Investing in NFTs? You’ll Need a Wallet.

PHOTOGRAPH: COINBASE

Buying and selling NFTs or transferring digital currency is going to require a little leap of faith. Here’s how to get started.

IF PEOPLE WHO buy cryptocurrencies intended only to hold on to them as speculative investments, there'd be no real need for crypto wallets. Exchanges and online brokerages that convert dollars to, say, bitcoin would store all that digital currency for you like so much money in a bank account. 

But crypto wallets (aka “blockchain wallets”), which have been around since the early days of Bitcoin, serve a lot of purposes beyond just HODLing that cryptocurrency with no fees.

Wallets can also store digital collectibles like NFTs that you might want to buy, sell, trade, or transfer to someone else, or even to another wallet you own. They can make it easier to send and receive digital money to and from other people’s accounts, crypto exchanges, or digital marketplaces. And, because they’re typically decentralized, even if they’re created by an exchange like Metamask wallet, Coinbase Wallet or Binance’s Trust Wallet, you control the account. That means only you are responsible for what’s in the wallet, remembering the password and secret seed phrase that unlocks the wallet, and managing the funds that it holds.

While the concept is simple—a place to store your cryptocurrency and use it—choosing a crypto wallet can be an incredibly intimidating experience. There are somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 different wallets to choose from. Some handle only a few popular cryptocurrencies; others let you trade and store obscure types of digital tokens. Ready to get started?

Choose The Best NFT Wallets? 

If the NFT market is what you’re interested in, choose a wallet that can connect to NFT marketplaces such as KeNFT gallery, OpenSea, SuperRare, and Solanart. Some of these marketplaces operate on a particular blockchain, and that might determine your choice of wallet. For instance, OpenSea supports Ethereum, Polygon, and Klatyn blockchains; most transactions use Ethereum and a lot of NFT traders use Metamask to buy, sell, store, and list for purchase NFTs they got through OpenSea. KeNFT gallery utilises Polygon whis is gas free. Some of the top NFTs on OpenSea include "CryptoPunks” and “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” which you may have heard of.

Another thing to ask before you choose a wallet: Is there a mobile app version? Some wallets are intended for use on desktop computers as a browser extension and are not as mobile-friendly as you might expect, especially if they’re not as established as some of the wallet software mentioned here.

If you are most concerned about security, you might want to consider a hardware crypto wallet. These frequently come in the form of a USB stick that you can disconnect from your system (and the internet) for added security. 

While there’s always the chance an exchange could get hacked or a software wallet could have a security flaw that someone can exploit, “the first step would be to choose a wallet or an exchange with a good track record to minimize that possibly,” Dave Bitcoin says. We recommend Metamask or Coinbase wallet.

No doubt, there are a lot of NFT wallets these days. You can find this quite overwhelming and not even know the ones to download. Fortunately, we have identified a checklist for you to know the best NFT wallet for you:

1. Cross-chain Synchronisation 

There are several protocols in the blockchain space including Layer 1 protocols like Ethereum and Layer 2 protocols like Arbitrum. Following that, these wallets have blockchain protocols they support. 

In choosing the best NFT wallet, you should prioritize wallets that support diverse blockchain protocols. This will enable you to use one wallet to trade NFTs on different blockchains rather than using each wallet for each blockchain. 

If you use Cosmostation, for example, you can interact with 31 blockchains including Osmosis, Juno, and Binance ecosystems. 

2. Card Support

One of the Web2-friendly ways to fund your NFT Wallet is through your debit or credit card. However, not all NFT wallets support this feature because of compliance complexities. 

Fortunately, some NFT wallets are leveraging some already existing payment gateways to facilitate this. Metamask integrated with Transak so its users can buy ETH with fiat. 

In the future, it is also possible that NFT wallets will allow withdrawal into your local bank account with your card. 

3. Reliable Security 

The safety of your NFTs is important, especially if they are expensive. A couple of months back, 15 high-priced NFTs that were worth over $2 million were phished from a wallet. 

Therefore, you should carry out your due diligence to know the security reputation of an NFT wallet before using it. Double-check if the wallet offers security best practices like 2FA and gives you the seed phrase to your NFT wallet. 

4.  User Interface & Experience 

A beginner in blockchain should be able to carry out activities on a good NFT wallet easily. Each segment of the wallet must be well arranged with an instructional copy for the users to have experience as they trade or keep their NFTs. 

5. Multi-device Compatibility

Some NFT wallets are only available on PC, iOS, or Android. For example, Phantom—a wallet for the Solana ecosystem—is only available as a chrome extension and on iOS. 

On this note, it is better to choose an NFT wallet that you can use across various devices. That is more convenient. 

6. Customer Support 

There are times that you might have a problem while using an NFT wallet. Therefore, you'd need to communicate your inquiries to put you through or give your feedback to Customer Support for improvements. 

Set Up and Use Your Wallet

 1. Create a digital wallet to buy and store your NFT

To create a digital wallet with MetaMask, you'll need to go to its website and click on the blue ‘Download’ button in the top-right. As we’re using a desktop computer, we'll choose the option to install the browser extension, but there's also a mobile app.

The MetaMask website (Image credit: MetaMask)

2. Complete the process.

You'll be asked to confirm that you wish to ‘create a new wallet and seed phrase’. Don't worry too much about what ‘seed phrase’ means (it’s basically a list of words that stores blockchain information). Say yes, then it’s simply a matter of agreeing to the terms, creating a password, and making your way through some security measures, then you’ll have your account set up.

3. Add some cryptocurrency to your wallet.

The MetaMask account view (Image credit: MetaMask)

Once you've set up your MetaMask wallet, or any digital wallet, you'll need to add some ETH to it. If you don't already own some ETH, you'll need to buy some now, so click on the ‘Buy’ button and select the option ‘Buy ETH with Wyre’. 

You’ll be taken to a screen where you can use either Apple Pay or a debit card to buy ETH. Note that if you'd rather not part with any money yet, you can leave this stage until later; it just requires a little more faff (you'll want to check your chosen NFT platform's fees to know how much you'll need to buy).

The jargon involved in the cryptocurrency world can make this part of learning how to make and sell an NFT quite daunting, but buying currency is actually very easy to do. Just be aware that like bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, the value of Ether can fluctuate hugely. In 2021 alone, the price of 1 ETH has gone from under $1,000 to around $4,700 at the time of writing, with many peaks and troughs on the way. It's perfectly possible for the price of the currency to swing by several hundreds of US dollars in just a few hours.

4. Connect your wallet to an NFT platform.

Most digital wallets work in a similar way. Whichever one you've chosen, you'll need to connect it to the NFT platform that you'll use to buy and sell the NFT.

How To Keep Your NFTs Safe

As the NFT space keeps expanding, the number of fraudulent activities doesn't seem to reduce. As a result, you have to know how to secure your NFT against black-hat hackers. 

The first thing to do is to never share your seed phrase with anyone or save it online. You should guard your seed phrase because anyone who has access to it has access to your NFTs. 

Secondly, carry out a 2FA. This is an added coating of security that will make your account more difficult to breach. Assuming your password is hacked, the hacker won't be able to access your fund unless [s]he can provide your additional credentials - which is unlikely. 

Most importantly, avoid clicking on random and unverified links, especially from Discord DMs. These links might be used to brute-force into your wallet and steal your digital assets. 

Conclusion

An NFT wallet is indispensable as you interact with NFT marketplaces or other Web3-native platforms. Beyond the ability to access DApps, you need an NFT wallet as a means of securing your NFT collectibles. 

In choosing your NFT wallets, we have shown you various criteria to aid your decision above. After carrying out your research, you can go with the one that serves your needs best and, most importantly, the one that you can trust for its safety.