What is a digital wallet?
By: Michelle Abbs for People of Crypto Lab
The same way a physical wallet holds onto things of value like financial assets: currency, credit cards and other fun intangible value items like photos of mom or your adorable golden retriever — a digital wallet holds digital things of value.
In order to purchase digital assets like NFTs, you need a digital wallet. Imagine yourself browsing Amazon or standing at the counter in a mall buying an actual wallet. What would matter to you for that purchase? How safe it is? How easy it is to use? How well it goes with your purse or your jeans?
There are many options for which wallet to download and the considerations are much the same. First- safety. A digital wallet stores your private key or 12 word seed phrase that unlocks access to the wallet and all of the assets within it. In order to be classified as a crypto digital wallet, all options have the safety of a private key. Since web3 and blockchain technology is decentralized, this private key or seed phrase is NOT stored by any central agency. Meaning you can’t call them the way we call Amex or Chase and say “I forgot my password”. So be sure to keep your private key in a safe secure location.
Another consideration for your digital wallet choice — how easy it is to use. We hear Metamask and Coinbase wallet are the easiest to use for those newer to web3. For a more comprehensive list check out US News: Money list of the top 8 cryptocurrency wallets.
The same way you’d think about buying a wallet that goes with your jeans or your purse — you need to be sure the wallet you’re using goes with the digital assets you’ll collect and use. In our case for POC, we want to choose a wallet that integrates with The Sandbox. So our options are: Metamask, Bitsky, Venly, and Coinbase!
Now that we know the basics of what digital wallets are, we’re ready to talk through how to get your digital wallet set up and be ready to buy your POC avatar to store in your fancy new wallet come June 15th.
Learn more here.
