Definition
An application that holds, sends and receives a user’s cryptocurrency.
Understanding the Term
When you buy cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, it gets stored in what’s called a wallet and has a unique private key associated with it. This private key is sort of like a password with a long alphanumeric string of characters that is specifically assigned to your wallet. Therefore, if you want to keep your coins safe, you must keep your private key safe.
There are a few different types of wallets to store crypto on like:
? Exchange wallets; which are wallets on crypto financial platforms that hold on to a user’s private key,
? Cold wallets; store private keys on a device that’s not connected to the internet, like a separate thumb-drive
Takeaway
If a wallet is somehow deleted, and or if the private keys were forgotten or never saved, asset ownership is gone forever.