How to Create a Cryptocurrency Wallet App: an In-depth Guide for 2021

Modern tech startups are striving to break down the boundaries between the virtual and real world with blockchain technology that is changing our world. Distributed technologies in mobile applications allow today to integrate cryptocurrency payments along with other internet payment options. You can build a bitcoin wallet to suit the business needs or integrate it for use as a payment method.

In this article, we are going to discuss cryptocurrency wallets, their types, benefits, main features, and challenges.

What is a cryptocurrency wallet?

Cryptocurrency can’t be used without a special software program. This kind of program is called a digital wallet. It’s associated with the blockchain and helps perform operations.

According to Statista, cryptocurrency wallets reached over 70 million wallet customers at the end of March 2021.

Cryptocurrency wallets allow customers to buy, sell, borrow and keep track of the number of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies in their portfolios. These crypto wallets are a piece of software that stores records of customers’ transactions, including the number of coins they own.
Most cryptocurrency wallets support Bitcoin and Ether, the two widespread digital currencies. However, with the growth in the number of altcoins, many desktop wallets support various cryptocurrencies nowadays.

The bitcoin wallet transaction is based on asymmetric key cryptography, which uses two types of keys — a public key and a private key.

When someone sends bitcoins to one wallet address from their own, they transfer ownership of the coins to the recipient’s wallet address. The transaction is saved as a transaction record on the bitcoin blockchain and balance changes will take place in the respective bitcoin wallets.

What are the types of bitcoin wallets?

Bitcoin wallets can be divided into two categories: hot and cold.

☑️Hot wallet supposes that online storage wallets can be accessed from anywhere. But there is a disadvantage. As a hot wallet is stored online, it can be hacked.
☑️Cold storage wallets are safer as they are stored physically. Thus, hackers don’t have any access to them.

Now, let’s move on to the four different types of bitcoin wallets:

Desktop
Desktop wallets are intended for a desktop computer and give people complete control over the wallet. Desktop wallets function as an address where a user can send and receive bitcoins. They also allow the customer to store the private key. Several notable desktop wallets include Bitcoin Core, MultiBit, Armory, Hive OS X, and Electrum.

Mobile
Mobile wallets have the same features as desktop wallets. But they make it easy to pay at physical stores by scanning QR codes with touch-to-pay and Near Field Communication (NFC). Bitcoin Wallet, Hive Android, and Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet are examples of mobile wallets. Bitcoin wallets are generally compatible with the iOS or Android system. There is a considerable amount of malware posing as bitcoin wallets, so it is a good idea to research your options before deciding the one to use.

Web
Web wallets make it easy to access bitcoins from anywhere, from any browser or mobile device. Choosing your web wallet should be done carefully as it stores your private keys online. Coinbase and Blockchain are popular web wallet providers.

Hardware
Now, hardware wallets are the most secure type as they store bitcoins on physical hardware, which is usually connected to a computer via a USB port. They are virtually immune to virus attacks and there have been several reported cases of bitcoin theft.

How to build a bitcoin wallet?

Now it’s time to move on to the main stages of Bitcoin wallet development. The first thing you should know is that there are two options: you can use ready-made templates and a set of tools to create an application, customizing it to your needs, or develop your wallet that will ideally fit your requirements from scratch.

Creating a custom wallet application
There are few open-source standard libraries available on the market. They can be used as a basis for your future app. The standard library provides the necessary functionality, configures the wallet for blockchain, and executes financial transactions.

Stages of developing a cryptocurrency wallet application

1. Installation

Download the API from the respective site

2. Create

Click the corresponding button in the menu to create a new wallet.

3. Setting

Provide your wallet name and set up permissions for outgoing and incoming transactions.

4. Integration

Select the third-party programs that you need (for example, to check the balance or create an address) and integrate them with your wallet.

Recommended technologies for cryptocurrency wallet development

Now that we’ve talked about the features that need to be integrated when building a Bitcoin wallet, it’s time to talk about the technical side of building a Bitcoin wallet app.

If you are building a web bitcoin wallet app, you should use Angular JS 10.0 and above to build the frontend along with HTML5 and CSS3. Use Node JS to create the back end, and you can use AWS to set up the server.

We highly recommend our clients develop cross-platform solutions. This shouldn’t come as a surprise – using this approach allows companies to save time, money, and effort. Thus, you will need React Native to create a frontend and API service using Node JS for the backend.

Moreover, for signing and verifying data with Ethereum keys we should create a collection of functions. Typescript fits the best for it.

However, if building an app from scratch isn’t what you want to do, you can easily use the public libraries available on the web to build your app.

These libraries will implement the standard functionality of your application and synchronize it with the blockchain. Some of the great examples of public libraries are Chain-Java and BitcoinJ.

Read the full article: https://code-care.com/blog/cryptocurrency-wallet-app-development/