# Protecting Your Cards

### Want the short version? Top 3 things to know:

1. **There is NO reason anyone would ever need your** [**seed phrase**](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seed_phrase) **or** [**private key**](https://wiki.trezor.io/Private_key)
   * Curio Cards, OpenSea, MetaMask, Ledger, Trezor, etc will **Never** ask you for this. No matter how official the request looks, remember impersonation is easy online.
   * The Only time a seed phrase is needed is when you decide to recover a wallet. For a hardware wallet, you never need to enter your seed phrase on your computer, *only on the hardware device itself!*
   * Unsure about a request? Join a reputable crypto discord community like [The Daily Gwei](https://t.co/WUCtcwEFio) or [Bankless](https://discord.gg/bankless) and ask for advice. Ignore private messages; to avoid scams, leave out personal info and keep the conversation public. Give time for lots of people to see and reply. If a request is too urgent for this, it's a scam.
2. **Getting a Hardware Wallet**
   * They start at $80 and are the **#1 best thing you can do** to keep your crypto safe. If you have more than a few hundred dollars worth of Crypto and NFTs, there is no reason not to get one.
     * [Ledger](https://www.ledger.com/)
     * [Trezor](https://trezor.io)
     * [How to Use a Hardware Wallet](#hardware-wallets)
3.  **Don't keep all your eggs in one basket.**
   * If your wallet is compromised, limit how much can be stolen with a Hot/Cold Wallet setup.
     * Hot Wallet - the wallet you use all the time, where you keep funds and NFTs you need quick access to, where you interact with sites. This wallet carries more risk of theft. 
     * Cold Wallet - where you keep everything else. This wallet is cold because you hardly use it, and is ideally left offline. Only use it to send things too and from the Hot Wallet, never connect it to a service or authorize access for a site/tool.

If you have any questions about what any of these terms or phrases mean, you can always join the [Curio Discord](https://discord.curio.cards) and ask. After following all these steps if you want to continue to minimize your risk, ask around and continue to educate yourself on crypto and wallet security.

### What More? Next Pages:

* [Common Scams](/protecting-your-cards/common-scams.md)
* [Hardware Wallets](/protecting-your-cards/hardware-wallets.md)


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