The leaps taken by the crypto space in just two years have greatly transformed the purpose, functionality and UX/UI design of crypto wallets. They have evolved from a secure location for storing only Bitcoin and Ethereum to multipurpose tools that can hold various cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With the advancements still on an upward trend, we can easily expect land ownership details on the Metaverse to get stored securely in crypto wallets.
The crypto wallet works as a secure place to store your proof of ownership keys. It can be in the form of software installed on your smartphone, computer, or the cloud, or a physical hardware device. As opposed to the exchange services out there, crypto wallets offer you, the digital asset owner, absolute control over your digital possessions.
The Cardano proof-of-stake blockchain has steadily grown to a crypto leader in its own right. Let’s take a deep dive into the Cardano wallet ecosystem.
Cardano Wallet Ecosystem
A Cardano wallet is a tool through which you can seamlessly interact with the Cardano blockchain. The wallet enables you to send, receive, store, and stake ADA, Cardano’s native cryptocurrency.
Additionally, a Cardano-native wallet also helps you manage Cardano NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and Cardano tokens (fungible). Since the crypto wallet space is so divergent, there are multicurrency wallets that contain a built-in exchange feature through which you can buy or exchange ADA.
Compared to other upcoming blockchain projects, Cardano has steered clear of the chaotic growth trajectory, resulting in more positive prominence for its unique protocol focused on merging crypto with scientific philosophy and a research-driven approach.
There are various wallets that support ADA and other Cardano native tokens. Therefore, as a user, you need to know the type of wallet that you store your digital assets in. There’s a popular saying in the crypto world that “If you don’t own the private keys, you don’t own the coins.”
Basically, for crypto holdings you are your own security.
For your safety, it is recommended that you use a strong password for your wallet and never share your private keys with anyone else. To ensure you stay updated on the progress of your digital holdings, regularly backup your wallet. This way you can monitor the growth of your portfolio with ease and access it in case something goes wrong.
Top Cardano Wallets
The wallet space is filled with multiple projects that solve different digital asset issues like storage and trading and they come in two types, hot or cold wallets. A hot wallet is any wallet that can manage your crypto assets using software; this means that it is connected to the internet. A cold wallet on-the-other-hand is a hardware wallet that utilizes a physical device to securely store your private keys in a safe chip.
Listed and explained below are some of the game changers in the wallet sphere, as well as the best wallets to use on the Cardano blockchain.
AdaLite Wallet
AdaLite is an open-source client-side interface for direct interaction with the Cardano blockchain. Put simply, AdaLite is a lightweight, in-browser wallet for Cardano.
The Cardano community makes use of AdaLite as their go-to wallet for storing and transferring Cardano’s ADA cryptocurrency and it stands out in that it is a light & secure multiplatform wallet that is easily accessible with a web browser. Working in conjunction with Trezor, the wallet provides unmatched security for users to manage their ADA.
You as a user can store your private key on the Trezor model T hardware wallet and will not have to trust any other parties while accessing your wallet through the AdaLite website.
AdaLite stands out as a wallet with their staking feature. The platform provides compatibility with the new Shelly address format and transactions. They also released the staking interface for the main-net. This means that AdaLite is running their own staking pools with a low fee of 3%. Once you delegate your stake to the platform, you are supporting the development of AdaLite, thereby promoting the growth of the Cardano Shelly hard-fork.
Adaly Wallet
Adaly is a cutting-edge wallet designed for interacting with the Cardano blockchain seamlessly. It boasts of security, anonymity, and fast transaction speeds. In addition to this, Adaly claims to be the only Cardano wallet that can retrieve your lost Ledger wallet without the actual device.
With Adaly, you can expect unmatched transparency as this Cardano wallet shows the time of the last payment made to the receiver and the current balance of the receiving address. These features are important as they help protect against making duplicate payments and clipboard paste-jacking.
Compared to other Cardano wallets, the transaction fee differences are marginal. Their stronghold lies in how they make notifications for payments received and provides support for transaction comments (CIP-0020).
Image obtained from Adaly’s twitter account.
Cardwallet (CW)
Cardwallet is changing the Cardano wallet ecosystem by bringing in next-gen interfaces that are more user-friendly, enabling seamless interaction with the blockchain.
All Cardano-based tokens can be stored and exchanged on Cardwallet (CW) and the platform boasts of a non-custodial architecture where, as you store your cryptocurrency you fully own your private keys, your assets, and your risk. CW focuses on making the crypto world as beneficial and as user-friendly as possible; they achieve this through multiple fronts with the main one being integrating fiat on & off ramps, enabling users to easily turn their fiat money into crypto tokens and vice versa. CW’s fiat on & off ramp utilizes VISA, MasterCard & Apple Pay.
Cardwallet successfully launched a liquidity mining campaign for their native CW tokens. This allows CardWallet token owners to participate in the operation of the liquidity pool which allows users to exchange USDC for CardWallet tokens and vice versa.
In a nutshell, CardWallet is a cross-chain non-custodial wallet as well as a liquidity engine. With their liquidity engine, you can instantly exchange hundreds of assets across various blockchains with fixed rates.
Daedalus Wallet
Daedalus is a desktop-based, full-node hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallet for Cardano’s native token. This means that unlike light wallets such as Yoroi and Adalite, Daedalus downloads a full copy of the Cardano blockchain and independently validates every transaction in its history.
Daedalus stands out from other wallets in that it is a full Cardano node. This means that users can view every transaction they’ve made on the Cardano chain and even make other inquiries about the state of the chain directly from their wallet.
The wallet also allows personalization with user interface themes. You as a Daedalus user can customize the look of your wallet.
Yoroi Wallet
Yoroi is designed to store ADA, as a lighter and browser-based version of other ADA wallets like Daedalus. But, unlike the Daedalus wallet that has a full Cardano node, the Yoroi is only connected to a full Cardano node linked to the Emurgo ecosystem.
This wallet is easy to install and set up as it does not require a lot of system resources from the user. There is no need to have the full blockchain state with Yoroi and it can run seamlessly as a Firefox or Chrome extension.
Yoroi is an Emurgo product engineered by InputOutputHK. Emurgo leans towards building a global Cardano by driving the adoption of Cardano and adding value to ADA holders. They achieve this by building, investing in, and advising projects or organizations that adopt Cardano’s decentralized blockchain ecosystem.
Conclusion
Cardano has numerous wallets in its ecosystem and the ones we have covered are just a tip of the iceberg. This article focused solely on wallets that are native to the Cardano blockchain with those featured standing out among their peers.
The Cardano cryptocurrency, ADA, and other tokens built on the chain are also supported by multiple other multicurrency wallets like Exodus, Atomic, Flint and hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor among others. Besides these there are other exciting community wallets built by Cardano enthusiasts, developers and token holders. We cover these community wallets in the next article in this series.
Cardano came into the crypto sphere as a game-changing project and it has revealed to us all that it has an impressive pedigree and has a long-term vision for blockchain tech. The chain’s wallet ecosystem is showing us that execution of this vision is imminent and through Cardano, we can gradually expect the provision of services absent in other ecosystems.
The main challenge to look out for will be integrating the upcoming digital assets available on the Metaverse such as virtual lands, virtual office spaces, and so on. However, the future seems bright for the Cardano blockchain thus far.
