Too many crypto users still don't understand this basic concept

I see questions like "What happens if my Trezor breaks or the company goes out of business?" all the time, even from users who have been into crypto for a while. It means there's still a lot of misunderstanding about wallets, so I thought I'd give you the simplest possible explanation.

Wallets do NOT store crypto. Claims like "safely store your crypto offline" are just marketing. Crypto is stored on the blockchain. Wallets only store the private key, which is the "password" used to access your blockchain "account". Wallets should actually be called signing devices, because their only function is to sign transactions. They are just tools to access your coins with sending permissions, unlike blockchain explorers where you can see your coins, but in a read-only mode.

Think of your email account. You can access it from any device in the world as long as you know your password, but your emails are not actually stored on the device. They are on some remote server. It doesn't matter which client you use, your emails will always be there. If Outlook were to disappear, you could use Thunderbird, or just the web client. The same goes for crypto wallets.

So the answer to these questions:

- What happens if my hardware wallet breaks?

- What happens if my hardware wallet stops working?

- What happens if I lose my hardware wallet?

- What happens if my hardware wallet company goes out of business?

- What happens if my hardware wallet is no longer compatible with my PC/smartphone?

Is always the same:

Nothing. You just import the seed phrase into another wallet, as you would enter your email password if you wanted to access your account from a new device. It doesn't have to be the same brand. Actually, it doesn't even have to be a hardware wallet at all. You could import your Ledger or Trezor seed phrase in a hot wallet if you wanted (but please don't do that).

TL/DR: wallets don't store any coin, they just provide a way to send them. Did you know that?