Crypto wallets like this Trezor can keep your investments safe indefinitely. (Image Source: rc.xyz NFT gallery on Unsplash.com)
Welcome back, Game Changers!
If you’re new to crypto, it can be a big, scary world. There are so many moving parts and facets of the industry that it is overwhelming for someone looking to start their crypto journey. There are a few resources for knowledge in this space, but none are as friendly and understanding as we are here at Game Changer.
We want you to succeed regardless of your level of knowledge or skill, that’s why we put a lot of thought and effort into our educational resources. Like this blog, for instance!
As part of our ongoing crypto education series, today we will be covering one of the most important things to know when obtaining and moving cryptocurrency around: crypto wallets. So put on your learning caps, because we’re about to dive right in.
What is a Crypto Wallet?
Put that thing away! That’s no good for your digital assets! (Image Source: Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash.com)
In layman’s terms, a crypto wallet is just like the wallet in your pants. But, instead of holding cash, credit cards, and precious memories, it holds the private keys that give you access to any crypto you have purchased or received.
Why does it only hold keys and not the crypto itself? Because of the way crypto works, the coins that you own are stored on the blockchain, where they are safe and secure. In order to manage or access those assets in any way, you need the private keys to those blocks - that’s what is stored in a crypto wallet.
Before crypto wallets, people would write down their private keys and keep them somewhere safe. If those pieces of paper ever got lost (and they have) that crypto is as good as gone. And since the private keys themselves can vary in length - for instance, a Bitcoin private key is a 64-character string - you probably aren’t going to just remember the exact key. That’s by design.
With a crypto wallet, you can safely store, spend, send, and receive crypto that is supported by that particular wallet with no danger of losing access to it. The actual list of supported assets will vary from wallet to wallet, so it’s important to make sure that what you have can be stored on a wallet you’re looking at.
Additionally, crypto wallets come in two different forms: hardware and digital. Here are a few different examples of each:
Hardware Crypto Wallets
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Trezor (Model One, Safe 3, Model T)
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Ledger (Stax, Nano X, Nano S Plus)
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NGRAVE (Zero, Graphene, Liquid)
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BC Vault (One model in several varieties)
Digital Crypto Wallets
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Coinbase Wallet
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MetaMask
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TrustWallet
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BlueWallet
As you can see, there are plenty of options, and this is just a small selection of the many crypto wallets that are available on both sides. The best crypto wallet for you will depend on your needs, but we can talk about that in another blog. For now, let’s talk about the crypto wallets that are supported by Game Changer and why we picked those specific wallets.
What’s the Difference Between “Hot” and “Cold” Crypto Wallets?
Don’t worry, it’s not THIS kind of hot. (Image Source: Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash.com)
While looking around at crypto wallets, you might notice that the terms “hot” and “cold” come up frequently.
This distinction has nothing to do with the temperature of the wallet - it won’t burn you or give you frostbite. Instead, these terms describe the functionality of the wallet.
A “hot” crypto wallet can be connected to the internet.
A “cold” crypto wallet is entirely offline.
You’ll notice that just about all digital crypto wallets are “hot” by design, but that you’ll have options for hardware crypto wallets. If you want to buy a bunch of coins, throw them on a cold wallet, and forget about them for several years hoping that they’ll accumulate value, you’re going to need to purchase a hardware wallet. By comparison, digital crypto wallets are usually free, and being connected to the internet makes a ton of other features possible.
Which Crypto Wallets are Supported by Game Changer?
We picked the wallets we think are the best when it comes to facilitating our motto. (Image Source: GameChanger.game)
At the moment, Game Changer only supports two crypto wallets out of the many that are available - Coinbase Wallet and MetaMask.
Coinbase Wallet
Coinbase Wallet is the first pick for many cryptos for a number of reasons.
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It’s Easy to Use: Coinbase Wallet was designed with a super user-friendly interface that is clean and simple to navigate regardless of your level of experience.
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Immense Coin Support: Coinbase Wallet supports over 100,000 digital assets, and adds new ones at regular intervals.
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Impressive Network Support: Coinbase Wallet supports most major blockchain networks, including Polygon, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ripple, Solana, and, of course, Bitcoin. It also supports Ethereum Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum, Avalanche C-Chain, BNB Chain, and Gnosis.
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Enhanced Security: Two-factor authentication and multi-signature security are on deck, keeping your crypto safe as can be.
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Peace of Mind: Coinbase is a massive trading platform with a solid reputation. When trusting your assets to Coinbase Wallet, knowing that they can cover or replace lost and stolen crypto will help you sleep at night.
MetaMask
As for MetaMask, this wallet is a little different. It’s an Ethereum wallet with more than 30 million active users every month, so you know they’re doing some things right.
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Ultra Clean: Intuitive design for both the browser extension and the mobile app.
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The Go-To for NFTs: MetaMask can be linked directly to NFT marketplaces
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Decentralized Apps Galore: Baked-in support for thousands of dApps, which can be everything from exchanges like Uniswap to games like Axie Infinity or CryptoKitties.
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Great Network Support: Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and more are supported by MetaMask.
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Easy Change-Up: MetaMask can easily change between Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions.
It’s always possible for us to add support for new wallets and cryptos down the line, but this is what we are working with at this particular stage. We think these offerings have the best balance of features and usability for Game Changer’s needs.
Thanks for reading this Game Changer blog! We hope you learned something from this guide, and make sure to check back for more entertaining or educational blog posts like this one.
