Owning cryptocurrencies can be scary at first and many are understandably put off by the complexity. Moving away from a system you already know and trust can be intimidating for sure. It’s not a joke that being your own bank comes with certain responsibilities but don’t let fear lock you out from one of the greatest inventions and extensions of human rights in modern time. If you want to take a leap into this technology or are just curious, let’s get started.

In this article, I will outline the different possibilities you have for storing your own (maybe your first) cryptocurrency in a responsible manner. I will solely be focusing on the cryptocurrency Nano because it’s a great example of where simplicity meets security. It is also very accessible, with a wide range of secure storage options for all common platforms. Finally, it is also remarkably fast, feeless and fun to play around with. Nonetheless, the topics discussed below can be applied to many other cryptocurrencies.

In order to own any currency, digital or physical, you need somewhere to store it. With cryptocurrencies, the method of storage is referred to as a ‘wallet’, which can consist of one or many accounts. The role of the account is to keep track of what is yours, and the wallet (a locked safe) is secured by a private key or seed. To use wallets, you do not need a deep understanding of the underlying technology in question. As an analogy, you use aeroplanes with knowledge of the concepts of flight, but no expertise in jet propulsion.

However, to use wallets in a most suitable way it’s important to understand the difference between security and convenience. People have different purposes for dealing with cryptocurrencies. Some will only trade and speculate, others will use it for purchases, as a store of value or in business; in some countries, people may live and depend on it, because other systems have failed or have become obsolete. Storing long term will, and should, consider a different balance of security and convenience than using it on daily basis. It’s extremely difficult or maybe impossible to have both optimized at the same time. Also, many will choose to use more than one solution. That is why I will structure the wallet solutions based on this scale. From the one with the highest convenience to bottom with the strongest security.

One thing to keep in mind is that your Nano is safe at a protocol level in whichever method you choose. Even a third-party security audit has been made for the network. When I refer to insecurity I mean the possibility for someone else to get access to your password and account. Also, that a potential hack of an online service could disable you from accessing funds or making transactions. Hence, the most important thing left for you to do is to keep a backup of the seed, store it safely and any password protecting a wallet solution.

The seed is your last resort and should be stored offline and even outside anything that runs on electricity. If you’re not familiar with this technology you might think that your “coins” are stored in some data file in your wallet and losing that will be the end of it. That is very far from the truth, with a system like Nano where your accounts are synced over the whole network in a decentralized manner. The very basic principle is that your seed can be imported to any other wallet solution to unlock your accounts with exactly the same balance for immediate access.

Disclaimer: Wallets mentioned are grouped into the corresponding type of implementation and are rated as such, with all known attack surfaces taken into consideration. There might be individual wallets in each group that stand out with exceptional security but that will not be part of this analysis, which has a more general approach. A full wallet guide can be found at https://nanowallets.guide/.