Bitcoin is an alternative currency that has made a lot of noise lately. Already, you can use it to pay for services on the Internet, invest and even buy physical goods. It is believed that in the future, Bitcoins will be able to replace "real" money. After all, even today, we do not always pay in cash, preferring bank cards and electronic money.

With any use of this cryptocurrency, it must be stored somehow. In this article we will try to find the answer to the question of what Bitcoin wallets exist.

 

Types of Bitcoin wallets

Most often, special programs are used as storage locations for this digital currency. Below, it will be just about them.

Bitcoin wallets that exist at the moment make it much easier to use this cryptocurrency. It can be transferred to the electronic wallet of the seller or supplier of any service, thus paying for your purchase.

There are currently two types of Bitcoin wallets:

Online storage services for this cryptocurrency.
Programs installed on the computers of the Bitcoin owner.

Online Bitcoin wallets

The described currency was "born" and is used on the Internet. This does not mean that you cannot pay with this cryptocurrency in everyday life. But, for this very reason, online services are the best type of Bitcoin wallets.

The online wallets of this alternative currency have three significant advantages over the keeper programs installed on the computer. First, there is no need to download the installer and install the program, which can take up quite a lot of space on your computer.

Secondly, the "holders" of this type of Bitcoin wallets receive additional bonuses from the owners of such online services: cashback, discounts from partners, etc.

And finally, the most significant advantage is that such wallets can be managed remotely. That is, you can log into your account from any device and from anywhere in the world where there is Internet access. And make money transfers, pay for purchases, etc.

But online wallets also have a big drawback. Their safety depends entirely on the owners of such a service.

 

Programs installed on computers of cryptocurrency owners

We continue to answer the question of what Bitcoin wallets exist. An alternative to online storage is the keeper programs that Bitcoin owners install on their computers. The main advantage of these wallets is security. The file with the key of such a wallet is stored locally and access to it by intruders will be difficult.

What kind of Bitcoin wallets are there? They are divided into two types:

Thick.
Thin.
Thick wallets (sometimes called heavy) take up a lot of space on the users computer and use a significant part of the processing power of the unit.

 

What are the heavy bitcoin wallets:

Bitcoin-wallet (the official client of this cryptocurrency created by its founder).
Armory (a client that works in conjunction with the official one, and has the same security protocols).
For users who work with this cryptocurrency via a smartphone or tablet, thin Bitcoin wallets are suitable. They are more convenient to use and work much faster. But, such a Light version affects first of all safety. Most of the operations are performed outside the client. We can say that thin Bitcoin wallets are something in between "real" and online wallets.

One of the varieties of thin wallets are specially designed mobile applications for devices running on Android and iOS systems.

There is another type of Bitcoin wallet, which is currently under heavy discussion. This is the so-called iron wallet. It is designed as a separate device that is connected via a USB port to a computer. By its security system, it is a heavy wallet that connects to the Internet through a computer when needed. Which makes Bitcoin savings even more secure.