More Than Just An Average Wallet

If anyone has heard about crypto, they have probably heard about some sort of crypto wallet. What is this crypto wallet? This is not necessarily something that just goes in your pocket, unless of course your wallet is on your phone; but that is a whole different story that we will get to later. The point is, this is not just your average wallet, it doesn’t just hold your credit cards, some business cards, or maybe even that old lifeguard certifiction you got when you were sixteen. This wallet goes beyond that, this wallet is almost more comparable to a bank account. A top secret bank account that is only represented by a series of numbers or letters that create an address that actually represents you. The thing with this wallet, is that it actually connects you to the blockchain. To me it is the first step that you should take before diving deep into the cryptoverse.

Once you begin to look into getting yourself a wallet, you will find that there are many options. I would say the big three are Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, and Metamask Wallet. Each one is a little different, but they are like the old reliables in the crypto world. Most sites that you will need to connect your wallet to, let’s say for minting an NFT will almost always have these three as your options. For me personally, I have wallets in all three, but what I enjoy using the most is Coinbase Wallet. To me it is the easiest to use, and has a nice clean format that is easy to work with. I will tell you this, Metamask has been growing on me since they introduced Apple Pay as an option to receive funds to purchase crypto. Regardless of whatever option you decide to go with, pick the one that in your mind is the most user friendly. When you create your wallet, you will get a seed phrase. Write that seed phrase down, store it someplace that you will never forget. Make sure it is not somewhere on your phone either. Something very important that you will need to remember, never ever, I mean never, give your seed phrase to anyone. Never enter it on any website, never give it to twitter, or anyone you meet on social media. Protect that seed phrase.

Why do I need a crypto wallet? Well let me tell you. Think of it like this, this is your first line of defense to the people that are out there trying to steal your money. You wouldn’t go and throw all your cash in a gym locker, or one of those lockers at Disneyland right? Of course not! You would want some protection. Although each of those lockers I mentioned did have a key and lock to somewhat protect your money, you would not feel safe leaving it there. That is what it is like when you leave all your funds on what is called a centralized exchange. A centralized exchange or a CEX are organizations that coordinate cryptocurrency trading on a large scale, using a similar business model to traditional asset exchanges like stock exchanges. While some would say they are secure, I would say they are not secure enough. There have been numerous hackings that have occurred amongst some of the top exchanges, and many people have lost their funds because of this. If you have your crypto stored on a wallet, you are far less likely to be hacked. Even better, you could store your crypto on what’s called a hard wallet, or a cold storage device.

There are many different ways to protect yourself, but your best chance of keeping your crypto safe is to store your funds on a hard wallet. It is something that has really been growing in popularity in the last couple of years because of the onslaught of dusting attacks on many users wallets. These dust attacks are brutal, they could literally wipe your whole wallet with just a few simple clicks. Long story short, if you see a cryptocurrency or an NFT in your wallet pop up that you did not purchase, DO NOT TOUCH IT. These people are relentless, but there are ways you can protect yourself. Example A, cold storage wallet. It secures your investment in an offline storage device that can only be accessed when you decide to access it. Security is the name of the game when it comes to crypto, and taking some simple steps can protect your investments and help lead you to the financial freedom that you could be desiring.

Speaking of financial freedom, let’s talk about another use case for these crypto wallets; purchasing. There will be times when you want to purchase a token that may not be on one of the CEX’s that you may use and so you will find yourself venturing into the world of DEX’s or decentralized exchanges. Uniswap is the most popular DEX that a lot of tokens use to list their projects on. Take $MANDOX for example, we are only available on LBANK, Hotbit, Saitmask, Shibaswap, and of course Uniswap. The most popular way to go about buying $MANDOX is through Uniswap. On Uniswap you swap your Ethereum to receive other tokens, like my favorite token $MANDOX. From there, these tokens are held on your crypto wallet, and you can view the amount of tokens you may have, and even their value. Now that you have tokens on your wallet, you can now decide if you want to keep them or even send them to a friend. Receiving, swapping, sending are all major things that you will need to have your own crypto wallet to do.

All in all I think it is safe to say that this is more than just an average wallet. Getting your own wallet can seem like a scary thing, but trust me it isn’t. It is like learning to ride a bike, or driving a car; these things seemed like wild tasks at the time, but now it’s something you can do without even really thinking about what you are doing. Get yourself a crypto wallet, and dive into the cryptoverse. We will be here to help you every step of the way.

-JH