Before creating your first Bitcoin wallet, we heavily recommend this first; for you to have an idea of what the wallet types are, and what their advantages and disadvantages are.
P.S.: If you’re new to Bitcoin, maybe you’ve heard about Bitcoin from your friends, or because of certain companies like Tesla and Microstrategy buying bitcoin, make sure you do your research first and know what Bitcoin is first before putting some money in.
What you’re going to need
- a smartphone
- a pen
- a piece of paper
Why use a smartphone and not a computer? There’s nothing necessarily wrong with using a computer, but mobile phones are mostly more secure especially if you keep your Android or iOS version updated at all times. Your computer is a lot more likely to be infected by malware and viruses.
Downloading BlueWallet
On your mobile phone, open https://bluewallet.io/ and click on the appropriate app link (App store if you’re using an iPhone, Google Play if you’re using an Android phone).
Download and install the BlueWallet app as you would with any other app.
Why BlueWallet?
While there are other decent wallets out there, BlueWallet has every characteristic we need with a Bitcoin wallet. Namely:
open source
non-custodial
easy to use
Creating your Bitcoin wallet
Open the BlueWallet app
On the main screen, tap on the “Add a wallet” option.
Add a name for your first Bitcoin wallet, tap on the “Bitcoin” option, then tap on “Create”.
12 words would then be displayed. Neatly and accurately write those words down on your piece of paper. The 12 words will serve as your wallet backup in case you lose or break your phone.
Tap on the “OK, I wrote this down.” button.
Congratulations, you now have your first Bitcoin wallet.
NOTE: do not store the 12-word backup digitally on your email, your notes app, an SMS message, etc. only store it offline on a piece of paper.
Going forward
Now that you have a Bitcoin wallet, you need to make sure that you don’t lose your coins one way or the other. Always remember, once a Bitcoin transaction is confirmed, it’s irreversible. You won’t be able to call someone to help you with your lost money, as to how you can do with your local bank.
Also, if you hold a good amount of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, it’s probably best if you grab a hardware wallet. If you haven’t read our article concerning bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets in general, we heavily suggest reading it.
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