Lets face it, one of the great perks about cryptocurrency is Decentralised Finance (DeFi), where you can lend, borrow and stake your crypto to earn tokens and rewards. If you want to know more about what DeFi is and how it can benefit you, you can find out here.
DeFi is where online wallets, like mobile crypto wallets or crypto wallet apps can really benefit you and your hip pocket. On this page, we look at the best crypto wallet app in different categories to cover off what is important to YOU! Let us help you find the safest mobile crypto wallet and the best crypto wallet app to take advantage of the killer staking, earning, lending and borrowing capabilities out there with DeFi!
We’ve researched and reviewed the top crypto wallet apps in 2021 – here’s the verdict:
The verdict
- Binance Wallet – best in class for DeFi
- Celsius Wallet – best for passive income
- Exodus crypto wallet – safest crypt wallet app
You can read about how we reached our verdict in the full reviews below.
Our research also covers these other popular apps:
If you want to learn more about different crypto wallet apps and how to use them to interact with Decentralised Finance to make passive income, then be sure to keep up to date with our DecryptiFi blog.
First through, let’s make sure you’ve got all of our safest crypto wallet app tips.
Safest crypto wallet app – tips
Before we get in to our review of the best online crypto wallets, it’s important to consider that crypto wallet apps are connected to the internet and so are a target for fraud and hacking. To help you, we’ve put together our biggest tips to follow before you start using any online crypto wallet to transact your crypto. Following these tips will help make your crypto wallet app as safe as possible while you use it.
Secure your mobile device first
Crypto wallet apps and their services are generally non – custodial. This means the apps rely on the security of your device and your own security practices. This is the first rule making sure your crypto wallet app is safe. Make sure your operating systems is updated, 2FA is turned on, and you’re not clicking on any random links or opening sites that are dodgy. Also, take advantage of any extra security features the wallet might offer – like the Trust crypto wallet ‘Hodl on’ security feature. We receive the Trust crypto wallet below.
Download the ‘real’ crypto wallet app
The first thing you need to know about crypto wallet apps is that they can be and are counterfeited. That’s right, a fake crypto wallet app that looks exactly like the one, waiting for you to download it from whatever app store you use. Once you set the fake one up and link it to your coins, they disappear. Concerning I know. So how do you get around this? It’s tricky, but there are a few tacts to take.
Firstly don’t download any app from any link sent to you via text or email or posted on messenger apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. Don’t even click on these links.
Secondly, don’t go to your app store and look up the app directly. You may just click on a fake one. The way we access any crypto wallet apps is directly from the developers website. You have to check the domain name carefully for any website you look up directly. The best approach is to type the domain name into the address bar.
We also use Coinmarketcap, which is an excellent crypto resource for coins, exchanges, and protocols. In the example below we searched TWT (Trust Wallet token) in the search bar. You can see Coinmarketcap has a direct link to the developers site and a search bar at the top of the page you can use to find what you are looking for. They also have an excellent crypto app themselves.
Set up ‘in-wallet’ security
Another thing to understand when you use a mobile crypto wallet is that you need to take all of the steps available to set up security. Most crypto wallet apps, with the exception of the Argent Wallet, will require you to either create a wallet or download a wallet when you open the app for set up. This usually involves writing down your seed phrase, which the app generates for you and you use if ever you need to recover the coins that are accessed via the app.
Most crypto wallet apps will also prompt you to set up a Pin Code to open the app itself, like a banking app would. If you don’t see this, find ‘settings’ in the app menu in the app and go into the security settings. Our advice is to take advantage of any and all additional security settings the app makes available, whether its 2FA functions or other ways to protect your coins while using the app. Turn on auto lock functions and turn on transaction signing functions via the security menu too if these are available. If they are not available, then you might consider it risky to use that app and certainly don’t keep a lot of coins in it.
Update the wallet app every single time!
You must update your wallet apps as soon as updates are available. In the crypto world, many of these updates will be there to protect you from ‘zero day vulnerabilities in the software. A ‘zero-day attack’ can happen if a flaw, or software/hardware vulnerability, is identified by a hacker before it is identified by the app development team. The vulnerability is exploited when the attackers release malware before the developer has the chance to create a patch to fix the vulnerability—hence “zero-day.” You need to make sure any developer patches are applied to your wallet by keeping the app up to date at all times.
Best crypto wallet app in 2021
Binance wallet – best in class
What is Binance wallet?
Binance wallet is the crypto wallet app the accompanies the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. Binance is one of the biggest names in crypto, operating the largest centralised crypto exchange by volume.
Their wallet showcases exactly why Binance is the industry leader in crypto services. It’s simply value packed with features that give you a user experience you won’t get with other apps – in terms of performance, versatility and function. Here are some of the features we love:
Home Page Customization – you can customize the appearance of your App home page based on your preferences. Simply select the icons that relate to the services you use most and voila – everything right there on the homepage with just a tap of the screen.
Comes in two version Lite and Pro, with one-click Switch between them – In the wallet, you can switch between Binance Lite and Pro versions depending on your trader level and internet speed. This makes it both beginner and pro trader friendly. Binance Pro has more features for pro traders that require advanced user knowledge, while the Lite version is for beginners and runs smoother, if your network connection is lagging.
Local settings – in the settings menu you can customise both the language and the currency settings of the App. This is awesome if you’re not from the US as most of the other crypto wallet apps on the market come in US dollars, which you then need to convert yourself.
Price widget – you can add the Binance wallet to your phone widget page and then add your favour tradings inside the Binance widget. You never have to open the app again to see what Bitcoin or Eth are trading at while you’re on out and about!
QR Code login – the Binance wallet has a QR code generator that you can open and use to easily log in to your Biance account in any web browser. Saves heaps of time faffing around with your login credentials and authentication processes.
The app comes with a menu that includes “Home” screen, “Markets” screen, “Trade” screen, and “Wallet” screen. You’ll find all of the crypto you own in the wallet screen.
You can download the Binance wallet app straight from their website.
Is Binance wallet safe?
Let’s look at the security features of the Binance wallet and what it offers to protect your crypto.
Passwords – Binance offers the standard password protection of all crypt wallet apps. For Iphone you can also switch on face recognition.
Authentication – Binance wallet offers multiple factor authentication on login and transactions. You an use SMS, email and Google authenticator to validate authorised transactions in the app. Just turn these on under “Security’ in the settings menu.
Whitelist Addresses – this feature helps protect you from phishing attacks and hackers. Turning on the whitelist address function will only allow withdrawals to specified wallet addresses. Keeps hackers out of your account!
Security updates – Binance, regularly communicates any security-related updates to everyone who uses the exchange. This can be in the form of an email, post, or blog update. Make sure you read these and follow any steps required for the update.
Device management – “Device Management” allows you to see the list of all devices authorised to access your Binance account, You can check this any time under the “Security” menu on the app. You can also remove any unrecognized or unused devices.
What can you use it for?
This is such a long and distinguished list that we won’t be able to cover everything here. What we will do is provide you blog updates on the latest features in the Binance Wallet and what you can use them for. Stay tuned to our DeCryptiFi blog for more! In the meantime, let’s get into what we love the most about the Binance Wallet.
Trading Options
Crypto trading is the bread and butter of the Binance service and it’s easily done right from the Binance Wallet. There’s a Spot and Futures market that you can trade directly in the wallet for the pro traders out there. There is also higher risk margin trading products.
Binance Spot
Here’s where you do all of your crypto trading. The Binance wallet has a nice easy view of the dollar value of exactly what’s in your Spot wallet at any one time. If you go deeper into the Spot feature you can see all deposts, withdrawals, distributions and BNB conversions. Binance allows you to convert what it calls ‘dust’ (small assets that are left over from trades) into BNB which means you can over time get a nice collection of the Binance native coin.
Binance Save
This is where you can earn interest on the crypto while it sis in your Binance wallet so you’re just accruing small amounts of crypto each day. It all adds up!
There is a ‘flexible savings’ feature, which means you can access the particular coin you want to earn interest on at any time but generally with lower savings rates of 1 to 3%. This has a nice autosubscribe function that you can turn on for each coin or token. Autosubscribe will pay you interest automatically whenever you have that coin in your wallet.
There is also ‘locked savings’, which is pretty much the same as ‘Staking’. This is where you lock your crypto assets up in the wallet for an agreed period and in return you’re paid a higher interest rate.
Binance Staking
Binance staking is where you can lock your crypto in a particular protocol (as part of a pool of similar coins) and earn interest on it. The coins are staked on your behalf, which introduces additional risk but which you are compensated for through the interest rate. We’ve received staking interest of more than 40% using this wallet function. The best thing about it? How easy it is. Literally tap into the staking screen and click ‘stake’ for the coins you want to earn interest on.
When you have crypto assets in Save or Staking, you’ll need to toggle to ‘Earn’ in the Wallet screen to find where these coins are. You get an “Overview’ in your wallet that adds up all of your assets across the various features of – Spot, Margin, Futures, P2P, Earn and Pool.
This is just the beginning of what you can do with the Binance Wallet. It’s such a full featured offering that we’d just recommend you sign up to Binance and download the app from their website QR code and start earning some crypto. What are you waiting for?
If you want to save on your Binance transaction fees, sign up to a Binance account using this link! Oh, and Binance also has some of the lowest transaction fees in crypto – winning!
Celsius wallet – Best crypto wallet app for passive income
What is Celsius wallet?
Celsius is a platform that provides DeFi personal financial services. They aim to provide services they say the big banks have forgotten about – fair interest rates, zero fees and fast transactions. They have been around since 2017 and the service is now available in more than 100 countries around the world.
The Celsius business model is not a Ponzi scheme! Reward payments (interest) are funded by their lending business. They lend out the coins users transfer to hedge funds, institutional traders and exchanges, and other corporate partners. These partners can deposit up to 150% collateral to secure the coins Celsius lends them and pay Celsius interest on those loans. They also lend US dollars directly to users – with digital assets as collateral – and earn interest from those loans.
The great news with Celsius is at the time of writing they have a promo where you can earn $40 in Bitcoin if you set up an account, with this link and our promo code 1910143eb7.
Just follow our direct link to the developer site, download the Celsius Wallet directly from there and once you set up your Celsius wallet go into your profile and add our promo code. Who doesn’t love a little free BTC!
Is Celsius wallet safe?
We we’re talking ‘safe’ here we mean wallet security not financial security. Do your own due diligence for any financial investment!
As we always say, your crypto is always safest in a hardware wallet. Like your fiat cash (at least once upon a time) was safest in the bank. But if you are looking to compound your crypto currency and earn interest, then you are going to need to invest it and here is where the Celsius wallet shines.
Celsius wallet has some great security features to protect your crypto. When you set up Celsius access you do have to set up an App Pin Code (like with your banking app) and provide your KYC or Know Your Customer details. This includes name, address and ID document. Verification occurs within minutes and then you’re all ready to start earning, borrowing. BUT, before you do anything it’s a good idea to go into the menu and set up the security features for the App. This includes turning on their biometric security access if you want to do that, setting up 2 factor authentication, and also setting up “Hodl mode’. Hodl in crypto language means ‘hold’ or stash your coins rather than trade or sell them. Hodl mode is an extra layer of security on withdrawals only. It prevents any withdrawals from your account without a separate PIN code.
What can you use it for?
Celsius lets you earn, borrow and buy crypto directly in the app. So let’s dive in to everything you need to know.
Earn interest of up to 17%
You can deposit your crypto into Celsius wallet and start earning some great double digit interest with very little hassle. Here’s what you need to know:
CEL token – The first thing to understand about the interest earning products is the Celsius token. Celsius has a token that they use to provide rewards for ‘Celcians’ that use their service. The ticker is CEL. You can opt to earn interest in either CEL or in the currency you deposited. If you hold and earn in CEL you will receive a higher interest rate on your coins. The CEL your hold as a percentage of your total holdings, the higher your earnings rate.
Stablecoins – At the time of writing, Celsius offered 10% APY on stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. Earning this kind of interest on stablecoins is probably considered lower risk than other types of crypto because the price is not subject to the large fluctuations that other crypto can experience. You can learn more about stablecoin earnings here. There are no minimum deposits for Celsius wallet, which is also a great feature if you want to test it out or teach your kids about crypto and financial freedom.
Crypto coins and tokens – at last count Celsius wallet supported over 40 coins and tokens in their lending (interest) service. You could earn rates as high as 14% without holding the Celsius token or 17% with a bunch of CEL in your account. These coins will fluctuate with the crypto market while you lend them via the Celsius platform.
Interest calculations – Weekly rewards are calculated every Friday at 05:00:00 UTC, according to prices at that moment. Which means that their interest rates change on a weekly basis depending on the current market conditions. This is common for DeFi where markets set the earning and borrowing rates rather than big banks or governments.
The wallet has a nice ‘total balance’ and ‘total earnings’ functions where you can track the overall interest earned in US dollar terms. You can also track individual coins.
Borrow fiat or crypto with rates as low as 1%
Celsius also offers a borrowing service where you provide your crypto currency as collateral to borrow either fiat currency (US dollars) or cryptocurrency. You might ask – why you would borrow against your crypto. Well, its a form of leverage where you can continue to hold your crypto coins and have them move with market fluctuations but access value in them at the same time. None of this is financial advice – if you’re going to borrow that is up to you in the true ethos of crypto which is about managing your finances the way you want!
Celsius wallet also provides this borrowing service with zero paperwork because if you don’t pay back the loan they can liquidate the position you have in crypto to ‘get their money’. They support over 25 different crypto coins at the time of writing. Crypto loans are immediate and US dollar loans can take 3 to 5 business days (because they’re on the slow-as-a-snail fiat money system).
Some of the features you should know about are probably pretty familiar, including the loan to value ratio, loan term and borrowing rate.
Loan to value ratio – the loan to value ratio just sets out how much collateral you need to put down in cryptocurrency, based on the amount of crypto or US dollars you would like to borrow. You can toggle your LTV to keep your interest rate lower or reduce the collateral you are required to provide for the loan. One thing to understand is that you do not earn interest on your collateral over the term of your loan.
Loan term – there is a minimum loan term of 6 months. You can exit your loan at any time but you’ll have to pay the interest for a 6 month period if you exit earlier than this. After 6 month, you can exit your loan at any time without penalties or fees. We think that is awesome. Standard loan terms are for 6, 12, 18, 24, 30 or 36 months.
Borrowing rates – your borrowing rate (the interest you pay on your borrowings) depends on how you chose to pay. Paying with CEL tokens will get you the lowest rates. If you want to know what borrowing rates are available there is an excellent calculator on their website and in the app.
Buy crypto
You can also buy crypto directly in the Celsius Wallet either via credit or bank transfer using the Gem network. This is never going to be the cheapest way to buy crypto because there are third party service fees involved, but it is convenient.
CEL pay
CEL pay lets you send and receive crypto within the Celsius networks. Its fee free to send or receive crypto between users of the Celcius network and its super fast to transact.
Exodus wallet – Safest crypto wallet app
What is Exodus wallet?
This Exodus crypto wallet review will help you decide whether to download and trust your crypto to the Exodus crypto wallet. Exodus was set up in 2015 to make interacting with your crypto as simple as possible. The ethos seems to be about taking the geek out of crypto to enable mass adoption, which we applaud. Exodus platform comes in a Mobile or web version. Here, we’ll look at the Exodus mobile wallet.
Mostly used for crypto exchange, sending and receiving lets have a look at what the Exodus wallet offers.
Is Exodus wallet safe?
Exodus states that it does not store sensitive data about your wallet. They cannot view, access, or control individual Exodus wallets because each wallet’s information is stored locally on the device. This means that Exodus, is as secure as the device you store it on and the security practices you put in place. As with the crypto ethos, it’s all down to you! We’d say the same of any mobile wallet but Exodus has some security offerings that others don’t currently.
In terms of security, the wallet allows you to set up a 12 word recovery seed phrase to recover your crypto if anything goes wrong. You must write down this phrase or even record it on your seed phrase recovery wallet. You can also set up a password.
Exodus also has automatic update notifications whenever you open your wallet to protect against Zero Day attacks, so make sure you go and click on the update every time!
A really nice aspect of Exodus security is that they have an integration with Trezor. Your can move your crypto to Exodus easily from your Trezor Model T hardware device and use Exodus to manage the crypto in your Trezor. Model T The integration is great for users – offering better security with the Exodus app and a user interface with Trezor that we would recommend over the Trezor Suite. This is a novel partnership that provides better security than many of the other crypto wallet apps.
While there is a focus on security with Exodus there is also no registration or verification required to set up and use Exodus wallet which is a plus for users that value total privacy.
What can you use it for?
The main two features of the note about the Exodus mobile wallet is the security and exchange functionality. We’ve talked about security above so lets get into the other ways you can interact with your crypto in the Exodus wallet.
Crypto exchange
with Exodus you can very easily and conveniently exchange one crypto for another with just a few clicks. The Exodus wallet currently supports around 150 odd different coins and tokes, although we suspect they’ll be adding to this list all of the time.
Crypto staking
Direct rewards for staking for limited cryptocurrencies including VET, TZS, ATOM, ADA, ONT, ALGO and NEO. What we will say is there is staking offered for some crypto that isn’t covered by other mobile wallets such as Trust Wallet and Celsius so Exodus is a nice complement to other wallets if you want to diversify your staking holdings.
User experience & design
If you’re all about the feels, user experience and design are a feature of the Exodus Wallet and make their interface the sexiest of all of the mobile crypto wallets we’ve seen. There are a lot of nice design features for inside the app that make it a pleasure to use.
DeFi integrations
You can access Compound Finance (a DeFi platform) directly in the wallet. This gives you access to more staking opportunities with your crypto particularly with DAI which at the time of writing you could get 4.5% APY for staking. While this is a nice feature, it doesn’t really measure up to the integrations of the Trust Wallet for example and Compound Finance doesn’t seem to have the best APY interest rates compared to other platforms at the moment.
Trust crypto wallet
What is Trust crypto wallet?
Trust wallet is a mobile crypto wallet owned by the Binance crypto exchange. It’s built on open source code which means it is transparent, can be audited and developers can build on it. This transparency is a plus if you are going to put your money into it. Trust wallet claims to have over 5 million users at the time of writing and comes in 18 languages.
Because its the official mobile crypto wallet of Binance, it supports the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem as well as Ethereum tokens. This is a plus, because when it comes to transacting your crypto you can do this on the Binance Smart Chain a lot of times and avoid the very high transaction fees associated with ERC-20 tokens transacted on the Ethereum mainnet. This all just means there are cheaper ways to profit from DeFI with lower transaction fees due to some of the many features of this wallet.
Is Trust Wallet safe?
Trust Wallet set up has the security features that you would expect from a mobile crypto wallet. It’s how you use these features, plus your device security functions and user habits that are all needed in combination to keep your Trust Wallet as safe as possible. Trust Wallet offers seed phrase recovery, a PIN code for app access and biometric security. Make sure that you go into the security menu under ‘settings’ inside Trust Wallet and turn on Auto Lock, Transaction Signing and App Lock functions.
You shouldn’t hold all of your crypto permanently in any mobile crypto wallet. A hardware wallet is the safest place to store your coins and tokens.
What can you use it for?
Because of its Binance links Trust Wallet offers A LOT of features that other wallets don’t currently have the integrations for. You can use it for Staking directly inside the wallet but it also has decentralised app links directly within the wallet where you can stake and farm your cryptocurrency in a few of the major protocols on the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem like PancakeSwap and 1Inch, as well as some other big players in DeFi such as SushiSwap, UniSwap, Compound Finance, Curve and Lido Staking. This is one of the major pluses of Trust Wallet – its access into DeFI products all within on the one app.
UPDATE: 9 June 2021, Trust Wallet announced that in order to update their iOS wallet Apply requires them to remove the dAPP browser integration which will impact Trust Wallet functionality for a lot of users. Read more here.
Trust Wallet also offers NFT integrations with the Rarible NFT marketplace which means you can buy and sell collectibles in the app if that’s your thing. Let us have a look at some of these offerings in more detail.
Buy, sell, exchange and swap
You can buy crypto without KYC in Trust Wallet through Simplex or Moonpay. You can also swap and exchange crypto directly in the App and it also has price alerts if you are trading. Trust Wallet has support for literally thousands of coins and tokens so the swap function is a good way to get hold of some of coins and tokens that aren’t supported across a lot of exchanges or at least may not be available on the exchange you use. The swap function is onne way to avoid having multiple exchange accounts chasing new or small cap coins and tokens.
In wallet staking
In wallet staking is available for 6 different cryptocurrencies at the time of writing, all with pretty health APY interest rates of between 5% and 23%. It’s super easy to stake these from within Trust Wallet with the tap of a few buttons and you can unstake them at any time although most have a lock up period that you need to stick to in order to get the promised interest rate.
Third party DeFi integrations
Trust Wallet has by far the most third party DeFI integrations we’ve seen of any mobile crypto wallet on the market. You can open up dApps for major DeFi protocols and exchanges including UniSwap, SushiSwap, Curve, Compound, Aave, 1inch, Yearn Finance, and PancakeSwap. This is the most valuable part of Trust Wallet and why it has so many users. Trust Wallet doesn’t charge fees when you interact with your crypto, but there are network fees involved when you transact your coins in any ecosystem and this applies within Trust Wallet and on other wallets.
You can also directly open a bunch of other dApps in the Games and Social media category – so Trust Wallet really is a gateway into the new dApp ecosystem developing with Blockchain technology.
Access to NFT marketplaces
There is a Rarible NFT marketplace dApp interface directly with the dApps section of the Trust Wallet. When you open it up it links to your wallet balances which means you can buy, sell or create NFTs. You can also add funds directly via Paypal or Credit card to buy or bid on collectibles.
Metamask crypto wallet – best DeFi wallet
What is Metamask crypto wallet?
Metamask is a crypto wallet designed by a team of developers whose mission it is to ‘democratize access to the decentralized web’.
Metamask crypto wallet has a mobile version that is available for both Apple and Android users and it also has a web browser version if you’re on the desktop. You can sync both of these up so they work seamlessly together.
Is Metamask crypto wallet safe?
Like other online wallets, Metamask requires set up with a seed phrase and you also need a password to access your account. It also has some internal security settings that you should set ‘on’ – like the phishing detection feature that sends you messages if Metamask suspects transactions are associated with phishing scams.
All of that being said, Metamask crypto wallet is not a place to store your crypto long term as there’s no real financial benefits to doing so and because its a hot wallet, meaning it’s online and like any hot wallet has a greater attack surface and more vulnerabilities than a hardware wallet. We don’t recommend keeping your coins in Metamask long term. BUT…. the good news is that Metamask has awesome integrations with Ledger and Trezor hardware wallets, which means you have the security of a hardware wallet while you transact your crypto with Metamask!
Once you set up your Metamask wallet, you simply go into the menu and click on ‘connect hardware wallet’, follow the prompts and you’re away! With your Trezor or Ledger crypto wallet connected, each time you transact with Metamask you get the validations on your Trezor or Ledger and you have to physically confirm these on the device.
What can you use it for?
Buy Ethereum
You can pretty quickly use Metamask to buy Ethereum (ETH) via the Wyre services directly in the wallet and then use the wallet swap function (see below) to swap that ETH into a bunch of other coins or tokens. This wouldn’t be the most economical way to go about obtaining coins, but if you are a beginner it gives you a pretty simple gateway to get started with some coins and Decentralised Finance products.
Swap
You can also use Metamask to swap your coins with other coins on certain networks – like Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain. A service fee of 0.875% is automatically factored into each swap quote – the price you pay for convenience! You can swap coins on a bunch of DeFi platforms – like QuickSwap on the Matic Mainnet or SushiSwap on the Ethereum Mainnet – once your Metamask is connected to them, so we don’t really use this function within the wallet at all.
DeFi
The main reason to have Metamask crypto wallet is to move your coins around the cryptoverse. Why would you be moving your coins? In one word, DeFi. Decentralised Finance protocols like Aave, Curve, and Yearn Finance. Metamask allows you to use these protocols to earn passive income on your crypto through lending, staking and yield farming.
There are a couple of tech type things you need to know and do to set up your Metamask wallet so that you can use it with DeFI. Check out our post on this that walks you through the basics of Metamask set up for non-tech users.
Getting through this set up really opens up the world of Decentralised Finance via Metamask. And its also the reason that every crypto holder should have MetaMask crypto wallet in their crypto tool kit.
Trastra Wallet – best fiat + crypto bundle
What is Trastra app?
Trastra is a FinTech company founded in 2017. They currently have offices in London and the Czech Republic. They state that their aim is let people use and spend their crypto as easily as they spend traditional fiat currency. One thing to know is that Trastra offers their services in the European Economic Area only at present, covering 31 EEA countries.
Trastra offers a unique bundle of products that include a side by side crypto/IBAN account, crypto wallet app, and crypto debit (payment) cards all linked. You can also get a Trastra Visa Card.
Their crypto debit card is linked to the Trastra app crypto wallet. You can use it to spend cryptocurrencies in the same way as funds from a regular debit or credit card. These types of cards – Bitcoin visa cards, or crypto debit cards – are identical to their traditional banking counterparts, with the only difference being that crypto debit cards allow their holders to spend cryptocurrencies at a wide range of merchants accepting crypto around the world and at Bitcoin ATMs for withdrawals.
To use their services you need to set up and verify your account, then activate your wallet and transfer crypto into it. With that done, you can then order your debit (payment) card. When the card arrives you need to activate it online. There is a 9 EURO fee for the card delivery and then a 1.25 EURO monthly ongoing fee for the service.
Once you have it all of this set up there are a bunch of pretty convenient features that make Trastra attractive to EU crypto adopters.
Is Trastra app safe?
The first thing to know, before we get into the actual security of the app is that Trastra wallet requires you to go through the KYC process. Only once you confirm your identity can you download and access the Trastra App. The KYC process ncludes personal information, address and uploading your ID. In some cases they may require you to provide additional documentation such as proof of residency or proof of address While it’s not the privacy that some crypto enthusiasts look for, it’s apparently a regulatory requirement in Europe for the types of services they provide.
Trastra app covers off your security in a couple of ways:
2FA (two-factor authentication) keeps your account secure from any unauthorized access. You do need to go into Profile and Settings inside the App to activate the 2FA feature.
Confirmation Emails Your account is linked to your email. For any information concerning the account, card, wallet or anything fund-sensitive, confirmation emails will be sent directly to an email address you provided in the TRASTRA account.
Encrypted data. All of the important data passed between Trastra servers and third parties is encrypted. They use 2048-bit SSL encrypted connections.
Trastra also have a bunch of financial services type security feature that link back to their bundled cards like anti skimming and instant card block.
What can you use it for?
Trastra app has separate wallets for BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC and XRP. The following features are limited to those coins plus EUR.
Send and receive crypto
Just like most crypto wallet apps Trastra provides your public address to receive crypto and allows you to send your crypto to other public addresses. You can also select the speed of the blockchain transaction when transacting, which means you have some control over network fees. It also has an in-built QR scanner which makes transacting your crypto with third parties pretty seamless.
Buy crypto
You can buy crypto directly in the Trastra App with VISA debit or credit card.
Spend crypto
Like we said above, the crypto debit card allows you to spend your crypto at any crypto accepting merchants.
SEPA/Wire payments across 34 European countries.
If you have a Trastra Visa Card you can also get a Payment Account with an IBAN (International Bank Account Number). An IBAN allows you to make easy SEPA/wire transfers across 34 countries in Europe within 1 -2 business days. The main advantage of IBAN is the fast processing of electronic transactions with minimum delays and extra costs. Skrill, eBay, PayPal and other similar services support SEPA/wire transfers which makes it pretty flexible and convenient. You can basically buy and sell cryptocurrency using bank transfers following market rates.
Supported countries include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom.
Convert crypto to Euro and back
The big thing with Trastra app is that Trastra card holders do not need a traditional bank account to convert their crypto into Euros. You can convert your crypto to Euro and back easily all within the app via the ‘Exchange’ function. This is a point of difference between Trastra and other crypto wallet apps. It means your crypto is more accessible for daily use if that’s what you need it for. It also means you can effectively ‘unbank’ yourself – because of the in-app instant crypto/fiat exchange you no longer require a traditional bank.
Trastra fees
Trastra have zero card loading fees which they say makes them more competitive than other offerings such as the Coinbase card. Trastra do take a 5% fee for any crypto you buy, which may be expensive but it’s also worth thinking about how you would use their packaged services and whether your still better off. Have a look across all of their fees to work this out. There is a 9 EUR set up fee for the card and a 1.25 EUR ongoing monthly fee to use the service.
eToro wallet
What is eToro Wallet?
eToro brands itself as ‘the world’s leading social trading network’. They are a Fintech company that has been around since 2007 and started their business with a commodities, currencies and stock trading platform and mobile trading app. In 2018 eToro moved into cryptocurrency trading and they now provide a mobile wallet for traders and customers. The app is available from Google Play and Apple App Store and the eToro Wallet supports both iOS and Android.
eToro states it has millions of users across 140 countries using their various stock and crypto trading products and services.
You have to be a eToro platform user to use the eToro wallet and it is designed to be used solely with their platform products. This differentiates it from other wallets like Trust Wallet which offer multiple third party integrations and therefore lots of versatile use cases across the exploding DeFI ecosystems and blockchain networks.
We’d say the eToro wallet is a wallet that’s more about ‘trading’ than it is about crypto.
Is eToro Wallet safe?
You do have to go through KYC to set up and eToro account which you need to have to use the eToro wallet. This means providing your government ID, phone number and proof of address. They may also ask for extra verification information if they feel you need it.
eToro wallet offers the standard type security that most crypto wallet apps offer these days – multi-signature facilities, DDoS protection, and standardisation protocols. This generally means you have a seed phrase for the crypto on the app and a PIN code to access it. The wallet provides 2FA through text message too. eToro claims that your seed phrase is ‘unloseable’ because they offer a service to recover access to your crypto wallet if things go wrong. This seems nice on the surface, but makes us worry a bit about what access they have to your information. They can do this, because they also require identification and verification when you set up the wallet. We didn’t find a lot of transparency about the security systems that eToro has in place to protect your coins from hacking or other attacks. This is an area they could improve to gel more with the crypto community, which is big on transparency and open source, verifiable technology and software programs.
What can you use it for?
eToro is a fiat plus crypto platform which means it gives traders and investors access to more than 2,000 different financial assets including stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, indices, currencies and commodities – all in one place. This makes it a pretty big player in the fintech world but you can’t access all of these functions from the wallet itself.
You can transfer your crypto in between the eToro trading platform which is web based, and the eToro wallet. However there is far more functionality in the eToro platform than in the wallet. For example, if you want to stake your crypto this must be done on the platform rather than in your eToro wallet.
One of the worthwhile features of the wallet if you do trade both crypto and stocks is that you can see all of your trading investments together.
The eToro wallet doesn’t offer you the same versatile Decentralised Finance functions that other crypto wallets on our list offer. You can perform the basic transactions you’ll need to trade crypto – buy, receive and transfer coins – on the eToro wallet. The wallet supports over 120 cryptocurrencies and you can swap around 500 different types of crypto pairs in the wallet.
They do offer a unique mix of crypto and fund-type investing via Crypto CopyPortfolios. This is a portfolio management product that uses a predetermined investment strategy. Users must invest a minimum of $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the portfolio, to automatically copy the portfolio. It’s like a fun mix on a crypto curated index fund.
A word about fees
eToro charges charges fees to buy crypto through the use of spreads. Here is how they work our the fees upon transfer:
The eToro website has a list of the spread they charge for different coins – link here.
They also charge fees to transfer your crypto, although these are typically the network fees that you pay to transact crypto on almost every blockchain network.
If you trade contracts for difference with crypto you’ll pay both spreads and overnight fees.
eToro also charges a $5 withdrawal fee and a $10 per month inactivity fee so its targeted at the active trader.
The full Fees PDF is here.