5 Best Custodial Wallets for Your Digital Assets (September 2024)

The altcoin market is expansive; comprised of NFT projects, DeFi, metaverse, and more.  While this may be daunting at first, it is crucial to choose a good wallet for storing your assets from the get-go.  Fortunately, we have a list of several wallets that fit this description, with our top picks found below.

Should you choose a custodial or non-custodial crypto wallet?

Before moving on to our list, something that must be discussed is whether to select a custodial or non-custodial wallet. The difference between the two is that custodial wallets are centralized, or hosted, and they are run by third parties. Meanwhile, non-custodial ones are your own to manage, and you have full control over them.

So, if non-custodial wallets seem to be the ones that work in the true spirit of crypto, why would you even consider a centralized, custodial one?  The answer is simple — if you are new, you will need some help before you get the hang of it. When it comes to cryptocurrencies and non-custodial wallets, it is very easy to make a mistake that might cost you all your money.  While they may be more in line with the ethos of digital assets, not everyone wants the responsibility of being in charge of the safety of their assets.  If you use a mobile wallet and you lose your phone, forget your private keys, or even make a single mistake when typing in an address when making a transfer, your coins could be lost forever. These are all the risks you must learn to deal with on your own.

In order to be able to get into the crypto industry immediately instead of spending weeks learning details about it, custodial wallets may serve as a way of transferring responsibility for some aspects of it to someone else – at least until you educate yourself on the ways of the crypto world a bit more.

With that out of the way, here are the top custodial wallets for your first altcoins that we can recommend right now.

1. MetaMask

Topping our list is MetaMask, which, over the years, has become one of the best-known wallets in the world.  This wallet is typically used for Ethereum and any project built within the Ethereum ecosystem.  That means that users can use it to send, receive, and store not only ETH, but any ERC-20 token – even stablecoins like USDT and USDC.  The wallet has such a strong focus on Ethereum that its entire mission is to make Ethereum as easy to use for as many people as possible, and so far, it has done a pretty good job.

It is compatible with most major browsers, allows for easy connections with hardware devices, and is considered to be safe, given that there were never any cases of hacking or theft.

However, the same cannot be said when it comes to phishing attacks, and since MetaMask is an online wallet, it is exposed to hackers and scammers 24/7. Plus, as a browser-based wallet, it likely won’t be the first choice for those who are concerned about browsers collecting and storing their data.  However, for ease of use and versatility, MetaMask is hard to beat.

2. Freewallet: Crypto Wallet

The next on our list is Freewallet, an entire family of wallets founded five years ago, in 2016. In only two years, the company became the third-most-popular wallet provider in the world. Of course, like most custodial wallets, it faced a lot of mistrust from certain members of the crypto industry, who were keeping a close eye on it, waiting for it to make mistakes.

This has led to its reputation rising and falling repeatedly over the years. Still, it has managed to maintain quite a large and loyal community thanks to its features and benefits. After all, the wallet is quite security-oriented, featuring things like two-factor authentication, fingerprint logins, PIN code locks, etc. The fact that it also supports over 100 coins and tokens also helped, and so did the fact that it offers a built-in exchange, as well as cold storage, which ensures that users’ tokens and coins are as safe as they can be and out of danger of being hacked.

However, there are also things that some users dislike about it, such as high in-wallet trading fees.  On the other hand, the project offers free transactions within its own ecosystem, which also reduces the costs of making transactions, so things balance out in the end.

As mentioned, those who have some experience with crypto would typically avoid using hosted wallets due to the fact that there is a company out there that holds their private keys. But, if you are a new user and you could use any help you can get, this one is a pretty good choice.

3. CoinSpot

In the third spot, we have CoinSpot — a hosted multicoin wallet that was created by the CoinSpot exchange, which is quite well known for being a member of the Australian Digital Commerce Association. Its wallet supports over 50 cryptos, it offers transactions in Australian dollars, which is pretty convenient for Australian users, and it has integrated trading features, meaning that you can trade directly from the wallet.

However, like with all the others, there are a few cons to be aware too, including the lack of multi-signature and very high exchange rates that go significantly above the 1% nominal fee that the project is offering, unless when it comes to Bitcoin and Ethereum. In other words, the trading conditions seem to be encouraging BTC and ETH trades while discouraging everything else.

So, if you are an Australian user who wants to trade BTC and ETH, you might find this wallet to be to your liking, but most others will likely see the drawbacks as a deal-breaker.

4. Cobo Wallet

Another is Cobo Wallet, which claims that it can “grow and protect” the crypto assets of all users. The wallet offers all the top features you expect from a safe and secure option (i.e., multi-signature, two-factor authentication).  Meanwhile, it supports up to 30+ coins and over 500 tokens at the time of writing.

Cobo is a rather unique wallet since it was the first wallet in the world to support pooled staking for multiple projects. This is not something that attracts new crypto users to it, per se, but it is worth keeping in mind, just in case you ever decide that you wish to give that aspect of the crypto industry a go, as well.

One thing to keep in mind regarding Cobo, however, is that it was reported to have many issues with Tron. Apparently, there were multiple cases of Cobo stopping users who own TRX, especially those who have less than $30 in this coin. They were not allowed to withdraw their cryptocurrencies, which led to quite a few complaints.  So if your intention is to store and manage Tron’s TRX coin, you might want to skip this one.

5. Holy Transaction

Finally, we have Holy Transaction, a web-only wallet designed specifically for those with zero experience with crypto. In fact, if you are not on friendly terms with technology but still need or want to get into crypto, this is the wallet for you.

In terms of benefits, it is quite safe and offers a 2FA. On top of that, it also supports 11 networks, which include Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Tether, Litecoin, and others. On the downside, however, its users have reported that there is no multi-signature support and that it doesn’t offer exchange services to US users. On top of that, many have criticized it for not adding some major coins, such as Monero (XMR).

All in all, the wallet is not bad, but it does have some work to do to satisfy the needs and requirements of its clients.

Conclusion

The crypto world is massive and filled with opportunities. On top of that, it is constantly developing and growing further, with new sectors popping out every year now, and offering new products and services and new opportunities for growth and advancement. But to get in on that action, one must have an advanced cryptocurrency wallet, but also one that is easy to use and has as many assets as possible. Hopefully, this list of recommended wallets will help you, so do check them out if you are looking for a custodial app of this kind.

Overall, while custodial wallets may be appropriate for a subset of digital asset users, we recommend that everyone consider non-custodial wallets before all else.  While the learning curve may be slightly higher, their use means that your assets are always in your control.