In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become popular owing to their exponential boom in value during the just-ended bull market. For people looking to get in, it may be a little intimidating at first, but several platforms have made it easier to buy, trade or hold cryptocurrencies.

In this article, we will be discussing some of the best cryptocurrency apps. Please note that is article is purely informational and educational. The list cuts across centralized and decentralized exchanges, centralized and decentralized wallets, taxes, and information research. Be sure to do your research and decide which cryptocurrency app best fits your need.

So, without further ado, here are some of the best cryptocurrency apps that you should try.

Cryptocurrency trading apps

Centralized exchanges vs. Decentralized exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchanges are platforms where users can trade cryptocurrencies. They are broadly categorized as centralized and decentralized. Centralized exchanges are so-called because they are established and run by companies. These companies oversee all transactions and set the platform’s rules and fees. On a centralized exchange, you can exchange your fiat for cryptocurrencies while the platform assumes the role of a custodian and broker. Examples of centralized exchanges include Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken and Bitfinex. 

Decentralized exchanges are alternatives to centralized exchanges. In a decentralized exchange, no company takes custody of the assets, and the trade is brokered by their smart contracts. With decentralized exchanges, users are in full control of their assets. If the smart contracts are well written, they offer more security than centralized exchanges which are often targeted by hackers. Examples of decentralized exchanges are Jupiter, Kine Protocol, Curve Finance and Pancakeswap.

Centralized exchanges 

• Binance (Mobile, Desktop and Web Apps)

Binance is the biggest centralized crypto exchange in the world, processing over 11 billion dollars in daily volumes. Depending on your location, there may be a slightly different version of the app from the Binance global platform.

Through their mobile, desktop and web apps, Binance offers the most extensive crypto spot market, a suite of advanced trading tools, access to margin trading and OTC service for better pricing. They also offer a lot of derivatives products to trade in the futures market. Binance offers crypto finance services like Binance Earn, Binance crypto card, flexible collateralized crypto loans, and access to ICOs on the launchpad. They offer custodial wallet services through their in-built wallet, an NFT marketplace, and a non-custodial wallet service via Trust Wallet.

Binance spots very low trading fees. They list almost every coin available and are supported by all 3rd party trading bots. They offer prompt customer support through a24/7 online ticketing system. Since being hacked in 2017 for 7000 BTC, they now hold about 98% of their funds in cold storage.

For a beginner, Binance is relatively easy to use once you get used to the interface. There is the more beginner-friendly Binance lite, and the more advanced Binance Pro version.
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• FTX Exchange (mobile and web app)

FTX Exchange is the second-largest centralized crypto exchange processing more than 2 billion dollars in daily transactions.

FTX lists over 100 spot markets with dozens of cryptocurrencies to choose from. Over 250 perpetual futures market, short and long leveraged tokens, volatility tokens and an interesting shitcoin and DeFi index. They offer some bitcoin options for Options traders and an OTC portal. FTX offers low trading fees that are appealing to both beginners and advanced traders.

FTX is available on the Web and Mobile (Android and iOS). They offer customer support through a ticketing system. Similar to Binance, FTX also holds most of its funds in offline cold wallets for security. Individual accounts are protected using two-factor authentication and IP addresses can be whitelisted. The relatively low fees on FTX make it appealing to beginners, otherwise, it is more suitable for advanced traders with the need for their more sophisticated offerings.

Due to tight crypto regulations in the US, the company operates a different subsidiary for the US market - FTX US.  Compared to the global platform, they offer more limited trading services, fewer coins and tokens selection, and the other features are not very beginner-friendly. FTX US currently processes over 172 million dollars in transactions, making it the 12th largest crypto exchange in the world.

Decentralized exchanges

• Uniswap (Web App)

Uniswap is the largest decentralized crypto exchange offering decentralized financial services. It processes almost 800 million dollars in daily transactions.

Getting started with Uniswap is easy because it does not require a registration or KYC process. To use the platform, you simply connect your wallet and start transacting. On Uniswap, you can either trade or stake your cryptocurrencies into the available liquidity pools to earn interest.

The Uniswap app is both user and beginner-friendly. It is easy to learn how it works. It supports many of the most popular crypto wallets, including Trust Wallet, MetaMask, and Coinbase Wallet, among others.
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• dYdX (mobile, desktop and web app)

dYdX is another decentralized exchange that allows you to trade margins and perpetual contracts - a form of derivatives. It processes over 900 billion dollars in daily transactions.

The platform offers a user-friendly interface for mobile, web and desktop applications. You can set up a dYdX account in about 5 minutes and connect your Ethereum wallet to start trading. They operate with low transaction fees and zero gas fees.

dYdX is safe to use because it is decentralized, so users’ funds are locked into smart contracts rather than being held by the exchange. They offer customer support through email and live chat. It is also supported by many crypto wallets like Metamask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Trezor, Ledger and many more.

Cryptocurrency wallets

Just like exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets can either be centralized or decentralized. Using a centralized wallet means that the storage and custody of your assets are controlled by a third party - typically a centralized exchange service provider like Coinbase or Binance. 

Other centralized wallet service providers are Cash App, Uphold, Bundle and Yellow Card.

Centralized wallets are popular and convenient, but for users who prefer to have full control over their assets, they use decentralized wallets. These are non-custodial crypto wallets used for peer-to-peer transactions. They are free from third-party involvement and government surveillance. Let’s look at the top decentralized crypto wallet apps available.
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Decentralized wallets

• Metamask (mobile app and browser extension)

With DeFi gradually becoming mainstream, more people now have the need to take custody of their assets. This is why more people are opting for non-custodial decentralized wallets like Metamask.

Metamask is a beginner-friendly wallet that works as a mobile application and a web browser extension. It is simple to set up and use. In addition to being a wallet for storing coins, tokens and NFTs, Metamask is also a web3 browser that can be used to access web3 sites.

Metamask is a hot software wallet that can be connected to hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger. It can function on a variety of cryptocurrency networks that are compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) including Tron and the Bitcoin sidechain RSK. It supports ETH and any other tokens, collectibles, or other types of assets that are issued on top of the Ethereum blockchain.

• Trust Wallet (mobile app)

Trust Wallet is a user-friendly wallet app that supports most major cryptocurrencies, and many other smaller tokens. It is widely considered one of the best non-custodial digital wallets. 

It is beginner friendly, with an intuitive design, it doesn't take long to figure out how to send and receive crypto and use the rest of the wallet's features.

With Trust wallet, you can do just more than keep your assets - you can also stake your assets to earn interest, store your NFTs, and also interact with decentralized applications.

Trust Wallet is only available as a mobile application. There’s no web or browser extension like Metamask.

Learn more about cryptocurrency wallets.

Cryptocurrency tax apps 

• Accointing (mobile and web App)

For folks who are stressed about filing their crypto taxes, Accounting is mobile and web application for crypto taxes and portfolio management. 

With it, you can generate reports, and track your transactions and performance in real-time. They currently support over 300 Crypto exchanges and make it easy to import all transactions through your wallet address.

Their intuitive user interface is simple enough for both beginners and more experienced users. Accointing has 4 tier pricing plan including a free plan that will generate free tax reports for up to 25 transactions.

Read more about crypto taxes

Cryptocurrency price discovery

• Coinmarketcap (mobile and web app)

Coinmarketcap is a free site for cryptocurrency price tracking. Currently, they track the prices of over 11000 different cryptocurrencies across different exchanges.

They collect and collate real-time information from various sources which are used to provide accurate price tracking on verified crypto assets. They provide a selection of data about each asset including price, price change, 24-hour highs and lows, trading volume and market capitalisation. Coinmarketcap also provides historical data including the highest performing coins from previous years.

• Coingecko (mobile and web app)

CoinGecko is an information and cryptocurrency data aggregator that tracks over 9,000 cryptos, across hundreds of exchanges worldwide. They are a reputable platform for tracking the crypto world. Coingecko provides information about each cryptocurrency, their technology, market analysis, domination index and other critical insights that you would need before investing.

Coingecko is a reliable source of information that provides unbiased, live market data without any incentive to prefer one crypto over another. They simply track data and do not hold assets, therefore, security is not a priority. However, all personal information transfers are encrypted and the third-party payment gateways Stripe and Coinbase Commerce provide added safety for subscription payments.

With the Coingecko app, you can always keep an eye on the market and track the most important metrics without missing a thing.

Bonus

• Coin ATM Radar

If you live in a country where you don’t have easy access to crypto with fiat, This app helps you find cryptocurrency ATMs nearest to you. On the app, you can find a list of countries with the number of crypto ATMs available. You can also find the address of the ATM and the associated fees.

To wrap it up, this is by no means an exhaustive list of the best cryptocurrency apps, but it is a good starting point for beginners, even though we say so.