6

I keep my ADA on Daedalus. I keep my seed phrase on a piece of paper, stored somewhere at home. Say the computer where I have Daedalus suddenly dies tomorrow, and becomes inaccessible and irreparable. As long as I have my seed phrase, I would be able to restore my wallet and balance on another computer, right? So, a few questions came to mind:

  1. Are digital assets (coins, native assets, NFTs) stored on the device where a wallet is installed, or on the blockchain?
  2. Do wallets store digital assets, or just private keys (which can be used to prove ownership of an asset)?

1 Answer 1

9

Digital assets are stored on the blockchain. Your wallet is a window to the blockchain in that it allows for convenient functionality (e.g. filtering all transactions for transaction where your wallet-connected expenditure address is either receiver or sender).

Currently, Daedalus stores the entirety of the Cardano Blockchain on your device. But altering the data locally (such as past transactions and the digital assets they may hold) does not change the actual data. You can think of the local store of these assets as a cache. However you modify your local cache has no implications for the real world.

Notice that also most digital assets on Cardano currently just include metadata that links to an external resource (such as a Class Photo NFT of the Plutus Pioneers Program's first cohort with the actual data stored via ipfs).

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.