Multisignature Bitcoin wallets are the best way to secure your Bitcoin wallet from multiple parties.
This is ideal when more than one individual needs to approve a Bitcoin-based transaction. It adds an additional level of security to Bitcoin-based businesses and funds with multiple stakeholders and parties.
What is the best Bitcoin Multisignature wallet available?
In this article, I’ll take a closer look at 7 of the best Bitcoin Multisig Wallets. I will also share some tips on how to use these wallets, and secure your funds.
What is a Multisignature Wallet (MSV)?
The majority of transactions conducted on the Bitcoin network and other blockchain networks are single signature, meaning they only require one private key. Blockchain networks are capable of handling transactions that require multiple signatures. They are also known as M-of N transactions or multi-signature transaction.
A multi-signature wallet requires that you have more than one private secret to complete any transaction. This wallet is used for sharing the responsibility of Bitcoin ownership, and it is also known to be a method to increase the safety of Bitcoin storage.
In practice, you can configure a wallet so that it requires 4 out of 7 signatures for a transaction to be valid. A transaction becomes valid only when it is signed by four authorized signers.
This is the best way to protect your funds and manage assets in a company or a community. You can even recover your key if you have lost it.
Top 8 Bitcoin Multisig Wallets
We’ll look at the best multisignature wallets now that you know what they are. The criteria we use to rate these wallets includes security, usability, developer support, and community approval.
1. Armory Wallet (Desktop)
Armory bills itself as being the only wallet that supports cold storage and multi-signature. Users can control their own keys without relying on Armory or any third-party servers.
Armory supports up to seven-of-seven authorizers per transaction. The multi-signature function makes Armory much more secure. This wallet is one of a few that allows you to access your Bitcoins in cold storage.
Cold stored coins is simply Bitcoin you have kept off-line, out of the reach of hackers. Multisig cold wallet could be perfect for businesses with a large amount of cold stored coin (like exchanges).
The wallet is open-source, and I love it. External developers can then dig into the code to ensure that there is no malicious intent in the wallet or any bugs. You can see the source code at their official GitHub if you’re interested.
The developers behind Armory’s Bitcoin wallet are also highly skilled in cryptography and key management. They have collaborated with Verisign in developing Identity Verification Specifications, which are used to establish trust on the Internet.
The GPU Resistant 🤓: By using “key-stretching”Armory can neutralize the effectiveness of brute-force passwords using GPUs.
The Armory wallet can be used on Windows, Linux or Mac. The team has put together an excellent collection of video tutorials to help you set up and use your wallet.
2. Electrum is a desktop and mobile wallet.
Electrum is a trusted Bitcoin wallet that has been around for a long time. Electrum is lightweight, and supports not only multi-signature, but also cold storage.
Electrum is an open-source wallet that uses an MIT license. Anyone can run an Electrum Bitcoin Node and improve the decentralization.
Electrum integrates with hardware wallets from major third-party companies such as Trezor, Ledger and more. This means that signers of Bitcoin transactions can manage their private key from their secure hardware wallet, one of the most secure places to store keys.
The Electrum wallet can also support up to 15 authorized signers for a Bitcoin transaction. This is about the most we have seen in multisig wallets (too much for me).
Electrum Phishing 🎣: Electrum has been the target of many attacks, as it uses decentralised nodes. This is a great opportunity to exploit. The attacks were unlikely to be effective on Multisignature wallets, as they require more than just one private key.
Unlike Armory wallets, Electrum’s Android version has a native mobile app. It's available in the Google Play Store and the reviews appear to be quite polarized. They’re either very positive, or negative with complaints of usability.
You are therefore best to use Desktop wallets when setting up and signing multisignature documents. Electrum is available as a desktop wallet for Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
3. BitPay (Desktop and Mobile Wallet).
The BitPay Wallet, which is the official wallet of BitPay – the largest Bitcoin payment processor on the market – allows you to securely store Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash with up to two authorized signers. It supports multi-signature in order to secure Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin.
The BitPay wallet may not be 100% open-source, but it is based off the Copay wallet (view Copay GitHub). Your private key is yours and will never be shared with BitPay servers.
BitPay’s servers are their own, and no third party servers are involved in the transaction. It is a good thing as it prevents the phishing attacks that we have mentioned, but it could be a bad thing as there is only one point of failure.
BitPay wallet has mobile applications, similar to Electrum wallet. There are both iOS and Android versions available in their respective app stores. These apps have received much better reviews than the Electrum wallet.
You also get standard support for PCs with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS versions. The Chrome extension also offers browser support. But I prefer the desktop versions.
4. BitGo Desktop, Mobile, Web Wallet
BitGo, a popular wallet designed for business users, is secure and highly popular. It offers an advanced API that allows access to over 100 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. This is the wallet used by exchanges like Bitfinex Bitstamp ShapeShift, among others.
The Ledger hardware wallet is compatible. It supports up to three-of-three authorizers. BitGo separates users by roles, such as administrator, user, and viewer, to restrict access based on the need-to know basis. The administrator manages account policies, approves transactions, while the spender initiates them. Viewers are accountants, auditors or those with tax reporting responsibilities.
Hot Wallets 🔥: BitGo has also developed a unique solution for hot wallets that are designed to meet the needs of large asset managers. This allows companies to allow their clients access to their secure environment via an API and authorise transactions.
BitGo allows you to set up policies for the wallet. They include such things as transaction limits and velocity limits. These features are designed to provide additional security in the event of an attack.
BitGo wallets can only be operated via the Command Line. They do not have a graphical user interface. They are not very user-friendly and are best suited to businesses who have the technical knowledge required to set them up.
5. Carbon Wallet
Carbon Wallet may not be suitable for all users due to its centralization. It has a unique feature of multi-signature to protect your Bitcoin. You retain control over the 2 private keys.
It is not a very complex setup and it is probably better suited to individuals who are looking for the security of having two keys. It’s much riskier as this is a web-based wallet with many more attack options than desktop wallets.
The first signature generated when using the Carbon Wallet is after decrypting it with your passphrase through the browser. The second key is stored on the smartphone you tethered initially to the wallet during setup. Both keys are required to unlock your wallet.
6. BTC.com Wallet is a mobile and web wallet.
The BTC.com Wallet was created by Bitmain back in 2016. It is a simple multi-signature eWallet that works with both Android and iOS mobile phones, and also has a web interface.
In every case, private keys are always held by the users and never sent to BTC.com servers. Furthermore, the code base used for the wallet, which is open-source, has been tested and confirmed to be secure and free of malicious code. The wallet supports Bitcoin Cash in addition to Bitcoin.
Multi-signature sets are offered in a 2-of-3 format. Three keys are created, where one is stored in your wallet and encrypted. The other two are sent to you as a pdf. If you see any suspicious activity in your wallet, you can report it. "pause" BTC.com can be instructed to not sign transactions.
They only have one key, so they can’t send money out of your wallet. If you own both keys, they cannot prevent you from sending funds. It is likely that this solution is also best suited for a wallet that offers added security.
BTC.com’s ratings are quite high in both the iTunes and Google Play Stores. BTC.com received a rating of 3.9 stars on iTunes and a rating of 4.1 stars on Google Play Store. What is suspicious, however, is the fact that a number of written complaints have recently been made which don’t reflect the ratings given.
7. Freewallet (Mobile & Web Wallet)
Freewallet, while not technically a multisignature Bitcoin wallet is still possible to configure to emulate the functionality of a multisignature Bitcoin wallet. This will make Freewallet multisignature. You can do this by setting up mandatory email approvals in the Freewallet’s security settings.
Transactions will not be approved if the link isn’t clicked. You can specify as many as three email addresses to confirm each transaction. This would allow more than one party to authorise any transaction.
With this setup you can’t mimic the signature requirement of multisignature wallets. It is necessary to verify each email address before authorising a transaction. So, if one person loses access to their email (or you can't get hold of them) then you cannot sign the transaction.
Freewallet is not the best option for me because it isn’t only less convenient, but also more expensive. Not open sourceYou do not? You cannot control the keys themselves. Freewallet is the custodian for the single wallet key, which means you must trust them completely in terms of security and honesty.
Not Your Keys 🔑: Many people in the crypto community are familiar with the mantra ” "not your keys, not your Bitcoin". Freewallet, which retains control over your key is similar to an account for a business at a centralised trading exchange.
Freewallet offers a variety of wallets in single currencies as well as multicurrency. "cryptocurrrency wallet". They are available for iOS, Android as well as through a browser-based web wallet.
You can also read our conclusion.
In theory, multi-signature wallets all work under the same concept of sharing private keys. This adds extra security as assets can’t just be accessed by one key. This adds an extra layer of security and can spread the risk among different parties.
Each wallet uses multi-signature differently in practice. Some wallets allow as few as 3 out of 3 authorizers, while others will allow as many as 15 out of 15. Carbon Wallet has a unique feature of allowing a user to sign on two different devices. BitGo is geared towards the enterprise.
Your needs will determine the best multi-signature wallet to use for Bitcoin storage. Research and test all wallets to find out which one is the best for you.
If you plan to use a multisignature Wallet with multiple parties Make sure It is important that the number of signatures required does not exceed the number of cosigners. You don't want to be in a situation where you lose access to a singular key and are hence unable to move the coins!
A multisignature Bitcoin wallet can be a great solution to increase security and trust.
