If you wish to send or receive bitcoin, you will need a wallet.

Getting started with a Bitcoin wallet is easy: you install an App on your mobile or desktop and follow the steps for creating a wallet.

Creating a Bitcoin wallet is simpler than creating almost any type of account. You don’t need to fill-in your name, email, phone number, address, dob, etc.


Bitcoin does not discriminate. It allows for the ultimate expression of freedom: The storage and transfer of value.


These are your typical steps for setting up a Bitcoin wallet:

  1. Download wallet software.
  2. Follow the steps to create a new wallet.
  3. Write down your seed phrase.

The wallet software will generate your keys, and provide you with a 12 or 24 word seed phrase. This is the backup for your private key. Save your seed phrase.

You will want to use a non-custodial wallet. This means that you own the private keys to your bitcoin.

With custodial wallets, a third-party holds the private keys to spend the bitcoin. If you use a custodial wallet you are entrusting the custodian with your bitcoin. Bitcoin does not need to rely on third-parties. You can bypass this risk altogether by using a non-custodial wallet and interfacing directly with the Bitcoin network.

Below are the wallets that I recommend based on personal experience. I like to think of software wallets as checking accounts, and hardware wallets as savings accounts.

Software Wallets:

BlueWallet

Bitcoin should be fun, usable and for anyone.

Wasabi Wallet

Non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet for Desktop, that implements trustless CoinJoin.


Hardware Wallets:

I recommend a hardware wallet for bitcoin savings. The hardware wallet holds your private keys away from your internet connected devices. You will need to use the Coldcard to sign spend transactions. Security by convention, it’s beautiful.

The Coldcard integrates with the software wallets outlined above. For instance, you can receive transactions to your Coldcard using BlueWallet, and watch your balance on there, but you cannot spend the bitcoin unless you sign the transaction offline using your Coldcard.

The set-up that you get when using the Coldcard is a work of art. PSBTs are an earthy feature of Bitcoin. They showcase the power, resillience, and versatility of the protocol.

Coldcard Wallet

The Most Trusted and Secure Bitcoin Hardware Wallet.

Use Coldcard with Specter Desktop

A desktop GUI for Bitcoin Core optimised to work with hardware wallets.


Connecting your wallet to your node is a poweful concept. You should aspire to run your own Bitcoin Node.