Jumping into cryptocurrency to look for opportunities to earn some bucks, you would likely to ask how and where should you put your cryptocurrencies in to store it. For you to start everything in the crypto space, each and everyone would be needing of what we call a Crypto wallet.
There are some, if not lots to consider, of pros and cons of having and using a crypto wallet. If you are just a new ones in cryptocurrency, this article will help you understand the basic of having a crypto wallet.
Understanding Cryptocurrency Wallet.
Cryptocurrency wallet - from the words itself "Cryptocurrency" means virtually/cryptographically encrypted money and "wallet" simply means where your money is stored personally where you can access it fully.
In other words, a crypto wallet is where you can put your digital assets like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum. Storing them digitally.
There are two kinds of crypto wallet;
A Custodial Wallet like Binance, Houbi, Kucoin exchanges.
A Non-custodial Wallet like Trust Wallet, Metamask, Safepal Wallet.
You can read my article about Custodial and Non-custodial Wallet to have full understandings about it:
Just because I mentioned that a Crypto wallet is where you store your digital assets, it doesn't literally mean that it is what it is. To be specific, your crypto wallet serves as your gateway to your money in the blockchain because cryptocurrencies lives in the Blockchain and a crypto wallet is needed to have access to it. This is like having a normal wallet in your pants where you can access your money easily but the big difference is that is digital.
You can have a crypto wallet in your computer, android and iOS devices or in a hardware wallet like Trezor and Safepal hardware wallet.
Two Kinds of Keys.
Because a crypto wallet is digitally accessible, this is also comes with 2 digital addresses called a Public Key and a Private Key.
But what are this 2 keys?
This keys consist a long line of different letters and numbers that allows to have access to your crypto wallet to send and receive digital assets.
But a Private Key and Public Key is different to each other and it is important to have note about this two.
Public Key.
A public key is a cryptographic code that allows users to receive cryptocurrencies into their accounts. The public key and the private key are the tools required to ensure the security of the crypto economy.
To put it simply, it is your recieving address. Once an asset is sent to you, they can longer have access to it except to the owner of that address.
The Private Key.
A private key is a sophisticated form of cryptography that allows a user to access their cryptocurrency.
A private key is an integral aspect of bitcoin and altcoins, and its security makeup helps to protect a user from theft and unauthorized access to funds.
Basically, that is the most important thing that can have when storing digital assets. A Private Key is the most important thing you need to take care of - not letting it to be save by another person.
If someone has your Private Key, it means that someone can also have the access to your funds.
And if you lose you Private Key without saving it in a safe place, there's a high chances that you can no longer have access to your funds.
Additional Information: Seed Phrase.
A seed phrase is composed of 12 to 24 different words. This serves as your recovery phrase if ever you lose your device or something is wrong with your computer that it doesn't work anymore. If those things happen, you can can still have access to your funds if you still have your seed phrases and just import it to a new wallet. It's very recommendable to write down those words or phrases for future purposes.
Final Say.
A crypto wallet is very essential for everyone in the crypto space. Everyone must take care of it and make sure no one can get access to it except you. A lose access of your wallet would mean a lose of your money.
Make sure to write down your Private Key and Seed Phrase.
FIN.
I still need to learn more about cryptocurrencies and this article really helped me a lot. Thanks for your time in making this.