How to Open a Bitcoin Wallet

Don't know how to open a Bitcoin wallet? Let me show you how to open a crypto account, and also show you how to create your first Bitcoin crypto wallet.

By The 'Staunch

Bitcoin don’t exist physically and technically.

You simply need a special kind of cryptocurrency wallet to store it securely, both online and offline.

As a digital currency, the methods of acquiring and storing Bitcoin is totally different from that of traditional currencies.

This is why you need one of the best Bitcoin wallet to store it digitally (i.e. virtually) using private keys.

You’ll also access your BTC wallet public address and to sign for transactions that need to be securely stored.

I know you’ll be asking, do I really need a wallet for my Bitcoin business?

Yes of course, you seriously need a good Bitcoin wallet for that matter!

Firstly, it’s combination of your private key and public key that makes Bitcoin transactions possible from one place to another.

Why needing a Bitcoin wallet?

A transaction is a transfer of value between wallets that gets included in the blockchain.

Bitcoin wallets keep a secret piece of data called a private key or seed.

This is used to sign transactions, providing a mathematical proof that they have come from the owner of a wallet.

Simply put that, a cryptocurrency wallet is a software program where Bitcoins are stored.

To be technical, Bitcoins are not stored physically; there is a private key for every address that is saved in the wallet of the balance owner.

Bitcoin wallets facilitate sending and receiving to give ownership of the Bitcoin balance to the user.

The Bitcoin wallet comes in many forms; desktop, mobile, web, and hardware are the five main types of wallets.

Types of Bitcoin wallet

Bitcoin Wallets

There are several types of Bitcoin wallets in terms of accessibility, safety, convenience, security etc.

Bitcoin Hardware Wallets

A hardware wallet is a unique form of bitcoin wallet that stores user’s private keys in a hardware device.

Note: This is the most secure form of wallet to securely store any cryptocurrency, while avoiding any form of theft and hackers attacks.

Unlike paper wallets, which must be imported to a software before usage, hardware wallets can be used securely without the long process of importing your crypto assets for transactions.

The stored bitcoins cannot be transferred in plain text, and mostly, their apps are open sourced software.

Thus, some hardware wallets have keys which makes them convenient to transact without the need of third-party software to check the balance of funds remaining.

This screen can also be used to generate a recovery phrase, to confirm payments and generate temporal addresses for receiving Bitcoins.

There are manufacturers of these wallets that has good reputation over the years for producing such devices for storing crypto assets.

The most secured and trusted hardware wallets on the market as at currently are:

  1. Ledger Nano wallets – $56 – $200
  2. Trezor wallet – $99

The thing to keep in mind when using hardware wallets, is that you have to be very careful with the storage device to avoid damage.

Using a damaged hardware wallet may lead to lose of funds, especially if the private keys was not in any way generated and saved.

Mobile Wallets

Bitcoin Mobile Wallets

If you are into cryptocurrency and mostly make use of your Bitcoin investment on daily basis, these type of wallets will be very convenient for you.

It can be used to pay for goods in shops (both online and offline) or engaging in face-to-face transactions.

It is ran as an app on your smart-phones to store your private keys, which allows you to pay for transfer directly from your mobile phones.

Moreover, some phones comes with NFC (Near Field Communication) feature which enables some bitcoin holders to transact.

This is normally possible without having to provide any information during the process.

Despite the fact that your mobile phones can be private, it’s still prone to hackers who use phishing attack on crypto wallets.

As soon as they gain access to your private keys, they can simply make transactions, and transfers without your consent at all.

Best mobile phone Bitcoin wallets apps for storing BTC are:

  1. Trust wallet
  2. Jaxx wallet.

I will strongly recommend using Trust mobile offline crypto wallet to safely secure your Bitcoin investment from theft.

4. Online Wallet

Online web bitcoin wallets stores your private keys on a server of a company providing such services.

The server is constantly online and controlled somewhere by someone else.

This means that, you don’t really have total control, since the private key is been stored on the server itself.

Most cryptocurrency exchanges make use of this kind of storage to secure and store Bitcoins.

Some of the best crypto exchanges that one can use for temporally storing your bitcoin investment online are:

These exchange platforms (especially Binance) make use of cold (i.e. offline wallet) storage devices.

Paper Wallet

This is a kind of document that contains a public address and a private key that can be used to receive bitcoins.

It also allows you to transfer or spend the bitcoins stored at that particular address.

It is often printed in form of QR-based codes, so that you can quickly scan them and add the keys to a designated software wallet to make a transaction.

A paper wallet can be used to create a random Bitcoin address and private key for storing the crypto.

It is advised that before you create a paper wallet address, you should be very sure that no one is watching you.

You can make use of brand new operating system, and also make sure that a networked camera is not enabled where you’re creating the paper address.

It is also important to let you know that printing information on a piece of paper, means you have to securely guard that piece of paper from damages.

I will always advise you to always laminate your paper wallet if you choose this kind of method to store your Bitcoin investment.

Physical Bitcoin

This is achieved through implementation of tamper-evident seal on a gold-plated physical coin.

Physical Bitcoin is a designed coin that is pre-loaded with a fixed amount of BTC, with intention of not sending it out.

Physical bitcoins

Bitbill is one of the physical Bitcoin that is shaped like a credit card, but most alternatives were shaped as a round metal.

Mike Cadwell, a cryptocurrency enthusiast popularly nicknamed, Casascius‘ created the first of the popular Casascius physical bitcoins in 2011.

The private keys were hidden under a peel-able hologram. The physical Bitcoin looses its worth once it’s redeemed.

Thus, this is the type of bitcoin physical asset that can be stored in a bank for security for long-term HODLing.

It can be very useful when transacting offline in a large quantity.

The major disadvantage is this form of BTC, is that armed robbers may figure out that you have it and try to snatch it away from you.

5. Desktop Wallet

BTC Bitcoin Wallets

Desktop wallets are designated software that are installed on a personal computer to protect private keys from making use of the hard disk drives.

However, they are all offline wallets and also, a great solution for cryptocurrency enthusiasts of small amount of Bitcoins from their computers.

They have both mobile and desktop software that are secured due to the fact that they’re offline wallets.

Thus, storing bitcoin on a personal computer can also be risky especially, when you’re always online with with the same computer.

There can be attack by hackers, but anti-virus software like Avast and Kaspersky are mostly recommended for avoiding such events.

What’s the Best BTC wallet?

It is always important to store your investment outside an exchange, or you risk the chance of loosing all your crypto assets instantly.

A virtual exchange wallet can run away with your Bitcoin crypto investments.

Luckily, there are many options to choose from when making decisions to type of the best Bitcoin wallet to use in securing your cryptocurrency.

If you’re currently using a software wallet on any device (either desktop or mobile phone), try to always have a good anti-virus installed alongside.

Avoid making use of wallets that rely on Internet connections.

I will personally recommend a Ledger Nano X wallet, as it’s one of the best cold storage Bitcoin hardware wallet devices.

It doesn’t even need Internet connection to keep your crypto values, as well protect it from theft and hacks.

About the 'Staunch

Henry is the founder of Crypto Staunch. He studied accounting and finance at Godfrey Okoye University, but became a Cryptopreneur to pursue his interest in learning digital currency and asset investment. Since 2018, Henry Kings has writing about Crypto, DeFi & NFT to help other people get started in the space. His publications has been featured in Binance Square, Digest Africa, Tech Economy, International Business Times, CoinDesk and many other top Crypto media outlets.

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Binance Exchange

Reliable crypto exchange by a developer known as Changpeng Zhao, who's now retired as CEO.

Ledger Nano X

Ledger released Nano X hardware wallet in 2019 to help crypto enthusiasts secure their digital asset.

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About The 'Staunch

Henry is the founder of Crypto Staunch. He studied accounting and finance at Godfrey Okoye University, but became a Cryptopreneur to pursue his interest in learning digital currency and asset investment. Since 2018, Henry Kings has writing about Crypto, DeFi & NFT to help other people get started in the space. His publications has been featured in Binance Square, Digest Africa, Tech Economy, International Business Times, CoinDesk and many other top Crypto media outlets.