Zengo Crypto Wallet Review
If you’re a cryptocurrency user, you need to have a crypto wallet. But if you’re new to the space, you might be wondering what a crypto wallet is. In short, it’s a tool that provides secure storage for your crypto. There are two types: hot wallets, which are internet-enabled, and cold wallets, which are offline physical devices.
The best crypto wallets allow you to easily send, receive and store crypto, all with layers of security ensuring your funds are safe. In addition to their varying formats, different wallets work with different crypto coins and tokens. A popular option for many is Zengo, a hot wallet compatible with over 120 types of crypto, including bitcoin, ethereum and polygon.
In this Zengo crypto wallet review, we take a comprehensive look at the company and its products, what it offers and where it may fall short to help you decide if it’s the best crypto wallet for you.
Best Crypto Wallet With No Seed Phrase
A seed phrase is a digital code used to open a crypto wallet, which is encoded into readable words so the wallet’s owner can store it (ideally offline, written down on paper). Seed phrases contain a string of 12, 18 or 24 random words and are needed to recover wallets in case of hardware or software malfunctions.
Many first-time users wonder: Is crypto safe? It’s likely they’ve heard a horror story of someone losing their seed phrase, and subsequently, their entire crypto portfolio. A seed phrase is more like a key than a password because it cannot be easily reset. Additionally, it can be lost or stolen, in which case it can be difficult for the owner to recover their crypto wallet.
Zengo circumvents the need for a seed phrase by using multi-party computation (MPC). This form of security helps make crypto wallets more user-friendly. Users don't have to worry about losing the contents of their crypto wallets if they lose their seed phrase or private key. Instead, Zengo’s MPC security uses a dual “secret share” system that splits the key across multiple nodes — in this case, the Zengo servers and your mobile device. Even if one node goes down, the wallet is recoverable. More importantly, it's recoverable by you and only you.
Though other MPC crypto wallets exist, we found Zengo to be the safest and most comprehensive. Recovering a lost key is easy, while the company’s three-factor authentication (3FA) system keeps your crypto wallet secure.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Pros and Cons
- Simple UI for buying, selling and storing crypto
- No private key or seed phrase vulnerability
- Supports multiple cryptos and NTFs
- Multi-factor authentication
- Not all features available worldwide
- Not having private keys is a big source of contention for some traders
Pros explained
Zengo offers features that are geared toward veteran crypto users while keeping things simple enough for first-time crypto investors. In this section, we examine some of the wallet’s most noteworthy features.
Simple UI for buying, selling and storing crypto
The Zengo crypto wallet has a simple user interface (UI), allowing you to easily access important information without it feeling cluttered. It lets you buy and sell crypto assets within the app. Various integrated payment options — including credit card, debit card, bank transfer, Apple Pay and Google Pay — make transactions convenient, simple and secure. The app resembles most other smartphone apps, which helps make it accessible to new crypto investors.
No private key or seed phrase vulnerability
Zengo is a keyless wallet that does away with seed phrases, thereby eliminating the dangers associated with them. The system facilitated by MPC security makes recovering your wallet and its crypto contents easy, similar to how you would reset a password for an online account.
Supports multiple cryptos and NFTs
Zengo is compatible with over 70 crypto assets, including major coins like bitcoin, ethereum, USD coin and polygon. You can have individual wallets for each compatible crypto within the Zengo app, which also adds a layer of security and allows you to trade them seamlessly. The app also allows you to trade and store non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company’s currently working on integrating even more blockchains, which will further increase the number of cryptos and NFTs the Zengo crypto wallet is compatible with.
Multi-factor authentication
Zengo has a three-factor authentication (3FA) system that uses facial recognition to keep wallet recovery simple yet secure. You can also store the face of a trusted friend or family member to simplify account recovery.
Cons explained
Not all features available worldwide
You can use Zengo in most regions around the world. It’s available in 188 regions. However, the app or its complete functionality is unavailable in a handful of countries — like China, Cuba and Iran — due to local regulations.
No private keys
With Zengo, while you don’t have to worry about seed phrases, you'll still need to securely store a recovery file and you aren’t provided with private keys. This file doesn’t give instant access to the wallet, so there's no danger of theft. However, if this recovery file is lost or modified, you won't be able to recover your Zengo crypto wallet in case of a hardware or software crash. Only you have the recovery file for your wallet, and Zengo doesn’t keep a copy of it, making it even more valuable. This aspect could potentially lead to wallet recovery issues if the file is lost.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Offerings
Zengo is a hot storage crypto wallet designed to work on your smartphone. It also offers some desktop functionality, and you can connect your Zengo wallet to blockchain applications using a QR code. However, it's principally a mobile wallet, so in this section, we'll focus on what the crypto wallet offers when used on your smartphone.
Zengo mobile crypto wallet
Convenience is one of the principal benefits of using the Zengo crypto wallet. As a secure mobile wallet, it allows you to access your crypto account and trade supported cryptos and NFTs on the go. Being accessible via smartphone also helps make the authentication process easier, especially in the case of the biometric face scan, since this is a security feature many smartphone apps already use.
The Zengo mobile app makes it easy to connect to platforms for trading, gaming, trading NFTs and more by scanning a QR code through the app. The app allows you to connect to any platform that uses ethereum or polygon.
Finally, switching between Android and iOS devices is simple once you transfer the recovery file from Google Drive to iCloud, or vice versa. The Zengo app is also functional on Android and Apple tablets, providing the same functionality as it does for smartphones.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Pricing
Zengo allows you to send, receive and store crypto for free. The company claims it will always offer these services, without limits or charges, to its users. However, as a Zengo user, you'll be subject to fees for several types of transactions and services on the app. In some instances, you may have to pay multiple fees for a single transaction. In order to determine how much a certain service or transaction will cost, consider these fees:
- Spread fees: The difference in the asset’s market price and the price set by the operator.
- Processing fees: A percentage of the transaction value that depends on the asset as well as the operator of the trading service used for the transaction.
- Gateway fees: Paid to the operator to cover transaction costs between the operator and financial institutions like banks, credit card companies and payment providers.
- Network fees: Paid to a blockchain network operator (e.g., ethereum) whenever a transaction occurs on its network.
- Currency conversion fees: Paid to the operator to cover currency conversion when you buy or sell crypto assets in your local currency.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Financial Stability
Zengo is part of KZen Networks Limited, an Israel-based company with the mission to improve crypto wallets. The company has raised $24 million, including $20 million in Series A funding. Its investors include Insight Partners, Benson Oak Ventures, Samsung Next, Elron and many other well-known names in the tech sector.
Since its inception in June 2018, Zengo has significantly raised its transaction volumes and continues to work in that direction by increasing its range of offerings and compatible networks. According to cofounder and CEO Ouriel Ohayon, the company also plans on introducing paid services to fund its operations.
Despite being a relatively young company, Zengo appears to have a solid customer base and a powerful growth trajectory. This is a favorable sign for the company’s financial stability and dependability for the foreseeable future.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Accessibility
Zengo is available in most countries in the world and is aimed at seamlessly trading, transferring and storing crypto assets. In this section, we evaluate how the company is living up to its mission of widespread accessibility.
Availability
The Zengo crypto wallet app is available on Android and iOS operating systems and can be downloaded in 188 countries. As a multi-currency app with support in several languages, Zengo is easily accessible to people in those countries so long as they have a smartphone and internet access. The hot wallet also supports multiple payment options, thereby simplifying transactions.
Contact information
The company is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, and can be reached through a contact form on the Zengo website or via email at contact@Zengo.com or help@Zengo.com. Though it doesn’t offer phone support, it does provide live, in-app chat support. The leadership team is welcoming to customer feedback, and its social media handles can be found on the company website.
User experience
Zengo is aimed at making crypto trading less daunting for newcomers while providing veteran crypto traders with all the features they expect. The app is easy to use and provides all the important information and services required to help navigate the crypto ecosystem.
Though the Zengo crypto wallet app has generally received positive feedback, some users presented issues with the recovery file. Since Zengo doesn’t have a backup of this file, when a customer misplaces it, there's very little the company can do to assist them. A few customers left reviews stating they wished the app was compatible with more blockchain networks — something Zengo’s developer team is working on making a reality.
Zengo Crypto Wallet Customer Satisfaction
The Zengo app reviews are largely positive, with ratings ranging between 4.4 and 4.5 out of 5 across several customer review platforms and app stores. Most of the satisfied customers draw attention to the sleek Zengo UI and its broad functionality. Users have also expressed approval about not having to use seed phrases, as well as the app’s use of convenient facial recognition for identity verification.
Dissatisfied customers pointed to occasional glitches in the app and delayed transactions. Any ambiguity in such situations can be stressful since people’s money is at stake. Additionally, a few customers complained about the company suddenly withdrawing its referral program without giving users the benefits they earned. Though there seem to be a few unresolved issues, the company responds quickly to feedback, which is a crucial component of successful customer satisfaction.
How We Evaluated Zengo Crypto Wallet
We evaluated Zengo crypto wallet on several metrics, including:
- Security and ease of wallet recovery: We considered the level of security and the ease of use for this product.
- Accessibility: We looked at how easy it is to access and use the Zengo app.
- Pricing: We compared the pricing to similar crypto wallets and evaluated Zengo's unique value proposition.
- User experience and customer feedback: We evaluated customer reviews on verified third-party websites.
- Financial stability and reliability: We scrutinized the company's financials and how reliable its business model is.
Summary of Money's Zengo Crypto Wallet Review
Zengo crypto wallet aims to make crypto trading more accessible to new users while keeping all the features veteran crypto users expect and require. The hot wallet’s app simplifies navigating the crypto ecosystem by removing the inconveniences and vulnerabilities associated with seed phrases and private keys, while also integrating mainstream payment options. There are a few areas where Zengo can improve, like the susceptibility of its recovery file and a few glitches in the app.