Hot wallet or cold wallet: what is the difference?

A crypto wallet does not hold coins. It holds keys: the secret that lets you sign a transaction on a public ledger. The difference between a hot and a cold wallet is where that key lives.

The key is on a device connected to the internet: a phone app, a browser extension, a desktop program.

• Convenient for everyday, small transactions.
• More exposed: malware, phishing pages and a lost or stolen phone are real risks.

The key is kept offline, typically on a hardware wallet: a small device that signs transactions without revealing the key to the computer it is connected to.

• Harder to reach for an attacker over the network.
• Less convenient: you need the device at hand, and the recovery phrase must be protected just as carefully.

If your coins are on an exchange, the exchange holds the keys. You have an account with a password, not a wallet with your own key.

1. Keep in a hot wallet only what you need for daily use.
2. Write the recovery phrase on paper or metal, never in a photo or a cloud note. More: your seed phrase in 5 rules
3. Buy a hardware wallet only from the maker or an authorised seller, and never use one that arrives with a recovery phrase already filled in.
4. Before sending, check the full receiving address on the device's own screen.

A timestamp never needs a key or a recovery phrase, only a file's fingerprint.

DAS Proof writes a file's fingerprint (SHA-256) into a public XRP Ledger transaction; the file itself never leaves your device. The timestamp shows the file existed in exactly this form no later than a given moment — it does not establish authorship or ownership. Anyone can verify it, free: dataanalyticsystem.com/proof/verify

Related: What a hash is, in 5 minutes · Kripto Akadémia

Educational content. Not investment advice.