Solana Wallets

Most experienced crypto traders navigate Solana's diverse ecosystem with a segregated asset wallet system comprised of at least three different wallets:

This system balances ease of use with security, ensuring that protecting yourself from hacks and wallet drainers is as hassle-free as possible. Three wallets ensure you'll always have the right wallet for the occasion, whether storing your favorite token long-term or connecting to a meme coin pre-sale dapp.

At the bottom, we also cover the best methods for storing your wallet's recovery seed phrase.

Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets are physical devices designed to store your private keys securely. They provide an extra layer of security compared to software wallets and are less vulnerable to online threats such as hacking, malware, and phishing attacks.

When you want to send crypto stored on a hardware wallet, you initiate the transaction on a connected device (such as a computer or smartphone) using a software wallet. However, the transaction is signed with the hardware wallet.

Crypto traders often use hardware wallets for cold storage or vaulting their crypto. They keep their tokens on the hardware wallet long-term and never use the wallet to interact with dapps, smart contracts, or anything on the internet. Just make sure to keep your private seed phrase in a safe and secure place.

Here are a couple of hardware wallets that work great with Solana:

Keystone 3 Pro

The Keystone 3 Pro looks and feels like your smartphone. It features a touch interface that makes using the wallet super easy and fun, but the Keystone's real strength is its air-gapped security.

Keystone designed a hardware wallet that never needs to be plugged into a computer. It signs all transactions using cameras and QR codes. So, when you send tokens from your Keystone wallet, a QR code appears on your computer or phone's screen that you capture with the camera on the Keystone. Next, a QC code appears on the Keystone screen, which you capture with your laptop or phone camera. After that, the transaction is signed and ready to be added to the blockchain.

You can learn more about Keystone wallets by following this referral link

Ledger Wallets

Ledger wallets are the OG of hardware wallets. They are compact and look like USB thumb drives, which makes them easy to transport. To use a Ledger wallet, connect it to your phone or computer by cable or Bluetooth, input your PIN, and then you are ready to begin signing the transaction.

When you begin using a Ledger wallet, you must download Ledger Live. Ledger Live allows you to add Solana and other blockchains to your wallet and install firmware upgrades.

You can learn more about Ledger wallets by following this referral link

Software Wallets

Software wallets mostly come in the form of browser extensions. People often call them "hot wallets" because they use them regularly to connect to trusted dapps like Jupiter or Tensor.

Software wallets are an excellent place to keep tokens you plan to move, use, or swap soon. They spare you the trouble of running to your safe to grab your hardware wallet whenever you want to buy an NFT off Magic Eden.

Also, hardware wallets use browser extension wallets as their user interface. So, if you send tokens from a hardware wallet, you'll trigger the transaction with a linked software wallet but sign the transaction with the hardware wallet.

Solana has many great software wallets. Here are our favorites:

https://magiceden.io/

SolFlare

The SolFlare team is hyper-focused on user security, and they've added several features designed to keep you as safe as possible.

Before you sign a transaction, SolFlare simulates it for you in simple, easy-to-understand language so you always know what you're sending and receiving. SolFlare will also warn you before interacting with potentially malicious websites.

SolFlare even has the option to create a burner wallet to interact with suspicious apps. You'll find more about burner wallets below.

However, SolFlare isn't just great because of its advanced security; it also offers many features that make using it enjoyable. Such as:

Easy-to-read activity history
The ability to stake your $SOL directly within the wallet
Auto-approving transactions on some trusted dapps
Setting an NFT as your profile pic
Displaying the floor prices of your NFT collections
Bulk-burning spam NFTs
Bulk-sending NFTs to another wallet

NOTE: SolFlare works with both Keystone and Ledger hardware wallets. It is the only wallet on this list that works with the Keystone 3 Pro.

You can set up your SolFlare wallet here

Backpack

Madlabs has created one of the most innovative crypto wallets out there. Their Backpack wallet attempts to elevate the crypto wallet from being something that connects to other dapps, to being a dapp hub where dapps run inside the wallet.

One of Backpack's most powerful features is that you can use dapps inside it (mobile only.) So you can buy NFTs on Tensor, trade perpetual futures on Zeta Markets, or loan/borrow tokens on MarginFi without ever having to navigate away from Backpack.

Backpack also stands out in its ability to install xNFTs within the wallet. xNFTs are not like traditional NFTs. They are tokenized NFTs that function as applications inside Backpack. Essentially, Backpack comes with its own app store. You can install apps like ChatGPT or AssetDash to keep track of your entire crypto portfolio. You can find Backpack's xNFT library here.

Backpack also allows you to swap tokens within your wallet, bridge tokens to other blockchains, and hide unwanted NFTs or coins.

Backpack is integrated with Ledger hardware wallets.

You can download Backpack here.

Phantom

Phantom is probably the most popular Solana wallet. It offers loads of features that make it enjoyable to use and keep you safe at the same time. Such as:

Swapping tokens inside the wallet
Staking your $SOL from inside the wallet
Minting photos on your phone as NFTs
Pining, hiding, burning, and listing your NFTs right from the wallet

Easy-to-understand breakdowns of your transactions
Scam detection flags that warn you if you're about to connect to a malicious dapp
Monitoring your activity with notifications and transaction history

Phantom Wallet is integrated with Ledger hardware wallets.

For more info about Phantom Wallet, you can check out their website.

Burner Wallets

Burner wallets are a great line of defense against crypto scams. Many scammers entice crypto traders with the promise of getting in early on an exciting project via meme coin pre-sales or NFT launches, but when the unsuspecting trader connects their wallet to the smart contract, it drains their wallet of everything in it.

To minimize your risk when connecting to untrustworthy dapps, you should use a burner wallet. Only send the burner the amount of $SOL you need for a specific activity. This way, if the pre-sale turns out to be a scam, at least you've limited your losses.

To create a burner wallet, you just have to search the wallet you already have installed for the option to "add wallet." Sometimes, it looks like a "+" symbol. Every wallet we've covered on Sol Spotlight allows you to create a burner wallet.

Storing Your Recovery Seed Phrase

Every crypto wallet listed on Sol Spotlight will give you a 12-word or 24-word recovery seed phrase. This seed phrase will help you recover your crypto wallet if something happens to it.

If you lose the seed phrase, you might lose access to everything inside the wallet, so writing it down and storing it in a safe place is paramount. We recommend storing the phrase in two different geographic locations. This way, you'll still have access to your seed phrase if something happens to one location (like a fire).

We also suggest storing your phrase on fire- and water-proof materials like steel. Several companies make seed phrase storage devices, but we recommend ELLIPAL's Seed Phrase Steel. It retails for $59 on ELLIPAL's website here.