Quick Guide to an NFT Wallet

Here you are, a lucky NFT holder, with your beautiful collection in your hands. Where do you keep it? A wallet? What type of wallet then? An IPFS (no worries, we’ll find out what it means in the article)? Is that place safe enough?  Let’s find the answers and cover some options you can choose from. 

What’s an NFT?

Let’s remember the ABC. NFT is an abbreviation for a non-fungible token. It’s built using the same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin ($BTC) or Ethereum ($ETH), but it’s the end, then they have different ways to go. 

Fiat money and cryptocurrencies are “fungible,” and that means they can be traded or exchanged for one another. Another crucial factor is that they are equal in value — one dollar worth another dollar; one ETH is always equivalent to another ETH. 

NFTs differs. Each NFT has a digital signature that’s why there is no way to exchange an NFT for an equal one. For example, one Bored Ape isn’t equal to another Bored Ape NFT cause they are not the same but rather unique, hence non-fungible.

An NFT is minted from digital objects that represent tangible and intangible items, such as graphic art, GIFs, video clips and sports highlights, collectibles, virtual avatars, in-game items, designer sneakers, music, real estate, etc.

Why NFT Security Is So Essential?

It seems the answer is upon the surface. NFT tokens are quite valuable, and that’s the reason why hackers are preying on them so harshly. Over the past few months,  hackers stole assets worth thousands of dollars from the Nifty Gateway marketplace accounts. However, the platform accused consumers’ lack of two-factor authentication, which made it easy for hackers to steal users’ credentials and, thus, their assets. That’s clever, isn’t it?

Such accidents make us think carefully about where and how we should store our assets. We can’t afford to be lazy and absent-minded, or what’s the point of having such costly assets without a thorough storage option?

Types of Wallets for Your NFTs

Wallets for cryptocurrencies are different, and it’s up to you to choose the most convenient type. Everything depends on your demands and desires. The market is full of various options, but let’s talk about the types and their use cases closer.

Software wallets 

They are also known as hot wallets, and they are available as mobile apps, browser extensions, and desktop apps. You can secure such wallets with a strong password, seed phrase, and 2-factor authentication. 

The greatest thing about software wallets is that they are more user-friendly than the other types. They are easily accessible, so you can access your funds anywhere within a minute. 

Hardware wallets 

Hardware wallets, or cold wallets, are supposed to be the most secure wallets in the market. Hardware wallets can be an ideal alternative for those who are looking for long-term storage. That's because they create and store your private key on the device and stay entirely offline until you want to make any transactions. 

As your assets in a hardware wallet aren't stored online, they're better safe from hackers' attacks. These wallets go with a seed phrase that backup your wallet in case you ever lose the device.

Hybrid wallet 

If you doubt which option is the most suitable in your particular case,  you can use both. A hybrid wallet alternative gives you a software wallet convenience and the top-level security of a hardware one. So, you can keep most of your crypto and NFTs on a hardware wallet and leave a small amount of crypto on your software wallet for insubstantial purchases.

IPFS

IPFS is a protocol and peer-to-peer (P2P) platform for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. Thanks to IPFS, any type of data can be accessed from anywhere worldwide. 

There are such decentralized platforms as Pinata and Filecoin to store your NFTs that could be quite useful as many (if not all of them) NFT projects just use random web file storage to host their images, and one day they simply could go away. 

By the way, some NFT artists like Beeple keep their art-works on IPFS.

NFT Wallet’s ‘Musts’

If you’ve chosen a wallet option, you need to be sure that a wallet is secure, trustable, and easy to use. The market is literary packed with wallets for any taste, but today we’re going to move the focus away from the crowd and have a proper look at a SimpleHold wallet. 

The wallet was lucky enough to embrace all main competitors' drawbacks and work them out. That’s how it works — you observe how others do and try to make things work even better. 

First, not all wallets allow you to store NFTs, but SimpleHold surely does. All your NFTs will be beautifully and securely stored making that possible to have a pocket art gallery within your crypto wallet. On top of that, there is nothing easier than adding your freshly bought or even minted NFTs into the wallet. The whole process takes just minutes:

1. Import your address with an NFT.
   
2. Press the 'Collectibles/NFT' button within the wallet and you can enjoy viewing your NFTs in an NFT tab.
   

As SimpleHold is a non-custodial official crypto wallet, it does not store any of your data on its servers, and it does not require you to go through any KYC requirements when you create an account. Please, don’t compromise that point, it’s essential that you don’t have an intermediary and control your assets solely. Here’s a direct connection between you and all your assets, others aside.

SimpleHold solves the problem of backups by implementing a 12-word recovery phrase when you set up the wallet. You have to write down these words and store them in a secure place to retrieve access to the wallet if something happens to it.

SimpleHold has a super friendly and ready-to-help customer support team that is available 24/7. Once submitting a ticket, you'll get a fast and comprehensive response. That’s a sensitive issue, especially if something bad happens and you need rich support as soon as possible.

Frankly speaking, it’s not that ‘must,’ but just a nice bonus to all those features we’ve mentioned earlier. You aren't charged any fees when you set up a wallet. There are no fees associated with utilizing the wallet's services. It's an absolutely free wallet, and you can start using it right after setting it up. The only costs you have are gas fees, which are fees for processing transactions on the app that are paid to miners or PoS (Proof-of-Stake) chains that charge them.

💚  Try out a SimpleHold wallet as a mobile app or browser extension.

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