1. Introduction

Many beginners think their coins “live” inside their phone app. In reality, your coins live on the blockchain. Your wallet stores the keys that prove which parts of the blockchain belong to you.

2. What you'll learn

• The difference between a wallet and an account.
• What public and private keys actually do.
• How addresses work in plain English.
• Custodial vs self-custody wallets.
• Simple habits to stay safe.

3. Your wallet is a keyring

These keys are created on your device and never need to be shared with anyone.

4. Public keys and addresses

Your wallet generates a public key and creates a wallet address from it. You share this address when people need to send you money.

Think of it like an account number — safe to share, but it doesn’t give anyone control.

5. Private keys — the real power

The private key creates digital signatures that the blockchain recognises as permission to move your funds.

6. Seed phrases

Your seed phrase is a human-readable backup of all your keys. Lose it → lose access. Share it → lose your funds.

You’ll learn full seed phrase safety in the next lesson.

7. Custodial vs self-custody

• Custodial: someone else holds your keys.
• Self-custody: you hold your own keys.

Neither is “right” for everyone — it depends on your comfort level and responsibility.

8. Your next steps

Next you’ll learn how to protect the single most important piece of information: your seed phrase.

• Lesson 4 — Seed Phrases