The Avalanche ecosystem has seen a resurgence of growth and an influx of new users lately. Buoyed by a wider uptick in crypto interest, coupled with the emergence of new protocols that have strengthened its value proposition, and Avalanche is very much in the ascendancy.
For new users arriving on Avalanche’s layer1 blockchain for the first time, as well as returning users reactivating dormant wallets, there’s a need to get up to speed on the latest tooling. A lot has changed and improved within the Avalanche universe since the proof of stake blockchain launched in 2018.
Wallet design in particular has improved, both to take advantage of new Avalanche-based protocols, and to tap into the broader multi-chain world that has spawned a wave of L2s, bridges, and DEXes. With AVAX proving a precious commodity, up 4x in 2023, keeping it secure is paramount. The following wallets will keep your AVAX safe while allowing you to explore the best that Avalanche has to offer.
Core
The best known and most versatile Avalanche wallet, Core is your gateway to all things AVAX. Available as a web app, web extension, and on mobile, Core covers loads of EVM chains but it’s all centered around Avalanche. There’s built-in support for bridging assets to Avalanche from Bitcoin and Ethereum and the ability to interact with dapps on the Avalanche mainnet and its growing number of subnets.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Core is part of a new breed of wallets that offer seedless design, allowing users to authenticate via Google or Apple, instead of needing to rely on cumbersome mnemonic phrases. As an all-rounder for storing, staking, and trading your AVAX as well as hundreds of other assets, Core does it all. The C, X, and P chains are all supported, providing full access to everything Avalanche has to offer.
Avalanche Wallet
The original Avalanche wallet is still one of the most reliable and widely used for interacting with all things AVAX. Avalanche Wallet has been there from the start, and it still provides one of the best dashboards for inspecting your AVAX assets and activities including staking.
A non-custodial wallet, the official Avalanche Wallet keeps things simple rather than trying to incorporate every bell, whistle, and chain imaginable. If you’re an avid Avalancher, this makes it ideal, even if it’s unsuited to those who like to straddle multiple chains. Avalanche Wallet provides a range of ways to authenticate including mnemonic phrase, private key, and Ledger. Once connected, you’re free to roam the C, X, and P chains and move assets seamlessly between them.
Trust Wallet
The Binance-backed Trust is a highly regarded all-rounder for exploring web3 networks, Avalanche included. Available as a mobile wallet and browser extension, Trust supports over 100 blockchains. There’s good centralized exchange integration with the likes of Binance and Coinbase, making it easy to fund the wallet, and the ability to store an encrypted wallet backup in the cloud.
Trust supports the Avalanche C-Chain, which is the EVM network most commonly used for trading AVAX and other assets. Integrated dapps allow Avalanche tokens to be traded onchain and there’s also full support for NFTs. This ensures that NFTs purchased on different blockchains can be accessed within a single wallet gallery. While not a “pure” Avalanche wallet, Trust is ideal for connecting to the broader EVM ecosystem and moving funds between chains.
Atomic Wallet
Atomic Wallet is built for Avalanche. It allows AVAX to be swapped within the wallet with thousands of other crypto assets. There’s also cashback of up to 1% available on swaps. Available from Google Play and App Store, Atomic is a mobile wallet that covers a lot of bases. It covers a lot of chains too, with Avalanche complemented by the likes of Ethereum, Litecoin, and Stellar.
Atomic is an ideal wallet for users who value their privacy. In addition to supporting leading privacy coins such as Monero, anonymous transactions can be made directly within the wallet. Atomic rounds things off with a cleanly designed portfolio checker and support for staking on major L1 blockchains.
Infinity Wallet
Infinity is another multi-chain wallet that includes Avalanche support. It’s a good desktop wallet for storing assets for medium to long term, but the wallet can also be used to trade tokens. An integrated swap feature allows AVAX and other tokens to be traded non-custodially.
Security is probably the most compelling reason to try Infinity. It packs a suite of robust security features including the ability to generate your seed while offline. Multiple wallets can be controlled within Infinity, while the number of blockchains available is dizzying including a host of layer1 and layer2 networks.
Bitizen
Bitizen is an Avalanche-compatible wallet that boasts a seedless design, making it the only wallet to possess that trait here aside from Core. Bitizen makes use of threshold signature scheme (TSS) and multi-party computation (MPC) to ensure that private keys are never created, stored or shared. This makes the wallet ideal for beginners who don’t feel comfortable with being responsible for storing their seed phrase.
The mobile wallet supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, Fantom, Optimism, Arbitrum and loads more chains. It’s a secure yet user-friendly option for holding your AVAX and other Avalanche assets. You can choose to add social recovery too, with family members providing their faces as an additional biometric recovery option. Set it up correctly, and you’ll never be locked out of your Bitizen wallet.
Pick Your Wallet
If you’ve resisted exploring some of the latest wallets on the market, be it due to caution or laziness, it’s time to take the plunge. The latest crypto wallets incorporate a host of features and services that allow you to do all of your trading, saving, and staking within one app.
For hardcore Avalanche users, it’s hard to see past Core with its support for all three Avalanche chains plus subnets. All six of the wallets featured here have their attributes, however, with Trust and Bitizen good alternatives for traders who like to go multi-chain.
Image by Ondřej Šponiar from Pixabay
