IMAGINE this, you’re taking a stroll down the street. It’s hot.

You walk past a vending machine.

You spot a drink that you like, select and you want to pay.

Instead of taking out some cash from your wallet, you open an app on your mobile phone already in your hands.

Your scan the QR-code labeled on the machine. Voila, the machine starts using its mechanical arms to grab your drink from the compartment.

Welcome to a world where banking services are no longer relevant, they’re replaced by cryptocurrency wallets.

Your Cryptocurrency Wallet is going to be a key component of the digital world.

And that’s not all. The same wallet responsible for holding your money or coins will also be your:

• Bank
• Brokerage account
• Digital identification
• Data Vault
• Auditor

(Read about my last entry on 3 Bitcoin Wallets That Are Iron-Clad, Unhackable and Time-Tested)

There will be a new group of people called the unbanked, who will trade and start their own business bypassing all the red tape that traditional financial institutions have come to be associated with.

This exact scenario will ‘play out in the future. At the moment, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin still make up a relatively small portion of the global financial markets. In fact, they’re less than 1% of the Trillions dollars in traditional financial markets like Gold.

Bitcoin has been clearing more tx volume than global gold markets since early 2017.

BTC: on pace to process $1.1 trillion in 2018 transactions
Gold: on pace to process $0.4 trillion in 2018 transactions

Sources: https://t.co/eVqQiq56gv for BTChttps://t.co/zqh4eykqNb for Gold pic.twitter.com/oc5piRvrXE

— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) August 15, 2018

That’s how bitcoin gradually gobbles up the market share.

Imagine this scenario, Homer works in a beer factory in Boston. He uses only Bitcoin for all his money. When Homer gets paid at the end of the week by the company, he receives his monthly salary into his long term Bitcoin storage called a Ledger Nano S.

He does this by simply giving his Bitcoin wallet address on his first day of employment with the Beer company.

How does he track whether he gets paid like clockwork at the beginning of each month?

He can keep track of his Sentinel “watch only” mobile app wallet where he can keep an eye on all the ins and outs of his bitcoin without ever storing it physically on his mobile phone.

In case his phone ever gets stolen, nobody can access or even touch his entire life’s savings. Not even the government or crooks without his pin code or his 24-word see passphrase.

Homer never ever has to step foot inside a bank. He can send his bitcoin to Ned who lives in London without needing to pay exorbitant fees.

Now the company which Homer works for, runs an international Beer exporting business that has owners from 3-different continents, North America, Europe and Asia.

They use Bitcoin instead of fiat money to cut costs on foreign exchange and all the red-tape nonsense associated with traditional financial institutions for cross border transactions.

His company, Duff Inc. uses a multi-signature wallet with Electrum and several Ledger Nano S’s.

The co-owners, Alice, Daniel and Lee can securely manage the company’s assets by having multiple cosigners as an extra-layer of security before sending out any bitcoin.

Private keys remain safe inside their company’s Ledger Nano S. There is no need to be paying monthly fees to banks to for their services and to protect their assets.

When Alice needs to pay her staff in North America, or any other business expenses, she pays into a Bitcoin escrow service with the company’s multi-signature wallet.

Only after her purchased goods cleared inspections, she can then release payment.

When Alice intends to buy new raw supplies of barley, she can get her buyers to agree on a deal and then hand over a Bitcoin Credit Stick Wallet, called OpenDime.

“Deal agreed for $100,000 worth of raw barley.”

She can easily scan the address on her Ledger app, and within seconds, the OpenDime stick registers $100,000.

What follows is the barley supplier uses his Samourai Wallet to verify whether the Bitcoin is indeed inside his OpenDime Wallet.

OpenDime wallets are widely used because it is error-free, easy to setup, near-indestructible and can carry amounts ranging from nothing to millions/billions.

The deal is now completed without needing a middle man to get involve and take a portion of the transaction.

Bitcoin is an opportunity to shakeup the financial playing field. I do think BTC has a chance of ending the current 100+ year old monopolies.

Now, Tanya is from Zimbabwe, her sister Theresa send bitcoins to her every single month from Paris.

She goes to a local convenience store and buys an Azteco Voucher with Euros and redeems her voucher directly to her sister’s Samourai Wallet in Zimbabwe.

The fees are so low, that she can afford to send her bitcoins without losing a portion of her salary each month.

Her sister in Zimbabwe can now manage and spend the bitcoins she receives on sites like Purse.io where she gets to purchase all sorts of things even if she is living is a severely financially restricted country. Nobody can ever reject her business because her bitcoin is as good as any others’ bitcoin.

10 Bitcoin Wallets to Start Using Immediately for your Business

As e-commerce sets to grow even bigger this coming decade, the only way for buyers and sellers to conduct trade has to take place on a trusted site/platform like Ebay, Amazon or even Alibaba. People got used to giving away all their private information in order to trade.

As a result, giant multinational corporations grew bigger and bigger until they became a giant honeypot of private information and data.

It was a real commercial friction point: every time you wanted to buy something you had to fill out your credit card information, plus your billing address and, if it was different, your shipping address as well. And once you had done that, your information would be vulnerable to hackers.

Peer-to-peer, decentralized electronic currency will solve all these issues.

Services like OpenBazaar.org is ushering in this new age of decentralized, peer-to-peer eCommerce.

Lee in China, who wants to sell his toys in the US will just need to download and install OpenBazaar where he can immediately list his toys inside an in-built search engine within the software.

He then sells his toys directly to a buyer without any middlemen taking a cut of his profits.

The buyer in the US sends Bitcoin to his wallet address by following Lee’s listed instructions. He does not need to reveal any other private information, like his name, etc. Address may be needed for Lee to deliver to his doorstep.

Both buyer and seller can also take advantage of OpenBazaar’s Multisignature escrow to manage any disputes that arise from the trade.

In a decentralized eCommerce platform such as this, the usage of a moderator is key to ensuring that the deal goes through without a hitch.

For a trade that requires meeting up face to face to do a local pickup;

1. the buyer can simply scan the QR code of the seller,
2. type in the amount of BTC and
3. press send after receiving the item.

This compared to juggling with 2FA devices with a laptop or a mobile device. Plus ensuring all the minute details like the account name, number, swift code and bank were accurate.

Not only that, the buyer will risk typing in his pin code publicly in order to authenticate the transfer of funds. In doing so, jeopardizing his entire mother-load of funds inside his bank account.

Using the Samourai Watch only wallet, the buyer doesn’t expose any of his private keys at any point in time during the trade, thereby making the entire process efficient, secure and private.

PayPal made internet commerce pretty darn close to frictionless. It is still better than bank accounts by many orders of magnitude, but still required many compromises. PayPal ended up turning into another mega-centralized corporation who gets to decide who does and who doesn’t get to play ball (exclusivity).

The technology (Blockchain and Proof-of-work) never existed back then for PayPal. Instead, they created a series of workarounds, some features better than others. But essentially still needed access to your bank or credit card account to make purchases or send money across borders.

We still spend an awful lot of time filling out our private credit card information whenever we want to buy something online. And these services that ties our identity to our account are always vulnerable to hacks and susceptible to identity thefts.

To the lot of us where Credit Cards, PayPal and banks seem ubiquitous, there are 2 billion others on the planet who has zero-access to financial services because they lack economic privileges.

I for one believe we are so. Progressive and financially troubled countries seem to be the first of the lot to see the huge potential that Bitcoin has to offer the world. Whereas the comfortable majority seem to be the laggards of disruptive technology adopters.

With the invention of bitcoin, you can be sure the incumbents will be disrupted.

There is an infinite number of variations where bitcoin can fit perfectly into each scenario. Above all else, anyone who embraces them before the technology turns mainstream stands to benefit the most.

In this version of the future, every bitcoin user is always in total control of their own wealth and savings. No one, not even the government can have any say on that.

All your money is secure on its own and trade can be carried out even more flawlessly than before, removing redundancies and rent-seekers along the way.

Our Badass Curated List of Cryptocurrency Wallets

Bitcoin and Altcoin Hardware Wallets

Bitcoin Advocate, Evangelist, Author and Speaker Andreas Antonopoulos; a network security specialist suggests that Hardware wallets are the best option right now for the average joe.

I’ll go on the record and say the Hardware Wallets are better than software and paper wallets for all except a handful of opsec/infosec experts. Security isn’t about absolutes. It’s all relative and complexity/operator skill are of the utmost importance.

— Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop) March 27, 2018

A. Ledger Nano S (A+++)

B. Trezor (A++)

There are two types: Trezor One and Trezor Model T

C. KeepKey (A-)

Pros

• Solid built sleek Aluminum body
• Large display screen with readable fonts
• Supports bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, ethereum, and dash

Cons

• Cost $ 129 each
• Relatively newer in the market

While this wallet gives you full control over your bitcoins like the other hardware wallets, the price tag is way more expensive. The device is built to give it a premium look over its competitors but still lacks in terms of development and support.

D. Digital BitBox (A)

Pros

• Cost €78 each (buy in bulk to save more money)
• Hardware wallet security with a minimalist design
• Comes with a micro SD card for backup and recovery
• Swiss Made – quality and privacy

Cons

• Only Supports bitcoin, litecoin, ethereum, and ETC at the moment
• Very new in the market, not fully tested by the community
• lack information & support

E. OpenDime (A)

A Hardware wallet that acts as a Bitcoin Bearer Bond called a “Bitcoin Stick”. Built on top of features that hasn’t changed for the past 5 years.

Pros

• Cost $37.50 in a pack of 3 sticks
• Hardware wallet that acts like a dollar bill where you can pass it along multiple times.
• Easily check balance by plugging in USB
• Unseal to spend
• Your Piggy-bank. Bitcoin stored inside private keys of the stick where you must destroy in order to spend the funds inside.

Cons

• Only Supports bitcoin
• Very new in the market, not fully tested by the community
• lack information & support

Bitcoin and Altcoin Mobile Wallets

F. Samourai Wallet (B-)

A perfect companion for your Ledger Nano S or your Trezor, the Sentinel wallet watches your secure hardware wallets without asking for any of your private keys. In fact, it allows you to track multiple wallets at the same time as well as specific bitcoin addresses.

Whenever you request a payment to be sent to your hardware wallet, this app is a great addition to maintain your privacy and keep your funds secured at all times.

Need to Know:

• Only supports Bitcoin on Android.
• This app is still WIP and still has many bugs.
• This project is spearheaded by huge privacy activists who are hellbent on making a Bitcoin wallet that doesn’t bend down to regulators and venture capitalist.
• A good community project to support.

Download Samourai’s Sentinel Wallet and try it our for yourself!

Google Play Store — Android App

G. Trust Wallet (B++)

Binance recently acquired Trust wallet. Trust wallet is trying to become a universal token wallet.

It supports coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, EOS and Neo and all tokens (ERC20, ERC223, ERC721)

Trust wallet utilizes public APIs so you can also directly purchase ETH from exchange sites like Coinbase, Changelly and Indacoin without ever having to leave Trust. Your ETH will also be instantly inside your Trust wallet address without needing to leave the app. This however only works in supported countries.

The app also includes a Marketplace with a DApps browser in-built to allow you to search and exchange one token for another. With the Bancor network, you can also exchange ERC20 tokens for ERC223 tokens fluidly.

Security: 7/10

Having a dedicated app means that Trust can minimize a user’s exposure to phishing attacks. Did you know phishing attacks soared to over 500% in 2017 with web applications & social media?

Ease of Use: 9/10

Clear and concise information. No unnecessary excess of information to overload users. It was built with new users in mind.

Anonymity: 10/10

Trust do not collect any personal information. Does not store your details such as private keys and password on their servers.

Download Trust Wallet and try it our for yourself!

Google Play Store — Android App
App Store — iOS App

H. Coinomi (B+)

With 125 blockchains and 382 Tokens, Coinomi supports a wide range of coins in the market. Flawless interface with straight-forward taps to get you where you want to be.

Installation takes less than 5 minutes and you start off creating a new wallet on the app that gives you 18 or 24 recovery seed passphrase (HD wallet).

Coinomi partnered with Changelly and Shapeshift to allow its users to easily exchange their crypto for another crypto without ever leaving the app.

You can also buy BTC or ETH with your Credit card using USD or Euro. This service is provided by Simplex and it is integrated within the app itself.

Security: 8/10

Ease of Use: 9/10

Transparency: 7/10

Download Coinomi Wallet and try it our for yourself!

Google Play Store — Android App
App Store — iOS App

I. CashApp (B)

One of the easiest mobile wallets to buy btc without paying any fees with just a few simple taps. (but only for supported countries, US & UK)

CashApp originally started as a simple payment service like paypal, but CEO Jack Dorsey went on a mission to make Bitcoin the world’s single currency, hence he quickly implemented the instant buying and selling of bitcoin within the app.

Saying that the app is easy to navigate is an understatement. The minimalist design would allow its users to purchase up to $10,000 worth of Bitcoin a week in 4 simple steps. And they are offering it without charging any fees.

While simplicity is the heart design, you funds cannot be transferred without your Touch ID. This simple security method is non-existent in other mobile wallets. Assuming your mobile gets stolen, nobody can transfer your BTC.

Other than that, it’s extremely lightweight and you cannot deposit any BTC to store within the app. You can only buy bitcoin from within the app and sell whatever you have bought from within.

Security: 6/10

Ease of Use: 10/10

Features: 3/10

Download & Use CashApp Wallet from below & get $5!

Google Play Store — Android App
App Store — iOS App

Bitcoin and Altcoin Desktop Wallets

J. Exodus (B++)

The Exodus works on Linux, Windows and Mac. If you want to be in control of your private keys but need the versatility of a software based wallet that sits on your work computer, this is the only thing you need.

Here’s how I… How to Buy and Register EOS Tokens Using Exodus

Exodus supports a huge variety of cryptocurrencies as well as tokens. And you will obviously love the amazing User Interface.

HD Wallet. Upon downloading and installing, you will receive a set of 12 recovery seed phrases where you can write it down to backup in case you lose access to your computer. You will also be given an option to create your access login password.

Exodus integrates an exchange within the app to allow you quick and instant crypto to crypto exchange.

Download Exodus Wallet and try it our for yourself!

Conclusion

With Cryptocurrency wallets, everyone is in total control of their own money, and they can do it from anywhere, at any time. When you send a transaction from your wallet to another, there’s always prove of the transaction on the blockchain, so there is no need for banks to verify or authenticate a transaction.

Bitcoin wallets can be used with small amounts as little as a few dollars to billions of dollars all transferred with the same amount of fee without any censorship or restriction.

The Cryptocurrency wallets I mentioned above are just some of the tools for the beginning of a new age of Decentralized digital peer-to-peer currency. 

Which method do you think is more efficient? Using Bitcoin wallets, or doing a digital fiat bank transfer?

Bitcoin and the ecosystem that surrounds it is still in its nascent stages of growth. Its constantly evolving, improving and disrupting incumbent payment systems with its lightning network.

Bitcoin can be transferred to another wallet anywhere on Earth, in minutes even in remote places like Antarctica, war torn countries like Iraq and even economic calamities like Venezuela.

When was the last time you transferred money abroad, only to find it will take weeks to arrive and charges you a bomb for it. The last time I sent $80 from Singapore to the US, they charged me an additional $50.

Experiences like this make it crystal clear that Bitcoin is the way for the future. Banks and centralized corporations have grown either too fat with greed or ignorant of the way our world has evolved.

It is high time we change the way business is done for billions of people.

Lastly, if you enjoyed this posts, spread the gospel of what Bitcoin can do for your friends and family.

Here are some other articles I’ve written that you might find useful:

• 3 Bitcoin Wallets That Are Iron-Clad, Unhackable and Time-Tested
• How I Chose My Bitcoin Wallet
• This is How We Can Ditch The Cycle of Being Broke and in Debt
• 11 Pieces of Bad Advice I Wish People Would Stop Spreading about Bitcoin
• Is it safe to invest in Bitcoin now?