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Decentralized Finance (DeFi) just might be the closest thing to Satoshi’s vision we’ve come to achieve. Nowadays, any average Joe can become an investor. And by investing, we don’t mean cryptocurrencies. DeFi gave birth to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), DApps, smart contracts and many things that are still in development. To hold all these digital goods safely, you need a DeFi wallet.
But that’s where things get complicated. Everyone is looking to get a slice of the DeFi pie, which resulted in numerous scam wallets, security breaches and all kinds of chaos. This blog’s goal is to protect you from such nasty developments. In it, we’ll take a look at the top DeFi wallets in 2023, focusing on their unique features and what they’re best for. Ready?
In the world of decentralized finance, most people opt for one of the two types of crypto wallets - DeFi wallets vs custodial wallets. Let’s take a quick look at why investors opt for DeFi wallets:
DeFi wallets aren’t under the governance of a bank or a centralized organization. This means that no one processes your transfer request other than the blockchain itself. Custodial wallets often take days to complete transactions, mainly because the parent organization has protocols in place.
Even though custodial wallets are advertised as anonymous, they really aren’t. Since the organization behind them is regulated and its actions overseen by a government agency, they have to comply with Know Your Customer (KYC). This involves sending your personal information, including photos. A DeFi wallet can be created and used in less than a minute.
If you own valuable NFT or other digital goods, and you’re holding them in a custodial wallet, know that the company can access the wallet at any time. Your keys are stored on a server, and any employee can see them. DeFi wallet keys are yours and yours only. The software encrypts the keys and stores them safely.
As DeFi wallets are becoming more and more elaborate, they’re also adding more features. This is aimed more at developers and more serious investors, but the innovations are also trickling down to individuals like you and me.
The very decentralized nature of DeFi can be a double-edged sword. Just because anyone can develop a DeFi wallet doesn’t mean anyone should do so. We saw this first-hand while testing a dozen or so top contenders. After consulting experts and players and compiling our findings, it seems that the following DeFi wallets are a great choice:
With over 30 million monthly active users, MetaMask is by far the most popular DeFi wallet. Those who invest in NFTs are already well aware of it, as metaverses such as Decentraland support it. MetaMask is built on the Ethereum blockchain, making it compatible with many ERC20 tokens. You can download the wallet as an app for iOS and Android or use it as a browser extension on your PC.
However, the best feature of MetaMask is its order spreading. When you’re looking to buy or sell crypto, this wallet spreads the order across Uniswap, 1inch and other decentralized exchanges with which they partner. Purchases are possible using cards, bank transfers and even services such as Apple Pay.
Although Crypto.com is best known for its CEX and custodial wallet, they also have a DeFi wallet. Just like MetaMask, the Crypto.com DeFi wallet supports ERC20 coins, in addition to BTC and other staples not on the Ethereum blockchain. In total, the number of supported cryptos is over 100, which is more than most wallets can brag about.
Despite this amazing versatility, this wallet earned the second spot because of its QOL feature. Through the wallet, you can prepare money for ETH gas fees and organize your taxes using the Crypto.com Tax feature. If you’re interested in staking, the DeFi Earn option lets you earn passively on over 30 tokens. This might be an even better pick for beginners and casual users than MetaMask.
The Argent DeFi wallet aims to make staking more user-friendly and safer. Since staking is a lot more financially intensive than other activities, your funds need to be secure. For this purpose, Argent created the concept of social recovery.
Unlike other wallets, this one lets you select a person or another wallet that can help you regain access to your wallet. This is much more effective than a seed phrase. Recently, they’ve also added the ability to sync your Argent DeFi wallet with iCloud and Google Drive.
Another thing why people use Argent are its low fees. It's built on Ethereum Layer 2, which is much cheaper and more efficient than Layer 1. The solution they’re using is zkSync, which allows for seamless transfers between L1 and L2.
Like Crypto.com, Coinbase is yet another big exchange that began offering its own DeFi wallet. It’s by far the best choice for beginners. Not only is the app easy to navigate, but all the explanations are simple, and many learning resources are available. The search feature is also very neat, as it shows you what every dApp does, in addition to NFTs, games and DEXs.
The Coinbase DeFi wallet is also great for anyone using multiple chains since it supports over 100,000 coins. And they’ll all remain secure, thanks to 2-factor authentication, multi-approval withdrawals and other stellar security features.
Another great choice for chain interoperability, Trust Wallet supports a whopping 53 different chains, which amounts to approximately 500,000 coins. For avid NFT collectors and Decentraland LAND owners, this is by far the most versatile option. It doesn’t stop there, though.
Trust Wallet’s best and most unique feature is the Trust dApp Browser, which supports both BSC and Ethereum. This means you can browse dApps and utilize popular protocols without the need to have multiple wallets.
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