Keeping your assets in a cold wallet is a safer practice!

3 min readNov 18, 2022

Keywords

Cold Wallet: Cold wallet is one type of blockchain wallet. It refers to the wallet where the user’s private key disconnects from the Internet, so it is also called offline wallet. Cold wallets usually rely on “cold” devices (such as computers and phones that are not connected to the Internet) to ensure the security of private keys and use QR codes or Bluetooth to keep private keys against accessing the Internet, avoiding the risk of being stolen by hackers.

Hot Wallet: Hot wallet is another type of blockchain wallets. Compared with cold wallets, it is also known as an online wallet. Due to its internet connection, the operation may be disturbed by some risk factors such as the private keys or phrases being exposed in an online environment. Therefore, the security is lower than cold wallets, but it is more convenient.

Watch Wallet: A watch wallet is essentially a block explorer that observes the data on a chain of a specific address. Users only need to import the account (public key) or address to enjoy the watch wallet easily, where they can view the account (address) assets, transaction records, and other information. But the watch wallet cannot directly execute transfers and other on-chain operations. If you need to transfer, you have to import the private key or secret recovery phrase into the wallet, and you can also use it with a cold wallet.

Hardware Wallet: A hardware wallet refers to a hardware device that stores the private key of digital token assets and is equipped with a security chip. It is not connected to the Internet, and supports “Connection (Bluetooth) and Play”.

Cold Wallet vs Hot Wallet

How to use Watch Wallet and Cold Wallet on TokenPocket?

When you execute the transfer operation on the watch wallet, the following QR code will pop up, use the corresponding cold wallet, and click [Scan to sign] for the scanning code.

2. After you’ve confirmed the transaction introduction, the [Use the corresponding watch wallet scan code to complete the operation] will pop up on the cold wallet page. Open the corresponding watch wallet and click the scanning button under the pop-up window to scan the QR code, and the transaction can be successfully sent.

Conclusion

After learning the difference between a cold wallet and a hot wallet, choosing a wallet to store your crypto assets is critical. Wallet security should be the highest priority in the selection process. Cold wallets can better protect the security of the wallet’s private key in an offline environment. Of course, there will be users who prefer the convenience of transferring cryptocurrencies and realizing fast online transactions, thus they prefer to choose the hot wallet. This requires users of Hot Wallet to be more careful about backing up their private key or secret recovery phrase and keeping it in a safe place.

About TokenPocket

TokenPocket is the world’s leading multi-chain self-custodial wallet, which supports mainstream public chains including BTC, ETH, BSC, TRON, Polygon, Solana, HECO, Klaytn, Avalanche, OKC, HSC, Fantom, Polkadot, Kusama, etc. The trinity of TokenPocket mobile wallet, chrome extension wallet, and hardware wallet has been formally formed. The Secret Recovery Phrase and Private Key are stored in the user’s own device and the user can fully control his own crypto assets. TokenPocket has provided reliable services for over 20 million users around the world. The number of monthly active users exceeds 3.5 million and the users are located in more than 200 countries around the world.