My Ether Wallet Review – Is It A Safe System?
Overview
A unique system to store your Ethereum cryptocurrency, My Ether Wallet is an open source wallet creator. It is not like other online wallets which store your crypto on their servers, you must keep your created wallet in your system.
This means you can use My Ether Wallet to create a hardware or paper personal Ethereum wallet.
But is My Ether Wallet safe? Is it easy to use or is there a steep learning curve? How much does it cost?
We will attempt to answer these questions to help you decide if My Ether Wallet would be right for you.
Using the wallet
Using My Ether Wallet is actually quite easy according to the majority of users. Let’s just go through the steps in creating and using My Ether Wallet:
- Create a wallet: You just visit the website, make a strong password and click Generate Wallet.
- Secure your private key: You have 3 choices – 1) Download .JSON file with an encrypted version of the private key which is compatible with geth, mist and myetherwallet and requires a password to decrypt – 2) Download an unencrypted .JSON file – 3) Copy and paste the private key. It is recommended that you use #1 as it adds an extra layer of security.
- Save your wallet address: This can be done by copying the address or downloading the QR code which can be used to create a paper wallet. This is your public key.
From that point on, the it is self explanatory. To send and receive ETH, you will need both the public and private keys.
At that point, miners will complete the transaction by logging it into the blockchain. The speed of this happening is dependent on the gas limit and gas price which I will explain in the next section.
Cost
Being open source software, My Ether Wallet is free. But there is a cost and that is called gas. Miners will grab tasks that offer more gas first which can determine the speed your transaction processes.
There are 2 gas areas you need to understand:
- Gas limit – This is the limit of units you are willing to spend on a transaction. Standard transactions are normally set at *21000
- Gas price – This is the amount you pay per unit of gas. During normal periods, you can get into the next block with 40 GWEI; during token creation periods, you should send 50 GWEI.
You always want to set your limits and prices properly to ensure no failed transactions which will cost you.
Customer service
Being an open source platform puts My Ether Wallet into a not for profit system. Customer service may not be the correct term in this case.
But with that said, My Ether Wallet has an extensive Help Page. They seem to have covered nearly every possible issue or question that may arise.
Also, My Ether Wallet has various social media pages where you can also seek help and advice. You can find those in the footer section of their website.
Pros
Let’s look at the pros of My Ether Wallet:
- High anonymity
- Easy to use
- Ability to create a paper wallet
- Supports a variety of tokens
- Supports both Ledger and TREZOR hardware wallets
Cons
And these are the cons we found:
- My Ether Wallet seems to be constantly under attack from hackers
- Many complaints of stolen assets
- Chrome plugin doesn’t support hardware wallets
Summary
All in all, I would say My Ether Wallet is a great place for managing your ETH. But… yes but, you are completely in charge of your private keys. There will be attempts to steal or hack your account.
Make sure and be diligent about your Ethereum safety and do not open or respond to potential “phishers.”
I give My Ether Wallet 8 of 10 stars.