It has been some months that I have been in this forum, I have started making arrangements for transacting with Bitcoin in the aspect of buying and storing. I don't have much knowledge of wallet to the extent of knowing a preferable wallet to use for storing my Bitcoin, right now I know that Bitcoin is a valuable asset from my understanding but other people doesn't accept the fact that it is really an asset, so I want to know a good wallet to use for my Bitcoin because I notice that some wallet my friends recommend to me are all exchange kind of wallet and I was told that it's not proper to use an exchange wallet for storing or saving of Bitcoin for a long time. I wish to have more recommendation or articles to read concerning wallets and it's security values but during my research I was recommended to use electrum wallet but I was confused if electrum wallet is an exchange or a custodial wallet, therefore i need a good direction, clarification and update of suitable wallet from senior colleagues.
Well, I don't know what other users have said, but for me, electrum is a great wallet, it is actually a non-custodial wallet, and I think the wallet is open source too (this I am not very sure) but regardless, electrum wallet is one of the top bitcoin wallets recommended by many, but this is if you do not have plans of going for a hardware wallet like trezor and the likes, hardware wallets are actually the best in terms of security of your bitcoin and maybe other crypto assets you might want to invest in in the future.
I would personally advice you go for a hardware wallet if you intend to hold your bitcoin for a very long time, wallets like electrum, mycelium and the likes are much better used as hot wallet for day to day sending and receiving bitcoin, hardware wallets are best for storing bitcoin as a long term investment.
It is true that Electrum is an open-source wallet due to its open-source nature. As a result, the source code of the software is publicly available, allowing developers and users to review and verify the software's security and functionality. The security of open-source projects can be enhanced by the contributions and audits of the community.
You should consider your needs and preferences when selecting a wallet. With hardware wallets, such as Trezor and Ledger, private keys are stored offline, making them less vulnerable to hacking and malware attacks. When storing significant amounts of cryptocurrency or storing long-term, hardware wallets are often recommended.
Now come to the point, whatever software wallet or hardware wallet, whatever Trezor/Ledger or Open-Source, who knows do they have any back door or not? ?
I always prefer Bitcoin core wallet with an offline machine(Linux/other os), or at least DIY Crypto Hardware Wallet is more safer than Trezor and Ledger...