Best Crypto Wallet UK
To BUY, SELL, SEND or RECEIVE crypto you will need a crypto wallet. A crypto wallet is your online current account but for your digital assets.
Digital assets also include NFT’s (Non Fungible Tokens) which can be kept safely in your crypto wallet too.
The whole cryptocurrency industry is unregulated in the UK, meaning most exchanges or companies operating within the space don’t have to comply with the FCA rules or regulations. It has therefore been likened to the ‘Wild West’ with crypto being stolen from exchanges and unsafe crypto wallets being hacked and emptied.
Safety is paramount and in this 5 min guide, we are going to run through the ‘Best UK Crypto Wallets’ to save you from getting scammed.
The Crypto Wallet Criteria:
- Safe & Secure (never been hacked!)
- Easy to set up (set up should take no longer than 5 mins)
- Simple to use
- Lowest commissions, fees or charges when buying or selling
The #5 Best UK Cryptocurrency Wallets
#1. eToro Wallet
#2. Coinbase
#3. Binance
#4. MetaMask
#5. ByBit
Next Steps:
We are going to run a deep dive into each wallet, explaining its functionality, usability & how to download it.
#1. eToro Wallet
eToro tops the list for a few simple reasons.
- Firstly they ARE authorised and regulated by the FCA, meaning no funny business. Their business activity and product offerings to customers therefore come under deep scrutiny which should give you big peace of mind.
Starting back in 2007 eToro now has millions of customers worldwide and has grown into a recognisable brand within the ‘FinTech’ space.
- The eToro Wallet is supported on both IOS and Android. The wallet can be downloaded onto your desktop or mobile on your smartphone.
- 500 tradable crypto assets pairs. Meaning once you have exchanged your GBP for your desired crypto you can then trade that (if you wanted to) for a further 120 different cryptocurrencies or 500 tradable pairs.
This should keep anyone looking for a diversified crypto portfolio happy and gives the average investor safe access to small cap coins. You can trade all that within this single wallet. This is great news as currently certain other wallets don’t support certain networks, meaning you end up with several wallets and it gets confusing. This faff is eliminated with the eToro wallet.
- Beginner safe – with the eToro wallet your private key is ‘unlosable’. There are currently hundreds of millions of dollars of crypto sat in wallets from the crypto early days that can’t be accessed by the owners, as they have forgotten the passwords. Seriously.
The beauty then of the eToro wallet, is that it comes with a security service to help you recover access to your wallet in the event that disaster somehow struck.
- ‘Private On-chain Address’ this may not mean much to you if you’re new to crypto but being able to transfer, receive and store crypto with your own on-chain unique, private address is a must have.
Other Benefits
Trade from crypto to other assets like stocks or gold. Having more than just crypto on their platform means you can trade out of other positions to buy Bitcoin to sell it and buy shares in Apple for instance.
Basically you can seamlessly trade between different assets like Oil, Gold, Bitcoin & Stock and Shares.
eToro is a large platform so that means good liquidity. Handling the daily volume that eToro does comes as an advantage to users of the platform since they are able to provide good liquidity for large trades and utilise small spreads keeping the cost of getting in and out of trades to a minimum. That all comes with ZERO fees too!
Sit-Rep: Is the eToro Wallet The Right Crypto Wallet for Me?
If you are based in the UK this is the crypto wallet to use as eToro are authorised and regulated by the FCA.
Download the eToro wallet today with its ‘Easy-to-Use’ intuitive design for safe access to a large number of cryptocoins.
eToro after all was set up as a platform for retail traders and investors so it’s only natural that it has some of the best UX in its class along with the ‘unlosable’ private keys feature. It’s a must have crypto wallet.
#2. Coinbase Wallet
The Coinbase wallet is the safest and secure way to store all of your crypto and NFT’s in one place.
Why a Coinbase wallet?
The reason Coinbase made our list is simple; they are listed on the US stock exchange meaning they are scrutinised by the appropriate authorities and regulatory bodies. So you can bet this wallet is extremely robust, deploying industry leading technology to keep everyone safe from hackers.
Now whilst the Coinbase platform, where you BUY and SELL crypto, isn’t decentralised (which is the main bug bear of any crypto ‘purist’) the Coinbase wallet is completely decentralised. A big tick to them.
Find out more about the Coinbase wallet on their website
Get a Coinbase Wallet
Getting started is simple, just download the app and set up your account. You then fund your account with either a debit or credit card and that’s it, you’re ready to go. You now have access to thousands of crypto coins and NFT’s. With such a wide variety of coins, it’s perfect for anyone looking for exposure to small or mid cap coins. As well as heavy weights like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum.
You’re in total control
Because the Coinbase wallet is a ‘self custody wallet’ you and only you, have total control. That’s total control over your private keys and your data. If privacy and control over your data is paramount to you, then the Coinbase wallet is the one you want.
Download the Coinbase wallet now
Coinbase Wallet Features
The Coinbase wallet is your ticket to the decentralised web where you can easily earn yield on your coins, acquire rare NFT’S and much more.
- Using decentralised exchanges you can swap assets
- You can supply crypto to DeFi liquidity pools or use them to borrow crypto
- You could even get involved in the crypto space by joining a DAO and help steer a major web3 project.
Why you should use the Coinbase Wallet?
Coinbase offers safe and secure access to 4,000 coins and endless NFT’s through its own cryptocurrency wallet allowing you to store everything in just one wallet.
The wallet supports every ERC-20 token and gives access to DApps all whilst providing you with complete autonomy.
#3. Binance ‘Trust’ Wallet
Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange. That’s a big claim especially as they started from nothing in only 2017.
Since then Binance has been adopted by every serious crypto investor who takes advantage of their safe, tight spreads and unique product offerings like crypto ‘Futures’.
Download a Binance Crypto ‘Trust’ Wallet
Binance have it even easy to onboard new customers, all you need to do is open an account and download their ‘Trust’ wallet. This can all be done online and can be done from anywhere.
The next step is to fund the account, and ofcourse they accept card payments in GBP (Sterling) or they wouldn’t have made our best crypto wallets list.
From there, with your account funded you can BUY & SELL crypto, it’s that simple.
Charges = None
The Binance ‘Trust Wallet’ is free to download and there are no hidden charges inside as they dont take a cut of anything. So the Trust Wallet is great for investors who regularly trade and don’t want fees and charges eating into their P&L.
Binance is popular amongst serious crypto traders and investors because they launched their own coin (BNB) which has seen a meteoric rise in value over the last 2 years.
But this is why you really need the ‘Trust Wallet’ from Binance?
It’s a DeFi wallet, meaning it’s completely decentralized! This gives you total freedom over your crypto. Because you own your own private keys you can actually access your crypto without the trust wallet if required. DeFi is loved by private crypto investors.
Infact the Trust Wallet provides so much privacy it cannot even see how much crypto you have and no one but you, has access to it.
DApp Browser
Ofcourse any DeFi wallet wouldn’t be complete without DApp’s (Decentralised Applications). From here you can do things like safely lending out your crypto or just browse new DApps and look for new opportunities. New to DApps? Then a whole new world awaits…
Staking
Using the Trust Wallet you can easily stake your crypto to earn even more. Perfect for investors looking to safely lock up their crypto and not trade it but also still get a return on capital.
Binance Futures
Don’t like the daily volatility of crypto or just want to take a longer term view in the crypto market then Binance futures are something you really should check out.
Working like any other ‘real world’ futures contract you can pick a time horizon and then profit accordingly.
Lets say, for example, you think BTC (Bitcoin) will have doubled by the end of the next quarter. However before doubling it could suffer a 30% drawdown in which without a futures contract would have forced you to sell your BTC thus missing out on all that 2x upside. Futures contracts are a perfect way to express a longer dated view on any crypto asset.
Download the DeFi Trust Wallet from Binance Now
#4. MetaMask
With 21 million users worldwide no cryptocurrency wallet list would be complete without mentioning MetaMask.
Whilst this probably isn’t a ‘brand name’ that you have heard of as there is no crypto exchange behind it, like there is with Coinbase or Binance, it is loved the world over by crypto enthusiasts.
About MetaMask
It’s a global community of designers and developers dedicated to making the world a better place with blockchain technology.
The mission is clear: ‘‘to democratize access to the decentralized web’’, the so-called ‘web3’.
UK Crypto Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets store your crypto ‘offline’. So instead of holding crypto in a ‘software’ wallet often just referred to as a ‘hotwallet’ like an eToro, Coinbase or Binance wallet. A hardware wallet will allow you store your crypto and NFT’s safely whilst not being connected to the internet.
Why Buy a Hardware Wallet?
Security conscious or long term holders will reduce/eliminate the chance of hackers breaking into their hardwallet because it’s not connected to the internet. Meaning no one can gain access.
The two most popular hardware wallets are Ledger and Trezor and they look just like USB’s.
Ofcourse using a hardware wallet won’t stop you buying, selling and sending crypto anywhere it’s just designed to keep your digital assets ‘offline’ for complete safety.
#2 Drawbacks of Hardware Crypto Wallets
- They cost money to purchase, whereas all ‘software’ or ‘hot wallets’ are free. An entry level ‘Nano Ledger S’, one of the best hardware wallets, is about £55 on Amazon. So they are affordable regardless of your crypto portfolio size. By comparison a top level ‘Ledger Nano X Crypto Hardware Wallet’ featuring the secure certified chip (CC EAL5+) costs £140.
- If you lose the hardware wallet you have lost all your digital assets! Hardware wallets are therefore best left in cold storage vaults or safes like other physical assets such as Gold or Silver.
There is a caveat to this rule however, using a Ledger you can retrieve all your digital assets in the event you lost your hardwallet. That is if you can remember your private keys!
Curve Ball: The Hybrid Cryptocurrency Wallet (UK) Option
Hot & Hard Wallets
Using both a hot wallet and a hardware wallet has become commonplace. Let’s say you have made 3 BTC and you currently hold them in a hot wallet. But you feel that holding 3 BTC in one wallet is too risky so you now want to place 2 BTC into a hardware wallet for long term cold storage.
That will leave you with 1 BTC to carry on trading with. If/when the requirement for the 2BTC in the hardware wallet arises you can simply transfer back into your hot wallet.
What is a Crypto Wallet?
A crypto wallet is an online or offline app for crypto investments. It enables investors to store digital assets and retrieve them whenever necessary.
The crypto or NFT is actually stored on the blockchain, BUT you’ll need the wallet’s private key to gain access to them.
The private key is unique to every wallet, and is used to prove that the crypto is yours. That’s why losing your private keys can mean losing your investments.
So, to be safe, use the most secure cryptocurrency wallet, such as the eToro wallet, for all your digital assets.
The best crypto wallets are wallets where you can store all your crypto in one place. Having everything in one place reduces any downside of losing or forgetting multiple private keys and/or accidentally sending things to the wrong wallet address.
How do Crypto Wallets Work?
The blockchain stores crypto transactions. These same transactions show up in ‘blocks’ which detail the transactions occurring on all addresses. This works the same for any cryptocurrency. On that block will show the holders of the public address keys. Keys generated by creating a blockchain wallet are private and public keys.
Private and Public Keys
You will share the public key to receive crypto from anyone sending it to you. However it’s with your private key, that you and only you, can access your crypto. Therefore your private keys cannot be lost and you should never give out your private keys, or someone could access your crypto and steal it. It’s like giving someone your pin code to your debit card, they could go to an ATM and withdraw all your money.
This is why the UK’s best crypto wallet is the eToro crypto wallet, not only is it very secure they have made sure your private keys are ‘unlosable’.
Without a crypto wallet you couldn’t buy, sell, send or receive any crypto, because the coins only exist in the public ledger, you need to use a wallet key address to actually access them.
Moving Crypto
To receive crypto into your wallet, you will need to supply the public address to the sender. Simply generate the QR code or alphanumeric code and send it over to them. To send crypto, it’s the same process but in reverse.
Best Bitcoin Wallet (UK)
All wallets have a geographical bearing, meaning the best wallet cryptocurrency wallet in, say, Asia may not be the best wallet for us in the UK. Or more commonly, it might not be supported in a certain geographical region.
The crypto situation is fluid, with politics having an effect on who can operate from which country. Therefore the emphasis in the UK should be safety and security and again heading for that well known brand name such as eToro, Binance or Coinbase makes the most sense.
eToro as a platform and company is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) that is why they are top of our list.
Crypto is decentralised and 99% of it is unregulated so keeping your Bitcoin safe in an eToro wallet should be paramount.
There is a saying ‘‘the point of failure is 6 inches from the computer screen’’ meaning that user error accounts for a high probability of mistakes.
Apply that crypto and that’s people hacking unsafe Bitcoin wallets, you sending Bitcoin to the wrong addresses, so called ‘fat finger’ errors. But the biggest one is forgetting private keys and passwords.
So the second big reason eToro wallets make for great Bitcoin wallets is because of their ‘unlosable’ private keys feature! If you forget or lose anything it can be retrieved. Plus you can buy so much more crypto with it than just Bitcoin with it.
Crypto Wallet Best Practise: Burner Wallets
A burner wallet is a crypto wallet that is used just for purchases or transfers of crypto and NFT’s. After it’s served its purpose this wallet is no longer used and is deleted or ‘burned’.
Burner Wallet Example Usage
Fund a burner wallet with just enough crypto from your ‘main wallet’ to make a purchase or transfer. This way you are reducing the risk of that transaction going wrong and hackers obtaining access to your main wallet which contains all your crypto.
For example you may wish to purchase an NFT for 0.08ETH. So you transfer 0.08ETH plus fees to a burner wallet from your main wallet. Using your burner wallet you now complete the purchase.
Success, you have just purchased an NFT and now after the transaction your NFT is sat in your burner wallet. For safety you then move your NFT from the burner wallet to your main wallet.
The idea behind this is so that your main wallet does no transactions and isn’t connected to any websites or other addresses and remains ‘clean’.
Crypto Wallets for NFT’s
If you are minting an NFT then you will need a wallet that supports the network which the NFT is on. If this is Ethereum (ETH) then a supportive wallet for example is MetaMask.
If the NFT project is on Solana then MetaMask isn’t supportive, instead the most commonly used wallet is a Phantom wallet.
Nearly all NFT projects that mint, regardless of the token that it’s on, will have a discord chat. Jump in that discord chat and ask questions. It’s the best way to learn. Just make sure that it’s the official discord chat and only follow official links when you’re in there.
Best rule of thumb is don’t follow or click any links from DM’s especially around the time of mint as this is when scammers are most active.
Buying an NFT from OpenSea.io
Opensea works on the Ethereum network, meaning you will need an Ethereum (ETH) supportive crypto wallet like a MetaMask wallet. If you’re in the UK then MetaMask works and you can buy an NFT on Opensea.io and store this in your MetaMask wallet.
Once you have downloaded and set up your MetaMask wallet you will need to fund the account with enough ETH to purchase the NFT plus enough to cover Gas fees. It’s simple to do, just hit the ‘BUY’ button and follow the steps.
It will show the amount of ETH you want to purchase in GBP (£) again be sure you have enough to cover both the NFT purchase and the associated fees.
Buying an NFT from MagicEden.io
MagicEden works on the Solana (SOL) network, so that means you will require Solana (SOL) to purchase an NFT. A good wallet that is Solana supportive is a Phantom wallet.
Best Crypto Wallet (UK) Conclusion
The best crypto wallets are in this order
#1. eToro – they are authorised and regulated by the UK FCA which is rare in the crypto space. They have an ‘unlosable’ private key / password feature. Great UX for beginners plus it’s simple to open, fund and then use the account and it gives access to thousands of crypto coins.
#2. Coinbase
#3. Binance
#4. MetaMask
- If you require a crypto ‘hard wallet’ the two best brands are (in no particular order) Trezor & Ledger.
- The best overall bitcoin wallet is the eToro wallet
Buying NFT’s on Opensea will require you to have Ethereum (ETH) supportive wallet like MetaMask.
If you are buying NFT’s on MagicEden then you will require a wallet that supports Solana (SOL) such as a Phantom wallet.
*Lastly: conduct enough of your own research to make an informed decision