Crypto Wallets Explained

After you're done trading on a crypto trading platform of your choice, you'll be met with two options. Either you sell your coins on the same exchange and withdraw the money you made in a fiat currency (USD, EUR, so forth) or you withdraw the coins you bought and keep them somewhere else.

It is a better option than keeping them indefinitely on a crypto exchange – namely because you'll have complete freedom to transfer your cryptocurrency savings wherever. Crypto exchanges also act as wallets, and if you want to continue trading there later, you may need to leave at least some portion of your savings on that website.

In most cases, however, it's good to have a wallet where you could store your coins, just in case.

What are Crypto Wallets?

Crypto wallets are platforms or, more often, apps that allow you to receive, store and transfer your coins wherever. Unlike with crypto exchanges, you're completely free to transfer your money whenever and wherever you want. An exchange would process your transfer for some time, and there are usually fewer transaction options.

They are simple solutions that let you manage and store cryptocurrencies with more efficiency. Some of them are restricted to just one type of crypto, while others offer a full plethora of popular coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and more. Such wallets can include several 'accounts' in different currencies.

Receiving Money

Crypto wallets are universally accepted throughout the community. It means that you can find an option to withdraw your money to a wallet in any respectable crypto platform – be that exchange, a crypto casino, or any decentralized project. Likewise, wallets work in similar ways when it comes to receiving and sending money.

To receive funds, you need to copy a link associated with your wallet or an account on your wallet. If there is an option to withdraw money to a crypto wallet, you'll need a link for it. Links are either presented as usual or in the form of QR codes that can be scanned by the sender for an immediate transaction.

Sending Money

Sending money from a wallet is actually just as easy. If you have a link to another wallet, you can do it inside the app in just a few quick steps. If it's something like an exchange, you'll probably need to go to the said exchange and find a way to deposit coins there. Unless, of course, there are provisions to quickly send money to that exchange inside the app.

Uses & Purposes

Besides the obvious purpose to keep all your bought and mined coins in one place, there are other uses for crypto-wallets.

Essentially everyone in the community uses wallets for personal transfers and payments. If you want to send some coins to your friend, you'll be able to do so through a wallet – quickly and easily. If you delve deep enough into the crypto community, you'll find yourself in need of these transfers. Fortunately, they are easy to install.

The other use is payment for goods and services. There are many online stores that sell their products for crypto (mostly Bitcoin or Ethereum), and payment in such cases is done via crypto wallets. There are even physical stores that sell things for crypto. There is usually a QR code on display in such cases.