Atomic Wallet review
Last reviewed 2026-08-25
Security warning
Do not put bitcoin in Atomic Wallet, and if you already have some there, move it. Over two days on June 2 and 3, 2023, users across bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin, BNB, Polygon and Stellar watched their balances leave at once. Elliptic put the losses above $100 million across more than 5,500 wallets, one of the largest thefts ever suffered by the users of a single self-custody wallet, and attributed the operation to North Korea's Lazarus Group based on laundering patterns matching earlier state linked thefts, including funds pushed through the Sinbad mixer.
What makes this a caution rather than a bad month is everything that came after. Atomic first said under 0.1% of users were affected, then under 1%, figures that did not survive contact with the on-chain evidence. It listed four possible causes, device malware, an infrastructure breach, injected code and a man in the middle attack, and never said which one it was. No compensation has been paid. A US class action, Meany v. Atomic Wallet, alleges the company knew of security problems from a 2021 audit and did not act on them, and it is still in litigation.
Then there is the website. Read atomicwallet.io today and you would never learn any of this happened. The homepage advertises "Trusted by 15,000,000 users worldwide", promises no accounts, no verification and no KYC, and still carries testimonial cards attributed to CZ, Charlie Shrem and John McAfee, who died in 2021. There is no incident notice, no post-mortem, and no link to one anywhere on the page. A wallet may survive being attacked. Declining to explain it to the next person who downloads it is a separate decision, and it is the one this record is about.
If you still hold coins in Atomic Wallet, the safe move is not to import your recovery phrase into a new app. If that phrase was exposed in 2023, importing it carries the exposure with it. Create a brand new wallet elsewhere, with a phrase generated on a device Atomic never touched, and send the coins to it.
- Made by
- Atomic Wallet
- Type
- Software wallet
- Runs on
- iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux
- Who holds the keys
- self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted with your password
- Bitcoin only
- No, multi-asset
- Released
- 2017
- Coin support
- Bitcoin plus more than 1,000 other coins and tokens, by Atomic's own count
Pros and cons
What works
- Keys are held on your device, so a working install still lets you move your own coins out
- Desktop builds are published for Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora, with a hashsum check for the download
- One app covers bitcoin and more than a thousand other assets, which is why so many people kept so much in it
What to watch
- More than 5,500 wallets were drained on June 2 and 3, 2023, for over $100 million by Elliptic's count
- Atomic has never published a confirmed technical cause, offering four possibilities and picking none
- No compensation has been paid to the people who lost money
- Its first public statements put the damage at under 0.1% and then under 1% of users, which the on-chain evidence contradicted
- A US class action alleging that a 2021 audit flagged problems left unfixed is still in litigation
- The homepage says nothing about the incident and still runs testimonials from a man who died in 2021
Worth comparing
- ExodusThe best looking wallet on this list, from an NYSE listed company, with closed source apps and swap rates starting at 0.5%.
- Guarda WalletA capable multi-platform wallet whose 2020 domain hijack exposed the real weakness: a login flow built on uploading your backup.
- BlueWalletBitcoin-only phone wallet with real coin control and multisig vaults, whose Lightning side is custodial unless you run the server yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Is Atomic Wallet safe to use?
We do not recommend it. The company never published what caused the June 2023 mass compromise, paid no compensation, and says nothing about the incident on its own site. Without a stated cause there is no way to know whether it was fixed.
What happened to Atomic Wallet in June 2023?
On June 2 and 3, 2023, more than 5,500 users had their balances drained across nine or more blockchains. Elliptic put the total above $100 million and attributed it to North Korea's Lazarus Group, tracing part of the laundering through the Sinbad mixer.
Did Atomic Wallet refund users?
No. No compensation has been paid, and a US class action, Meany v. Atomic Wallet, is still in litigation, alleging the company knew about security problems from a 2021 audit and failed to act.
I still have coins in Atomic Wallet. What should I do?
Move them, but do not import your existing recovery phrase into a new wallet. Create a fresh wallet with a new phrase generated on a clean device, send the coins there, and stop using the old phrase entirely.