Educational purpose: This article explains concepts and risks. It is not individualized financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.
A wallet does not literally store coins. It stores or controls keys that authorize actions on a blockchain. Security therefore depends on protecting signing authority and planning recovery.
Build a threat model
Consider theft, phishing, malware, physical loss, coercion, fire, accidental deletion, and inheritance. Different balances and use cases justify different controls.
Core practices
- Keep recovery phrases offline and test restoration carefully.
- Verify addresses on a trusted display.
- Separate long-term holdings from daily interaction wallets.
- Review token approvals and avoid blind signing.
- Use bookmarks instead of search ads for sensitive sites.