Not Your Keys, Not Your Banano

In this article, we will cover some important points about Banano.

1. What is a Banano "address", "seed", "private key", and "mnemonic phrase"?

2. Which Banano is yours and which is not yours?

3. Best wallet applications for Banano

4. Choosing a representative for better decentralization

Let's start with a question: You have some Banano in an exchange wallet. Is it yours?

Answer: NO! It is a liability of the exchange. As long as you don't withdraw it to your own wallet, it is not actually "yours".

OK, but where to withdraw it?

Best Banano Wallets

On mobile, the best wallet application is Kalium wallet:

For web wallets, the best ones are The Banano Stand and vault.banano.cc.

What's a Banano seed?

You don't need to peel a Banano for this tutorial.

• A Banano "address" looks like this: ban_1jung1eb3uomk1gsx7w6w7toqrikxm5pgn5wbsg5fpy96ckpdf6wmiuuzpca

You can share your Banano address. Anyone with Banano can send Banano to you by entering your address on their wallets.

• A Banano "seed" and "mnemonic phrase" looks like this:

Don't share your "seed" or a "mnemonic phrase" with anyone! Because it gives you access to the funds. Don't be this guy:

"Just set up my new ledger!".

Here's the difference between a seed and a private key: a private key gives you access to only one Banano address. A seed (or a mnemonic key), on the other hand, gives you access to many Banano addresses. Private keys and seeds both have 64 characters. These are created using some algorithms, but this is another topic.

If your device gets stolen, or somehow if the wallet app stops working, you will lose access to your funds! Please make sure to back up your seed/mnemonic phrase or private key, so that you can import it to a new Banano wallet app anytime.

Now let's choose a representative and help the Banano network decentralize!

You can see a list of representatives using this link: creeper.banano.cc/representatives

You can set the representative of your Banano address using your Banano wallet.

Here's a few points. A representative should:

1. not have a majority of the voting power.

2. have a strong server (RAM, CPU, fast upload/download, low latency etc.)

3. stay up-to-date with the latest node version.

4. have a high uptime.

You can select a representative on your own, but I found the following representatives worth voting:

• ban_3p3sp1ynb5i3qxmqoha3pt79hyk8gxhtr58tk51qctwyyik6hy4dbbqbanan (BananOslo)

• ban_1rp3ke75c8a3t5mkzekibo8w4mxzydrie8xzwqmkajfk9ww76f7wzbhd5bmt (getbanano.cc)

• ban_15gfawgrsc6tkkm5p1gy749tkibchu73st1ojs3knz6rd3ejfcgt7rj5cmx9 (validierung.cc)

Note that, choosing a better representative (or running a representative) doesn't contribute to you, but it is good for the decentralization of the Banano network.

Decentralization is not only about the network, it is also about the distribution of coins, which I have covered in my previous post: Banano Price Analysis

Thanks for reading!