Explainer: Why you need a wallet

Many new Ciphers.me collectors wonder why they need a wallet to collect digital stamps on the blockchain. This article will explain how wallets control your collection on the public blockchain and enable transactions such as buying, transferring, and selling items from your collection.

Why do you need a wallet?

Every collector needs a wallet to control their own collection and approve blockchain transactions. This isn't about trading cryptocurrencies but about owning and securing your digital stamps. A blockchain wallet is like a digital mailbox. It stores your digital stamps, and owning the box key proves that you own the contents of the mailbox.

Your wallet has two key parts:

1. A public address, which is like your mailbox—others can send stamps to it.
2. A private key, which is like the key to open your mailbox. It is often shown as a 12-word recovery phrase. Keep it secret!

When a digital stamp is minted or transferred to your public address, it becomes yours. This ownership is permanently recorded on the blockchain. To buy, transfer, or sell a digital stamp, your wallet must sign the transaction with the help of your private key. This confirms your ownership and allows the blockchain to process the transaction. This is why you must keep your private key safe so that only you can approve actions like buying, selling or transferring stamps.

Installing a wallet app like MetaMask

If you want to manage your digital stamp collection yourself, you need to install a wallet app on your smartphone or computer. This wallet app:

• Generates and stores your public and private keys locally so that only you stay in control.
• Connects to your Ciphers.me web account, allowing you to view your collection on Ciphers.me.
• Keeps your private key safe and performs all encryption and signing of transactions, ensuring that only you can approve actions such as buying or transferring digital stamps.

With this local wallet setup, you, not a third party, own and manage your digital stamp collection on the blockchain.

Ciphers.me makes setting up a wallet really easy

As of November 2025, Ciphers.me will assist first-time digital stamp collectors with generating and coupling their wallet, which will make the process of minting and collecting digital stamps much smoother and more user-friendly. We will explain this in our next newsletter.