One of the first questions I asked when I entered the cryptocurrency world was how do I store my cryptocurrencies. After the brain dump of answers I received, both online and from familiar faces, I had to digest the information. It was an overwhelming amount of suggestions and opinions. Wallets, exchanges, and hardware devices. There was so much to consider: price of withdrawals, functionality, user interface, cost, and most of all, safety. For someone that usually flourished with data being thrown at them, and normally able to break it down succinctly, I was out of my element. I found myself surprisingly apprehensive to move forward and download any of the wallets that I'd gathered data on. In downloading random wallets suggested off the web by strangers, I was taking a huge risk with my hard-earned money. It was a scary proposition to me, and online reviews by influencer marketing did little to quell my anxieties over this.
Too often when I read reviews, it seemed like the author was schilling the product for a quick referral, or had lack of actual opinion on the subject matter. Almost as if most of them never used it ??. For many months, my ADA sat parked on an exchange, missing out on 5% staking rewards until I finally found a wallet I approved of, which is not ideal for many different reasons.
To not be that person, the one who focuses on the features solely leaving out all details of experience, I will only be reviewing wallets that I have already used, and as honestly as I can. Yoroi wallet is one of the first wallets available for holding ADA, and is one that I used extensively before I bought my hardware device (which I suggest every serious hodler do).
Yoroi wallet is a light client and multi-asset wallet for the Cardano network, available on IOS, Android, or as a browser extension. It was developed by Emurgo, and is the counterpart to the IOHK developed Daedalus full node and wallet. Users can users can send or receive ADA, Cardano native assets, and NFTs in under one minute, store their ADA, or even delegate ADA to a stake pool from within the Yoroi wallet.
Emurgo is the commercial and venture branch of Cardano, and creator of the Emurgo blockchain as well. Emurgo provides smart contract development, app development, and enterprise blockchain solutions for Government, organizations, developers, and startups.
App
The good
Yoroi's app is simple. Maybe even too simple for anyone with experience. Everything is pretty self-explanatory in the wallets UI, and each action has their own tab. The basic functions like receiving and sending ADA, or checking transactions are a breeze with separate tabs, and has little room for error.
The "Delegate" tab where you can stake your ADA is very comprehensive, but is also very fluid, with actual pool logos. This makes it extremely easy to find the specific pool your looking to stake with, or find alternatives with good block production and fees if the one you delegated to isn't to your liking. Users are free to delegate and un-delegate from a pool as they wish, with no lock up period on ADA. This makes it easy to quickly un-delegate from a pool and re-delegate to a pool like SundaeSwap that's using ISPO ( initial stake pool offering) to hand out rewards.
Yoroi has to be one of the most simplistic wallets I've seen to date yet is feature rich enough to offer staking, and because of this, I believe it's a great hot wallet for beginners.
The meh
The UI is bland. Not much to say about it, really. If you're used to wallets with some character or neat visuals in them, this is the opposite. And I mean the polar opposite. You can't even turn the wallet black. Ca'mon Emurgo , users have wanted dark mode for forever and your company does UI design!??
The bad
Possibly my only true gripe with Yoroi, but is not limited to Yoroi itself, is security. Hot wallets like Yoroi are fine for holding some ADA, Cardano assets, or NFTs if you plan to move them or trade them on a Dex, but I would not suggest it as a long-term solution to house your assets. Hackers can obtain your information in various ways on pretty much whatever different device your using. Yes, even on mobile. A hot wallet should never be used as a substitute for a hardware wallet, and thus the user should only add funds that they are willing to lose or will spend soon. You can delegate your long-term holdings of ADA from LEDGER devices just as easily, so why not be safe if you're in this for the long haul.
Chrome and Firefox extenstion
The good
The Yoroi wallet extension is more complex, and thus more feature-rich than it's app. It allows the user to toggle between normal and advanced views of the Yoroi wallet. With the advanced view comes the ability to vote on Catalyst, Cardano's on-chain governance to fund projects. Another feature missing from the app, but present in the extension, is Cardano Payment URLs, allowing the user to easily share invoices with the click of an url. These extra features may be beneficial to users that are active in the community and want to shape how Cardano grows, but would not really be needed for a beginner just looking to store some ADA. Another handy, but also risky, feature is that users can integrate their existing mobile wallet directly to the extension or vice versa. I personally wouldn't suggest doing this for security reasons.
The meh
Give me dark mode, or give me death. No, seriously: the UI is equally as bland. But I suppose that's the whole idea behind a wallet designed for beginners.
The bad
Security is again my main concern here, but this time with a whole new set of problems. There are many ways to skin a cat, and with the extension being used on a computer, there are significantly more vulnerabilities and exploits available for a hacker to nab your information. Keyloggers, Rats, screen and video capture are all potential ways for an unwanted visitor to steal your password, seed phrase, biometrics, and your ADA. Still want your webcam?
Just the simple fact that the wallet exist inside of a sandbox on chrome, doesn't mean that cunning individuals will not use uncommon means in conjunction with social engineering to obtain this information, so unless you're willing to set up a separate computer dedicated to finances, on it's own secured and separate network, this option should be regarded as the riskiest way of storing your ADA. Great to send ADA if you're going to make a purchase on CryptoSupreme or a trade, but please avoid holding anything you do not want to lose on it.
Takeaway
Yoroi is the most beginner-friendly wallet I've ever come across. Everything is very intuitive, and it is uncomplicated to perform all the basic tasks a new user needs to. It's UI is lacking, but it does it's job quite nicely, being simple enough that most people without any blockchain knowledge or experience can learn it quickly. Yoroi acts like Metamask, interfacing with decentralized exchanges, storing ADA, NFTs , and Cardano native assets like the Revu tokens or Sundaeswap rewards from some of my other posts. Because of this, Yoroi is going to be handy, come Alonzo time in a few months, when decentralized exchanges like CardSwap, Sundaeswap, Polyswap, Cardax, Yayswap, and many others go live for trading. Users should not keep any amount of ADA on Yoroi for prolonged periods, but instead should look to use the wallet as a wallet, not a safe for their life savings or to stake from. Do this from a supported hardware wallet. Regardless of how much ADA is in your wallet if you plan to trade or interact with dapps, the machine should be on an isolated and secured network, and, if possible, used for financial transactions and nothing else to reduce security risks.
