Copay Wallet Review 2021: Fees, Pros, Cons, Tutorial

Copay wallet is a light node wallet based on the Bitcoin network and comes from one of the top global Bitcoin payment providers. In this Copay wallet review, we want to delve deeper into its features and establish whether or not it is the safest solution for your cryptocurrency needs.

Is the Copay Wallet Recommended?

After a thorough analysis of Copay wallet, we would not recommend it as the safest option. Though it incorporates security measures such as the Bitcoin Payment Protocol and hardware wallet support, one glaring loophole is that it is not a regulated platform. The cryptocurrency space is often referred to as the Wild Wild West and is a risky landscape where funds can vanish into thin air. There are very few crypto wallets which adhere to regulations, an important safety consideration. The eToro wallet is one such wallet service provider, which has complied with regulatory requirements in multiple jurisdictions such as the UK and Cyprus just check out our eToro review.

If you still have doubts as to what the best service for storing your cryptos is, you can compare the best Bitcoin wallets here.

What is Copay Wallet?

Copay wallet came into existence in 2015 and is a project of BitPay, the first ever Bitcoin payment provider. What is Copay? It is a multi-signature wallet which means that a single Copay wallet can have multiple users.

When in use by multiple users, it requires everyone to sign off for payments to go through, using the group approval feature. Though it only supports Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, it allows you to check the prices of more than 150 currencies.

However, it is not a full node wallet and does not require a download of the entire Bitcoin blockchain to function properly. Rather, it is a Light Node Wallet and uses Simple Payment Verification (SPV), drawing on data from third-party servers to stay up to date with the network.

It is not a regulated crypto wallet.

Copay wallet compatibility

Copay wallet is available for use on desktop, mobile and web. It is compatible with:

Windows
MacOS
Linux
Android
iOS

What wallet type is Copay?

Hierarchical Deterministic (HD)
Multi-signature
Software wallet

What cryptocurrencies does the Copay wallet support?

Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash

What fees does Copay wallet have?

There are no Copay wallet fees imposed by the company for accessing services. However, users have to pay network transaction fees which vary according to network status and transaction size.

How to open your Copay Wallet account

We now know the basics on what is Copay wallet and a little of its history. Let’s get started on using it by learning how to set up and how to open a Copay wallet:

Step 1: To begin with, go to the Copay official website and on the homepage, click on “Get Copay”

Step 2: From the list that appears, select the operating system that you are using.

Doing this will redirect you to GitHub where you can choose the version of software to install. Note that the most recent software version will appear at the top of the list. Select that one and download.

Step 3: When the download process completes, click “Get Started”

This will open “Copay Installers” then follow the instructions indicated there. From these installers, you will get a lot of useful data about your new wallet

Step 4: The next step is one of the most important ones, which is backing up your 12-word seed phrase

The installer will give you a series of seemingly random phrases. Write them down and keep the copy in a secure place. You will need these words to activate your wallet fully and if you ever lose your device or it gets compromised, these words will let you recover the wallet and all funds.

Step 5: Verify that you have written down the correct phrase by clicking on the boxes that contain the words and adding them in the right order

That’s it! You have successfully learned how to open a wallet on Copay. Next, you need to figure out how to start transacting on the wallet.

How do I add cryptocurrencies to Copay Wallet?

Before you figure out how to transfer Bitcoin to Copay wallet, the first step is learning how to access your Copay wallet address. Let’s get right on it:

Step 1: Open the app and click on the “Receive” icon on the taskbar.

You will get a long string of digits and characters as well as a QR code. This is your Copay wallet address and is essentially the information you need in order to receive funds.

Step 2: Now that we have the wallet address, let’s learn how to add currency to Copay wallet.

One way to do this is by receiving a payment from another crypto user. Another way is to fund your own wallet by transferring currency from another wallet. You could also buy crypto from an exchange platform.

No matter what method you choose, you need to copy the wallet address by clicking on it and then send it to the other party or paste it on the recipient’s address on the exchange or other wallet.

If your sender is with you physically, they could scan the QR code on your phone so as to transfer funds to your wallet.

How to send payments on Copay wallet?

Next, we are going to look at how to send payments on Copay wallet. The process is rather straightforward. Here is what you need to do:

Step 1: Open your Copay app and on the task bar, click on the Send icon

Note that the send icon only appears if your wallet has enough funds to transfer to other users or make payments.

Step 2: Enter your recipient’s wallet address

Step 3: Enter the amount you want to send in Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash

Step 4: Confirm that all the details are correct because cryptocurrency transactions cannot be reversed once sent.

Once you have checked and confirmed that everything is correct, click “Send.”

Since the wallet only supports Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, we need not to get into how to transfer Ethereum to Copay wallet or how to transfer Ripple to Copay wallet (or any other altcoins for that matter).

How do I receive payments on Copay wallet?

The process on how to receive payments on Copay wallet is just the same as how to add cryptocurrencies to the wallet:

Step 1: Open your Copay app and click on Receive icon so as to get your wallet address

Step 2: Copy the address and send it to the person making a payment. You can paste it on email, Whatsapp or any other media.

Step 3: Wait to receive the payment. This could take anywhere from between a few minutes to four hours or more depending on the state of the network.

How safe is Copay Wallet?

When it comes to Copay wallet safety, there are a number of provisions that the service provider has included to seal common loopholes.

Here are the security features that the wallet offers users:

Hardware Wallet Support

The Copay wallet’s Chrome versions allow users to access integration with hardware wallets. Hardware wallets are among the safest storage solutions for cryptocurrency.

Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Settings

HD wallets automatically generate a hierarchical structure of both private and public keys. This spares the user the inconvenience of having to generate them. But more importantly, it ensures safety for user funds.

It makes it very difficult for a malicious actor to track your transactions because it uses a different address for every transaction. By virtue of this feature too, users get a 12-word mnemonic phrase that lets only the authorized account holder restore the wallet in case of device loss or damage.

Bitcoin Payment Protocol (BIP) Support (0070 & 0073)

Copay is among the first Bitcoin wallets that support the Bitcoin Payment Protocol. Any time you send a payment to a BIP-enabled merchant, Copay automatically verifies that the payment has gone to the correct recipient.

Copay Wallet Pros and Cons

Take a look at Copay pros and cons:

Pros:

Multi-signature settings make it great for joint account users
Open source code offers transparency
User-friendly interface
Generates seed phrases for wallet recovery in case of device loss or damage
Compatible with several different operating systems
Can be linked to a hardware wallet for security
Uses Bitcoin Payment Protocol (BIP) to protect users against sending crypto to wrong addresses
Shows prices in 150 digital currencies and offers support for multiple languages

Cons:

BitPay, the company behind Copay, supported Bitcoin Cash ABC which has been less successful than Bitcoin SV, thus losing client trust
Not regulated
Does not support two-factor authentication
As a light node wallet, it uses third-party servers to get Bitcoin Network data, creating a security loophole
Not as safe as a full-node bitcoin wallet
No altcoin support (with the exception of Bitcoin Cash)
Complicated back-end design, especially for less experienced users
Does not have a direct link to the Bitcoin blockchain and experiences difficulties when third-party servers have problems
Users have complained of slow response from Copay’s support team

Copay Wallet vs. other wallets – how does it compare?

How does Copay compare to other popular wallets? Let us consider three such wallets, analyzing their performance against Copay in terms of certain important crypto wallet criteria.

Copay wallet vs. eToro

Customer Support

Copay wallet offers quite unsatisfactory support services compared to eToro. Copay in fact, has a limited range of means to contact members of staff, whereas eToro has quite a few. In addition, eToro’s staff members are well-trained and capable of solving any concern you may have.

Security

eToro is also very safe compared to Copay. Copay for example, does not support a two factor authentication, which eToro does. eToro has also adopted sophisticated and up to date security measures that make it one of the safest wallets on the market at the moment.

Update 2024 – Going forward, the only cryptocurrencies eToro customers in the United States will be able to trade on the platform will be Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum.

Copay wallet vs. Bitcoin Core

Full Node vs. Lite Node

Bitcoin Core is a full node Bitcoin network wallet unlike Copay, which uses third parties to access network data. While this is advantageous in the sense that you do not have to download the full BTC blockchain to use Copay, it poses a security and performance threat. It also goes against the essence of decentralization in blockchain use.

HD Settings

On Copay, HD settings facilitate the creation of a new address for every transaction while on Bitcoin Core the process is not yet automated.

Copay wallet vs. Atomic Wallet

Atomic Swaps

One of the highlights of Atomic wallet which is missing from Copay is the ability to transact using Atomic Swaps. Such transactions are easier and cheaper to execute than traditional ones since they do not require a third-party intermediary,

Hardware Wallet Support

Copay has a noteworthy advantage over Atomic Wallet in the sense that it supports hardware wallet integration. This is a unique feature that enhances safety of user funds and is missing on Atomic.

Conclusion

The above wallets are all strong contenders in the battle for crypto wallet supremacy. However, eToro has one merit that carries tons more weight than those of the others, Copay included. eToro is one of the few crypto wallets that complies with regulatory requirements. In the highly unpredictable crypto space, this is one feature that allows users to have peace of mind with regards to wallet safety. Notably, eToro is available in a number of different jurisdictions and in all of them, has complied with the relevant authorities. As mentioned earlier, these include Cyprus, the UK and Europe as a whole.

FAQs

Where can I download Copay Wallet?

You can download Copay wallet from Google Play Store for Android devices and Apple AppStore for iOS devices. But if you want to install the wallet on your desktop or laptop, you can download them from the Copay website homepage.

My Copay wallet froze; what should I do?

If your Copay wallet is frozen, the simplest solution is to delete it and reinstall it afresh. Before you do anything, confirm that you have the 12-word backup phrase needed for restoration. Without this phrase, you will not be able to reinstall the wallet. If you have it, uninstall the app and reinstall it and then enter the 12-word phrase to get back your funds and settings.

How do I reset my Copay password?

Since Copay does not manage your password, the service provider cannot reset it. If you have lost it, the only way to regain access to your wallet is by restoring it using your 12-word backup phrase. To do this, delete your wallet and then restore it from scratch using the phrase.

How is Copay related to BitPay wallet? And what are the differences?

Both Copay and BitPay wallet are sponsored by the BitPay Company. Another similarity between the two is that they are both derived from a single codebase, known as “the Copay Project.” That refers to the primary development arm for both platforms. However, BitPay is officially supported by the company and has a closer integration with its gateway crypto services. Copay, on the other hand, is an open source project and as such does not rely on the support of a single vendor. Furthermore, Copay is a pure wallet and does not have any functionality beyond the basis, sending, receiving and storing digital assets. BitPay, on the other hand, has extra features such as gift card support. It is also integrated with the BitPay Card, a prepaid visa debit card managed via the wallet app.

Can I set transaction fees in Copay wallet? If so, how?

Yes. Copay wallet lets you adjust the transaction fee schedule. However, this does not necessarily mean the ability to set a precise amount of satoshis for a transaction. Rather, it uses the “estimate fee” from Bitcoin Core to give you a viable range. The estimate fee will essentially allow you to determine the number of blocks within which your transaction will get confirmed. Note though that setting your own fee only applies for peer-to-peer transactions. For invoice payments made through the payment protocol, the fee is already set by the invoice based on merchant preferences. To set your fee, go to Settings>Bitcoin Network Fee Policy; there are five options ranging from Super Economy to Urgent. Super Economy takes approximately four hours. Select the desired amount and go back to home screen.

My 12-word recovery phrase is not working. What can I do?

At times, when you write down your recovery phrase but cannot get it to work for example when importing it into your wallet, it could be that you wrote some of the words incorrectly. In many cases, there could be a minor discrepancy between what you wrote and the actual word on the list. If that is the case, you simply need to match the words on your phrase to the most similar ones commonly used in backup phrases. Check out the following list for the complete set of words that are used as seed phrases: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039/english.txt.

Why has my Copay transaction not been confirmed?

Every time you transact on Copay wallet, a new transaction is created but it will only go through when it is added to the blockchain. This requires large mathematical calculations which take time. And especially when the traffic on the given network is high, they could take longer than you anticipate. As you await confirmation, you can check your transaction status on a block explorer. However, if the transaction fails, your funds will be returned to the wallet.

How can I get the private key from my Copay Wallet?

To find your private key, select your wallet and then click on the top-right icon>Export Wallet>File Text>Set up a password>Copy to Clipboard. Then go to https://bitwiseshiftleft.github.io/sjcl/demo/, open your file and copy the full text. Paste it in the cipher text area and enter your password in the Password Input area. Once you have done that, click decrypt and find your private key Copay wallet in the Plaintext area. It is the one listed after “mnemonic.” Copay does not have access to your private keys, and they are solely in your control. Therefore, be sure to protect them.