Creating a wallet is necessary to purchase NFTs. There are a few important steps to make that happen:
- There are a number of different wallet options to choose from. There are mobile, desktop and hardware wallets. For example, MetaMask is a mobile and desktop wallet, Rainbow is a mobile wallet, while Ledger and Trezor are hardware wallets. Hardware wallets offer an additional layer of security as your private keys are stored offline on a physical device, and every transaction requires you to physically sign in the hardware wallet.
- Once you’ve created your wallet, you will be able to view a 12-24 word sequence— this is your seed/secret recovery phrase. Pro tip: write your seed phrase down on a piece of paper (do not take a screenshot or a picture) and store it somewhere safe. If you forget your wallet password, the only way to restore your wallet is with your seed/secret recovery phase. Never, under any circumstances, share this phrase with anyone. If someone asks for your phrase assume they are a bad actor.
- Once you have your wallet set up, you will need to purchase some Ether (ETH) in order to begin buying NFTs. You can purchase ETH, along with other cryptocurrencies, on exchanges like Gemini or Coinbase, and then transfer the purchased amount to your non-custodial wallet to buy NFTs. Note, some banks have restrictions on how much money you can deposit at a time into an exchange, and some exchanges have restrictions on how much money you can transfer out at a time. It is recommended that you buy any ETH you wish to use for NFT purchases at least 5 days before so that your ETH will clear in time and you can transfer it to your non-custodial wallet. Another method is to use the apps directly on the wallet which directs you to an integrated third-party exchange rail (i.e. MoonPay on MetaMask), which you can buy crypto using fiat/credit card directly into your wallet.