Your wallet is just a program you install on your device. True, but it is not the whole story.
What happens when you install a wallet?
We'll go for a desktop wallet.
- download the wallet from the website of the cryptocurrency creator,
- install the software,
- follow the instructions
- be sure to create a hard copy of details to recover your wallet when prompted
- ... and wait
Wait? For what?
When you install the wallet, you are also installing the notebook mentioned in the second post on this subject. All transactions taken place until now will have to be downloaded to your desktop.
For Bitcoins, this process of downloading the transaction details can take long, very long. Some state hours, others state days. The file is many GB big. It's best to be patient and just wait for things to get up to date.
What if I am not a patient person?
There are alternative wallets that don't download the whole notebook, but just enough information to determine the value of the wallet. These wallets install the same way, but take less time to finish. Another thing to be aware of is, those light wallet versions are a little less secure.
In case you want to own different types of cryptocurrencies, you will have to install a dedicated wallet for every cryptocurrency. Each wallet needs to be downloaded from the website of the creator of the cryptocurrency. You can't use a Bitcoin wallet to store another cryptocurrency.
For most wallets the creators have an app version in Apple Store, or Google Store.
There are more wallets out there. Some will, very conveniantly, hold multiple types of cryptocurrency for instance. Before using those wallets:
- Always check the website of the cryptocurrency creator, to see if they promote this wallet.
- Do a Google search for reviews of the wallet
Keep in mind everyone can develop wallet software, good people and bad people.
As stated at the top, software wallets are not the whole story.
Next post will be about different types of wallets
