nano133

Lesson 1

Money that is truly yours

With a bank, your money is a number in the bank's computer, and the bank decides what you can do with it. With Nano, it sits in an account that only you control. Four ideas, each with a picture.

1. Your address: where money is sent

nano_1u9w…3kxhshare itwith anyonepublic,no name

A Nano address is like an email address, but for money. This is a real one:

nano_1u9wck9fmeknxz4u44e3bzrjybcuos1bod15jp5zrp9nqndf8wtomir63kxh

It is one of the two accounts in the Send anywhere demo. You can see its history, because every Nano account is public. Its owner's name is not.

Boomerang addressSent Nano here by mistake? It comes back to the address that sent it, usually within an hour. Amounts under Ӿ0.001 and repeated sends do not come back.

2. Your key: what opens it

24 wordsthe key spends the money

Each address has a secret key, saved as a list of 24 words. Your wallet app keeps it and signs your payments with it.

  • Write your words on paper. Keep the paper safe.
  • Never share them. Never type them into a website. Never photograph them.
  • No real support team asks for your words. Anyone who asks is a thief.

3. No bank in the middle

with a bankwith NanoYouSam
What you gain
Nobody can freeze your account or stop your payment. It works every hour, in every country, the same for everyone.
What you take on
Nobody can undo a payment or reset a lost key. Check the address before you send. You are your own bank.

4. Where the record lives

Computers all over the world hold a copy of every payment: the "blockchain". In Nano each account has its own small chain of blocks, so payments don't wait in one line. That shape is a block lattice.

Your chainSam's chainBalance 10your first blockBalance 0Sam's first blockSend 3 to Sambalance 7Receive 3balance 3

You and Sam each have an account. Each account keeps its own chain of blocks: every block is one change to its balance.

Try it

freeyour wallet

Get your first Nano, free

The faucet sends a small amount to a new wallet, so you can see a payment arrive.

Open the faucet
a purse in this browser

Make a purse on this site

A small wallet that lives in your browser. Fill it with a few cents and play, or unlock an article.

Go to the arcade
blocksone building per block

Look at any account

Account City turns an account's chain of blocks into a little city, one building per block.

Open Account City