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A few important terms

Before you get started, here are some terms to know as you explore the world of crypto wallets:

 Hot wallet: A wallet that stores your keys online. You can easily access your keys, and your cryptocurrency assets, from anywhere in the world. All you need is an Internet connection and access credentials. Although hot wallets are convenient, that convenience comes at a cost. If someone steals your access credentials, they can steal your Ethereum assets. Also, you have to trust the wallet organization that stores your keys. If your wallet organization is hacked, or goes out of business, you could lose everything. If that organization is a target of an investigation, your information could be divulged or your assets frozen.

 Cold wallet: A wallet in which you store your keys offline. You need to provide your keys only when you want to access your assets. You can store keys offline in multiple ways, but this approach requires a few extra steps when you want to buy or sell crypto-assets (or interact with smart contracts, which we introduce in Book 2, ssss1).Although cold wallets are a little less convenient, they can be more secure. You have control over your keys with a cold wallet and can take whatever precautions you feel are necessary to protect your keys. Using a cold wallet gives you an alternative and mitigates the threat of an attacker hacking into your online wallet and harvesting lots of keys. With a cold wallet, you're responsible for protecting your keys. You have to make sure that every place you store your keys is as secure as possible.

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