For a layman, altcoin or alternative coin is another option of cryptocurrency, which emerged after a huge success of bitcoins. Today, there are numerous cryptocurrencies other than the regular bitcoins and they are termed as altcoins. An altcoin wallet is like a block chain, a ledger that keeps a tab on all bitcoin transactions.

The difference between altcoin and bitcoin wallets is that the former has a provision for storage of private keys for business and other transactions of altcoins.

Types of Cryptocurrencies Supported by Altcoin Wallets

The most well known altcoins that are being used today are:

• Zcash
• Etherium
• Litecoin and
• Ripple

Most of the wallets carry information about more than one cryptocurrency, in which case they are referred to as multi-coin wallets.

An altcoin wallet is graded depending on the cryptocurrency it supports, how secure it is and its level of usage convenience. Let us have a look at five of the best wallets that are available.

1. Coinomi

This wallet has emerged as the best of all. It supports most of the cryptocurrencies and works very smoothly. It gives a clear picture of all your balances and shows them put together. So you know the value of your crypto money. The factor that contributes to the safety of the wallet is that your private keys are stored locally and encoded. Coinomi uses a software through which the payment modes can never be traced back. The one flip side of this wallet is as of now, only accessible to Android users.

 

2. Jaxx

Jaxx is another wallet with an attractive user interface and very convenient to use. It supports multiple platforms from Mac and Windows to iOS and Android. Like Coinomi, it is an open source, so you know what is going on in the application. It has to catch up with Coinomi on the safety front. The team at Jaxx is very motivated to bring the wallet to the numero uno position.

 

3. Exodus

This altcoin wallet runs on Mac, Linux and Windows. As such, it is a desktop cryptocurrency wallet. It is quite straightforward in its usage, gives you control on the private keys and even conceals the keys. An advantage of using Exodus is it provides a real-time display of the entire wallet. It responds very well but supports only a limited number of cryptocurrencies. This limitation does not work in its favor.

 

4. Agama

This is yet another desktop wallet, which supports numerous cryptocurrencies but it is still in its early stages of development. Although it allows you to own your keys, they are kept as a separate file on your computer and unfortunately, they are not encoded. They have put up a disclaimer too on their site regarding this concern. However, they are still developing and looking to have the potential to reach the top spot.

 

5. Cryptonator

This supports a good amount of coins but the private keys are not exclusively yours. The company can access your keys and can regulate the funds. The confidential information is claimed to be stored in remote servers and if this is true, your currency is in safe hands.

All the 5 wallets mentioned here offer good security but come with their flip sides. Peruse through them, take your own time and start using the most suitable altcoin wallet.