Best Bitcoin Ordinals Wallets

Established bitcoin wallets rarely supported the collection of digital artifacts, yet the demand for Bitcoin Ordinals is surging. Record sales are making headlines every month, and mainstream investors are starting to recognize the potential value of these Bitcoin NFTs.

Many investors, eager to capitalize on the hype, immediately seek marketplaces to buy Bitcoin Ordinals. However, they often don't realize that storing an Ordinal differs significantly from holding Bitcoin or a typical NFT.

To hold an Ordinal, a specialized Ordinals wallet is required. Navigating the growing landscape of new Bitcoin Ordinals wallets demands an understanding of what makes Ordinals unique before making a choice. This article serves as a guide to explore Ordinals wallets, but users should always do their own research before picking the wallet that will best serve their needs. When choosing a wallet, consider the following factors: interoperability with Ordinals assets, integration with dApps and web3, security features, popularity in the cryptocurrency market, etc.

Bitcoin Ordinals

The Ordinals protocol was launched in early 2023, rocking the Bitcoin ecosystem. Since the release of the Ordinals protocol in early 2023, Ordinals have seen a dramatic rise in popularity, with 65 million Ordinals inscribed by mid-April 2024---a growth rate of over 2000% in under a year, starting from May 2023. While the rise of Ordinals lead to a lot of controversy regarding the use of the Bitcoin network, the interest hasn't died down, and more and more dApps are releasing features for Ordinals NFTs.

Each satoshi (the smallest unit of Bitcoin) is assigned a sequence of ordinal numbers, defining the order in which it was mined and allowing for specific identification and tracking. These ordinal numbers can be referenced to inscribe data onto a specific satoshi, creating Ordinals Inscriptions. Some sats are considered valuable due to their ordinal numbers marking key moments in Bitcoin history (e.g., the first sat ever created or the first sat of a new halving epoch). These sats are known as rare sats, and this has led to the creation of Runes, a new BTC token standard.

Like NFTs, Ordinals derive their value from their uniqueness, scarcity, and recorded digital proof of ownership and authenticity. Unlike other chains' non-fungible tokens, Ordinal data is securely stored directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, making Bitcoin Ordinals digital artifacts.

As Ordinals have gained traction, the surrounding ecosystem, including marketplaces and wallets, has significantly improved. This emerging infrastructure provides simple and secure functionalities, ways to create, trade, collect, and store digital artifacts.

What are Ordinals wallets?

An Ordinals wallet is designed to manage Bitcoin and Ordinals assets separately. Much like a rare coin collector wouldn't store their collection in an online bank account or use a rare quarter in a vending machine, Ordinals must be stored separately from regular Bitcoin to avoid accidental transfers during standard transactions. This requires a wallet with "coin control" capabilities.

Ordinals wallets typically offer features to manage both Bitcoin and Ordinals, including creation, viewing, trading, and storage of Ordinals. They implement strong security measures, integrate well with other decentralized applications (dApps), and allow users to interact directly with the Bitcoin blockchain. Additionally, they should be user-friendly and not require extensive funds, storage capacity, or technical expertise. All in all, a good Ordinals wallet needs to be secure, easy to use, and accessible.

Best Ordinals Wallets

The following wallets offer compatibility with various operating systems and devices, as well as marketplaces, dApps and DeFi apps, ensuring accessibility for a wide range of users. Let's take a look at some of the Best Ordinals Wallets to use with Gamma.

Xverse Wallet

Xverse Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial, Web3 Bitcoin wallet focused on supporting Bitcoin Layer 2 protocols like Ordinals, Lightning Network, and Stacks.

The wallet prioritizes user privacy and anonymity, not collecting or storing any user data and bypassing know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) processes during wallet creation. The wallet encrypts all security keys with user-set passwords on the user's device, ensuring no sharing or storing elsewhere. Xverse's open-source code allows full transparency into its security methodology, regularly audited by security firms like Least Authority.

In July 2023, Xverse introduced for Ledger hardware wallets, which have garnered trust and acclaim from millions of users worldwide. Users can safely store their assets in Ledger devices with Xverse, extending the highest level of security to Ordinals collectors.

Xverse wallet can be used with the Gamma Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace and creator launchpad as well as the Stacks marketplace. Xverse wallet is supported on Chrome, Brave, iOS, Android. Follow this guide for information on how to set up your Xverse wallet.

Leather Wallet (Formerly Hiro Wallet)

Leather Wallet, formerly Hiro Wallet, is an open-source non-custodial Bitcoin wallet that introduced Ordinals support on February 14, 2023. It also supports Bitcoin Layer 2 protocols like Stacks and plans to add Lightning Network support.

Leather Wallet, remains highly interconnected with popular decentralized Ordinals marketplaces and platforms such as Gamma, offering various options for creating and trading Ordinals Inscriptions. In 2024, Leather added support for Runes, a new BTC token standard.

The Leather wallet is an excellent option for collectors. It features a clean and easy-to-navigate user experience with no tabs, placing everything you need on one page. Accessing your Ordinals is straightforward, just scroll down to "Collectibles." Clicking the receive button reveals your Ordinals wallet address, as well as all of the other addresses you might need.

It is compatible with Chrome, Brave, Firefox and cold storage, allowing users to connect a Ledger device. As a non-custodial wallet, Leather gives users full control over their private keys, which are not stored on Leather's servers. Leather is specifically designed for use on the Bitcoin Network and supports swaps within the wallet. You'll find our set up guide here.

OKX Wallet

OKX Wallet is a decentralized multi-chain wallet designed to integrate users into the Web3 universe. It supports cross-chain connectivity across over 50 blockchains.

OKX Wallet users can mint and purchase BRC-20 tokens and, in 2023, adopted the BRC20-S standard, enabling users to stake BRC-20 tokens directly from the platform.

This makes OKX one of the most versatile Ordinals wallets available. Its security systems have passed an audit by the blockchain security firm SlowMist.

Check out this step by step guide to set up your OKX wallet and start using it with Gamma.

Phantom wallet

In 2024, Phantom wallet released support for Bitcoin Ordinals, with key new features. These include Ledger compatibility, which allows users to connect their Ledger on both the mobile app and browser extension, support for recursive inscriptions so users can view and admire them directly within Phantom, and rare sat management, enabling users to manage rare sats right from the Collectibles tab, check the total amount of sats, and see what "satributes" each UTXO contains. To protect valuable rare sats from being accidentally spent during in-wallet transfers, the sat protection logic has also been updated.

Phantom wallet can now be used with many more apps. Users can browse, buy, list, and inscribe Ordinals on platforms like Gamma.

Phantom wallet offers one wallet for everything, integrating the best of Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin in one place.

It allows easy management of Bitcoin addresses, with options to toggle between Taproot and Native Segwit in settings. Transaction overviews provide important details at a glance, such as ETA and estimated balance changes, with BTC-denominated values converted to USD for better context. The inscribed and rare sat protection ensures that users never accidentally spend their Ordinals or valuable rare sats, and the immersive Ordinals gallery lets users view, search for, and pin Ordinals in the Collectibles tab. Lastly, easy onramps allow users to buy BTC instantly with a card or transfer from major exchanges.

Follow the steps in this guide to set up your Phantom wallet to use with Gamma.

Unisat Wallet

Unisat Wallet is a Bitcoin-specific wallet that offers unique features like Unconfirmed NFTs, allowing users to view their Ordinals before they are mined into blocks. This early visibility enables users to correct any errors promptly.

Unisat ensures that private keys remain private, as they are not stored on their server; only the user has access to their private key. The wallet is open source, allowing users to review the code and see how it is built and upgraded. However, it does not have a separate Ordinals address, requiring the use of a Taproot-compatible Bitcoin address, which could lead to accidentally spending Ordinals during regular BTC transactions.

The wallet's user experience includes four tabs for viewing Ordinals, sending, receiving, and buying BTC, exploring mints, accessing dApps, and managing settings.

Unisat makes it easy to save the recovery phrase by allowing users to copy it directly to the clipboard. It also offers a selection of Bitcoin address types, custom HdPaths, and phrases, providing more options but potentially confusing first-time users.

UniSat Wallet allows users to see their Ordinals immediately, even before they are mined into blocks. This feature, known as Unconfirmed NFTs, not only provides early visibility but also the ability to correct or override if needed. The wallet is specifically designed for Bitcoin Ordinals.

Take a look at our guide to set up your Unisat wallet.

Sparrow Wallet

Sparrow Wallet is designed to optimize Bitcoin transactions, making it an excellent choice for those looking to interact seamlessly with the Bitcoin network. Its user-friendly interface allows users to create custom transaction types based on individual preferences, offering flexibility and control.

A standout feature of Sparrow Wallet is its advanced privacy capabilities, including CoinJoin integration. This feature allows users to combine their satoshis with others' coins in a single transaction, enhancing privacy by obscuring the source of funds and making it difficult for external parties to trace the origin of transactions.

Sparrow Wallet also supports full Bitcoin nodes, giving users direct access to the entire blockchain while maintaining complete control over their funds. This not only enhances security but also reinforces the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin network.

You'll find a guide to setting up Sparrow wallet to use with Gamma here.

Other popular BTC wallets

MetaMask is a non-custodial multi-chain wallet and browser extension facilitating integration with Web3 dApps. Initially an Ethereum wallet, MetaMask now supports various tokens and dApps across the Ethereum network and, through a partnership with Generative XYZ, provides an interface for interacting with and storing Bitcoin and Ordinals assets. Connecting MetaMask to Generative creates a unique signature to generate a Bitcoin Taproot key and address, allowing users to leverage MetaMask's technology while exploring Ordinals.

The Ordinals Wallet launched on February 16, 2023. This community-funded project was designed to overcome the limitations of earlier wallets. Users can manage their digital assets within the application, including viewing, buying, selling, storing, and inscribing Ordinals. The wallet supports both Bitcoin and Ordinals on a single platform, eliminating the need for multiple wallets. Its user-friendly interface and intuitive design have garnered positive feedback from both beginners and experienced users. Strong security features ensure users have direct control over their assets via user-created passwords not stored on external servers.

Magic Eden, a popular marketplace, also has its own wallet. Integrating with the Magic Eden platform enables users to view and list their Ordinals directly within the wallet. Magic Eden's multi-chain wallet collaborates with projects in the Ordinals space to provide exclusive perks for ME Wallet users, and it offers various security features to enhance user safety.

Hardware wallets, also called "cold storage", such as Ledger and Trezor, are also popular options for safekeeping of digital assets and crypto.