The Best Cryptocurrency Wallets to Use in the Philippines

A cryptocurrency wallet is a piece of software or application where you *store your Bitcoin, ether, or any other virtual currencies that you have.

Think of it like the wallet where you store your money. You put your paper bills in the wallet. Everyone knows you have a wallet (unless you don’t, which is very very alarming), but only you can take the money out of your wallet. (Note: Click here if you want a Bitcoin wallet-centric article. Continue reading if you want to know more about cryptocurrency wallets not just for btc but for all coins.)

Cryptocurrency Wallet Philippines

Private and Public Addresses

The cryptocurrency wallet has private and public keys (or private and public addresses). When you send your friend John an altcoin, you send it to his public address. Remember that the blockchain is a public ledger. Everyone John transacts with knows his public address. Everyone even knows how much altcoin is in his wallet.

But only John can take the coin out of that wallet. That’s because he’s the only one who knows the private key (or private address) to open his wallet.

Characteristics of Best Cryptocurrency Wallets

Wallets come in different forms. For example, there are many Bitcoin wallets. Also, there are different wallets for different cryptocurrencies. Well, there are wallets where you can put many coins. Examples are wallets on cryptocurrency exchanges (like the one on Bittrex).

But wallets on an exchange are not secure. Furthermore, because exchanges trade millions of Bitcoin per day, they are a prime target for hackers. Most of the time, the best wallets are the ones that give you access to your private and public keys. But those are still nothing if the wallet’s creators do not have a strong reputation (or maybe unknown). What’s more, it depends on your risk assessment and comfort. If you trust the company with your private keys, or whether you want your altcoins offline. We list down the best cryptocurrency wallet for users in the Philippines.

Note: Every wallet listed here are wallets that you can freely download. Technically, all wallets are available globally, but some, like Abra, Coins, and Bitbit also have a team on the ground in PH. Some provide a watered-down version of their platforms, like Coinbase that only allows us to store our coins. Meaning, its wallet functions are available to us. But their other features, like quick exchange and trading are not available for users in the country.

Best Cryptocurrency Wallets for Philippine users

Online Wallets

Simply put, these are wallets you can access online, either on a web browser and/on a mobile device. These provide convenience although most of the time because they are connected to the Internet. However, most of them control your private keys. They are called “hot wallets” because of that.

Desktop Wallets

Desktop wallets are software wallets that sit on your computer and are generally secure. They range from easy-to-use to complicated-looking user interface. Most of the time you control your private keys. Some, like Exodus, offers the ability to convert your coins to another via its Shapeshift integration (this means you can trade your coins instantly to any other supported coins).

Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets are the real deal. You can say it puts your Bitcoin offline, but technically, you put your private keys offline, away from the Internet where everything can be hacked if you’re not careful. They are also generally expensive. However, many cryptocurrency websites agree on one thing – they are probably one of the most secure ways of keeping your coins safe.

Paper Wallets

Dubbed as the least expensive way to keep your coins.  The private addresses are literally printed on a paper. We can recommend:

• Bitcoin Paper Wallet supports Bitcoin.

Philippine Bitcoin Wallets

A number of Bitcoin Wallets are owned by Philippine companies. In this article, we will only focus on Bitcoin wallets owned by Filipino companies that are licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to facilitate Bitcoin to fiat conversion and vice versa:

Coins.ph

Boasting 5 million users, Coins.ph is the most popular crypto wallet in the Philippines. It offers the following cryptocurrencies that you can buy or store on the mobile wallet:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Bitcoin Cash
• XRP

Each of the above, of course, has different wallet addresses. All of the above can be converted from each other at a price set by the app. Also, because Coins.ph, unlike other web wallets, is also a Peso Wallet, you can use your cryptocurrency, convert them back to Peso, and then use that to pay for utilities, mobile load, credit card bills, etc. Indirectly, it allows one to use Bitcoin to top up their Beep card you can use to ride the LRT and MRT! Coins employ security features like SMS authentication and 2 factor authentication to make sure you are the one using the app and not someone else.

Check out the following articles about Coins.ph:

• Your Coins.ph Wallet Can Now Receive Western Union Money Transfers
• Philippines Coins.ph to Integrate with UnionBank Crypto ATM
• Go-Jek Acquires Majority Shares in Blockchain Company Coins.ph
• How to Buy Stocks with Bitcoin Through Coins.ph
• How to Buy and Sell XRP in Coins.ph

Now, Coins.ph also launched a trading platform called Coins Pro. At Coins Pro, users can set their own buy and sell prices, just like a traditional cryptocurrency or stock exchange.

BitBit

BitBit is a Bitcoin wallet created by SCI Ventures, whose subsidiary Rebittance is a BSP license virtual currency exchange business. You cannot send and receive Bitcoin at BitBit but can act as a wallet for the Bitcoins you bought elsewhere.

Because you cannot buy or acquire Bitcoins at BitBit, these are the ways to put Bitcoin in this wallet:

1. Buy at BuyBitcoin.ph, also a product of SCI Ventures. At the BuyBitcoin page, there is an option to transfer the Bitcoins you bought to BitBit.
2. If you are buying via OTC, tell them that you intend to put the Bitcoins to your BitBit Wallet.
3. IF you are using a Crypto ATM, just make sure the recipient address is your Bitcoin Address at BitBit.

Abra

Abra is mobile crypto wallet that allows you to store Bitcoin, currencies, cryptocurrencies, and even stocks. Unlike Coins.ph and BitBit, Abra is a non-custodial wallet. Only you have access to your private key, Abra does not. This means you are ultimately responsible to make sure you keep the private keys safe.

Check out the available cryptocurrencies at Abra:

• Cardano (ADA)
• Tron (TRX)
• Basic Attention Token (BAT)
• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ether (ETH)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Dash (DASH)
• Ethereum Classic (ETC)
• Dogecoin (DOGE)
• Zcash (ZEC)
• OmiseGO (OMG)
• Golem (GNT)
• Vertcoin (VTC)
• Quantum (QAU)
• Monero (XMR)
• Lisk (LSK)
• Verge (XVG)
• NEO (NEO)
• NEM (XEM)
• Bitcoin Gold (BTG)
• Stellar (XLM)
• Augur (REP)
• DigiByte (DGB)
• Stratis (STRAT)
• 0x (ZRX)
• Status (SNT)

Abra even has a feature to buy bitcoin and cryptocurrency via Credit Card or debit card. Also, thanks to synthetic and fractional investing, users can invest in American stocks and Funds for a fraction of a cost. For example, you can buy a 40$ worth of Netflix stock even though the price of Netflix per share is $100 (this is just an example).

Check out our other articles related to Abra:

• Invest in the world’s most exciting stocks using Bitcoin with Abra
• You Can Now Add Money to Abra Crypto Wallet Through 7-Eleven in the Philippines
• Abra Launches Index Token That Gives Exposure to Top 10 Coins
• You Can Use Debit / Credit Card to Buy Bitcoin in Abra Wallet

How to top up cryptocurrency wallets in the Philippines

If you are going to use crypto wallets, chances are you might want to add money to that wallet. In the Philipines, the most convenient way to top up is via 7-eleven. BitBit, Abra, and Coins.ph can be topped up via 7-eleven. Here’s an article when Abra launched this feature in 2019:

• You Can Now Add Money to Abra Crypto Wallet Through 7-Eleven in the Philippines

Best Cryptocurrency Wallet for Specific Coins

We have a lot of choices when it comes to Bitcoin and ether. But for the majority of altcoins, you will be hard-pressed to look for one other than the official ones on the altcoin’s website.

• Best wallet for ethereum in the Philippines
• The best wallet for Bitcoin cash
• Cardano Wallets
• Wallets for litecoin
• Wallets for Dash
• EOS Wallets
• Ethereum Classic Wallets
• The best wallets for Monero
• NANO Wallets
• IOTA Wallets
• Lisk Wallets
• The best wallets for Ripple
• NEM Wallets
• NEO Wallets
• OmiseGO Wallets
• Qtum Wallets
• Stellar Lumens Wallets
• Tron Wallets
• Vechain Wallets
• Verge Wallets
• Zcash Wallets

Safety Tips for Cryptocurrency Wallets

Unlike keeping your wallets in an exchange, the crypto wallet represents your best bet in keeping your coins safer. Here are some tips:

1. If the wallet has a password, don’t give the password to someone else. Write it on a piece of paper and make sure it’s a complicated one.
2. Never ever tell your private keys to someone else. Never put your private keys in plain text format. A virus can corrupt it and you can bid your coins goodbye.
3. Create multiple backups of your files that are related to your coins. If you did not print your Bitcoin paper wallet, create backups of it and secure it with passwords, zip file, whatever you can do to make sure no one can access it but you.
4. If you opt for a hardware wallet, like Trezor. Make sure it’s genuine! Also, if your hardware wallet contains an inordinate number of coins, you should keep it somewhere safe. Not on top of your refrigerator, but somewhere safe, like a vault. We’re serious.

What type of wallet do you use? Do you use the paper option? Or do you have a hardware wallet? Hit us up on Facebook!

* Technically, the wallet is not a place where you store your coins. The wallet gives you access to your coins via the combination of your private and public keys. For the purpose of this article, we opted to simplify it and say the wallet is where the Bitcoins are stored.

Read More: Invest in the world’s most exciting stocks using Bitcoin with Abra