Learn · Hold Smart · Lesson 3 of 5 · ~4 min
Your Keys, Your Wallet
A wallet is two things: an address you can share, and a secret you never share.
Your wallet address is public. It’s like an account number: people can send to it, and anyone can look up what it holds on-chain. Sharing it is fine.
Your private key, often shown as a 12- or 24-word recovery phrase, is the wallet. Whoever has it controls everything in it. No one can reset it, freeze a thief, or reverse a transaction. That’s what self-custody means: full control, full responsibility.
On your Dawkoins account, sign-in and the wallet are provided by Privy. The wallet is self-custodial: Dawkoins never sees your private key and can’t move your tokens. If you choose to export your key, that happens only inside Privy’s own window, never on a page we build.
Two kinds of prompts look alike. Signing a message (for example, to link your socials on the holders board) is free and moves nothing. Approving a transaction can move tokens. Read every prompt before you approve it, and close anything you didn’t start.
Share your address freely. Share your recovery phrase with no one, ever.
Try it
Find your wallet address (on /account/ or in your wallet app) and look it up on Solscan. Everything you see there is public. Then ask: where is my recovery phrase stored, and could anyone else get to it? If the answer is “a screenshot” or “a notes app,” fix that first.
Quick check
Is it safe to share your wallet address?
Yes. It’s public, like an account number.
What happens if someone gets your recovery phrase?
They control the wallet. No one can undo it.
What’s the difference between signing a message and approving a transaction?
Signing a message moves nothing; a transaction can move tokens.