How to Find the Best Ordinals Wallet for Your Needs

What Are Ordinals and Why Do I Need a Wallet for It?

Ordinals are a new way of experiencing NFTs on Bitcoin’s Network. Compared to traditional NFTs that store their data off-chain, Ordinals store their data directly onto individual satoshis on the Bitcoin Network – giving users ownership of their actual asset, not just a URL to it. There’s few reasons why you should have a Bitcoin Ordinals wallet: 

• Having a separate wallet helps prevent accidentally spending your Ordinals when making regular BTC transactions.
• Not all Bitcoin wallets support viewing Ordinals. It’s important to have one that allows you to view your Ordinals and use platforms where Ordinals can be exchanged. 
• By separating your Bitcoin holdings and your Ordinals, you reduce the risk of losing all your assets if one wallet gets compromised. 

We’ll take you through 4 popular Ordinals wallets – Magic Eden, Xverse, Leather (formerly Hiro) and Unisat. We’ll look at things like security, UX, setup ease, features and fees/costs. By the end of this article, you will be able to make a decision on the right Ordinals wallet for you. 

Magic Eden Wallet 

The Magic Eden Wallet is a great choice for those who want a simple, seamless integration between their Ordinal marketplace and wallet. By integrating with the Magic Eden platform, it makes viewing and listing your Ordinals possible all within the wallet. Magic Eden’s multi-chain wallet also partners with projects in the Ordinals space to give exclusive perks to ME Wallet users, and offers an array of security features to help users feel more secure.

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Security

• Audited – ME Wallet’s code has passed security checks by 3rd party security auditor Halborn. You can view the audit here. 
• Hide spam NFTs – This feature allows you to hide unwanted Ordinals in a hidden-away folder. 
• Scam detection – A Fraud Detection Engine is used across all chains to prevent fraud and help keep your Ordinals safe. 
• Ledger support – Connect with an external “cold storage” wallet.
• Data protection – Magic Eden does not custody the funds in your wallet, nor does it have access to the funds in your wallet or any information that directly identifies you. 
• Self custodial – Your wallet is your wallet. Only you have the keys to gain access. 

UX

• Five tabs on the bottom to toggle to different views – View your Ordinals, your wallet with assets divided by type, instant swaps, buy/sell and a profile/account tab. 
• Easily find support – You can find this button on the profile view. 
• No hidden doors – ME wallet makes everything easily accessible; it takes a couple of minutes to go through all the features you’ll need. 
• Ordinals address – Hovering over the receive tab reveals your Ordinals wallet address, as well as all of the other addresses you might need. 

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Setup

• Simple and straightforward process – After downloading the Magic Eden Wallet, you’ll go through the typical wallet setup steps: create a password, save your seed phrase and pin to the browser for easy access. 

Features

• Multi-chain portfolio management – See pricing, portfolio and transaction history in real time for Bitcoin, Polygon, Solana and Ethereum transactions (including Ordinals!). 
• Instant swaps – Swap different assets across chains, like USDC to BTC, within the wallet. 
• Integration with Magic Eden platform – Buy and list your Bitcoin Ordinals on Magic Eden directly from your wallet. 
• Perks and future rewards – Get perks such as rewards, tokens, and access to Whitelists from various projects Magic Eden pairs with, look forward to the launch of upcoming Diamond Rewards with Diamond Quests. 
• Rare sats – ME Wallet allows you to view rare sats within the Bitcoin Ordinals wallet. 

Fees/Costs

• Free to download 

Xverse 

Xverse’s wallet is a great option for users who just want to focus on Bitcoin and Ordinals, as this wallet was made for Bitcoin. The wallet has built-in ledger support, biometric authentication and multi-sig support, giving you plenty of security options. Xverse also has a mobile app, allowing you to access your wallet on the go. 

Security

• Audited and open source – Xverse is regularly audited by Lease Authority. You can read the audit here. 
• Biometric authentication – Choose how you want to be authenticated with options for biometric authentication. 
• Built-in ledger support – Use an external “cold storage” wallet to store your Ordinals. 
• Multisig support – Multiple people or devices can have ownership to co-sign shared transactions. 
• Data privacy – Xverse doesn’t track any information that they could use to personally identify you. 

UX

• 5 tabs – Xverse features 5 tabs, including one to see your token balances and send/receive/swap assets and a dedicated tab to view your Ordinals.
• Accessible Ordinals address – Click ‘Recieve’ on the first tab to see your Ordinals address. 

Setup

• Simple setup – Just add the chrome extension, click through the usual pages (seed phrase, password, etc.) and you’re done. 

Features

• Mobile option – You can access your wallet on your Android or Apple phone with their mobile app. 
• Bitcoin wallet – Xverse supports Bitcoin and layers on top of Bitcoin.
• Supports swaps – You can swap your assets inside the wallet. 
• Explore page – The explore page within the wallet lets you browse through Xverse compatible dApps. 
• Experimental Rare Sats Mode – You can enable rare sats in your Xverse wallet. This allows the wallet to scan for and display rare elements to your Ordinal in your Ordinals wallet. 

Fees/Costs

• Free to download.

Leather (Formerly Hiro) 

The Leather wallet is a great, minimalistic option for collectors. This Bitcoin wallet is clean and easy to navigate with no tabs – everything you typically need is on one page. Leather also allows you to connect with a ledger, and offers a bug bounty program to encourage community members to look out for any security issues. 

Security

• Audited and open source – Leather’s code is open-source, and the wallet is audited by Least Authority. You can read the report here.
• Cold storage compatible – Use a ledger for your storage on most of their supported browser extensions and their desktop app. 
• Bug bounty program – Rewards are offered to community members who identify bugs in their system, motivating them to be on the lookout for any security issues.  
• Non-custodial – You have full control over your private keys. They are not stored with Leather, only by you. 

UX

• No tabs – Leather does not use the typical tab format that we’ve seen with most wallets. When you open your wallet, you’ll see your wallet balance, assets and activities. You can also send, receive, buy and swap on this page, as well as view your Ordinals.
• Minimal – The design of Leather wallet is very minimalistic and clean, making it easy to navigate. 
• Options to change colors – Leather wallet gives you the option to change between dark mode, light mode or their system colors. 
• Two clicks to Ordinals – By clicking “Receive” and then “Collectibles” you’ll be brought to your Ordinals address. 
• Quick link to support – Leather provides a direct link to support in wallet settings. The link provides the contact information for two team members who can help. 

Setup

• Easy to save seed phrase – Leather lets you copy your seed phrase to your clipboard, allowing you to quickly save and store your recovery phrase. 
• Simple and standard – Setup was quick and easy. It goes through the standard process of seed phrase, to password, to the homepage of the wallet. 

Features

• Bitcoin wallet – This wallet is specifically designed for use on the Bitcoin Network. 
• Swaps – Leather wallet supports swaps within the wallet. 

Fees/Costs

• Free to download. 

Unisat 

Unisat Wallet is another Bitcoin-specific wallet. Unisat brings in unique features such as Unconfirmed NFTs, which lets you see your Ordinals before they get mined into blocks, allowing you to view them earlier and correct any errors if you need to. 

Security

• Private keys stay private – No storing of your private keys on their server. The only person that has access to your private key is you. 
• Open source – You can see their code and how they build and upgrade the wallet. 
• No separate Ordinals address – Unisat wallets do not have a separate Ordinals address; instead you’ll have to use the Taproot-compatible Bitcoin address. This could cause you to accidentally spend your Ordinals if you’re also planning on making regular BTC transactions in the wallet. 

UX

• 4 tabs to toggle – View your Ordinals and send, receive and buy BTC, explore mints, dApps and settings. 

Setup

• Easy to save recovery phrase – Copy your seed phrase directly to clipboard. 
• Selection between Bitcoin address types – There’s an option to select different address types based on previous upgrades, as well as a custom HdPath and Phrase. This gives users more options, but also could be a bit confusing to those using a wallet for the first time. 

Features

• Unconfirmed NFTs – UniSat wallet allows you to see your Ordinals immediately, before they get mined into blocks. Not only does this let you see your Ordinals earlier, but it also lets you correct or override anything if you need to. 
• Specifically made for Ordinals – UniSat is a wallet specifically designed for Bitcoin Ordinals. 

Fees/Costs

• Free to download. 

We hope this article has led you to your new favorite Bitcoin Ordinals wallet! If you’re still deciding but want to get started with Ordinals now, you can download Magic Eden’s wallet here. Happy Ordinals hunting!