synonyms: online-wallet (confusingly - don't use this term)



          Cold wallets



          These are wallets that are not connected to the Internet, or any local network, and so are relatively safe from network-based attack by thieves.



          A cold-wallet can receive payments.



          Synonyms: offline-wallet.



          Varieties: paper-wallet, hardware-wallet (at least when not plugged in). Desktop wallet on isolated or turned-off PC, ...






          Are there more kinds?




          There are lots of ways of classifying wallets. Here's the main other kinds I know of:



          Desktop wallet



          A wallet that runs on a normal PC.



          Mobile Wallet



          A wallet that runs on a mobile phone. Almost always these are lightweight wallets.





          Custodial wallet



          A wallet where the private-keys are held by an online service, not by the customer.



          Typically access to the wallet is by a web-browser but sometimes with an app or using a custom desktop-client.



          Advantages: easy and fast to set up, transfers to other customers of the same service can be instant (no wait for confirmations) and cheaper.



          This is the least safe way to hold crytocurrency (see MtGox etc etc etc)



          Key point to remember: "No private-key = no Bitcoins" or "not your private-key means not your Bitcoins".



          Synonyms: web-wallet, hosted-wallet, online-wallet (rarely and confusingly)



          Paper wallet



          Wallets don't contain crytocurrency coins, the only important thing they contain are private-keys - anything else in them is disposable.



          Therefore printing your seed-phrase or private key onto paper as a QR-code, other barcode or as a hex or base64 string etc, can act as a wallet.



          A paper wallet can receive payments but cannot make them.



          A properly-managed paper-wallet is one of the most secure types of wallet.



          Hardware wallet



          A hardware device that safely holds your private key and which can connect to a PC, usually using a USB port, to sign transactions (without divulging the private key to the PC)



          This is arguably the most secure form of wallet.



          They typically need software on the PC which knows how to talk to them. Several desktop-wallets can interface with one or other hardware wallets.



          Brain wallet



          You don't hear this very often but it is an interesting form of wallet. There are standards for generating private-keys from a seed-phrase. Many wallets support this. If you can remember a seed phrase you can destroy your wallet and later re-create it using only the seed-phrase.



          If your wallet is only stored as a memorised phrase in your brain, it can still receive payments - so long as you have your payment address(es) noted down somewhere. Payment addresses need not be kept secret.



          Unfortunately people are pretty bad at remembering stuff.





          Full-node Wallet



          A wallet that keeps a copy of the whole blockchain. E.g. bitcoin-core.



          The trade-off is that the wallet takes days or weeks to synchronise when first installed. It will use up more of your network bandwidth (at least initially)



          This is the type of wallet that was first invented and is in many ways, one of the best types of wallet.



          Lightweight wallet



          A wallet that does not keep a copy of the whole blockchain and which trusts some other nodes to give it truthful blocks.



          The advantage is they don't need lots of storage space and can start-up much faster.



          Synonym: SPV wallet.





          Watch-only wallet



          This is not really a type of wallet but a way of using a wallet.



          A watch-only wallet is one that has had a public-key / address imported into it but which does not have the corresponding private-key.



          It can show the "balance" for an address but cannot be used to spend that balance.



          Often used by scammers to trick people but also useful as a safe type of hot-wallet to monitor your balance without any risk of theft.



          A wallet can usually have several sets of, erm, subwallets. A wallet could have both a private key for a hot-wallet with a small amount of money in it and an imported watch-only address for a cold-wallet so you can monitor balances for both "hot" and "cold" subwallets in one place.





          Things to remember ...



          (... about wallets and their use)




          • Wallets don't contain money.

          • Money is not sent to wallets.

          • The only important thing in a wallet is the private-key(s).

          • Never share a wallet-password - even if you change it afterwards, you've lost control of any money that has been, or might later be sent to addresses in that wallet.

          • Never share your private-key. Never.

          • Backup your private key or seed-phrase safely in several places.

          • Share overlapping parts of your private-key or seed phrase with several family members with instructions on what to do if you are hit by a bus this afternoon. (see several questions here from desperate bereaved relatives of people who made no provision for this)

          • What do you want to happen if your house burns down to ash with all your pcs, laptops, notebooks, phones, paper etc destroyed. (see questions here from people who lost their phone or overwrote their PC or mistyped their seed-phrase or forgot a password and don't know what a backup is or why they should have made several, in several places, in fireproof boxes, and tested recovery)




          Other lists



          Other places that have lists of different types of wallet:




          • https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

          • https://medium.com/@fastinvest/the-most-comprehensive-cryptocurrency-wallet-guide-5e820a26ed44

          • https://coinsutra.com/types-of-crypto-wallets/







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited yesterday

























          answered yesterday









          RedGrittyBrick

          2,145620




          2,145620












          • Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
            – karlito
            yesterday


















          • Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
            – karlito
            yesterday
















          Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
          – karlito
          yesterday




          Thank you for this great info! helped me to understand more..
          – karlito
          yesterday










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