Recently, a friend asked me how to choose a cryptocurrency wallet, and this is definitely a topic worth discussing in depth.

Wallet classification is actually quite simple. Based on how they work, there are cold wallets and hot wallets. Based on the device, there are computer wallets, mobile wallets, online wallets, hardware wallets, and exchange wallets. Most of them support mainstream coins such as BTC, ETH, and others. I’ve compiled some rankings of leading global cold wallets and hot wallet options, to give investors who want to manage their assets properly a point of reference.

When it comes to cold wallets, Ledger is the one I recommend most often. The company is leading in security technology in the cryptocurrency space. Ledger hardware wallets are designed based on smart card technology and offer the highest level of protection in the industry. They support more than 1000 cryptocurrencies, and currently there are two models to choose from: Nano X and Nano S. Ledger has a large user base across more than 150 countries worldwide and enjoys a very strong reputation. If you ever lose your Ledger, there’s no need to worry—just keep your backup recovery phrase of 24 English letters, and you can restore all your assets.

Another hardware cold wallet in this category is Trezor, launched by the Czech company SatoshiLabs. It is the first Bitcoin hardware wallet in history, created as far back as 2014. It can generate and store private keys offline, ensuring that hackers can’t steal your assets.

If you need a hot wallet for everyday trading, I recommend looking at Trust Wallet. This is a fully open-source decentralized wallet that supports Traditional Chinese, with a simple interface and extremely high security performance. Trust Wallet users hold their own private keys, giving them 100% control over their assets. It also supports DApps and a staking feature to earn tokens.

There’s also MetaMask (the “little fox”), a widely used decentralized wallet that can run on computers, iOS, and Android. You can use it via a browser extension or an app, making it easy to interact with the Ethereum blockchain and various DApps.

What’s the difference between cold wallets and hot wallets? Cold wallets can be stored offline, so their security level is the highest. They’re suitable for long-term, large-volume, multi-coin storage, but you need to buy a hardware device. Hot wallets are mostly online wallets that require an internet connection to use. They’re more convenient and don’t require purchasing hardware, but their security is not as good as cold wallets.

My recommendation is this: store large amounts of assets that you’re not using for trading in a hardware wallet; keep a small amount of coins for daily use in a hot wallet; and put coins you trade frequently in an exchange. From a security perspective, I don’t really recommend using hot wallets for long-term storage, because there have been many recent cases of wallet “rug pulls” or theft.

When choosing a wallet, remember four principles. First, choose products with open-source code that have been tested by the market, such as Ledger, MetaMask, imToken, and so on. Second, stay away from wallets where the development team is unclear and the private keys are managed by the developers. Third, check whether the code is open-source and whether it contains vulnerabilities. Fourth, refuse wallets that custody private keys.

Most importantly, no matter what wallet you use, be sure to properly safeguard your private key, backup recovery phrase, and password. These are your final line of defense for the security of your assets. If you want even stronger security, Ledger is indeed the top choice among cold wallet rankings, because it achieves a balance between ease of use and security that meets industry standards.