Our Picks Best for beginners Coinbase Wallet View details See at Coinbase View details Good balance between accessibility and security Ledger Nano X View details $149 at Ledger View details Best security features Trezor Model T View details $129 at Trezor View details Best for desktop users Exodus View details See at Exodus View details Best for mobile users Mycelium View details See at Mycelium View details Table of Contents As 2024 comes to a close, bitcoin and other crypto like dogecoin have been doing big growth numbers. With only a few days left in the year, bitcoin continues to hover just under $100,000. Whether you're looking to start investing in crypto or you've been HODLing since the beginning, you'll need a good place to store your digital currency.Choosing to leave it on a crypto exchange would mean you're trusting the company to hold it for you in a custodial wallet, which means you don't fully own the asset. The better option is to move it to a noncustodial wallet of your own -- which gives you complete ownership.What is a crypto wallet?A crypto wallet's primary function is to keep your crypto safe and allow you to make trades. Wallets also offer more control over your digital currency than you'll get using a standard account at a crypto exchange or brokerage.Crypto wallets can be external hardware devices -- cold storage wallets -- or software that runs on your mobile device or computer -- hot storage wallets.Cold storage wallets are physical storage units that are kept offline and can only be accessed using a dongle -- a physical USB that has to be plugged into your computer. They are generally thought of to be more secure than hot wallets because they're not connected to the internet, but hot wallets are typically more easily accessible for making trades. Hot wallets include:Mobile app wallets that use software installed on your phoneDesktop wallets that use software installed on your computerBrowser extension wallets that can be noncustodial like Metamask, or custodial like BinanceUnless you're making daily crypto trades or have only a modest amount of money invested in crypto, we recommend you don't store your crypto in a custodial wallet.Best practices for holding crypto include purchasing a cold wallet for offline storage. Your next best option is a "noncustodial" software wallet or app. We'll look at both options here in an effort to help you find the best crypto wallet for your own situation.The best crypto wallets for 2024 See at Coinbase Coinbase, which went public in April 2022, is the best-known cryptocurrency exchange in the US. The company makes it easy to trade well-known cryptocurrencies from bitcoin to dogecoin, and has its own Visa-backed debit card that integrates with Apple Pay and Google.If you're new to cryptocurrency, the Coinbase Wallet is a good place to start. It's a mobile wallet, meaning it can be downloaded as an app for Android or iOS. The interface is intuitive and the wallet is fully integrated with the company's exchange, which makes it easy to conduct transactions -- including purchasing coins and tokens with traditional currency.Unlike the company's exchange, the Coinbase Wallet is noncustodial; that means that only you have access to your wallet's private key, which is generated with a 12-word recovery phrase (or seed phrase) when you sign up. Note that there's a difference between storing your cryptocurrency on Coinbase's exchange, which is custodial, and the wallet, which is not. The integration between them makes it fairly simple to transfer funds back and forth. $149 at Ledger The Nano X is Ledger's second-generation cold storage wallet. The integrated Ledger Live platform, which is easy to learn and use, supports more than 5,500 coins and tokens, including bitcoin, ether and XRP. The wallet can be connected to your computer via a USB cable and Android and iOS mobile devices via Bluetooth -- a connection the Model T lacks.The device is sturdy and features a small LED screen. To start, you'll set up a PIN, then a 24-word seed phrase. The seed phrase acts as your wallet's private key. Just like other wallets, as long as you keep the private key safe, you won't lose your crypto assets -- even if you lose your wallet.It's important to note that Ledger suffered a data breach in July 2020 that resulted in the theft of some customers' personal data -- but, significantly, not their crypto assets. No private keys to wallets were taken, but there were reports of customers receiving phishing emails and other scamming threats afterward. That noted, Ledger has long been a trusted name in the crypto world, but the data breach is a good reminder to be careful online -- especially when it comes to dealing in crypto assets. $129 at Trezor The $129 Model T is Trezor's second-generation hardware wallet, and it comes with many of the same features as the Ledger Nano X. One major difference is that Trezor's software is powered completely by open-source, which affords some additional protection, theoretically, since the code is available for scrutiny. As the thinking goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant.Trezor Suite is designed to run natively on your desktop, which generally provides greater security than a web-based app, though you can also access Trezor Suite through the company's website. The Model T natively supports 16 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin and cardano. You can make transactions directly in Trezor Suite through the company's integrated exchange.Shaped like an old-school stopwatch, the Model T comes with a touchscreen and a USB cable to connect to your computer. It also features a microSD card if you want to add encrypted storage directly to your hardware wallet. It doesn't feature Bluetooth support, which isan omission that some security advocates prefer, as Bluetooth connectivity could be an attack vector for hackers to exploit.