A blockchain wallet is a tool for storing, managing, and transferring crypto-assets and digital securities. A wallet does not store assets directly – assets exist on the underlying blockchain network. Instead, a wallet stores the cryptographic keys that give you control over those assets and lets you interact with the network to send, receive, and monitor them.
Private and public keys
Every wallet is built on a pair of cryptographic keys:
- Private key: grants full control over the assets associated with it. Anyone who obtains your private key can access and move your assets. Never share your private key with anyone, including STOKR staff.
- Public key: derived mathematically from your private key and used to generate the wallet address you share with others to receive funds. This relationship is one-directional: your public key cannot be used to derive your private key.
Wallet types
Wallets fall into three broad categories, distinguished mainly by how they store your keys:
- Software wallets: applications on a desktop, mobile device, or browser extension. Convenient for everyday use, but connected devices carry some exposure to online threats, so they are better suited to smaller, actively used balances than to long-term storage of significant value.
- Hardware wallets: dedicated physical devices that store your private key offline, disconnected from the internet except when actively signing a transaction. This offline storage makes them the most secure option for holding substantial value, at the cost of some convenience.
- Custodial (exchange) wallets: wallets managed by a third-party exchange or service provider on your behalf. You do not control the private keys, and you rely on the provider to secure and return your assets. Holding significant value on a custodial wallet for extended periods is not recommended.
Wallets STOKR supports
STOKR supports two Liquid Network-compatible wallets for holding digital securities: SideSwap, recommended for most investors, and Blockstream app, which also supports pairing with a Ledger hardware wallet for additional security. See "Connecting a wallet to STOKR" for setup steps.
Backing up your wallet
When you set up a STOKR-compatible wallet, it generates a recovery phrase (also called a seed phrase): a sequence of words from which your private key is derived. This phrase is the only way to restore access to your wallet if your device is lost, damaged, or replaced.
- Write your recovery phrase down and store it offline, in a secure physical location such as a safe.
- Never store a digital copy of your recovery phrase, and never share it with anyone.
- Consider how your recovery phrase would be accessed as part of your estate planning, while keeping it secure from unauthorised access in the meantime.
If you lose access to your wallet and cannot recover it using your recovery phrase, STOKR offers a formal recovery process for digital securities issued through the platform – see "Troubleshooting missing digital securities and recovering wallet access."