In my recent guide, I spoke about how you should never leave your funds sitting on an exchange, as this means that you do not own the private keys, and if the exchange goes down, you may as well kiss your Crypto goodbye.

In this part of the guide, I will discuss the different methods you can store your coins and tokens - I'm not an expert on every single crypto currency, so instead I will talk broadly about the type of wallets and only make a recommendation and advice where I have personal experience.

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First, opinion, fear-mongering and technical observation.

Don't ask me how to store your Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold, or Bitcoin Cash. I personally believe each of these do not have much of a future versus more technologically sound and advanced blockchain technologies such as literally any other coin.

The Best Bitcoin wallet is an alternative cryptocurrency.

Ethereum and other ERC 20 Tokens

The only proper way to ERC 20 tokens and Ethereum is on a wallet where you control the private keys. Doing this isn't exactly an easy thing, and I'm not here to hold your hand through every step of the process. There's two 'easy'ways to store your Ethereum and ERC 20 tokens where you own the private keys.

MyEtherWallet

This is an online interface where you can interact with the Ethereum blockchain, smart contracts, and perform transfers of tokens. In doing so, you spend gas, which is the way of paying miners to process your transaction on the blockchain. The more gas you pay, the faster your transaction is going to occur.

Metamask

Metamask is a plug in for chrome / firefox and is simpler to use than MyEther wallet, but doesn't give you as much control and easy of use, especially when it comes to interacting with smart contracts such as the EOS crowd sale. It is simplest to use for things like Etheremon or Crypto Kitties, and its the only way to easily interact with these blockchain games.

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Cardano (Daedalus Wallet)

Cardano only has one wallet currently, Daedalus, and this will in the future add support for Ethereum (and ERC 20 Tokens) as well as BTC. Its the only current choice to store your ADA in a place where you own the keys, has a good visual design and a sleek, responsive interface. A big step up from traditional wallets.

Intermission: The most important thing when it comes to wallets is to do your own research.

Types of Wallets

Hardware

Real pieces of equipment like the Ledger or Trezor, which bring 2FA to all new levels, and a shiny pieces of plastic in which you can store your crypto.

Software

Something you install on your computer, or phone. Some of these software wallets will require significant storage space to store the blockchain or ledger of the currency, and for others, where coins are proof of stake, will allow you to stake your coins. There's also software wallets that can act like Masternodes, helping transactions along instead of mining.

Paper

Something you literally print out that has a few QR codes on it, and some alapha numeric strings. Those alpha numeric strings are your keys. One is public, to which you can send your currency, the other is private, which you can use to recover or interact with the blockchain network.

Never show anyone a paper wallet after you've generated it - if they grab your private key they'll have access to all your funds.

I'm not an expert in wallet technology, but I do know the following

-Don't store what you can't afford to lose on an exchange.
-Ensure you have multiple, secure back ups of your private keys.
-Don't give anyone your private key.
-Don't lose your private key.

Do your own research. Reread instructions multiple times. Don't rush. No one is there to hold your hand.