Hardware wallets are physical storage devices like an advanced USB that stores your currency.

A software wallet is basically like online banking. To access your crypto, which can also be called digital assets, you need to provide the private keys which open access to your currency and give you the ability to transact.

Custodial And Non-Custodial Wallets

A custodial wallet is usually run by a central or semi-centralized blockchain, just like a traditional bank.

A centralized wallet stores your private key and provides backup and security for your crypto. For some starting in crypto, this can be reassuring.

Non-custodial wallets are software wallets to which you are the only one that has the keys to access the data.

Me No one but yourself has custody of this information, so if you lose the private key information, there is no method to retrieve the wallet’s assets.

A non-custodial wallet can be referred to as a Decentralised Finance or Defi wallet. This is true decentralization of financial power and responsibility.

One of the best Defi wallets on the market is the Eidoo wallet, which gives you access to a full Defi ecosystem through their Defi wallet app, which also integrates a Defi Visa Crypto Card or the Eidoo CARD

Public And Private Keys

In case you hadn’t realized as yet, keys are unique passwords that are cryptographic.

There is a public key that is matched with a private key. Whatever is encrypted with a public key can only be decrypted by the private key.

When signing up for the wallet of your choice, you will be guided through the process of securing your keys. It is necessary to store the private key somewhere safe.

KYC — Know Your Customer

The blockchain and crypto community, as you know now, are driven by decentralization, protecting privacy, and, to some extent, anonymity.

For the most part, the community prefers anonymity, but crypto users need to verify their identity when interacting with fiat for regulatory purposes when utilizing a crypto wallet.

The process of verifying your identity is called KYC and is aimed at curbing illegal financial acts like money laundering, tax fraud, and financing terrorism or illicit activities.

Buy and Trade Crypto

Transaction fees

Once you have your wallet, you will be able to buy the cryptocurrency of your choice using fiat. Fiat currency is standard traditional money — the currency of where you live.

Any transactions conducted have a fee associated with them just as a regular bank but crypto fees are called gas fees. The Gas price is the amount you pay for every gas unit, just like the cost for a liter of petrol for your car.

These fees enable and power the transactions and are usually paid for in the form of a utility token depending on the blockchain — more about that below under tokens.

Different types of transactions require differing amounts of gas depending on the degree of computational difficulty. Also, the term gas limit refers to how much you are willing to spend on a specific transaction.

If you don’t specify enough gas, the transaction cant be completed and will fail, but because work has been done on the transaction, the gas you did specify won’t be reimbursed