Desktop crypto wallets
Who holds the keys, whether the code is open, whether development is alive. The score is ours and made only of things that can be checked.
Programs installed on a computer. 4 entries
| Name | Score | Code | Last update | Code reviews | Keys |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrum | 8/10 | MIT | August 30, 2026 | — | With the user |
| Sparrow | 8/10 | Apache-2.0 | August 28, 2026 | — | With the user |
| Wasabi | 8/10 | MIT | August 29, 2026 | — | With the user |
| Atomic Wallet | 2/10 | Closed | — | — | With the user |
How this kind works
The program installs on a computer and the keys sit in a file on the same disk as mail and downloads. In return you depend on nobody else's server: some of these wallets keep their own copy of the chain and ask no one for anything. The threat is the ordinary one — malware running with your user rights gets the key file along with everything else. A separate machine, or at least a separate account, helps; but that is the owner's discipline, not a property of the wallet.
What the score is made of
Wallet: open code 3, development in the past three months 3 (within a year 1), code review 2, keys with the user 2.
A low score means «we could check little», not «this one is a bad choice». Closed code offers nothing to look at — that is an absence of proof, not an accusation.
Open code and development from GitHub, code reviews and networks from DefiLlama. The list itself is ours.