A Checklist for Safely Storing Your Cardano ADA

Download Yoroi Wallet here!

With worldwide interest in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies increasing at a fast pace, many newcomers are starting to learn about the industry and how to transact with cryptocurrencies, including Cardano ADA.

EMURGO - a founding entity of the Cardano blockchain and the developers behind Yoroi Wallet - strongly advocates for certain best practices regarding securely storing one’s own ADA.

We have put together a checklist for new Cardano ADA users on how to do this with a few simple tips.

#1 - Self-custody and store your Cardano ADA in Yoroi or a hardware wallet

After acquiring Cardano ADA, it is best to always move it off an exchange or any third party custodian and purely into your own control via an official Cardano wallet such as Yoroi or IOHK’s Daedalus.

Developed by EMURGO, Yoroi is an official light wallet for Cardano ADA and Ergo ERG users that enables simple and secure storage via mobile and Internet browser extensions for the average everyday user.

If you keep your Cardano ADA on an exchange or with a third party custodian, you can be susceptible to getting blocked from accessing your ADA and/or even a loss of your funds as you technically do not have complete control over your ADA.

Yoroi is also compatible with hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor which allows you to connect Yoroi to safely store your Cardano ADA there.

As there are many unofficial, fake versions of Yoroi and other wallets, please double check to confirm that you are downloading official versions only by doing a simple search online prior to downloading.

Trusted download links are posted on official websites such as Yoroi’s (https://yoroi-wallet.com).

Never rely on links posted by others on unofficial channels.

#2 - Safely keep your recovery phrase and private key offline at all times

Upon downloading and installing a self-storage wallet such as Yoroi for the first time, a recovery phrase will be shown.

It will consist of 12-24 words in random order.

This order of words will enable you to generate your private key.

In case you aren’t able to access your wallet at a later date, you can rely on your recovery phrase and its order to regain access to your wallet.

Anybody who has or knows your recovery phrase can access your funds, so it is very important to always keep it offline in a secure location at all times and known only to you and/or trusted others.

Never write and store it on your computer, smartphone, cloud storage, and/or any other device connected to the Internet.

Do not take a picture of it and store it on your smartphone nor email it to yourself.

Read here for a list of ways to safeguard your private key.

#3 - Never send your cryptocurrency, recovery phrase, or private key in a contest or giveaway in return for more cryptocurrency

One of the effects of increased interest in cryptocurrencies is the rise in scammers.

There are a variety of scams being promoted online to target newcomers to cryptocurrencies including enticing “free” giveaways.

Usually, these scams will ask users to send ADA or cryptocurrency to a wallet address, recovery phrase, or password, in return for a greater amount of ADA.

As a formal policy, EMURGO and our Cardano ecosystem partners IOHK and Cardano Foundation will never ask users for their ADA, recovery phrase, and/or password.

If an offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is.