To be technically accurate, Bitcoins are not stored anywhere physically, such as inside a bank vault; there is a private key (secret number) for every Bitcoin address that is saved in the Bitcoin wallet of the person who owns the balance. Bitcoin wallets facilitate sending and receiving Bitcoins and give ownership of the Bitcoin balance to the user. Just as Bitcoins are the digital equivalent of cash, a Bitcoin wallet is analogous to a physical wallet.

There are four different kinds of wallets:

• Desktop: These are installed on a desktop computer.
• Mobile: These are located on your mobile devices for easier access. These also allow for touch-to-pay applications using Near-Field Communications (NFC) or a QR code to scan.
• Web: Web combines mobile and browsers.
• Hardware: The most secure form of a Bitcoin wallet. They are stored on a physical equipment item, such as a flash drive via a USB port.

Before we create our wallet, we need to generate our public key. There is a great website, WalletGenerator.Net, that will make it fun and exciting to do so. I would recommend following the process of moving your mouse around to generate more randomness in the new public address and watch the data being generated:

Our Public Address comes from our private key, and the following diagram shows you various pieces of information, including the Wallet-Interchange Format (WIF):