The times, when cryptocurrencies seemed out of reach, and starters found it hard to enter the market, are gone now. For many people cryptos have become ‘the second Internet’, and the amount of crypto users is growing exponentially.
From 2013 to 2017 the number of people who actively used crypto wallets increased from 2.6 mln to 11.5 mln, while now, four years later, there are more than 200 mln crypto wallets according to www.buybitcoinworldwide.com
Nevertheless, the questions like “How to buy cryptos?” or “Where to keep them?” still puzzle a novice investor. What market tools are in practice? Which of them are safer and more convenient? What do they allow you to do with cryptocurrency? Today we will tell you about it.
What is a crypto wallet? How to store digital money?
Crypto Wallet is a special programme which allows you to get, sell and keep crypto currency.
Every crypto wallet has the public key and private key.
Private key is a randomly generated code, linked to the assets in your wallet, which proves that the wallet belongs to you.
Public key, also referred to as a wallet address, is created from private key calculations.
The keys are designed to protect the wallet against hacking. Private key is inaccessible and resembles a password. Public key represents the wallet itself and is seen by the owner and other users.
That is the point of the so-called asymmetric encryption for data transmission: you need two keys connected with each other, the public key and private key.
According to the purpose of use and method of storage, wallets differ as follows:
— Cold Wallet, where there is a physical carrier with software on which the currency is stored, and access to the Internet is not required. If you compare it with something familiar, a cold wallet is very much similar to a flash drive, but with its own unique software;
— Hot Wallet, which requires the Internet to access it. The types of hot wallet are exchange accounts, online services, applications for smartphones or some wallets for PCs. The hot wallet is most adapted to everyday life. You can use it on your phone, on your laptop or tablet, or even in a browser.
A business trainer, investor and independent expert Sergey Savich told us about various types of crypto wallets, their advantages and drawbacks.
ONLINE WALLETS
| Storage method | Pros |
| Online wallets are placed on websites and are available for all kinds of gadgets.
Browser-based crypto wallets work in browsers and are extensions. |
|
MOBILE WALLET
| Storage method | Pros & Cons |
| Mobile crypto wallets are hosted on mobile devices (not to be confused with mobile phones). | High level of protection for crypto assets, since the access keys are kept outside the Net.
Among the disadvantages, they are extremely inconvenient in everyday life. |
STOCK EXCHANGE WALLET
| Storage method | Pros |
| The wallet is placed on the Stock Exchange’s website. |
|
SOFTWARE WALLET
| Storage method | Pros |
| Software wallet is installed on the computer as a program. The keys to such a wallet in the form of an encrypted code are available to the device user. | You can use a combination of cold and hot storage. |
HARDWARE WALLET
| Storage method | Pros |
| The device looks like a regular USB flash drive. Hardware crypto storage has its own software. |
|
PAPER WALLET
| Storage method | Pros |
| Paper wallets are created on particular sites and printed out by users. |
|
Sergey Savich focuses on the fact that you need to choose a wallet depending on your requirements and requests, ‘You should not use a hardware wallet if you plan to frequently perform operations with the crypt. In turn, if you are planning a long-term investment, then an online wallet is not your story’.
For the convenience of using cryptocurrency in everyday life, for quick operations with it, hot storage wallets are perfect. Viktor Zhukov, CCO of DAO Consensus, a large business community with blockchain – based IT infrastructure, shared his opinion about one of such wallets with us:
‘DAO Wallet is a great solution for a beginner who wants to enter the world of crypto money. It solves two main questions at once: where to buy? how to store it? With this wallet, apart from buying and storing cryptos, you can also exchange them into fiat currency (dollars, rubles, etc.), invest, or transfer them’.
Viktor Zhukov gave detailed information about DAO Wallet functions. The wallet operates in 180 countries and allows you to buy, sell, exchange cryptos, interact with bank cards and transfer money anywhere in the world. As in a regular bank, you can get a plastic card and pay with it in any terminals and stores – or you can get a virtual card and use it.
Our project makes cryptocurrency accessible and familiar to ordinary users. The main problem was that the crypto money was not integrated into everyday life. Now the situation is totally different: our crypto wallet is convenient and easy-to-use in all day-to-day operations,’ Viktor Zhukov shared.
At the same time, DAO Wallet is no less reliable than modern banks, as it uses the blockchain technology that has been proven for years. All customer questions are answered by round-the-clock online support, which is very convenient.
Today, every user has a wide choice of various financial instruments. DAO Wallet has made cryptocurrency accessible not only for professional investors, but also for ordinary people, and makes it possible to use crypto money in everyday life.
You couldn’t pay in digital money at the store? Now you can.
Where to buy and store cryptos? Everything is convenient and accessible in one app.
The appearance of new convenient financial instruments opens up new horizons and ways for development, such as availability of your finances anywhere at any time, or convenient and easy-to-make investments.
It looks like the new digital world has already come true, and you can take a step towards financial freedom with just your mobile phone! While at the dawn of the birth of cryptocurrency they said it would never replace money, now, in just a decade, the crypt is the “new black”.
