Bitcoin can be held online, on your own computer, on a hardware wallet or even on paper. Below we show you a few of the most popular bitcoin wallets.

Ledger Hardware Wallet - USB connected device to store your bitcoin. €94.80

Electrum Desktop Wallet - Free open source application you can access from your desktop. £0.00

CoinSpace Web Wallet - Browser based wallet. £0.00

Electrum Mobile App - Android app using the open source Electrum software. £0.00

It is recommended to hold a small amount of bitcoin in an easily accessible wallet, a web wallet, desktop or mobile wallet. Then have a more secure cold storage wallet, perhaps a paper wallet or hardware wallet. For large amounts of bitcoin it is important to have a backup of your private keys to ensure you can retrieve your bitcoin in the event of being unable to access your bitcoin in the normal way.

In reality there are an infinite number of ways to store your bitcoin, any way you can store a series of 12 words, (even in your own head if you really wanted), then as long as you have access to this code you can access your bitcoin from anywhere. There will be a balance between ease of access and security but my best advice would be that you do not need to treat your bitcoin all as one. You can split your holdings to reduce the risks of a full loss. Having several wallets within the same exchange isn't really sufficient here, as potential the issue with one could apply to them all. What is said by many is "not your keys, not your bitcoin" which essentially just emphasizes that you are trusting a 3rd party to hold your bitcoin, and you need them before you can send to anyone else or a different location.

secure your bitcoin

Holding bitcoin should be simple enough but things can go wrong. Hardware failure or physical damage, (fires,floods, dropped equipment), could all result in great loss. One other thing to consider is what would happen in the event of your death. Maybe for you it won't be such an issue but for friends or family it could be a nice parting gift. You can share details with a trusted friend or family, 3rd party, or as I would suggest a time locked email or file, which you can delay on a regular basis.

store your bitcoin