Cake Wallet vs Guarda Wallet

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-25

Open source Monero-first wallet with real bitcoin privacy tools, carrying a 2021 key generation bug that is still costing people coins.

Guarda Wallet3.0

A capable multi-platform wallet whose 2020 domain hijack exposed the real weakness: a login flow built on uploading your backup.

Verdict: Cake Wallet

Cake Wallet rates higher on our rubric: 3.3 against 3.0 for Guarda Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Cake Wallet: 3.3
Guarda Wallet: 3.0

Cake Wallet and Guarda Wallet, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Cake Wallet and Guarda Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Cake Wallet	Guarda Wallet
Editorial rating	3.3 (favoured on this row)	3.0
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Cake Labs	Guarda
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, seed and keys generated and stored on your own device, with no account and no telemetry	self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose
Bitcoin-only	No	No
Runs on	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, Browser extension
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Tor for all traffic, connection to your own node, Ledger hardware signing, and silent payments plus PayJoin on the bitcoin side	Not stated
Released	2018, launched as the first open-source Monero wallet on iOS	2017
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-25	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Cake Wallet

What works

Open source under an MIT license, with a public repository that is actively developed
Self-custodial with no account and no KYC, and, in Cake's words, zero data collection or telemetry
Genuine bitcoin privacy tooling: silent payments and PayJoin, plus Tor for all traffic and your own node
Handles Monero properly, which almost no other multi-asset wallet does
Ledger hardware wallet support, plus Cake's own two-factor option and biometric unlock
Reachable outside the app stores: direct APK, Accrescent, and Windows and Linux builds

What to watch

Bitcoin wallets created before v4.1.7 are permanently unsafe and have to be replaced, not just updated
The Milk Sad researchers traced sweeps of those weak wallets continuing into 2024, three years after the warning
The flaw was in Cake's own key generation code rather than a third-party library, and it ran through 2020 and 2021
Multi-asset by design, so it carries far more chains and far more code than a bitcoin-only wallet
Monero's privacy guarantees and much more transparent chains share one app, which takes care to use well

Guarda Wallet

What works

Guarda's CEO published a dated, detailed account of the 2020 attack, including the registrar's own logs
Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, a web app and a Chrome extension
Keys are generated locally and encrypted under your own password, and Guarda never holds them
Staking on 14 networks, multisig support and 24/7 live support, per Guarda's own site
Buying built in with cards and Apple Pay across a wide asset range

What to watch

The web and extension flow involves uploading your backup file, which is precisely what the 2020 phishing page was built to collect
The 2020 breakdown came through a domain registrar account, a dependency Guarda does not control and cannot audit
Third party perpetual futures and prediction markets now sit inside the wallet, which is more moving parts than holding bitcoin needs
The user, token and blockchain counts are Guarda's own figures, published on its own homepage
A hot wallet with no hardware signing of its own

Frequently asked questions

Is Cake Wallet or Guarda Wallet better?

Cake Wallet rates higher on our rubric: 3.3 against 3.0 for Guarda Wallet. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Cake Wallet and Guarda Wallet free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Cake Wallet is self-custodial, seed and keys generated and stored on your own device, with no account and no telemetry; Guarda Wallet is self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose.

Is Cake Wallet or Guarda Wallet bitcoin-only?

Neither: both support assets beyond bitcoin. Cake Wallet: Multi-asset: Monero, bitcoin, Lightning, Litecoin, Ethereum, Solana, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash and more. Guarda Wallet: Bitcoin plus more than 70 blockchains, by Guarda's own count.

The full reviews: Cake Wallet and Guarda Wallet, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

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