Newcomers to #crypto generally face one big problem — since we use a lot of jargon, many fundamental concepts are hard to understand.

I'm going to attempt to simplify things with plain English explanations for many crypto concepts.

Let's start with: #Wallets

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Blockchain data can be freely read by anybody with the right tool, usually a web app written by a developer.

But in order to make a change to blockchain data such as sending funds to someone or minting an NFT, you need to send a "transaction" to the blockchain.

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A "transaction" (Tx) is an action that changes blockchain data. It has four primary components:

1⃣ What the Tx will do? (ex: transfer funds)
2⃣ Information needed for the Tx? (ex: amount, recipient)
3⃣ Tx fees (aka "gas")
4⃣ Authorization for the Tx via a digital signature

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A digital signature here isn't just your scribbled signature in picture form. It specifically means using cryptographic techniques to create a sealed digital envelope that mathematically proves that "you" approved the Tx.

The "you" in this case is not you, the person.

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"You" really means someone or something in possession of a special piece of information called a "private key"

The private key is a secret piece of information associated with your blockchain account that is used by a special tool to digitally sign the sealed Tx envelope.

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The commonly used name for the special tool that is used to sign the sealed Tx envelope is...

🎉 Wallet 🎉

In a nutshell, a crypto Wallet is a tool used to manage a list of accounts and their private keys that are necessary to sign blockchain transactions.

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You're probably thinking, "But wait, Nik. That doesn't sound right. My crypto Wallet contains my BTC, ETH, NFTs, Doge 😜. Your definition of Wallet doesn't mention how my crypto is stored in it. What gives?"

That friends, is the biggest misconception about crypto Wallets.

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Repeat after me — crypto Wallets do NOT contain any crypto assets. No coins. No tokens. No NFTs.

Crypto Wallets are a tool to manage your accounts and private keys — that's it.

Your crypto assets are ALWAYS data entries on the blockchain ledger, not in your crypto Wallet

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This means you can use any number and type of crypto Wallets to transact for an account whose private key you know, and it will work swimmingly.

Your cryptocurrency — not in your Wallet
Your tokens — not in your Wallet
Your NFTs — not in your Wallet

So where are they?

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Your crypto assets are actually just blockchain data:

Coins you own — an entry for your account in the ledger of the blockchain on which that Coin is a native cryptocurrency

Tokens and NFTs you own — an entry for your account in the Smart Contract that issued the token

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Summary:

A crypto Wallet is a tool used to manage blockchain accounts and associated private keys.

Crypto assets are never in a Wallet, they always remain on the blockchain.

You can use multiple Wallets for the same account — just the UI will be different not the data.

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I hope you found this thread useful. If so, please Like, RT and Follow.

Here's a video with more information about crypto Wallets https://t.co/wfzEIVyUkQ

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A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.