Eager to find out which is the best NFT wallet for your digital collectibles? This article will provide you with an exhaustive list of the best cryptocurrency wallets to store NFTs and efficiently participate in this growing DeFi niche.
So, if you are an aspiring NFT artist, collector, or trader, look no further. We will give you a good overview of the pros and cons of each solution on our list. This should allow you to choose the best NFT wallet depending on how you plan to use it.
The Staggering Rise of NFTs
Blockchain technology has given birth to cryptocurrencies, and with them, to a whole new way we approach finances. Bitcoin became the first global currency, taking intermediaries like banks out of the picture. More importantly, it allowed people all around the world to do away with government control regarding their money.
That said, this tech goes far beyond decentralizing currencies. The implementation of smart contracts has allowed us to tokenize anything of value by using non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This has conceived a new sub-genre of the crypto ecosystem, where instead of cryptocurrencies, investors trade digital art and gaming items registered on the blockchain to add value to their portfolios.
The NFT craze in itself isn’t that recent. Cryptokitties, the first popular NFT collecting game, has been around since 2017. It even caused the Ethereum blockchain network to stall because of how many people started exchanging their virtual cats.
However, it’s in 2021 that we really saw NFTs literally explode, both in value and popularity. In Q3 2021 alone, NFTs registered a volume of $10.7 billion. Today, the price of a single NFT can reach millions of dollars. The most expensive NFT, a simple CryptoPunk digital avatar, was sold at a whopping $11.7 million.
These skyrocketing prices have drawn hundreds of thousands of collectors and artists to the blockchain space. Droves of newcomers are now looking for secure and user-friendly ways to store their valuable crypto assets. Hence, we created this curated list of the best NFT wallets on the market today.
Important facts about NFT wallets
So what is an NFT wallet?
In essence, these third-party apps are your bridge to the blockchain ledger where your NFTs are recorded. They allow you to store digital collectibles, including art, gaming items, and any other NFT application you can think of. Additionally, they are an essential tool for interacting with NFT marketplaces where you can mint new digital assets and put them on sale.
To be effective, an NFT wallet needs to:
- Be secure, so that your valuables remain safe at all times.
- Provide a good UI, so that your collections are easily managed.
- Easily connect to your preferred marketplace.
- Cover multiple cryptocurrencies, so you can easily swap between different marketplaces.
- Offer multi-device support, so that you can use both your desktop and smartphone to follow everything that happens in the NFT ecosystem.
Unfortunately, rarely will you encounter a wallet that ticks all the boxes. When you are choosing the best NFT wallet, you will need to compromise on at least one of these properties.
Pro Tip
Before you are able to buy store NFTs, you will need some funds in your wallet to cover the gas fees of the blockchain. The first thing you should do is to top up your NFT wallet with the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain you are using. Most NFT transfers will require that you pay some transaction fees in ETH, SOL, MATIC, BNB, etc. If you don’t have the required amount in your wallet, the transaction will not be carried out.
Best NFT Wallets for 2021
So, without further ado, let’s have a deeper look at the best NFT wallets available. Any one of these could become your go-to solution for collecting these valuable digital assets.
Metamask – Best Crypto Wallet for Ethereum NFTs
Metamask is considered to be the most popular Ethereum-based wallet on the market. It allows you to store ETH, ERC-20 tokens created on the Ethereum network, and ERC-721 tokens. It comes as both a browser extension for popular browsers and a mobile app for iOS and Android. You can easily synchronize the browser and mobile apps, just by scanning a QR code with your phone.
Its code is entirely open-source, which allows the community to audit it for security issues and provide feedback for continuous improvement of the platform. Its simple user interface is a godsend for people getting started with crypto and NFTs as it won’t overwhelm you with useless data from the get-go.
We can even say that this is the most user-friendly Ethereum wallet as it can be seamlessly used to connect to some of the best NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea and Rarible. Once connected to these platforms, minting and handling collections becomes a breeze.
And while the added security to connect to a hardware wallet like Ledger or Trezor is a great feature, we would like to see Metamask include Google 2-factor authentication in the future. Considering you will be mainly using Metamask as a browser extension, 2-FA is essential to prevent phishing attacks.
For a more detailed guide on how to use some of Metamask’s advanced features, please check out the full review here.
Pros:
- Ease of use
- NFT marketplaces integration
- Open-source
- Integrated token swaps
- Integrated ETH purchases with credit and debit cards
Cons:
- No 2-FA (except with a hardware wallet)
- Can be iffy when trying to display newly acquired NFTs.
- Best for Ethereum only.
Trust Wallet – Best NFT Wallet for Cross-Chain Collectors
Trust Wallet is backed by Binance and is one of the most popular crypto mobile wallets on the market. The app is compatible with both Android and iOS and provides a streamlined user experience, ideal for beginners in this niche. Collections are neatly organized and it even provides animated visualization of .gif NFTs and videos.
One of the main advantages of Trust Wallet is its cross-chain compatibility. This wallet allows you to store NFTs across different blockchains including popular solutions with low gas fees such as the Binance Smart Chain or Solana.
So in addition to storing your Ether, Bitcoin, and thousands of other popular cryptocurrencies, you can handle your NFT collection as well. Pretty practical, if you ask me. It also includes a dApp browser and you can use it to explore 53 different blockchains.
With that in mind, there’s one caveat; it only comes in a mobile version. This is not ideal if you are an artist or developer and you need to mint your own NFTs on your computer. Consequently, it’s a great collector’s wallet, but not the best when it comes to artists.
Pros:
- Great UI and graphical representation of your NFTs
- Supports 53 different blockchains
- Allows staking for passive income
Cons:
- Only comes in Mobile app form
Math Wallet – Multi-platform to access NFTs from anywhere
Math Wallet is another popular blockchain wallet option for storing NFTs and seems like the perfect all-arounder on the surface. The main appeal of Math Wallet is the multi-platform support, paired with cross-chain capability.
In fact, this wallet is available on almost every platform imaginable. There’s an extension for various popular browsers, a mobile app, and even a web wallet that can be accessed through any internet-enabled device. We can’t really recommend the latter, as it stores your private keys on the cloud, which increases the vulnerability of your wallet.
What’s great about Math Wallet is that, in addition to all of these platforms, it supports multiple blockchains. So if you are a creator that wishes to spread your NFT art across different blockchains and marketplaces, you’ll want to take a closer look at Math Wallet. It might become your one-stop shop for minting, selling, and managing your assets.
Note that, similar to Metamask, you can link it to a Ledger hardware wallet. This adds a 2-FA security layer to your assets and increases their safety considerably.
That said, not everything is great about this wallet. It’s pretty barebones when it comes to features and its UI is quite unintuitive.
Pros:
- Multi-platform (Chrome extension, smartphones, web wallet)
- Cross-chain, supports 70+ major blockchains
Cons:
- Low on features
- Clunky interface
- Some recurring bugs and crashes
Enjin Wallet – Best NFT Wallet for ERC-1155 Tokens
If you haven’t been living under a rock in the past year, you must have heard about popular blockchain games such as Axie Infinity. The issue with this game and others like it is that their monetary ecosystem (NFTs and reward tokens) is strongly confined to a single game. Once the game goes offline, the assets become worthless.
Enjin solves this problem by providing an APK and open-source ecosystem where developers can integrate NFTs in their games using ENJ tokens. This means that each NFT can be minted with ENJ and melted back into ENJ. This allows users to keep the real-world value of their NFTs even if the game servers go offline in the future.
Furthermore, the Enjin team has also released a new blockchain protocol called ERC-1155. With it, developers can create fungible and non-fungible tokens under the same smart contract. This is extremely handy in gaming, as the developers can mint the in-game currency as a fungible token. At the same time, items and characters can be recorded as NFTs.
Of course, to store these ERC-1155 tokens, you will need to use the Enjin wallet, which is a mobile app for Android and iOS. This wallet is incredibly versatile, as, in addition to ETH and ENJ, it allows you to store popular coins such as Bitcoin and Polkadot.
Finally, the app includes an integrated token swap powered by no less than three partners including Bancor, Changelly and Kyber Network. Worth noting that it provides advanced security features such as fingerprint scanner biometrics.
Note: A new version of this wallet is in the works. This will be the bridge between Enjin and Efinity, a gaming blockchain project on the Polkadot ecosystem.
Pros:
- Stores Bitcoin, Polkadot, ERC-20, ERC-721, and ERC-1155 tokens
- Fingerprint unlock feature
- Multiple functionalities (wallet, marketplace, dApp browser, exchange)
Cons:
- Interface could use a little work
- Mobile-only
Coinbase Wallet – Familiar Name for a Great All-Around Wallet
Distributed by the famous Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange, this wallet has been slowly gaining ground as one of the best NFT wallets on the market. Coinbase is mainly known for its cryptocurrency exchange which was the first crypto-related business to be listed publicly on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
The Coinbase name is a great selling point for beginner NFT collectors. The wallet enjoys continuous development from a well-established company and users can rely on support from a licensed and regulated company in the US.
That said, you shouldn’t confuse the Coinbase Wallet with the Coinbase App. The App is an extension of the Coinbase.com exchange and can be used to trade cryptocurrencies. The wallet, on the other hand, is an entirely standalone application for storing cryptocurrencies and NFTs. And just like all the wallets on our list, this app gives you full control of your private keys, and therefore, your tokens.
Coinbase users can link their Coinbase Wallet with their trading account and easily transfer funds from and to the wallet with no extra fees. It has an integrated dApp browser, so you can use it to launch decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap directly from the wallet.
Worth noting is that this is an ERC-20 wallet only, so it won’t support Bitcoin or any blockchain other than Ethereum for that matter.
Pros:
- Can be linked to your Coinbase.com account
- Simple and effective interface
- Trustworthy name from a renowned company
Cons:
- Holds only Ethereum-based NFTs
- Can’t use Coinbase’s trading features with the wallet
Wrap-Up
Every entry that made our list has a particular set of features that should suit different kinds of investors. Unfortunately, there’s no all-around winner this time, as each one of the best NFT wallets has a slight drawback that prevents us from recommending it above all the others.
Nevertheless, we covered most of the aspects of each wallet and provided you with their benefits and drawback. As such, this article should come in handy, regardless of what you plan to do with your NFTs.
