Our verdict
Exodus Wallet
Free, self-custodial, desktop and mobile
Exodus does the hardest thing in this category well: it makes self-custody feel approachable. The interface is clear, the setup is quick, and it supports enough assets that most New Zealanders will not hit a wall. The catch is the built-in exchange, which is priced for convenience rather than value, and the fact that a software wallet lives on a device that can be compromised. Good first wallet; not the right home for a large long-term holding.
What works
- Genuinely approachable for a first self-custody wallet
- Broad multi-chain asset support in one interface
- Free, with no account or verification required
- Pairs with Trezor hardware for key isolation
- Portfolio view that makes holdings legible
What does not
- Built-in swap rates carry a wide spread
- Closed-source components, unlike some competitors
- Security depends entirely on your device hygiene
- No recovery if the seed phrase is lost — by design
What Exodus is for
Exodus is a free, self-custodial software wallet available on desktop and mobile. You install it, it generates a twelve-word recovery phrase, and from that point you hold the keys. The company cannot freeze your funds, cannot recover them, and cannot see them.
For a New Zealander, that matters because of what the local market has done to people who left assets on platforms. Cryptopia was hacked in 2019. Dasset went into liquidation in 2023 with roughly NZ$6.3 million of customer crypto unaccounted for. Kiwi-Coin closed in January 2026 and Easy Crypto in March 2026. In each case, self-custody was the difference between an inconvenience and a loss.
Where it excels
The interface is the product. Most self-custody wallets are built by people comfortable with the concepts, for people comfortable with the concepts. Exodus is built to be understood by someone whose only prior experience is a banking app, and it largely succeeds.
Multi-chain support in a single interface is the other genuine advantage. Rather than running separate wallets for Bitcoin, Ethereum and everything else, one application holds them all with a coherent portfolio view. For someone consolidating holdings after an exchange migration, that reduces the number of recovery phrases to look after — which is itself a security benefit.
The swap feature, and what it costs
Convenience priced accordingly
Exodus is free because the built-in exchange earns a spread. Swapping inside the wallet is convenient and typically costs more than the same trade on an exchange. For small amounts that is a fair trade; for anything meaningful, check the rate against a public market first.
There is a second cost that has nothing to do with Exodus. Under New Zealand tax rules, swapping one cryptoasset for another is a disposal. You disposed of the first asset at its market value on that day, and where it was acquired with a purpose of disposal, the profit is income taxed at up to 39%. In-wallet swaps feel casual and they generate exactly the same tax obligation as a sale on an exchange. Our tax guide covers this.
Security: what you are actually responsible for
A software wallet is exactly as secure as the device it runs on. Exodus cannot protect you from malware on your laptop, a compromised phone, or a phishing site that convinces you to type your recovery phrase into a form.
- Download only from the official website or the official app store listing you found yourself. Never from a link.
- Write the recovery phrase on paper or metal. Never photograph it, never store it in a notes app or cloud service.
- Nobody legitimate will ever ask for the phrase. Not support, not a "validation tool", not a wallet migration site.
- Verify destination addresses on screen before sending. Clipboard-hijacking malware swaps them.
- Keep the operating system and the wallet application updated.
- Use a separate device or a hardware wallet for anything substantial.
Pairing with hardware
Exodus supports connecting a Trezor device, which is the setup we would suggest for anyone whose holdings have grown past a couple of thousand dollars. You keep the Exodus interface — familiar, clear, multi-chain — while the private keys live on dedicated hardware and never touch the computer.
That combination gets you most of the usability benefit and most of the security benefit at once. Our hardware wallet guide covers buying safely and the setup sequence, including the critical step of testing a restore before funding.
For Easy Crypto Wallet users
The Easy Crypto Wallet was self-custodial, which is why Easy Crypto could not migrate user funds automatically when it closed in March 2026 — the company never had the keys. If you hold that recovery phrase, you still control those assets and can import the phrase into any compatible wallet.
Exodus is a straightforward destination for that. So is a hardware wallet if the balance justifies one. What you must not do is respond to anyone offering to help you "recover" or "migrate" a wallet, which is a well-established scam targeting exactly this situation. See our scams page.
Verdict
Exodus is a good answer to a specific question: how does someone who has never held their own keys start doing so without being intimidated. It is free, it is clear, and it does not lie to you about custody. Use it for that. Use an exchange for buying, use hardware for savings, and check the rate before you use the swap button.