Choosing the best cryptocurrency wallet in the UK is far from straightforward, given how many wallets are out there and all of the different features each of them offers. And over the past 8+ years of investing in crypto, I've learned that crypto wallets are actually less secure and more expensive than simply keeping your crypto on a reputable, trustworthy exchange.
All of the exchanges I recommend below have at least a 95% cold storage policy, are regulated by top UK authorities, and undergo external audits at least once per year. With that said, Capital is the perennial favourite of knowledgeable UK crypto investors, and in all my time trading with them, I can’t recommend them highly enough.
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Offer ends April 20, 2024.What Is The Best Crypto Wallet In The UK?
1. Capital – Best Overall
Zero Fees
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Trading fees: 0% |
★★★★★ Rated 4.9/5 |
Capital allows users to trade crypto alongside stocks, commodities, forex, market indices, ETFs and more—all without any trading fees. It supports 100+ cryptocurrencies, and users can trade with 2x leverage on crypto (up to 500x leverage on other assets).
Capital charges a tight spread ranging from 0.1% – 0.3% (depending on the asset), making the overall cost of using the platform (0% trading commissions + 0.1% – 0.3% spreads) very low. It has a fully functional desktop platform, a well-rated mobile app (4.7/5 on Android and iOS), and an excellent demo account where you can practice trading with real assets in real time.
Capital is licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, which means it’s a safe, secure platform. Every user receives a dedicated account manager they can reach by email or phone anytime, which is part of the reason Capital’s customer support team receives such positive reviews.
Deposits and withdrawals are always free with Capital, and you’ll never pay trading commissions regardless of whether you place spot orders or limit orders. Capital is ISO 27001 certified for meeting robust information security standards, making it an extremely safe platform to trade with.
The biggest drawback of Capital is that it can take several days to have your account verified since their verifications team is overwhelmed with signups right now. If you sign up using my referral link, though, you can skip the waitlist and start trading immediately.
I’ve personally used Capital for more than 4 years, and based on my experiences and those of millions of other users, I can’t recommend it highly enough.Â
Features
- Zero trading commissions
- Tight spreads (0.1% – 0.3%)
- Supports 100+ cryptocurrencies
- Allows up to 500x leverage (2x leverage on crypto)
- Fully functional demo account for paper trading
- Free deposits and withdrawals via debit/credit cards, bank transfer, POLi, PayPal, Apple Pay, etc.
- Dedicated account manager you can reach at any time
- Excellent desktop trading platform
- Well-rated mobile app (4.7/5 on both Apple and Google)
- Licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
- ISO 27001-certified for meeting extremely high information security standards
Cost
- Trading fees: 0%
- Spreads: 0.1% – 0.3%
- Deposits & Withdrawals: Free
Signup Bonus
Skip the waitlist and have your account approved immediately by using my referral link below.
Best For
Investors looking for the best overall crypto trading experience with no trading commissions.
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Offer ends April 20, 2024.2. CoinSmart
Very Secure
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Total Fees: ~3% |
★★★★ Rated 4.4/5 |
CoinSmart supports 16 cryptocurrencies, verifies accounts instantly, prides itself on its helpful customer service reps, and has a beautiful, well-rated app.
As a Canadian exchange, CoinSmart is regulated by several Canadian financial authorities, which keeps your money safe and secure. CoinSmart is also a publicly-traded company on Toronto’s NEO stock exchange, which means they’re subject to third-party financial and security audits at least once per year.
I've personally used CoinSmart for over a year, and I’ve had nothing but excellent experiences with them. I've tried out many of the other cryptocurrency exchanges on this list, so I'm confident that CoinSmart is a solid, reputable platform for most crypto investors.
From now until April 20, 2024, CoinSmart is offering a $50 signup bonus to Yore Oyster readers who fund their accounts with $200 or more. If you’re looking for a highly-respected exchange that offers the lowest fees, excellent customer service, and a slick mobile app, open a CoinSmart account today.
Features
- Extremely low trading fees (just 0.20% per trade)
- 24/7 customer support available via phone, live chat or email
- Instant account verification
- Supports 16 cryptocurrencies
- Immediate deposits and withdrawals
- User-friendly for both beginners and advanced traders
- 95% cold storage policy keeps your crypto extra secure
Cost
- Account Opening: Free
- Trading Fees: 0.20%
Signup Bonus
$50 bonus when you sign up using the link below and the CoinSmart promo code YOREOYSTER
Best For
Investors looking to trade stablecoins or altcoins with some of the industry’s lowest fees.
3. Ledger Nano X
Top Hardware Wallet
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Supports: 1,800+ crypto assets |
★★★★ Rated 4.3/5 |
The Ledger Nano X is an upgraded version of the Ledger Nano S, and it’s one of the best cold storage crypto wallets on the market today. It uses a certified Secure Element chip (known as the CC EAL5+) to add a layer of countermeasures to known hacking and theft methods on top of protecting your private keys, and it supports more than 1,800 cryptocurrencies, including tokens like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), and many more.
The Ledger Nano X has received excellent reviews from customers around the world, and it has consistently been named the top Bitcoin hardware wallet around.
Features
- Hardware wallet
- Supports 1,800+ crypto assets
- Can store up to 100 types of crypto assets at any given time
- Capable of buying and selling cryptocurrencies
- Capable of exchanging cryptocurrencies
- View account balances
- Capable of completing and verifying transactions
- Stake and lend digital currencies
- Well-rated mobile app
Cost
- GBP £150
Best For
Crypto investors looking for a safe, secure cold storage wallet with support for as many cryptocurrencies as possible.
4. Trezor Model One
Best For Altcoins
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Supports: 1,000+ crypto assets |
★★★★ Rated 4.1/5 |
The Trezor Model One is a hardware wallet designed and created by SatoshiLabs.
It supports 1,000+ cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, and many others.
The Trezor Model One is a slimmed-down, less expensive version of the Trezor Model T. It comes in both black and white and features the Trezor Trusted Display, allowing you to see details on every transaction before you confirm it.
Overall, the Trezor Model One is a well-designed, affordable hardware wallet that’s great for most crypto investors seeking cold storage.
Features
- Hardware wallet
- Supports 1,000+ cryptocurrencies
- Super secure offline cold storage
- Trusted Display for more secure transactions
Cost
- €63.6
Best For
Crypto investors looking for an extremely secure hardware wallet.
3 Reasons Crypto Exchanges Are Better Than Crypto Wallets
#1 Crypto Wallets Aren't As Secure As Exchanges
In 2021, The New York Times ran an article on investors who have lost large amounts of crypto in their wallets:
- Gabriel Abed lost 800 Bitcoin after reformatting the laptop containing his wallet's private keys
- Brad Yasar lost 800 Bitcoin after forgetting the password to his wallets
- Stefan Thomas lost 7,000 Bitcoin after forgetting the password to his IronKey wallet
There are hundreds of other stories of people losing their crypto in old, inaccessible wallets, including James Howells, who lost 7,500 Bitcoin when he threw out the hard drive with his wallets on it.
In fact, according to a June 2020 report by the blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, 3.7 million Bitcoins have been lost, about 20% of the total in circulation today. That's an incredibly high number, and most of that amount was lost because it was held in a wallet that the owner could no longer access, either because they lost the wallet itself, the device became corrupted due to misuse or old age, the owner lost their secret keys, or for some other reason. When you use a crypto wallet, there truly is no getting your coins back once they're gone.
Contrast this with a crypto exchange, where even if you lose your account password and can't log in, you can always reset your password or reach out to their customer support team to regain access to your account. This is one big reason why exchanges are safer than wallets, though there are others as well.
#2 Crypto Wallets Are Expensive To Buy And Use
Crypto wallets are expensive in a number of different ways:
- Expensive To Buy: Most crypto wallets cost at least $75 – $100, and they can get much more expensive than that (up to $500+ or more for top-of-the-line wallets). This means that if you invest $10,000 and buy a wallet for $100, you're losing 1% of your total funds for your wallet.
- Expensive To Use: Every time you move cryptocurrency in or out of your wallet, you need to pay transaction fees, and those fees can get very expensive. When gas prices are high, sending even a small amount of Ethereum (e.g. $20) can cost $50 or more, making it completely infeasible to regularly move crypto between a wallet and an exchange when you want to make a transaction. Some wallets also charge you fees of their own, which means you can easily lose an additional 5% just for using a wallet outside of your exchange.
- Expensive To Lose: As you saw in the security section above, losing access to your wallet is the most expensive of all, costing you 100% of your crypto holdings. The best way to avoid this is to hold your crypto on an exchange, not in an external wallet.
#3 Crypto Wallets Don’t Offer Customer Support
Suppose you had the secret keys to your crypto wallet saved in a note in your phone—but then your phone kicks the bucket, and you lose that note. Unfortunately for you, the only way to access your funds in a crypto wallet is with those secret keys, so if you can't get them back, all of your cryptos will be lost, too. There's no one to reach out to and no way of getting those coins back.
If the same thing happened and you lost your crypto exchange password, though, it wouldn't be an issue; you could just reset your password, and if that didn't work, reach out to customer support for help.
As much as crypto enthusiasts love the idea of decentralization, we also all value the ability to get help when things go wrong. There's nothing fun about losing your entire crypto portfolio over a silly little mistake.
What Is A Crypto Wallet?
A cryptocurrency (or Bitcoin) wallet is a piece of software or hardware that stores your crypto assets. Crypto wallets can be thought of as digital bank accounts: they both store your cryptocurrencies and also send and receive your crypto when you make transactions.
Crypto wallets have two types of keys for storage: public keys and private keys.
Public keys are for receiving crypto: if you want to receive Bitcoin or another digital currency from someone, you can share your public key with them so they can make the transaction.
A private key is for spending crypto: if you want to send your crypto assets to a crypto exchange or spend your crypto assets, you'll need access to your private keys. You should never share your private keys with anyone since that would allow them to access your funds. Think of your private keys like the password to your online banking. If they fall into the wrong hands, all of your money could quickly disappear.
There are three main types of crypto wallets:
#1 Paper Wallets
A paper wallet is the most basic type of Bitcoin wallet: it's just a piece of paper with your private keys written on it.
There's an obvious downside to paper wallets, of course, which is that you might lose them, kissing your digital assets goodbye. That's why you should always, always keep multiple copies of a paper wallet in places you know are safe. For example, you might place them in several difficult-to-access locations around your house.
#2 Software Wallets
Software wallets can generally be installed on any computer or smartphone with Internet access. They're highly convenient, but because they're online, they're susceptible to being, which is why they're also known as “hot wallets.”
#3 Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets are generally the most secure way to store large amounts of cryptocurrency since they cannot be hacked or used at all without access to the physical device. In recent years, security-minded crypto exchanges have turned to hardware wallets for storing their coins. For example, my top-ranked exchanges store at least 95% of their coins offline in cold storage, ensuring their safety.
Are Crypto Wallets Safe?
It depends on the type of wallet you choose to use.
Hardware wallets are extremely safe since they store your private keys offline, cutting off access to anyone who doesn't have your wallet physically in front of them. That's why crypto exchanges use hardware wallets to secure their coins.
Software wallets sacrifice security for convenience since they're online and susceptible to being hacked.
Paper wallets are also quite secure, but the risk of losing your private keys is never zero, and if you do, there's no way for you to reclaim your assets.
Overall, a highly secure crypto exchange offers the best combination of safety and convenience. Whether you have $1 or $1 million in crypto, you can rest easy knowing it's stored safely on a reputable exchange like 1. CoinSmart or Capital.
Best Crypto Wallets UK FAQs
What Is The Best Bitcoin Wallet In The UK?
The best place to buy and sell cryptocurrency in the UK is Capital due to its bank-level protection, simplicity of use, and excellent customer service. It supports hundreds of different cryptocurrencies and provides a top-notch trading experience, too.
What Is The Safest Crypto Wallet In The UK?
Capital is the most secure cryptocurrency wallet in the UK. Even if your phone is lost, stolen, or destroyed, its next-generation security technology ensures that your cryptocurrency is safe.
Which Crypto Wallet Has The Lowest Fees?
The crypto wallet with the lowest fees is Capital, which doesn't charge any trading fees.
If you were to use a hardware wallet or software wallet instead, you'd need to pay for the wallet itself ($100 or more) plus all of the transaction fees involved with moving money onto and off of the wallet, which can easily add up to 1% – 5% of your total crypto holdings.
How Do I Buy Cryptocurrency In The UK?
In the UK, you can trade cryptocurrencies on platforms like Capital and 1. CoinSmart. Each platform has its own set of features and benefits, but these are some of the most popular exchanges in the UK for buying and selling digital currency.
In Summary
Choosing the best cryptocurrency wallet in the UK is far from straightforward, given how many wallets are out there and all of the different features each of them offers. And over the past 8+ years of investing in crypto, I've learned that crypto wallets are actually less secure and more expensive than simply keeping your crypto on a reputable, trustworthy exchange.
All of the exchanges I recommend below have at least a 95% cold storage policy, are regulated by top UK authorities, and undergo external audits at least once per year. With that said, Capital is the perennial favourite of knowledgeable crypto investors in the UK, and in all my time trading with them, I can't recommend them highly enough.
