At the moment, there are mainly three categories of blockchain wallets that are popular and heavily used in the cryptocurrency space. There are; software wallets, hardware wallets and paper wallets.
Software Wallets - Like the name software, it means it is a written program specifically for interacting and transacting with the blockchain network and storing cryptocurrency assets. Depending on the type of software wallets, it can be a multichain wallet which means that it can interact with multiple blockchain networks and also multiple cryptocurrency assets can be stored on it. Software wallets are the most popular and common types of blockchain wallets because of most of it are easy and free to use. The different types of software wallets are web wallets, mobile wallets and desktop wallets. These types of wallets are not as secure as hardware wallets.
Web wallets - Web wallets are wallets that live online on servers. These type of wallets are less secure compared to the other type of wallets. However, they are the most common and most easily accessible because it can be accessed using any web browser on any device. This can be beneficial because even if you don’t have access to your device, you can access your funds anywhere at anytime using any available device (this is not advisable) that has a web browser and can connect to the internet and you can transact with the blockchain network.
Mobile and desktop wallets - Mobile and desktop wallets are very similar type of wallets. Mobile wallet run on smartphones and mobile devices while desktop wallets run on computers. The type of wallets are the most secure type of wallet under the software wallet category mainly because they are not on any server and runs on your device. Depending on the type of software wallets, they are becoming more and more secure, making them a secure way to store cryptocurrencies as far as you own your keys and keep them safe.
Hardware wallets - In contrast with the software wallets, a hardware wallet is a physical wallet but made specifically to interact and transact with a blockchain network. Much like software wallets, hardware wallets can also be multichain and can interact with multiple blockchain networks and also store multiple cryptocurrencies. This isn’t as popular and common as software wallets because of the price to purchase a hardware wallet. Ledger and Trezor are two popular hardware wallets. They are also the most secure type of wallets to store cryptocurrencies.
Paper Wallets - Like the name paper wallet, a paper wallet is simply means a blockchain wallet that is printed on a paper. A lot of blockchain wallets come with the capability to print out a paper wallet. What this means is that your keys and are printed on paper, making them very secure because they do not connect to the internet. You can transact with the blockchain network with your keys. One of the main benefits of papar wallets is that it does not connect to the internet and only you have access to your cryptocurrency. The only downside to this type of wallets is that anyone who comes in contact with your paper wallet can see your keys but once the paper wallets are kept securely, it is one of the safest and one of the most secure blockchain wallets.
Multichain Wallets - Much like I mentioned above already, a multichain wallet can be either software wallet or hardware wallet. In fact, a lot of the popular blockchain wallets at the moments are multichain wallets, meaning they can store and hold multiple cryptocurrencies.
