What is the best Bitcoin wallet for beginners?

Choosing your first Bitcoin (BTC) wallet can seem complicated. The variety is great, the terms are technical and, depending on your choice, you could end up with an insecure wallet or a custodial service disguised as a wallet.

However, there are reliable, easy-to-use options with everything a beginner needs in terms of features.

In this article, I've put together the portfolios (or wallets, which I consider to be the most suitable for beginners, explaining why they are particularly good for beginners.

However, before we talk about wallets, let's understand how they work and how to use them safely.

After all, what is a Bitcoin wallet and what is it for?

The Bitcoin network, called blockchain, It works like a big ledger with several copies around the world, so that everyone can see where each of the BTC coins are.

To put it simply, you can imagine that there are countless coin vaults, and anyone can generate as many new vaults as they like for free.

The vaults are completely transparent so you can see all the coins already minted and where they are. Even if you don't know who owns each vault, it's still an impressively open system.

In each of the safes there is an opening where anyone can deposit coins, but only those who have the key to that safe (or a copy of the key) will be able to spend them.

Wallet apps help you create a safe, use your key to spend your coins, or even recover lost safes with their key copies. All of this is intuitive, without you needing to be a technology expert.

How to store your keys

When you create your first Bitcoin wallet on one of these apps, you'll typically have the option of write down 12 words in English. Don't skip this part, these words, written down in the order in which they appear, become a code that represents your key to the safe.

There are complex and ingenious ways of securing a copy of a key, but for your first wallet, paper and pen should do the trick. Write the words down in legible order and keep it safe.

If you have a small physical safe at home or a lockable drawer where you store your valuables, this could be the ideal place to store them. backup your wallet.

Now that you know how a Bitcoin wallet works and how to store a copy of your private key, let's move on to the list of the best wallets for beginners.

The best Bitcoin wallets for beginners

To make this list, I have excluded all the options that do not meet the requirements I consider essential for any wallet, even for beginners:

• Non-custodian: the developers behind the wallet have no access to your funds. You are only a sovereign Bitcoin user when you are the sole holder of your key.
• Transparent: the software that makes up the wallet must be open source. Even if you don't know anything about programming, it's much better to use a wallet that several programmers around the world have been able to vouch for.
• Tax control: all wallets suggest a fee to pay for each BTC transfer, but only a few give you the autonomy to choose what that fee will be.
• Bech32: support for the latest Bitcoin address types. There is no need for a beginner to understand this in depth, but the fact that the wallet supports the newest addresses shows that there is active development, which is positive for the user.

When I went through the initial filter, I chose a wallet available for smartphones and one for desktop by ease of use. This criterion depends on personal opinion, so other people may come to different conclusions, but certainly the following Bitcoin wallets are great for beginners.

For cell phones: BlueWallet

Available for Android and iOS, BlueWallet is one of the most user-friendly options for those starting out in Bitcoin.

It's the typical simple wallet with just a few buttons, but it's also good enough for more experienced users who want to use several wallets with different settings in the same app.

But the best feature for beginners is wallet recovery. Without going into technical details, each wallet can generate its key in a different format.

And many apps ask you to enter the exact format of the key you're trying to import, which is often complicated. In BlueWallet, you just enter the key as you wrote it down and it does its best to understand the format and retrieve your wallet the right way. 

• Intuitive and easy-to-use interface;
• Available in Portuguese;
• Import any private key without complications.

Read or watch our full tutorial video on how to use Blue Wallet!

For computers: Electrum

Available for Windows, Mac and Linux, Electrum is perhaps the most traditional Bitcoin wallet on the market. It's complete, secure, fast and easy to use.

It's simply the best option for those who prefer to use a computer. It's been around for over a decade and, although it's advanced, a beginner can use the basics without too much difficulty.

For an extra layer of security, you can add a password to encrypt the wallet. But be sure to write down the password and keep it as carefully as the wallet key.

• Robust in functionality;
• Available in Portuguese;
• Allows password encryption.

For more cryptocurrencies: Exodus

Available for all platforms, Exodus is one of the oldest and simplest multi-currency wallets.

You'll need a wallet like Exodus if you want to use and store something other than Bitcoin, such as the digital dollar Tether (USDT), the Ethereum network token, ether (ETH), etc.

It's visually pleasing and has the added convenience of bringing together as many coins as possible in one place, but you need to make sure you keep the private key of each of the cryptocurrencies you have on balance.

• Nice interface;
• Practicality by offering various cryptocurrencies.

---

Do you want to deepen your understanding of Bitcoin and financial sovereignty? If you have any questions, want to better organize your studies or understand how to use sovereign tools in a practical and safe way, fill in the form below.