Some bitcoin is purchased on an exchange or through some type of peer-to-peer exchange, then the next step is to move the newly acquired bitcoin to a wallet you control. This is a little nuanced, bitcoin don’t physically move to a wallet. The wallet is really a bitcoin address (or series of addresses) on the bitcoin timechain.

The actual benefit of the wallet is that it provides you access to your bitcoin on the timechain by utilizing your private keys that were generated in establishing the wallet address. The private keys typically represent 12 or 24 words, also referred to as mnemonic seed phrase, written in a precise order that represents the only access to your bitcoin. These keys are the bitcoin and they represent responsibility and sovereignty. If the keys are lost, so too are the bitcoin. The keys, when entered into a wallet seed recovery interface, provide access to the bitcoin on the timechain and allows whoever holds the keys to move or send the bitcoin to another address. The 24 words represent a unique cryptographic sequence that corresponds to a unique, meaning mathematically and factually, only one route to access the bitcoin.

This is a warning, once you set up your wallet and generate your mnemonic seed phrase, NEVER share that with anyone, NEVER enter that seed phrase (24 words) into any web interface, NEVER show anyone your seed phrase, NEVER save your seed phrase on a computer.

He who controls the keys (or seed phrase) controls the bitcoin. If anyone gets access to your seed phrase, they will steal your bitcoin, and there is no customer service hotline to call to get them back.

Ultimate sovereignty comes with ultimate responsibility. You may encounter phishing scams or other outright scams to get access to your seed words, NEVER fall for these scams.

Bitcoin is… RESPONSIBILITY.