What is the Difference Between a Wallet and an Account?

What is a Wallet?

In blockchain, a wallet represents the wallet address while simultaneously holding "full authority over the entire wallet."


Wallets created by generating a seed phrase in Avacus feature multi-wallet functionality with the following characteristics:


  • Can hold multiple accounts within a single wallet
  • Can be restored at any time using the seed phrase
  • Holds full authority over the entire wallet


What is an Account?

An account has the following characteristics:

  • A term referring to an individual wallet address
  • Can only be restored using its specific private key


If your wallet was created using a seed phrase, you do not need to back up the private key for each individual account. Since the seed phrase grants full authority over the entire wallet, there is no need to keep private keys that only have authority over individual accounts.


Exception: When Using Social Platform Accounts

The situation is slightly different for wallet addresses (accounts) created via Web3Auth using external platform accounts like Google or Apple.


In this case, no seed phrase is issued. Instead, your platform login credentials (Google/Apple authentication), device information, and any additional multi-factor authentication (MFA) settings serve as the keys to access your wallet.


  • Only an account (that specific wallet address) is created
  • No seed phrase exists
  • A private key does exist


If you want to keep an explicit backup similar to a seed phrase, you can display or copy it via "Export Private Key."


App Settings > Multi-Wallet > [Select Wallet to Transfer] > Export Private Key > Enter PIN


Tap "Show" to display the QR code on your screen.

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