We’re so excited to welcome you to the NEAR ecosystem! First thing’s first: you’ll need to set up your NEAR wallet.

You might be wondering: what is a wallet and why do I need one?

Your NEAR wallet has 2 main purposes:

1. Storing, sending and receiving crypto assets on the NEAR blockchain

   You can use your wallet to send or receive NEAR (similarly to how you would send & receive US dollars with Venmo). You can also use your wallet to store the crypto assets you buy with your NEAR (like NFTs).

2. A single login to different NEAR applications

   In today’s Internet world, you’re used to having a separate login for every different app you use (e.g. Twitter, Instagram, Amazon, your bank). With your NEAR wallet, you’ll log-in once and have access to every NEAR application. TLDR; when you want to use an app on NEAR, you’ll simply connect your wallet to get access (instead of creating an account & password each time).

FYI, Your NEAR wallet is a Non-Custodial wallet. This means that no one else besides you (i.e. no “custodian”) has access to your crypto— not even the NEAR team.

<aside> 👌 The pro’s of a non-custodial wallet: YOU manage your own crypto and can do whatever you’d like with it.

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<aside> ⚠️ The warning: With great power comes great responsibility— if you lose your private key (basically if you lose your login info), there’s no way to regain access.

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Step-by-Step**: Setting up your NEAR Wallet**

Step 1: Go to https://wallet.near.org/

Step 2: Click on the “Create Account” button

Step 3: Choose and reserve your Account ID