Bitcoin’s dominant status in the crypto verse is no secret at all. It’s the king. It’s the mother and father of all digital assets. It dominates the conversation both within and without the cryptosphere. It also dominates the market because of its price, capitalization, trading volumes. In fact, BTC is so important that people outside the crypto world often consider crypto and Bitcoin to be synonymous and BTC the only game in town very much like jello and gelatine.
There’s nothing wrong with Bitcoin’s reputation and influence, of course. And it’s a fact, even if there was something wrong indeed. But any cryptonaut knows that BTC is not the only game in town. Many other cryptocurrencies exist, and some of them are exciting projects with advantageous features and solid fundamentals. They’re rising in value and adoption because they have concrete use cases that can complement Bitcoin’s sheer power. One of those coins is Monero (XMR).
CoinMarketCap ranks Monero as the world’s 13th most tremendous digital asset by market capitalization, and it the project’s core values, especially its emphasis in privacy and anonymity, are helping XMR to become increasingly popular.
XMR came to life when a group of Bytecoin community users led by Johnny Mnemonic decided to take over a somehow failed cryptocurrency project called “BitMonero” which was started by a user known as thankful_for_today who started the ball rolling but then disappeared from the stage
Every transfer settled within XMR’s chain is anonymous, private, and untraceable. That’s why users trade their BTC or any other coins they may hold into XMR, then back into BTC. That conversion breaks links between transactions. Trading in Monero means being basically invisible within the crypto verse.
Monero’s innovative nature is also shown by the fact that it’s not based in Bitcoin at all (as so many other projects are), but it’s instead based on CryptoNight as a hashing algorithm. Every transference is shielded by cryptographic technology, so only the parties directly involved in each transfer know precisely what’s going on.
The unique specifications Monero has make it a favorite for every privacy expert and enthusiast in the world. And also for criminals, which is unfortunate but unavoidable. That’s how many governments around the globe are justifying their attempts to ban Monero as well as other privacy-focused digital coins.
BitOasis is delisting XMR as this month ends and, while it’s not explained why, chances are it’s just because it wants to avoid the controversy that comes with supporting a blind spot for governments and authorities.
Yet, Monero remains a rising star in the crypto horizon, and lots of new traders are coming in to become holders.
As we hope you know, you should never keep your hard-earned digital wealth in any exchange platform for more time than strictly necessary to complete a trade. Especially not in centralized exchanges, which still are the rule. The purpose in exchange platforms is to trade, not to store tokens, so if you own Monero (or any other cryptocurrency), you should have a wallet that can hold your tokens. If the wallet is cold, an offline one, then it’s even better.
In this article, we’ll tell you about four good options for wallets that you can use to keep your XMR coins, and many other currencies as well. You shouldn’t use our information to support a final decision, though, but as a starting point for your own research.
Ledger Nano S
This is a hardware wallet which has quickly become one of the favorites in the cryptosphere. It supports a lot of different tokens, it’s small and portable, safe, easy to use, and it’s not free, but it’s one of the cheapest (and best) devices of its kind in the market. Of course, it supports Monero, and it can handle it very well.
The device itself looks very much like your run-of-the-mill USB stick, except that it includes a tiny screen. This cute little toy keeps your XMR offline and safe until you decide to use them by just connecting it to a computer, which you can do anywhere.
Ledger Nano S supports all the big players in crypto and also many lesser-known altcoins, so it’s very versatile and useful. But if you like XMR, the chances are that you are quite concerned with safety, privacy, and anonymity and this device is your friend in that regard. Ledger has two-factor authentication, a PIN code, and recovery seed accessibility. It’s as tight as wallets can be.
No, it’s not free. But no hardware wallet is free anyway. And this one is priced very competitively if you take into account how fully featured it is.
Monero GUI Wallet
This is not just any wallet, free or otherwise. This is Monero’s official wallet. It’s a desktop app that includes a graphical user interface with all the bells and whistles you could expect or want. The robust security features in the software mean that downloading it and syncing it is not a quick process, but you need to download it only once, and your patience is rewarded by having one of the most robust XMR wallets in the market.
Besides its robustness, it’s quite easy to use, especially for crypto-rookies. So this is the ideal choice for a user who wants to get involved with the Monero environment but doesn’t want to complicate things any more than it’s strictly necessary or spend money on a commercial wallet such as Ledger Nano S.
My Monero
MyMonero is a perfect web-based XMR wallet with good credibility as it’s developed by one of Monero’s original team members. This wallet is the friendliest to users, but maybe it’s not as safe or as fully-featured as some would like.
It’s a web platform, so you get there, open up an account, and manage your Monero wealth via the web. A 13-word password protects your security as a user, which you need to keep secure in the long run.
The fact that you need an account on a website is probably this service’s primary drawback. Anonymity is one of Monero’s hallmarks, and that purpose is kind of defeated by the need to have your wallet in a web account that’s directly traceable to you. Still, it has other advantages.
Monerujo
Last but not least, we have an Android wallet called Monerujo. This is an open-source project. All your data is stored locally, on your Android device. The app can manage several different wallets at the same time, and it can transfer funds back and forth using Monero to settle payments. It’s unique in that regard.
As it happens with most Android apps, it’s effortless to use, and the interface is very intuitive for all kinds of users.
Of course, increased portability brings a lot of convenience to the table, but if you lose your mobile phone, then you’ll have a tough time recovering your XMR tokens. So if you’re going mobile, you need to also invest the attention and energy in being extra careful about not misplacing your tablet, or phone or whatever device you’re using.
Other options
Many other wallets of all kinds support XMR because it’s becoming one of the crypto verse’s more popular (and useful) currencies. Chances are you’ll find one that suits your needs very quickly. But when it comes to keeping your XMR safe, specifically, the options we described are indeed the best in the market. This applies especially to the first two because Ledger Nano S is indeed one of the best hardware wallets and because Monero GUI Wallet is the project’s official wallet.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.