Your Wallet & Secret Key
To hold Bitcoin you use a wallet. It is an app on your phone or computer. A wallet has two parts, and telling them apart is the most important thing in this whole guide.
Your address is a mailbox anyone can drop coins into. Your secret key is the only key that opens it.
1. Your address (safe to share)
This is a long string of letters and numbers, like a mailbox slot. You give it to people so they can send you Bitcoin. Sharing your address is totally fine, just like telling a friend your home address so they can mail you a card.
2. Your secret key (NEVER share)
Most wallets show your secret key as a list of 12 or 24 plain words (called a seed phrase), like: apple, river, tiger, lemon.... These words are the ONLY key to your money. Anyone who sees them can take everything.
The #1 rule of Bitcoin: Never, ever tell anyone your 12 or 24 secret words. Not a stranger, not an email, not a website, not even someone who says they are "support." Real helpers will NEVER ask for them.
Remember: Address = mailbox, share it. Secret key (your 12-24 words) = the only key, guard it like your life. Write the words on paper and hide them. Lose them, and the money is gone forever. Share them, and a thief takes it all.
Lesson 3 of 8