(Shout-out to the gifted designers at Cointelegraph for this image!)

Your Passport to the Cryptoverse is your Crypto Wallet.

Every wallet allows you to –

1.    Own your digital identity

2.    Include digital money such as Bitcoin and Ether

3.    Connect to the various blockchains out there

WHY SHOULD YOU GET A WALLET?

Similar to requiring a passport to travel to a foreign country, you require a crypto wallet to travel to the world of crypto and to actually spend some cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) in exchange for goods and services.

If you are worried, it’s okay. There is good reason to be worried.

Know that I am here to guide you with education and adoption of safe practices. As we embark on this journey, we are going to be cautiously excited.

Cautious because this is a technological paradigm most, if not all, of us don’t know enough about and every user can be a target for hackers.

Excited because we are getting to experience first-hand what the world will be like soon.

So, let’s get started.

HOW DO YOU GET A WALLET?

There are numerous wallet providers. However, I’m only going to talk about two of them here, Metamask and Ledger. These are the most reputed non-custodial providers. One’s a hot wallet and the other is a cold wallet.

Let’s unpack the terms one by one:

What are custodial & non-custodial wallets?

Every crypto wallet has a public key, a private key and a seed phrase which looks something like this:

Your public key is like your bank account number. You can share it with anyone you’d like to receive cryptocurrencies from. If you send crypto to anyone, they will know that they got it from you because only the public keys will be in the transaction records.

Your private key is like your PIN number. DO NOT SHARE it with anyone. It is for you to access your crypto.

Your seed phrase is your only recovery phrase for your private key. Anybody who knows it can gain access to your wallet. So, DO NOT SHARE it with anyone.

In fact, you must not even take a screenshot of your private key & seed phrase. NO screenshotting, NO typing it down on a word file, NO uploading it onto some online drive. Basically, keep it away from everything digital. Remember, everything digital is hackable.

Instead, write down your seed phrase on something long lasting and store it somewhere safe. Some write it down on some good quality paper. Others etch it onto steel plates. Don’t believe me? Google for ‘steel plate seed phrase’ or look it up on Amazon.

Now back to custodial and non-custodial:

Custodial wallets are those wallets for which YOU DON’T GET ACCESS to the private keys. They are held in custody of the custodians such as crypto exchanges. If THEY lose the private keys to some hacker, they will lose your crypto.

Non-custodial wallets are those wallets for which ONLY YOU GET ACCESS to the private keys. They are held in your custody. You are your own custodian. If YOU lose your private key to some hacker, you will lose your crypto.

Metamask and Ledger are both non-custodial wallets. You will be taking sole ownership of your crypto. Ownership is one of the three factors that make the Crypto world special.

Okay, now that you understand custodial and non-custodial, what are hot & cold wallets?

Hot wallets are software wallets that are connected to the internet. They are free and easy to use with blockchain applications, however, they are at-risk because your private keys are online. Metamask is a hot wallet.

Cold wallets are hardware wallets that aren’t connected to the internet. Because the private keys are offline, the only way a hacker can access your cold wallet is by knowing your seed phrase. They cost about $120-$200 and are not easy to use with applications. Ledger is a cold wallet.

Remember: Unlike changing a PIN, you can’t change your seed phrase. So, protect it with your dear heart (and some brains). On the flip side, if you lose your seed phrase, you WILL NOT be able to recover your account nor the crypto in it.

Metamask is for everyday use, akin to your normal wallet, and should contain only a couple of dollars that is required for your blockchain transactions.

Ledger is meant for long-term safekeeping and should be used to store the bulk of your crypto savings offline.

We are going to use a non-custodial hot Metamask wallet because we want to learn about the crypto world and intend on spending as little as possible.

Here are your action items:

1.    Set your wallet up: Head to Metamask.io and sign up**.** You can buy some (maybe $50 worth of) Ether (ETH) directly through Metamask using your Visa, Mastercard, Apple / Google / Samsung Pay and skip all of the following steps. Note that this method is likely to be more expensive than buying through an exchange. It’s okay for now since we’re buying crypto only for a few dollars. If you’d like to buy larger amounts, I would highly recommend going through a trading platform.

 2.    Sign up to any trusted Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform such as

• NDAX.io (They’ve got the lowest fees and are pretty quick),
• Bitbuy.ca (They provide 1:1 insurance on your crypto in their wallets),
• Newton.co (Super clean interface),
• Coinberry (My ex), or
• Shakepay (They’ve got a cool feature called ShakingSats – Every day that you shake your phone, you get some Bitcoin for free. However, it is available only to referrers and referees).

Shoot me a message if you would like a referral code for any of these trading platforms (You and I, we can both get some money for free).

3.    Deposit some CAD and buy a few ETH. How much? I’d say about a $100 for now because see step 4.

 4.    Withdraw your ETH to your Metamask wallet’s public address (Starts with 0x..). Some exchanges have minimum withdrawal amounts that is about ~$100 worth of crypto. Be sure to look out for them or reach out to me if you require any help with that.

Welcome to the Crypto world. Shoot me a message if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.