A private key is a long string of alphanumeric characters (numbers and letters) that allows someone to access their cryptoassets, yet keep everyone else from accessing it. They are usually associated with a "public address" which is an identifier for an account holding a cryptoasset. Think of an address like an email address, and the private key is the password.

Keeping your private key safe and secret is critical. If you lose your private key. You've lost your crypto. If someone finds your private key and your address, they have access to your crypto.

Wallet apps will either store your private key on their servers (not good), and others will store them locally on your device (better). That way the app can use them when sending and receiving crypto.

Hardware wallets are electronic devices that store private keys and hide them from you and others, and never connect to the Internet. They are the safest method to store crypto as the private keys are completely hidden.

If you lose your hardware wallet, you can restore your crypto onto another hardware wallet using your recovery phrase.

When you have a hardware wallet, you need to worry about keeping your recovery phrase safe and secret, and you can forget about the private key as it is hiding it away from the world for you.

The hardware wallet we recommend most is the Ledger Nano X.