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Wallets, keys, and seed phrases
A wallet does not hold coins. It holds the keys that prove those coins are yours.
On most chains, coins sit on the ledger, not in an app. Your wallet stores a private key. That key signs transactions. Whoever can sign, can spend.
A seed phrase (usually 12 or 24 words) is a backup of those keys. Write it on paper. Keep it offline. Never type it into a website that asks you to 'verify' or 'sync' your wallet. That is a common theft.
A password on a marketplace is not the same as a seed phrase. The password logs you into a site. The seed phrase is the vault.
If you lose the seed phrase, nobody can restore the wallet. Not the project. Not support. Not a founder. That is self-custody.