Security within cryptocurrencies has always been the main drawback for the wider public and those who aren’t familiar with blockchain technology are drawn away due to the numerous hacks and scandals that occur far too often. There are a few major factors that people are unaware of that assist in decreasing the risks of potentially lost assets or crypto.
Some of the largest scandals within the crypto sphere revolve around failed exchanges and the misuse of customer funds, such as Bittrex and FTX which lost customers millions overnight. NFT project scams also make up much of the lost funds in the crypto world, after an incredible surge of interest into non-fungible tokens forcing a social media frenzy.
Using crypto online is a somewhat new venture and many across the globe are yet to make their first transactions. Deposits using cryptocurrency are enabled for a handful of sites and in-store vendors and are particularly popular in the online casino industry. The latest innovations in online slots, table games and live casino feature games mixed with a host of operators building using blockchain technology. This allows casino operators to process deposits in cryptocurrency, rather than fiat, enabling fast and secure transactions across the board.
Taking funds off of exchanges is a must
For an onlooker that may be interested in purchasing crypto, they may not understand that keeping crypto on any exchange is a risk and while it is too overarching to say all exchanges are a risk, but as we’ve seen all too many times, central exchanges always carry a risk and creating and owning a native wallet to hold your coins and tokens in is not only vital, but can be extremely beneficial.
Along with an added level of security, native wallets can also offer regular rewards and staking opportunities which provide regular rewards should the user commit to a staking pool. With more non-custodial staking, it’s expected that staking will be used much more than ever before and many users of the blockchain are aware that if the percentage staked is high, confidence is also high.
What makes a good native wallet?
Secure back-ups
Having a plethora of back-up features is considered a must. Many wallets have a ‘pass phrase’ which consists of 12-24 random words that need to be punched in order to access or recover the selected wallet. It’s also important to consider wallets that can provide 2-factor authentication, which requires an additional action via a mobile phone or email in order to confirm the user attempting to access the wallet is the owner.
A sleek user-interface
A somewhat generic thing to outline as a contributing factor for a good crypto wallet, but a very important one. With a good user-interface, newer users are able to navigate their way through the wallet, send and receive funds and tokens and also be able to access and use all of the wallets features without having to enter a period of trial and error, aimlessly clicking buttons they don’t fully understand.
Along with a good UI, users need a tab or window that doesn’t bring any clutter and allows the user to access the wallet, view the tokens and/or balances and be able to make transactions simply. If the reason you’re using these wallets are to join a crowd of folks trying to mint NFT’s for example, you’ll need to be able to acquire the receiving address and paste it into your wallet quickly, which is what a good wallet will allow.
Multi-wallet function
Despite being a little harder to find, there are wallet providers that allow you to store a number of addresses and use them all simultaneously. Some even allow for the use of various coins all under one host and we’re likely to see more options that include this exact function.
QR Code scanner
Knowing that many of the community within crypto use their mobile phones for the majority of their usage on blockchain technology and what’s incredibly important is the access of use and should a wallet provide a QR code, transactions between peers are far easier and this is the case for minting services too, many provide a QR code as an alternative to the long character addresses.
Frontline support
As with any technical platform, a key factor to success is being open to user feedback and having a team to handle any customer issues and having a ticketing platform is deemed necessary in this field now. Much of the projects and teams working on blockchain technology offer a discord channel, with a ticketing system to allow for immediate support.
Having a full team that is able to provide instant support, updates and host various initiatives and activities for their community is a must, people are always wanting more and a pro-active, attentive team is a way to provide this to the everyday users, which many projects do currently offer.
