Atomic Wallet Review: A Free Cold Wallet With Built-in Crypto Staking

Atomic Wallet provides a sleek, intuitive platform for managing all your crypto assets. It supports hundreds of cryptocurrencies and lets you earn rewards on over a dozen of them through crypto staking. There's also a built-in exchange and crypto purchase option. However, a 2022 report claimed that this wallet has security vulnerabilities. Read our Atomic Wallet review to learn more about its pros and cons.

This wallet is a good fit for: Investors who want a free blockchain wallet that supports all the major cryptocurrencies. Those looking to generate passive income on their crypto will like the convenient built-in staking option.

Atomic Wallet is a non-custodial blockchain wallet that uses cold storage, with all passwords and data stored on the user's device. It's known for a user-friendly interface and for offering a variety of features, including storage for crypto and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), crypto staking, and in-wallet crypto purchases.

Top perks

Free cold storage

Most free blockchain wallets are hot wallets, meaning they're connected to the internet. Cold storage is widely considered the safer option because it's offline, but most cold wallets are hardware that you need to buy. Atomic Wallet is an exception, as it's classified as a cold wallet and is also free to use.

It's important to clarify that with Atomic Wallet, your passwords and data are stored on your device. So, if that device is connected to the internet, then your wallet is, too. If you want a wallet that's easier to keep offline, hardware wallets are a better choice.

LEARN MORE: What Is Cold Storage in Crypto?

Offers crypto staking

Staking is a popular way to grow your cryptocurrency holdings. When you stake crypto, you're using it as collateral and helping to validate transactions and secure a blockchain network. In return, you receive rewards on the amount you've staked. You can do all this quickly and easily in Atomic Wallet, which supports staking with more than a dozen cryptocurrencies.

In-wallet crypto purchases

You can buy crypto with your debit card directly from Atomic Wallet through its partner Simplex. While this is convenient, there is a 2% transaction fee plus any fees your bank charges. If you'll be investing in crypto often and making regular purchases, look into crypto apps that have lower fees.

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What could be improved

Potential vulnerabilities

Least Authority conducted a comprehensive security audit of Atomic Wallet and published its findings in February 2022. The report states that Atomic Wallet has vulnerabilities that place users at risk, and it recommends against using the wallet. Atomic Wallet's response was that it's working on fixes and that the vulnerabilities discovered don't pose a risk to user funds.

Security is the most important factor in a crypto wallet, so any reports of vulnerabilities get a lot of attention. Based on Atomic Wallet's response, it doesn't appear the issues are serious, but this is certainly something worth looking into before you use it.

Limited selection of cryptocurrencies for purchase

Atomic Wallet doesn't have that many cryptocurrencies available for purchase. You'll be limited to some of the market leaders, so if you like to invest in lots of different crypto tokens, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Not open source

Like many crypto wallets, Atomic Wallet doesn't make its source code available for the general public to review. While we don't consider this to be a dealbreaker, some crypto investors are only comfortable storing their funds in open-source wallets because they believe it's safer.

If you want a digital wallet with more crypto buying options: Coinbase Wallet makes it easy to buy a wide range of cryptocurrencies. If you have a Coinbase account, you can link it to your Coinbase Wallet to buy or transfer any cryptocurrency supported by the exchange.

If you want an open-source wallet: The Trezor One is an open-source hardware wallet that provides strong security for a reasonable price. It can store over 1,000 cryptocurrencies, and since it's a hardware wallet, it keeps your coins in cold storage.

Atomic Wallet supports more than 500 cryptocurrencies. That includes the market leaders, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Cardano (ADA), as well as quite a few smaller crypto tokens.

Atomic Wallet is free to use for crypto storage and doesn't impose any extra fees on payments. When you send cryptocurrency, you're charged network fees by the blockchain to pay its validators. This fee is calculated by the blockchain at the time of the transaction.

There are fees for purchasing and exchanging cryptocurrencies on Atomic Wallet. Here's how these fees work:

• Atomic Wallet charges a 2% fee ($10 minimum) on fiat-to-crypto purchases with a bank card. Your card's issuing bank may also charge a fee.
• Atomic Wallet charges a 0.5% fee on exchanges, plus its exchange partner's commission.

Atomic Wallet provides solid security features, and it doesn't store any user passwords, data, or seed phrases on its servers. All that information is stored on your device where you've installed Atomic Wallet. If you keep your seed phrase safe and password safe, then your crypto will be secure.

It is, however, worth noting that digital security company Least Authority conducted a comprehensive audit of Atomic Wallet and claims it found vulnerabilities. In a blog post from February 2022, it states that Atomic Wallet isn't secure in protecting user assets and private data.

Atomic Wallet has responded to the audit and stated that it's working on fixes, but also that the audit found nothing critical that could result in the loss of user funds. To its credit, it hasn't been the victim of any data breaches and has a good track record. But you may want to look into Least Authority's report and Atomic Wallet's response before deciding whether this is the wallet for you.

• You're looking for a cold wallet that's free to use.
• You want to be able to stake crypto and earn rewards from your wallet.