What is a Bitcoin Wallet?

Similar to a traditional wallet you may carry in your pocket, a bitcoin wallet is used to store money. The difference is that instead of storing a collection of bills and cards, a bitcoin wallet stores a collection of bitcoin private keys. Typically a wallet is encrypted with a password or otherwise protected from unauthorized access. Unlike the Bitcoin network, a Bitcoin wallet is controlled only by its owner (it’s not distributed and shared like the blockchain). It’s important to keep your bitcoin wallet safe by either setting a strong password or otherwise keeping it out of reach of malicious individuals.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. Think of it like digital gold. Bitcoins are transferred between people’s virtual wallets through a distributed ledger known as the blockchain. The blockchain keeps a record of all bitcoins in existence and all broadcasted transactions. Other people are known as “miners” verify these transactions to make sure the same bitcoins can’t get spent twice.